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To: Ford Fairlane
Thank you ...

One more question I'll leave ya all alone.

Does tumbing mean it's malfunctioning?
1,081 posted on 10/14/2002 9:25:49 PM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Does tumbing mean it's malfunctioning?

It depends. Tumbling prior to impact is generally not good because it will seriously degrade accuracy. But, if it doesn't tumble until after impact, it might be OK -- depending on whether you wanted it to do that.

The problem is that designing a firearm to induce tumble upon impact at a certain range means that the bullet will be unstable at ranges longer than that.

So, there's no single answer, unless you specify the constraints of the question.

1,110 posted on 10/14/2002 9:31:22 PM PDT by justlurking
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Does tumbing mean it's malfunctioning

Only if the projectile tumbles before it hits the target.

That is why the mountain rifles in the revoulutionary war gave out boys an advantage over the british with their (unrifled) muskets

Rifling, and centrifugal spin of the projectile, forces the projectile to travel straighter, whereas if it tumbles it can go anywhere depending on what axis it decides to tumble on

1,137 posted on 10/14/2002 9:35:48 PM PDT by Ford Fairlane
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
I know that was to Ford Fairlane, but I hope you don't mind me throwing in my $.02, too.

I tumbling round does not indicate a malfunctioning firearm, per se. For instance, the shooter might just be using the wrong bullet weight for the amount of barrel twist. Like I mentioned above, the military originally used a 62 grain bullet with a barrel that had a 1:9 twist in their M-16 and derivative rifles. That was changed a few years back to a 55gr bullet with a 1:12 twist. If you mix and match the barrels with ammo they weren't designed for, you'll probably get tumbling, but they work fine with what they're designed for.

It could also just be a poorly design firearm. Since one of the primary rules of judicious firearm use is to know your target and what lies beyond it, if the weapon does not allow the shooter to know the bullet path, I would say that's a malfunctioning arm.

1,149 posted on 10/14/2002 9:37:37 PM PDT by Tree of Liberty
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
see if your local library has a '50s or '60s book the title is "classic rifleman" or something like that i believe by P.O. Ackley it does a good job explaining this stuff - actually any book by Ackley is good
1,178 posted on 10/14/2002 9:41:10 PM PDT by Ford Fairlane
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