Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: Fender16 on February 17, 2009, 09:37:18 PM

Title: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Fender16 on February 17, 2009, 09:37:18 PM
I stumbled across this video on youtube and it got me thinking.
It would be interesting to see this implemented into the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f9cqhuARrM&feature=related

I really don't see the bullets bouncing off of dirt but could they bounce off cement at air bases?
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: ScatterFire on February 17, 2009, 09:57:14 PM
I stumbled across this video on youtube and it got me thinking.
It would be interesting to see this implemented into the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f9cqhuARrM&feature=related

I really don't see the bullets bouncing off of dirt but could they bounce off cement at air bases?
My bullets bounce off things all the time   :rofl
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Shane on February 17, 2009, 10:03:48 PM
My bullets bounce off things all the time   :rofl

at least yours are hitting something.   :noid
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: ImADot on February 17, 2009, 10:45:34 PM
I see them bounce of tanks all the time in-game.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Chalenge on February 17, 2009, 11:11:54 PM
I think .50 cals would penetrate the road surface and even if not they would lose most of their energy. That tank probably leaked fuel that burned or fumes ignited but knock a Tiger out?
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Fender16 on February 17, 2009, 11:48:20 PM
I don't think they could blow the Tiger up but could damage the engine?

I found a few records of pilots using this technique to disable tanks.
Just a random idea that crossed my mind.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: frank3 on February 18, 2009, 05:19:30 AM
I think .50 cals would penetrate the road surface and even if not they would lose most of their energy. That tank probably leaked fuel that burned or fumes ignited but knock a Tiger out?

Could it be that the tank was carrying external fuel tanks? (or jerrycans?) I doubt those would be heavily armored, might be that the bullets hit those
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: RipChord929 on February 18, 2009, 06:37:36 AM
The in game 50cals were castrated about a year ago..
I disagreed with that, but they did it, so whatever...

Bouncing bullets, don't act like billiard balls ya know...
Deformation, fragmentation, shedding of the jacket,
all make for a splattering effect.. There is no way
you could aim or control that.. But ya CAN get lucky!!!

Then, this IS a game, so they can make it any way
they want...

RC
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: moot on February 18, 2009, 06:53:38 AM
Castrated?
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Cthulhu on February 18, 2009, 08:22:38 AM
Castrated?
It's called a 50 Short. Don't you know anything m00t?  :D
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Kweassa on February 18, 2009, 08:39:17 AM
Quote
The in game 50cals were castrated about a year ago..
I disagreed with that, but they did it, so whatever...

Nothing changed.



Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: moot on February 18, 2009, 08:42:54 AM
It's called a 50 Short. Don't you know anything m00t?  :D
What was the question again?  :confused:
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Karnak on February 18, 2009, 01:30:29 PM
The in game 50cals were castrated about a year ago..
I disagreed with that, but they did it, so whatever...
No they weren't.  There were no changes made to them.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Ack-Ack on February 18, 2009, 02:23:25 PM
The in game 50cals were castrated about a year ago..
I disagreed with that, but they did it, so whatever...

Castrated?

Forgive him m00t, RipChord has no idea what he's talking about. 


ack-ack
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: morfiend on February 18, 2009, 06:13:47 PM
Ya the 50 was changed from ball ammo to API


  :noid
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: BaDkaRmA158Th on February 19, 2009, 03:49:40 AM
Didnt some fighters adopt the tactic of shooting .50's under the tank so they would bounce back up and destroy the soft underbelly?
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: moot on February 19, 2009, 04:06:31 AM
That was debunked IIRC.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Obie303 on February 19, 2009, 07:41:26 AM
If we are talking about real life situations......any projectile will "bounce" if the round hits at the correct angle.  Of course there are some exceptions.  For example frangible rounds that are designed to break apart on impact to reduce ricochet.  http://frangibleammo.com/ (http://frangibleammo.com/)  (that website has videos demonstrating pistol, shotgun, rifle, and 50 cal ammo) 

In-game, I've seen round only bounce off tanks and other ground vehicles.  It would be interesting if somebody had proof otherwise.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Wingnutt on February 20, 2009, 05:44:04 PM
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6635752499311348219&ei=VkCfScW6HZLW-gHH-KjNCQ&q=tiger+tank&hl=en

video shows that the bullets very much do bounce, not just off paved roads but the ground in general.

Former jug pilot also speaks of ricocheting them under the tanks.

"we would shoot the bulllets right underneath the tank and they bounce up from the ground or whatever road they were on up into the inside of the tank because they were not armor plated on the bottom"
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Kweassa on February 20, 2009, 07:13:40 PM
Quote
"we would shoot the bulllets right underneath the tank and they bounce up from the ground or whatever road they were on up into the inside of the tank because they were not armor plated on the bottom"

Gee.. then I wonder why them soldiers haven't thought of the revolutionary AT-tactic, which involves digging a lot of rabbit holes and shooting tanks from the underbelly as they pass over. Or. another awesome tactic would be to do the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" Indy move, by making someone crawl under the tank and shoot their guns at the belly.

