bill@inteloc.UUCP (09/07/84)
> Does anyone know if a bullet such as a .22 lr will increase its distance > traveled if it ricochets off of water?? In other words, if someone shoots > a rifle over water, and it hits the water and ricochets, could the range of > the bullet increase? I am no ballistics expert, but my high-schoola physics tells me that the bullet has to lose energy from the collision with the water. However, if the trajectory was altered from a rather flat one to a relatively high one (the optimum incidence angle over flat terrain is 45 degrees), the resulting lower energy could carry the bullet far beyond the originally intended impact point. In simpler terms, you aim at a rock on the other side of a lake. Your shot could carom off the lake and skip over the rock, finally coming down far beyond your originally intended target. -- T.F.Prune (Bill Wickart) {allegra | ihnp4 | tektronix} !ogcvax!inteloa -- "Operator, trace this call and tell me where I am"