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[psionicspear]

Heres a thought.
Do bullets travel significantly faster at high altitudes as a result of a rarefied atmosphere, and how would that impact on say, a long range sniper.

Comments

[sith_jester]

Part of your problem would be that the explosion that moved the bullet would have less oxygene to burn so you would get less initial push, in theory the 'thinner' air would allow faster transport and less resistance but also less 'support' for the rotation.

You might find that they would just spiral wildly out from the barrel.

[psionicspear]

So you reckon a gunpowder charge, in a sealed shell, use oxygen to push a bullet out a barrell.

[sith_jester]

Now your talking firearms modifications, google guns in space and see what might come up.

[psionicspear]

No i'm not, a regular shell contains gunpowder, which oxidises itself doesnt it? You could probably fire a regular shell in vacuum, no worries. Hence, atmospheric oxygen content isnt going to affect the mechanism.

[theunknowndude]

yeah not entirely sure but wouldnt the explosion have to do with the amount of oxygen content?

out of interest, can a gun be fired underwater? cos I know ya not sposed to get a gun wet etc (like the wrapped guns that commandos carry so that they can swim underwater with rifles etc) can they be fired under water at all? or is that just hollywood?

[psionicspear]

there are rifles/handguns made specifically so they can be used underwater

Look up super-cavitating bullets. Mach 1+ underwater :P