versifier
09-10-2014, 11:35 PM
A friend lent me a copy of Hatcher's Notebook. One of the best gun books I have ever read. I learned so much from it, still processing. I must get myself a copy. Damn that guy was a genius. I'm VERY glad he was on our side. Metallurgy, barrel design, bullet design, exterior ballistics, most of what we know today is the direct result of his experiments and testing, and even though much of it is over fifty years old it is still valid and usable and easily understandable today. I wish I had read the book thirty years ago.
If he and the military had been interested in cast bullets too it might also be a science instead of experimental alchemy. It's OK if jacketed bullets explode or burn or punch through steel armor plate or tumble in flesh and do catastrophic damage, but not expand. I have never understood that. Ma Deuce with linotype anyone? It really ought to be doable if you think about the MV's and the rotational energies. I bet the hand made gas checks would go at least a buck apiece though - I don't want to think about what the custom 600gr mould would cost. But it would be fun to try it.
If he and the military had been interested in cast bullets too it might also be a science instead of experimental alchemy. It's OK if jacketed bullets explode or burn or punch through steel armor plate or tumble in flesh and do catastrophic damage, but not expand. I have never understood that. Ma Deuce with linotype anyone? It really ought to be doable if you think about the MV's and the rotational energies. I bet the hand made gas checks would go at least a buck apiece though - I don't want to think about what the custom 600gr mould would cost. But it would be fun to try it.