Firing a gun on the Moon

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 14:20:13 -0700
"Shawn Kelly" <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> The biggest problem I see firing a gun on the moon is getting your finger
> into the trigger guard while wearing a big thick moon suit glove.
>

Interesting thought .. I assume oxygen from the atmosphere isn't needed
for the charge in the shell to combust, then?

If not, your average pistol round would go an awful lot further on the
Moon, with no air resistance and dramatically reduced gravity.

It is really needed, an ordinary gun is useless in a zero atmosphere place...
>
> If not, your average pistol round would go an awful lot further on the
> Moon, with no air resistance and dramatically reduced gravity.

And you too, in an opposite direction, according to the third rule of Newton's law!
If the bullet can be fired you will be fliying in the opposite direction like a rocket...

No, it's not. How does oxygen from the air get into a sealed bullet on Earth?
The oxydizer is built into the chemical charge. Any decent explosive has it's
own oxidizer built into the chemical makeup - you can't suck in oxygen fast
enough for a decent explosion, especially considering that the shock wave is
busy creating a vacuum around your explosion anyway...

--
Mario

http://mario.silent-tower.org/


Quoting [hidden email]:
> It is really needed, an ordinary gun is useless in a zero atmosphere
> place...

It's a mass x velocity = mass x velocity "equal" reaction. Since a human being's
mass is *much* higher than that of a bullet, and most of the recoil is absorbed
by your body tissues and the recoil action of the weapon, nope. The recoil
would be identical to that on Earth (last time I checked, Newton's third law
was not repealed on Earth). The only difference is that you would have less
frictive resistance on your feet on the Moon, so you have to lean forward a bit
more than you're used to on the Earth.

--
Mario

http://mario.silent-tower.org/


Quoting [hidden email]:
> And you too, in an opposite direction, according to the third rule of
> Newton's law!
> If the bullet can be fired you will be fliying in the opposite direction like
> a rocket...

Thanks, Mario, for correcting my mistakes!
Sincerely yours
Osvaldo

>
> It's a mass x velocity == mass x velocity "equal" reaction.

--- In [hidden email], James Gibbon <jg@j...> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 14:20:13 -0700
> "Shawn Kelly" <sdkelly@s...> wrote:
>
> >
> > The biggest problem I see firing a gun on the moon is getting
your finger
> > into the trigger guard while wearing a big thick moon suit glove.
> >
>
> Interesting thought .. I assume oxygen from the atmosphere isn't
needed
> for the charge in the shell to combust, then?
>
> If not, your average pistol round would go an awful lot further on
the
> Moon, with no air resistance and dramatically reduced gravity.

Further to your comments about fitting your finger in the trigger
guard and also about needing oxygen it is similiar to using an
underwater firearm. The trigger guard has to be larger to allow its
use for a diver wearing gloves, (most divers gloves tend to be rather
bulky particularly for military and naval divers) and you also have
the lack of oxygen also. In fact it's the reverse of the problem of
firing a gun on the Moon.
If anybody has seen Tomb Raider II, the Cradle of Life the gun Lara
uses when she is in the underwater chamber is a Heckler & Koch P11
Underwater Pistol. There is also an Underwater Assault Rifle listed
in Janes Infantry Weapons under the Russian Section.
Thought you might be interested to know that.
Adrian

--- In [hidden email], "adrianpaulflitcroft" <flitca@h...>
> .... There is also an Underwater Assault Rifle ...

The Russian underwater rifle is called APS. It fires steel bolts 15
cms long.

--- In [hidden email], "Anthony Appleyard" <a.appleyard@b...>
wrote:
> --- In [hidden email], "adrianpaulflitcroft" <flitca@h...>
> > .... There is also an Underwater Assault Rifle ...
>
> The Russian underwater rifle is called APS. It fires steel bolts 15
> cms long.

Thanks for the info. Glad to see I'm not the only person who's
interested in these things.

Adrian