Aerodynamic Jump and Bullet Stability

This project is to find the center of mass of bullets in order to improve testing procedures for Vista Outdoors. By locating the center of mass we find a correlation between an offset center of mass and irregular bullet paths.

Background
Typical bullet makeup consists of a lead alloy core and a copper alloy jacket. Irregularities in subsurface bullet geometries cause radial dispersion between individual bullets when fired. Current destructive testing methods for bullets do not allow for a direct correlation between measured eccentricities and the radial dispersion of the fired bullets. [If you deconstruct a bullet to measure its eccentricities it is impossible to fire it. Once you fire a bullet its characteristics are modified and original eccentricities are immeasurable.]

Specifications
A device capable of non-destructive testing for center of mass variance to ± .001 inches for bullet diameters from .224 thru .338 inches. The ideal device could detect variance created by the addition of a cannelure or a plastic tip, have the ability to detect voids between jacket and core, and would detect density variations, or voids, within the lead core.

Details
We went through the geometry and had wolfram alpha separate out the tipping angle then we used Matlab to solve for the uncertainty.

Project Schedule
Schedule

Meeting minutes
9/11/18 9/20/18 9/28/18 10/4/18