Bullet yaw in this Youtube video

[Nhoro]

Hi all, just watched this video posted by Garand Thumb on YouTube. Pretty amazed at how much the bullet was beginning to yaw and maybe tumble after a fairly short trip through ballistics gel and plastic bones.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Not surprising. The bullet is obviously a blunt solid and very long. Overly long bullets tend to yaw after impact if they retain shape. What was interesting to me is the bullet trajectory seemed to maintain relatively on track through the target and only seemed to significantly yaw or tumble after exiting. I didn't find the exit wounds to be particularly large. It would have been more interesting if he'd tested a variety of bullets.

 

[BourbonTrail]

@michael458

 

[roklok]

Interesting indeed, these appear to be the Barnes banded flatnose solids. At 10:24 the bullet can be seen yawing well before exit.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

Bullets in flight do NOT stabilize fully for 10, 20, and sometimes over 100 yards!
The distance depends on velocity, bullet weight and length, barrel twist, and probably other factors.

Chances are those shots at the ballistic dummy were at 10 yards or less and the subject bullets had not fully stabilized. Any bullet with pitch and yaw hitting a more dense medium that the air it was traveling through will probably become more unstable. Remember, bullets are spinning at high RPM.

458 Win twist rate: 1 in 14"
Velocity: 2150 fps
RPM: 110,571

 

[roklok]

Not sure I agree with the bullet stabilization theory. If its not stable as it exits the muzzle, not sure its going to magically stabilize further downrange. Maybe I am wrong on that point. Regardless, the ranges at which the video was showing is consistent with close range DG shots on buff and elephant.

 

[MRBlack]

Hornady had an interesting podcast on bullet stabilization I just finished up. Certainly not as definitive and concise as I would have preferred, but very informative. I believe it was called “Let’s Talk Twist Rate”

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

Ballistics is a complex subject that is often misunderstood, a basic concept is (as explained to me by a ballastician ) is a bullet leaves the barrel unstable, think of all the forces acting against it, and enters the supersonic stage, and at a certain point/distance it settles down as it overcomes the push and spin forces and stabilises (goes to sleep) then at another point/distance it exits the supersonic phase and becomes unstable again. The distances vary depending on exit speed, temperature, etc and bullet weight, it’s coefficient and several other factors, depending on the point in its flight is how it reacts when it meets an obstacle
Simple……….
Gumpy