What's the minimum speed needed for a pistol bullet to be effective? I think the old black powder pistols were only about 700 feet per second.
About tree fiddy.
>>34731723
>The quality of posts is extremely important to this community. Contributors are encouraged to provide high-quality images and informative comments.
>>34731744
hello newfriend
>>34731777
I've been here for 8 years. That's longer than most convicts spend in prison.
>>34731714
>I think the old black powder pistols were only about 700 feet per second.
With a short enough barrel and damp enough powder any thing's possible, but normally I'd expect a lot faster. The two tested here (fourth and bottom) managed 1440fps and 1260fps respectively at the muzzle. For most old blackpowder pistols low supersonic is probably a good guess.
Source: http://www.mediafire.com/file/in0nzztoytz/For_show_or_safety.pdf
As for how much speed is necessary to start doing noticeable harm, here's a look at what it takes to break skin: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7175470
Going by that 2J per square centimetre of cross sectional area might be a decent rule of thumb for the minimum necessary to do anything without hitting an eye.
>>34731788
How fast were the black powder loads for 45 Colt?
>>34731806
Just grabbing something off of Google's first page (seems finding more material would be next to trivial to find if you want to look it up in more depth):
>By 1880 they had been surpassed by .45 Colt, .44 WCF (.44-40) and .44 Russian. The .45 Colt was tops. From a 7-1/2-inch barrel a powder charge of 35 grains (civilian loads) would easily push a 250-grain bullet past 900 fps. Military issue loads were a bit milder with 30 grains under the same bullet for about 800 fps.
https://gunsmagazine.com/black-powder-cartridge-ballistics/
So for the various six shooters and what not I guess 700fps starts looking more reasonable.
>>34731826
You mean to tell me that Old West loads were hotter than what I can buy today without going +P? Damn, the ammo companies must really be Jewing us down on the gunpowder.
>>34731836
Another reason could be that when you make ammo that people may end up shooting through guns that are well past a century in age, a bit of prudence can keep your legal department from going outright militant on you.
>>34731865
I don't believe that. Buffalo Bore sells nothing but hot loads, and they've never been sued. Even their standard pressure 45 Colt loads start a 255 grain bullet at 1000.
>>34731788
>A round nose, caliber .38 lead bullet weighing 113 grains perforated skin at 58 m/s (191 ft/s)
Dam Son, that's pretty slow.