Author Topic: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS  (Read 933 times)

Offline LTOWN

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LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« on: October 20, 2014, 07:24:06 PM »
why dont you update this?..thousands of planes fell to 303, 30-06, 7.9 jap, or 8mm mauser bullets..while not as deadly as 50 cal, they should have lethality in the numbers they carry..in the dueling arena, they seem to do better than late war main..

anybody else vote yes on 30 cal updates?

Offline SmokinLoon

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2014, 07:50:46 PM »
What is there to update?  It take X amount of hits per Y area, or to a specific piece of the aircraft for the .30 cal FMJ's to cause catastrophic failure of said part.

There is no argument that the .30 caliber weapons in WWI and early WWII downed aircraft.  Test out a Hurricane Mk I or Spitfire Mk I vs other early way aircraft and there is plenty of firepower to go around. Keep in mind that range is a factor.

The .30 cal FMJ's in AH do between .28 and .31 lbs of damage per round.

The .50 cal FMJ's in AH do between .92 and 1.17 lbs of damage per round.

The 20mm "HE" in AH do between 3.25 and 4.03 lbs of damage.
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Offline guncrasher

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2014, 08:31:34 PM »
you know how many airplanes I shot down when i used to fly the spit8 and I would drop my extra tank and forget to press the back space?  many times I would go in for landing and notice that my 20mm was never selected but was almost out of gas.  I know a couple of other guys who consistently would do it too.


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Offline Zimme83

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2014, 08:32:50 PM »
I would say that a .30 cal round would do more than 1/3 of the damage that a .50 cal round do if firing on an aircraft. Most of the bullets energy will not stay in the aircraft because neither of the bullets will have much problem to penetrate the structure of an aircraft, especially the .50 cal will pass trough most structures on a fighter.
 
But i guess the problem is in the type of ammunition used, For ex spits and hurricanes during BoB used mainly AP and incendiary rounds that is much more effective in downing aircrafts than FMJ rounds.
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Offline SmokinLoon

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2014, 09:17:37 PM »
I would say that a .30 cal round would do more than 1/3 of the damage that a .50 cal round do if firing on an aircraft. Most of the bullets energy will not stay in the aircraft because neither of the bullets will have much problem to penetrate the structure of an aircraft, especially the .50 cal will pass trough most structures on a fighter.
 
But i guess the problem is in the type of ammunition used, For ex spits and hurricanes during BoB used mainly AP and incendiary rounds that is much more effective in downing aircrafts than FMJ rounds.


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Offline Mitchell

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2014, 09:24:07 PM »
I may be mistaken but I believe I read somewhere that MG rounds in game are modeled as a mix of different ammo types. So 1 MG round is a little bit armor piercing, a little FMJ, and incendiary, ect...

Offline Squire

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2014, 11:13:02 PM »
Convergance and firing range matter a lot with 30s. They can be effective. 
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Offline glzsqd

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2014, 11:24:40 PM »
303s work fine as long as you can get concentration within their effective range, which would be inside d300. I set my 303/30cal guns to 225 convergence.
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Offline bustr

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2014, 12:36:48 PM »
semp, tell them the secret.

Spit8 .303, you need to be shooting at a slight angle so you magic BB the pilot through the side of the canopy. The wide mounting of the four .303 in the spit8 creates a large dispersion area just past convergence. If you stagger their convergence like (B1 250), (B2 275), you will have a dispersion cloud for runway vulching that almost always gives you pilot kills. Then if they do get up slow and turning, you will snap shoot a BB into the canopy. You can kill bombers that way by HOing at close range into the pilot side windscreen. Either when they spawn, or are trolling around at ground level for fighter kills. I watched semp a long time ago getting his kills in the spit8. Who do you think taught me heheheheh.

Offline when you use the .303 from inside of 400, your rounds are always dropping into the side of the canopy due to the lazy turning circle and because of the slow speeds, you can concentrate your rounds. Depending on the plane, some go down quickly, some don't. You can get armor descriptions for the rear 180 protection of the pilot. Some were better than others. HiTech seems to model that. 

After BoB, both sides started adding more armor to fighters. With a .303, then you needed to kill the pilot or, punch little holes all over the place hoping to damage enough hoses, electrical conduit, air bottles and cables to force the plane down or RTB.

With the spit8 I often get 2 kills after the 20mm's are out. Usually during a 45-90 deflection shot raking the canopy or a 6 shot 15-30 degree angle off into the canopy. Or HOing a bomber's cockpit. Otherwise just assist city against all of the late war rides.
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Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2014, 02:11:29 PM »
You don't down the plane by damage with the .303 ..  you spray enough bullets to the plane to make it drop out of the sky by sheer weight  :noid  :devil
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Offline MrKrabs

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2014, 01:14:44 AM »
Ltown... Save the whining for nitland you'll wear yourself out...
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Offline guncrasher

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2014, 01:32:35 AM »
semp, tell them the secret.



my convergence has always been at 200 on all turn fighters.  I specially used to love the 190's that always thought they could turn with a spit8.  on a turn specially when the bleed their e you can hit them in the nose every time.  if they're fast then you are sol.  but turn fighting that's when the the bb's are more lethal but you gotta be at close range.  I wouldnt really bother at anything over 400 except shoot a few and make them nervous enough to try to turn and get them slower.

but if they go straight unless you are shooting cannon you only gonna tickle their tail feathers.  just not enough power on the .303 unless you had a few seconds to hit the wing at 200. and even then it's hard.

one thing is for sure, p47's any of them will always seem to be immune to .303.  I remember many occasions when I would get them slow and I would use up all my ammo (no cannon as I would be out or whatever)  and they would just look back laugh and give me the finger.

semp
you dont want me to ho, dont point your plane at me.

Offline GhostCDB

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2014, 02:07:45 AM »
LTOWN has found out about the forums, we are in for a real treat.
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Offline LTOWN

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #13 on: October 22, 2014, 03:36:36 AM »
the "lbs of damage" seems light to me,but i didnt invent the game :headscratch:

Offline Lusche

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Re: LETHALITY OF 30CAL/8MM GUNS
« Reply #14 on: October 22, 2014, 04:27:24 AM »
the "lbs of damage" seems light to me,but i didn't invent the game :headscratch:

This is just an arbitrary unit scale not necessarily meant to reflect real world "lbs of damage", as there really ain't such thing there.

The 1000lb bomb is set as the reference point in AH doing 1000 "lbs" of damage to structures at range 0. A 250lb bomb does about 313lb of damage, a 20mm Hispano round about 4lb.
A town building takes 313lb to destroy, a hangar 2.781lb

Instead of lb, HT could also have used any other term like "damage points" or so.

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