• danc4498@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I know nothing about guns or bullets, but is it possible the type of gun, or the specific bullet mattered?

    • FullPenguin@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      No, not really. The type of gun doesn’t make a difference aside from the length of the barrel, but that’s pretty negligible for anything remotely normal (i.e. not a ~4-10inch barrel in this case).

      Same thing with the cartridge/bullet, total energy varies bullet to bullet, but again, in a negligible way.

      The real explanation is that the damage people expect from this cartridge is caused by hydrostatic shock: the shockwave caused by the bullet entering and slowing down significantly (transferring energy). Hitting somewhere soft and without much muscle mass, the side of the neck, let the bullet pass through without transferring a ton of energy.

      • theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The type of gun can matter, for example an autoloading rifle is not quite as powerful as a bolt action rifle because it uses some of the energy to cycle the bolt and load the next bullet. The shooter allegedly used a bolt action rifle, though, which should basically be “the most powerful” type of rifle.

        • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 day ago

          OMG, listening to some of y’all talk about this shit that have no experience or business trying to explain about ballistics and rifles and ammunition etc. is just hilarious.

    • BillyClark@piefed.social
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      2 days ago

      The type of bullet definitely, 100% matters. Some bullets have more mass than other bullets, and the material of the bullet can be harder or softer. All of that will affect the type of damage. The amount of powder used to fire the bullet also affects its kinetic energy when hitting the target.