2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
Cavitation trail from a bullet from an SG 550 submachine gun after a shot.
The Norwegian physicist Andreas Wahl in the television show on NRK Viten conducted an experiment by shooting himself with a machine gun underwater. The Norwegian was standing in the pool up to his throat in water. The SIG SG 550 assault rifle was mounted on a special tripod, and the experimenter activated its trigger guard using a rope. Val was not damaged by the shot.
The firearm was positioned three meters away from the physicist. This conclusion can be drawn by comparing the length of the machine with the length of the marked line between SG 550 and Val. The length of the weapon with the butt unfolded is 998 millimeters. After the shot, a bullet of 5, 56 mm caliber flew under water a little less than 1.5 meters.
Conventional small arms are not suitable for firing underwater for several reasons. The aerodynamic shape of the bullet makes its trajectory unpredictable; ammunition can ricochet at the boundary between warm and cold water layers. In addition, due to the greater density of the water, the bullet is quickly decelerated, losing kinetic energy.
Due to the density of water, which is greater than that of air, the automatics of small arms are unable to reload weapons. The materials from which the assault rifles and pistols are made are not intended for use under water: they either rust quickly or completely collapse due to hydrodynamic shocks caused by a shot.
There is a special small arms for underwater shooting. It is made of materials that are more durable and water-resistant. Such weapons are supplied with special cartridges, which are equipped with elongated arrow-shaped bullets. This bullet shape is better suited for underwater shooting.
Underwater small arms show poor results when shooting on land. For example, the APS submachine gun is capable of firing two thousand shots under water and only 180 on land. The effective firing range of this weapon at a depth of five meters is about 30 meters, and at a depth of 40 meters - ten meters. On land, the shot range is one hundred meters.