... wait, an even better idea. Why go through the trouble of developing AT mines, when one can simply bury .50 guns underground with the barrel sticking up, and rig them up to fire when a tank passes by?


Man.. them WW2-era guys mustabeen real stupid, eh?  :devil

Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: E25280 on February 20, 2009, 08:44:17 PM
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6635752499311348219&ei=VkCfScW6HZLW-gHH-KjNCQ&q=tiger+tank&hl=en
"we would shoot the bulllets right underneath the tank and they bounce up from the ground or whatever road they were on up into the inside of the tank because they were not armor plated on the bottom"
Odd statement . . . so a bullet bouncing off the ground retains enough energy to penetrate an inch or so of armor on the underside of a Tiger, but the same bullet fired directly at the inch or so of armor on top of the tank didn't have enough energy to penetrate?
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Wingnutt on February 20, 2009, 09:07:43 PM
Odd statement . . . so a bullet bouncing off the ground retains enough energy to penetrate an inch or so of armor on the underside of a Tiger, but the same bullet fired directly at the inch or so of armor on top of the tank didn't have enough energy to penetrate?


I would guess a tiger tank has more than an "inch or so" of armor on the top...

I also think it probably to do with as much as the type of metal as it did its thickness  not all pieces of steel are created equal.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: theNewB on February 20, 2009, 09:33:33 PM
25 millimeters = 0.98inches

believe that was the tigers top and bottom armour.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Krusty on February 20, 2009, 09:57:47 PM
For the luvva Pyro, do a search!!

Been discussed AD NAUSEUM! Bullets did NOT, repeat NOT NOT NOT bounce off roads and pierce tank undersides.

No more than Spitfire pilots claiming to break the speed of sound, or 262 pilots or jug pilots, claiming to break the speed of sound.

The physics of the statements have been proven wrong SO many times.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Chalenge on February 20, 2009, 11:29:02 PM
Im pretty sure if anything whats burning is the oil reservoir but honestly think about it. If a tank was so soft on the belly that a .50 could penetrate it then it could never be torsionally sound and would have cracked open regularly. The Germans have always had better engineering then that.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Wingnutt on February 20, 2009, 11:33:02 PM
For the luvva Pyro, do a search!!

Been discussed AD NAUSEUM! Bullets did NOT, repeat NOT NOT NOT bounce off roads and pierce tank undersides.

No more than Spitfire pilots claiming to break the speed of sound, or 262 pilots or jug pilots, claiming to break the speed of sound.

The physics of the statements have been proven wrong SO many times.

Well, the guy did it in real life is wrong. the armchair generals say so  :rolleyes:

It was a complte waste of time, even though it apparently was a teached tactic when dealing with armor..  but thats ok, the AH model has it right, 50,000 rounds of 50 cal wont even scratch a tiger..  after all, what do the people who did it in real life know anyway... pfft, very little compared to our panel of video game experts.   :aok


oh yea, from what ive read the tiger had 25mm of top armor, and 20mm of bottom armor... but dont let that get in the way of your assumptions.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Wingnutt on February 20, 2009, 11:43:03 PM
Im pretty sure if anything whats burning is the oil reservoir but honestly think about it. If a tank was so soft on the belly that a .50 could penetrate it then it could never be torsionally sound

its intersting you mention that, one of the main flaws of the tiger was that it had a notoriously brittle drive train, mainly the gears and the suspension system were prone to failure due to the fact they they were never designed to handle a chassis as with the mass as they tiger's   in fact the The Maybach HL 230 that powered the tiger was quickly de-tuned from 700hp to 600 because of frequent drive train failure from overstress.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Krusty on February 21, 2009, 12:48:30 AM
Well, the guy did it in real life is wrong. the armchair generals say so  :rolleyes:

Seriously? You have GOT to be the worst troll ever, or the most naive person ever. How do you survive in the real world?

Trust me, don't drink the kool-aid. You're the type that accepts everything told to you as gospel, so I'll spoil the ending: there is no gate in heaven, no alien mothership, it's just arsenic in the drink!
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Karnak on February 21, 2009, 12:58:54 AM
Well, the guy did it in real life is wrong. the armchair generals say so  :rolleyes:

It was a complte waste of time, even though it apparently was a teached tactic when dealing with armor..  but thats ok, the AH model has it right, 50,000 rounds of 50 cal wont even scratch a tiger..  after all, what do the people who did it in real life know anyway... pfft, very little compared to our panel of video game experts.   :aok


oh yea, from what ive read the tiger had 25mm of top armor, and 20mm of bottom armor... but dont let that get in the way of your assumptions.
Read some actual history.

In post action studies of German tanks knocked out by aircraft the RAF found two that had been destroyed by 20mm cannons.  All the rest were done by bombs and rockets.

