Small Arms Exterior Ballistics Model

This chapter describes the small arms exterior ballistics model. Exterior ballistics is the study of the motion of a projectile fired from a gun. Physical forces that act on the projectile have been under study for more than a century. Trajectories, the curved paths of projectiles, have been described by differential equations. Solution by integration has yielded further information about these physical forces. Researchers have concentrated their studies of exterior ballistics mainly in the area of military applications. To initiate systems analysis, ballistics data were sought from the test laboratories of two manufacturers, Remington and Winchester. Both, as a matter of policy, refused the request on the grounds of confidentiality and suggested that some data were already available in published form. However, despite the refusal to provide test data, systems modeling becomes an even more attractive approach in that knowledge items provide a suitable substitute for data in building a small arms exterior ballistics model.