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Viper6 -> RE: I just saw "the movie that shall not be named" about PH .. (5/29/2006 12:49:04 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: carnifex
A .50 caliber FMJ round, fired vertically, will penetrate a 1 inch pine board up to 5 feet under water. Fired on an oblique angle, the penetration is reduced by 1 foot.
A .30 caliber FMJ round, fired vertically, will not penetrate a 1 inch pine board at 2 feet under water.
Military FMJ rounds do not "explode" or expand. Under water they will simply expend their energy and sink. Whatever Mythbusters was firing was not what you would have been strafed with, that's for sure.
"Fragment" is generally the word used, and military FMJ rounds will indeed fragment on impact - in fact the current NATO standard 5.56mm round gets almost all of its killing power when it fragments on impact with flesh. Fragmentation depends on ammo type and velocity, generally a bullet will fragment on contact with human flesh anywhere above ~2800fps, water should be slightly harder durring a high-velocity impact, but the number should be about the same. Mythbusters didn't do a very good job of testing this as most of the weapons they used were either handguns (800-1100fps) or high-power rifles (2800-3200fps). The 2800fps number is based on FMJ ammo, while a AP, APSC, or SLAP round would improve water penetration it will also decrease the likelihood of a lethal wound should the round actually hit anyone. Mythbusters though was probably using standard civilian softpoint ammo, which would have made fragmentation more likely.
Now, I don't know as much about WWII aircraft weapons as modern systems, but don't most aircraft use explosive ammo to increase damage to other aircraft or ground targets? If that was indeed the case in WWII those rounds should not have penetrated water at all but simply exploded on impact.
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