Next, try using some brains.  In order to bounce bullets off the roadway and have them ricochet under the tank the angle is going to be very, very shallow.  So, you have a tumbling .50 cal round that has lost energy in the impact with the ground hitting the bottom armor of the tank at an angle of no greater than 15 degrees and you think that has a chance in hell of penetrating?


Pilots reported and were told all sorts of false things.  My grandma got angry and offended when I told her there were no arrows pointing at Pearl cut into the cane fields.  I watched one WWII training film that instructed US soldiers not to worry about the menacing sound of the MG42, a gun with a rate of fire so fast you couldn't hear the individual rounds fire, telling them its bark was worse than its bite.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Krusty on February 21, 2009, 01:04:05 AM
If you watch historic footage of MG fire, you'll find that ricochettes tend to fly parallel to the surface they hit. They'll fly along walls, along roads. Somebody brought up the fact that's why cops or military don't hug the ground, because they'll increase the odds of being hit.

So a P-51 firing at the ground by a tank is just bouncing their bullets along the ground until they hit the first target: the treads. By now the bullets are so mangled and shattered they'd hardly scratch the paint.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: moot on February 21, 2009, 02:33:11 AM
LOL  who's the video game expert?
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: USCH on February 21, 2009, 08:40:34 AM
whats the big round things in the back of the Tiger?? and how thick are they?.... just wondering if hitting Fuel Oil or a pulley or Other useless part of the Engine would stop it from running just like umm all the other internall combustion engines of well EVER.


Just cuz the turrets were not blown 50ft into the air doesn't mean thy weren't knocked out
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: moot on February 21, 2009, 09:45:22 AM
Smoke canisters?
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: theNewB on February 21, 2009, 02:03:39 PM
2 things on the back of the tiger I's 2 long vertical cylinders in the middle...exhaust outlets.

2 "canisters" located on outter sides were air filters.

http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/4635/tanks/tiger1/tiger_501_rear.jpg (http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/4635/tanks/tiger1/tiger_501_rear.jpg)
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Karnak on February 21, 2009, 02:43:09 PM
whats the big round things in the back of the Tiger?? and how thick are they?.... just wondering if hitting Fuel Oil or a pulley or Other useless part of the Engine would stop it from running just like umm all the other internall combustion engines of well EVER.


Just cuz the turrets were not blown 50ft into the air doesn't mean thy weren't knocked out
Repeating, in post battlefield inspections the British found that of all tanks knocked out by aircraft, two had been destroyed by 20mm cannon fire and all the rest by bombs or rockets.  Not a single tank was destroyed by heavy machine gun fire.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: E25280 on February 21, 2009, 03:21:25 PM
Well, the guy did it in real life is wrong. the armchair generals say so  :rolleyes:

It was a complte waste of time, even though it apparently was a teached tactic when dealing with armor..  but thats ok, the AH model has it right, 50,000 rounds of 50 cal wont even scratch a tiger..  after all, what do the people who did it in real life know anyway... pfft, very little compared to our panel of video game experts.   :aok


oh yea, from what ive read the tiger had 25mm of top armor, and 20mm of bottom armor... but dont let that get in the way of your assumptions.
Yes, the guys who thought they did it in real life were wrong.  Or they were never able to do it themselves, but "knew" it could happen because of stories of others.  Doesn't make them liars, if that is what you think we are calling them.  It just makes them mistaken.

So please tell me how a .50cal round, after losing energy by striking a solid object, deflecting upward and striking more than 3/4 inch of steel at an oblique angle can penetrate said steel.  That is your assumption, so prove it out.


<Sidenote> After listening to the clip a few times, I am not even sure the "unarmored bottom of the tank" he is referring to is the Tiger, or the fuel tank he mentions were sometimes towed behind them. 

Regardless, the true effectiveness of air interdiction against armored columns was not harming the tanks themselves, but destroying the unarmored fuel and ammo trucks that accompanied them.  Deprive the thirsty monsters of fuel, they become nothing better than pillboxes.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: moot on February 22, 2009, 03:52:10 AM
The bullets crumpling from the impact against concrete would prolly hurt penetration, as well.
Title: Re: Bouncing Bullets
Post by: Kweassa on February 22, 2009, 07:49:14 AM
Quote
Yes, the guys who thought they did it in real life were wrong.  Or they were never able to do it themselves, but "knew" it could happen because of stories of others.  Doesn't make them liars, if that is what you think we are calling them.  It just makes them mistaken.

Classic "a friend of friend told me..." or "this one time, I was ..." tall-tales.
Gets taller and taller each time it circulates around the group.


Seeing how P-38 pilots in Ploesti can all casually confuse the Romanian IAR.80s as 190s - which led to their demise - I wouldn't exactly count on how accurately average pilots can identify things in the heat of combat. Like Karnak mentions, the only thing that can actually verify the truth is a thorough inspection. And what does those objective inspections tell us?

You can't kill tanks with bouncing bullets.