Re: Metal Storm

At 4:17 PM -0500 1/18/02, Richard and Emily Bell wrote:
>
>Unfortunately, the lifetime of the barrel is not determined by its 
>weight, but by the relative hardness of the rifling compared to the 
>driving band.	The weight of the barrel is determined by pressures 
>in the barrel (pushing weight up) and the
>acceptable number of accidental ruptures (lower safety = lower weight).

But weight of the barrel has a direct bearing on how much heat it can 
absorb. That heat level has a direct bearing on barrel life under 
sustained use.

>I am neither a metallurgist nor a gunsmith, but I do know that 
>barrels are replaced due to the rifling being worn out.  Rifling 
>wear is worse when the barrel gets hot, which is why heavy 
>machineguns rotate through a number of barrels when firing

Those are technically cannons.

Heavy machine guns (M2HB) have big heavy barrels that can absorb more 
calories of heat before the rifling gets softer.

--
Ryan Gill	  |	   |	     rmgill@mindspring.com
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