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High & Low Velocity

J

John P

Well-Known Member
Hoping someone out there can help with what I thought would be answered by a simple "google" search. What speed determines if a round is considered high or low velocity?
 
Rifle Ammunition is normally high velocity and Pistol Ammunition is normally low velocity, but there are exceptions to this.
 
I would suggest velocities over 1000 ft per second for pistols and 3000 ft per second for rifles for high velocity.. Artillery 2500 ft per second for high velocity. Hyper 5000 feet per second. I will not fight a duel for these numbers, or against others which differ from these, but I think these are reasonable numbers.
 
Many thanks for all the replies.

I've always been told that cartridges with round nosed/flat based bullets are low velocity, those with streamlined/boat tailed spitzer type bullets are high velocity.

Is this a good rule of thumb to go by?
 
yes, generally, as the flat based, round nosed are older designs. There are flat nosed modern pistol loads traveling way over 1000 ft per sec. You might find some flat nosed hunting loads over 3000 ft per sec, But I can't think of any off hand.
 
It would seem that specific velocity labels are relative. I believe that the terms are applied to each caliber and the intended purpose weapon in question. The grenade launcher round mentioned above is a good example. In that case they designate shoulder-fired versus machine-fired. In the 1950's the U.S. Army referred to Tungsten-Cored rounds for the 76mm and 90mm tank guns as "Hypervelocity" with velocities of 3,400 fps and 3,350 respectively. They were labeled HVAP-T rounds, and the words Hypervelocity and the actual velocity were printed on the side of the case. In this instance, the prior heavy shot antitank rounds were considered High Velocity at 2,800 fps, and the rounds that were 600 fps faster were the Hypervelocity ones, but the Tungsten core was also required to make the definition.

If you refer to 22 Rimfire ammo, you can buy "Subsonic" for use with suppressors, "Standard" Velocity for use in target shooting competition, and "High" Velocity for hunting and informal target practice or "plinking". If you refer to the U.S. Navy's Rail Gun, everything that it fires, is considered "Hypervelocity" at 3 k/ps and above.
 
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A good question John. Never seen a definition myself. Mk VI .303 ball were also round nosed and flat or concave based and no doubt their foreign equivalents of the time (pre WW1) were similar. I seem to remember the 6.5 mm that we used in training in the late 1970s was round nosed and concave based. I guess their velocity tended to decrease faster than more modern pointed & boat tailed ammo over the same distances. I recently saw some footage of 39 mm short 7.62 mm penetrating a car and a single skin brick wall. Certainly wouldn't want a slap from that even though it is flat based and parallel sided below the nose.
 
Evening Matt. I thought I'd get a quick answer from "google" but no such luck. I even looked back to some info from my ATs course which just say high velocity = long range, low velocity = pistol. I'm not even sure if that's still correct.
 
I'm sure I had the same info, although a little voice in the back of my mind says the difference might have been explained as supersonic (HV) and subsonic (LV). That would be a simple and easily understood definition, although purists would say that the speed of sound may vary depending on how far above sea level (and therefore air density) that a shot is fired. I'm sure that others will have other ideas on this. The speed of sound at sea level is roughly 330 m/s apparently.
 
AMMOTECHXT said:
I'm sure I had the same info, although a little voice in the back of my mind says the difference might have been explained as supersonic (HV) and subsonic (LV). That would be a simple and easily understood definition, although purists would say that the speed of sound may vary depending on how far above sea level (and therefore air density) that a shot is fired. I'm sure that others will have other ideas on this. The speed of sound at sea level is roughly 330 m/s apparently.
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Hallo,
Low Velocity to me is a velocity below the speed of sound. Supressors only work properly with ammo that is reduced to below the speed of sound, otherwise you get a sonic bang. With a properly designed supressor, the right gun and the velocity reduced ammo you only hear the mechanical action of the gun, but no bang.
 
Suppressors or moderators to give silencers their correct name reduce the noise thus making it harder to locate the source. you do not need to worry about the supersonic bang as the bullet reaches the live target before it can hear the sound of the shot. Those around it cant place the guns report and the impact noise is not always comprehended.
 
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