"New theory of ballistics"

[locksly]

I found this funny story on a gun auction site will share it here. Thread Title: "New theory of ballistics"
Not really a hunting story- but a true SHOOTING story. During the late 60's I was head of an Army Basic Training company. Thanks to the edict of our beloved Secretary of Defense Mc Namara, we had accepted a LARGE number of young men that were- well, not too bright (MacNamara's 10 thousand). We had them at the basic rifle range, shooting at pop up targets with M-14s. My colonel stopped in to check on training. We were walking the firing line, and the troops were doing well. Except one of our MacNamara's kids- he was prone, but had rolled all the way onto his left side- sights were parallel to the ground, banging away. The Colonel looked at this- and then at me with a questioning look. We stopped the shooter, and asked what was the reason for this strange firing position. He thought for a minute, and then explained that his sgt had explained that them bullets did not travel in a straight line- they curved. And he figured he could lie on his side, and them bullets would CURVE around that bush and hit the target. Ever see a senior Infantry Colonel trying real hard not to laugh out loud?

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To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

[1CAVCCO15MED]

Uhhhh. Did it work?

[82Rigger]

Fred,

Of course it works! It's part of Murphy's law of non-linear trajectories, which also explains why

"The harder you pull the trigger, the further the bullet will go."

[revwardoc]

Steve,

That's like saying, "If you "throw" the handgun forward as you fire, the faster the bullets will go!"

[locksly]

["The harder you pull the trigger, the further the bullet will go."] The further astray the bullet will go.

[39mto39g]

If you drive your car at 100 MPH and turn on your headlights, is the beam of light traveling greater than the speed of light?

[locksly]

I am not an expert on science but the light is energy not mass or an object that can be acted on by gravity. So I say it traveles at the speed of light and no faster . Any scientests out there please .

[82Rigger]

Locksly,

You are correct. According to Einstein the speed of light - 186,242 miles per second - is absolute.

The speed of light has several properties which may seem counter-intuitive to us, but are true:

-Nothing travels faster than the speed of light.

-No matter how fast you are moving the speed of light seems to be the same speed as if you were not moving at all.

-For an object or person accelerating toward the speed of light, time slows down.

This last property leads to the "twins" effect: Twin brothers live on Earth. One brother takes a trip to a distant star traveling at a high percentage of the speed of light. When the twin returns he will be younger than his brother because for him time slowed down during the trip.

This effect, called "time dilation," helps explain why the speed of light is the same no matter how fast you are going. As a traveler accelerates time slows down for him.

An object in motion is shorter (in the linear direction of motion) and denser and this effect increases exponentially as you approach the speed of light.

A railroad train with 100 cars traveling at 60 MPH is about two centimeters shorter and several pounds heavier than when it is at rest.

Some of these precepts seem impossible, but only because we are not used to thinking in terms of relativety.

[revwardoc]

There was an old Negro Leagues player called "Cool Papa" Bell who people say was so fast that he could turn out the lights and be in bed before the room got dark!

[Keith_Hixson]

I don't get all this techical talk!

Keith