[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

Uhhh... All bullets drop with the same acceleration (9.8m/s^2). In fact, neglecting air resistance, if you fired a bullet horizontally and dropped another simultaneously, they would hit the ground at the same time. If your rifle is about 4’10” off the ground and horizontal (1.5 meters), ANY bullet you fire will hit the ground about .55s after it is fired (once again neglecting air resistance, sloped ground, etc.). The primary difference in their ballistic performance, aside from air resistance, is the horizontal speed (which determines how far they get in that .55s).

Now, obviously, we can’t ignore air resistance. But when you consider that (just doing the math) a muzzle-loader with a muzzle velocity of about 420 m/s held at 45 degrees from horizontal has a theoretical maximum range of ~57,500 ft (or 10.8 miles), even if we divide that distance by 4 or 5 to account for air resistance, we can still get 1.5 miles pretty easily...

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

In case you want to do the math for yourself:

Vertical Velocity = Muzzle Velocity * sin (angle)
Horizontal Velocity = Muzzle Velocity * cos (angle)

Time to reach ground = 2 * Vertical Velocity / Acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s^2)

Distance traveled during time in flight = Horizontal Velocity * Time to reach ground

I’m sure someone on this thread can give us some decent estimates of the rate of velocity lost due to air resistance, and we can recalculate. I don’t think it’s that far-fetched...

[jonno]

...they would hit the ground at the same time.

Assuming of course, a flat earth?

ducks!
8^)

[sam_paine]

All bullets drop with the same acceleration (9.8m/s^2).

Nonsense. Muzzle loaders were built long before 9.8m/s^2 was the standard and only fell at about 32ft/s^2.