eagleridge357
.223 Rem
My gun range buddy (seemingly at first judgment not the brightest candle in the room) and I were having a conversation about whether RH or LH rifling twist is better for a 4" handgun barrel. I told him my revolver had RH twist, and shoots accurately. He opines "get LH twist next time and notice a real difference in accuracy". I ask "HUH? LH is actually better than RH?" He answered "9 times out of 10 it is". He offered no explanation as to why 1 in 10 times it isn't.
I studied him, guessing his demeanor and way of speaking were indicative of a smart engineer type of guy. I decided to probe. "And, just why is that so?" I asked, feeling my conversation victory close at hand. "Well," he began, pushing his eyeglasses closer to his eyes, as if to get a better look at me, "In the northern hemisphere the coriolis forces act quite differently on a rotating bullet vs the same bullet fired in the southern hemisphere" he grinned, sensing his complete dominance over my limited mind. He continued "in our (northern) hemisphere it is quite proper to use a LH twist, as the RH twist would not counterbalance the coriolis force, and produce an shot of inferior accuracy, as compared to the RH twist".
My jaw dropped, and my heart almost stopped beating. "You mean it has that effect on my shooting?" "YUP" he declared triumphantly, and turned to depart. "WAIT" I said. I remembered a short discussion of coriolis force from high school physics. "Only if I fire perpendicular to the axis of the coriolis is that true" I knew I had him there, because I knew the range was situated in an east-west orientation. He raised his engineer-like eyebrows and replied "depends on whether you shoot facing east or west". He had me again. DAMN!
I then thought about the "1 time in 10" factor. "And just why does this happen only 9 times in 10" I asked, grinning from ear to ear, feeling a turn-around victory for me. He replied, "Well, if there are enough shooters at the range wearing metal belt buckles, the combined electro-magnetic attractive force of the metal buckle mass against the small weight of the bullet would definitely affect the trajectory. However, there is approximately a very small chance, about .89% in fact, that there would be that much belt buckle mass present at any given time. "Therefore," he stated grinning even more confidently than I had grinned at him, "only 9 times in 10 it is true".
This time as he turned to walk away I felt a bit relieved. I did not try to stop him. "Poor soul", I heard myself mutter to myself, "He had a chance to be a lawyer and chose engineering. What a waste". Moral of this story? Choose your friends well, that is if you need to maintain your sanity.
ETA: no this was not copied from anywhere.
I studied him, guessing his demeanor and way of speaking were indicative of a smart engineer type of guy. I decided to probe. "And, just why is that so?" I asked, feeling my conversation victory close at hand. "Well," he began, pushing his eyeglasses closer to his eyes, as if to get a better look at me, "In the northern hemisphere the coriolis forces act quite differently on a rotating bullet vs the same bullet fired in the southern hemisphere" he grinned, sensing his complete dominance over my limited mind. He continued "in our (northern) hemisphere it is quite proper to use a LH twist, as the RH twist would not counterbalance the coriolis force, and produce an shot of inferior accuracy, as compared to the RH twist".
My jaw dropped, and my heart almost stopped beating. "You mean it has that effect on my shooting?" "YUP" he declared triumphantly, and turned to depart. "WAIT" I said. I remembered a short discussion of coriolis force from high school physics. "Only if I fire perpendicular to the axis of the coriolis is that true" I knew I had him there, because I knew the range was situated in an east-west orientation. He raised his engineer-like eyebrows and replied "depends on whether you shoot facing east or west". He had me again. DAMN!
I then thought about the "1 time in 10" factor. "And just why does this happen only 9 times in 10" I asked, grinning from ear to ear, feeling a turn-around victory for me. He replied, "Well, if there are enough shooters at the range wearing metal belt buckles, the combined electro-magnetic attractive force of the metal buckle mass against the small weight of the bullet would definitely affect the trajectory. However, there is approximately a very small chance, about .89% in fact, that there would be that much belt buckle mass present at any given time. "Therefore," he stated grinning even more confidently than I had grinned at him, "only 9 times in 10 it is true".
This time as he turned to walk away I felt a bit relieved. I did not try to stop him. "Poor soul", I heard myself mutter to myself, "He had a chance to be a lawyer and chose engineering. What a waste". Moral of this story? Choose your friends well, that is if you need to maintain your sanity.
ETA: no this was not copied from anywhere.
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