An ancient and precise science, that of ballistics should be well known by every good hunter
An ancient and precise science, that of ballistics should be well known by every good hunterDiscovering the secrets of internal hunting ballistics could give you some more success during a long and fun day of hunting.
The foundation of hunting, often mistakenly taken for granted, ballistics is a science that every hunter should have the rudiments of. Branch of physics, it is the scientific study of the movement of heavy bodies launched into space and falling more specifically of the projectiles launched by firearms.
So far, little and nothing new, but the discussion becomes more complicated when we go into detail. In fact, ballistics is divided into Internal Ballistics and External Ballistics. The first branch is concerned with the movement of the bullet inside the muzzle, while the second is concerned with the movement of the bullets that have exited the muzzle.
If internal ballistics is mainly concerned with the thermodynamic forces unleashed during the deflagration, which give impetus to the projectile, external ballistics is mainly concerned with the external motion of the projectile, largely determined by its weight and friction with the air.
Ballistics is called hunting when it is specifically interested in hunting ammunition and exactly this science every good hunter should be interested in. In this sector, the topic relating to gunpowder becomes particularly sensitive.
The elements that can affect their performance are very numerous. The main variable and particularly feared by those who have made hunting their passion is represented by atmospheric conditions (temperature and humidity) which will be able to influence the explosive phenomenon in the first place and again the fundamental trajectory of the shot.
How temperature and humidity can affect the explosive phenomenon is easy to say: the combustion of gunpowder and its relative effectiveness is in fact often influenced by the external climate because if the internal temperature of the powder is higher, it burns more quickly. otherwise it will burn more slowly. This rule is valid in conditions of equal humidity.
In fact, it is well known that excesses of humidity in gunpowder severely limit the speed of its combustion, at the same time reducing its temperature. Of course, the hunter must be particularly interested in the humidity of the gunpowder and certainly not the humidity of the air which has no short-term influence on the phenomena of internal ballistics, provided that, this is logical, the cartridges are not the have absorbed for lasting exposure.
What we are interested in investigating here is the percentage of changes in temperature and humidity that can influence the effectiveness of the cartridges during a day of hunting. Normally during a typical hunting day the temperature never changes too quickly; it is rather the humidity that varies. In any case, these are changes that cannot significantly affect the performance of a good cartridge. The only differences a hunter will actually perceive will be related to a very slight variation in the amount of recoil, or a certain difference in the noise of the shotgun shot.
It is therefore more correct to say that the variations in the yield of a cartridge during the same hunting day are related rather than to climatic changes, to external ballistics factors, which we will discuss in the following articles, and to changes in the mental and physical conditions of the hunter.
In any case, during a hunting day, situations can occur that really have the ability to negatively affect the efficiency of gunpowder:
- it is strongly not recommended to leave the cartridges exposed for hours to the heat of the sun, as is commonly the case for cartridges inserted in the cartridge case;
- in the same way it is not good practice to expose the cartridges to cold and ice inside the shed;
- it is not recommended to leave the cartridges in the car in the sun or expose them to rain and fog.
These are obviously extreme situations that will inevitably invalidate the effectiveness of the cartridges, to be kept under control when possible.
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