An Engineering Resource
for Ammunition Designers, Dedicated Small Caliber Shooters and Reloaders
Bulletology LLC

Need your "Ammunition Demystified"?
You came to the right place!

For the dedicated reloader and long range shooter.

April 17: Propellants and Interior Ballistics
April 18: Load Development & Practical Statistics

May 8: Accuracy, Part 1 (Random Errors)
May 9: Accuracy, Part 2 (Bias Errors & Wrap-up)

Classes run from 6:30-8:30 PM in the Scheels Classroom Upstairs
(Near the shooting gallery)

$40.00 / Class. $120 for all 4
Attendees receive a $10 Scheels Gift Card per class!

Space is limited!

Use Contact Form Below to sign up, I will contact you for credit card info.

Advanced Ballistic Classes at Johnstown Scheels


Future Plans
Interior Ballistics Sensitivity Study comparing result of Baer-Frankle and QuickLoad on small changes in: charge weight, bullet weight, chamber volume, shot start pressure, free run, peak engraving and cartridge overall length for 5 different rifle cartridges ranging from 25-06 to 300 WM.

A separate interior ballistics study on 300 Blackout is also planned.

Assessment of Labradar CSV files to extract drag coefficient and drag variability near the gun muzzle.
Classes & Services
Classes: (on line or in person)
> Beginning Reloading for rifle or pistol
> Ammo & Gun Info for retail sales personnel
> Best Practices for Rifle Shooters
> Practical Statistics for Shooters
> Error Budgets for Long Range Shooting
> Advanced classes on other ammo related topics

Services:
>Projectile Design & Testing
>Analysis of gun-ammunition interaction
>Interior ballistics simulations & propellant selection
>Rifling design & bandwear assessment
>In-bore Balloting Simulations
>Ballistic test plans & data analyses


Articles

How does rifling twist, land geometry and bore straightness all play a role in how well a barrel performs?  Why is it important to pick the correct twist?

What’s the best way to measure bullet group size? How much variability in measured group size is "normal"?
​ Why can't I put all my bullets in the same hole? Which internal and external factors have the largest effect on hit probability at extended ranges?

How do I quickly and reliably develop a load for my rifle that shoots acceptably small groups? What can I do to harness the power of modern computers to help me determine which loads are best?
How many shots should I shoot? How much should I fuss with the vertical alignment of my riflescope during installation? How big an effect does it have on hitting at long range?

How big is shot start force and how much does its variability affect muzzle velocity consistency?


Barrels
(Updated!)

Are bullets anything more than static little lumps of metal that poke holes in targets? How does bullet shape affect aerodynamics?
Why are there so many different powders? How do I pick a powder that is best for my intended use?

How do cartridge cases actually work? How are they designed? What failure modes do they exhibit? How is headspace controlled?




Presented Papers & Published Articles


Published Magazine Articles
This is a list of the papers either authored or co-presented since 2000:
Parties interested in these papers may have to do a little "digging" in the referenced URL's to find the papers I've authored or co-authored
> Random Error in Small Caliber Dispersion: DSIAC, Vol 6, #2, Spring 2019
> How Cartridge Cases Work & Fail: Small Arms Defense Journal, Vol 13, #1, Jan /Feb 2021
> Headspace Options & Theory: Small Arms Defense Journal, Vol 13, #2 Mar/April 2021
> Propellant Selection : Small Arms Defense Journal, Vol 13, #3, May/June 2021
> Ext. Ballistics & Projectile Flight To Target, Small Arms Defense Journal, Vol 13, #4, July/Aug 2021
> Long Range Gunnery Factors: SADJ, Vol 14, #1, Jan/Feb 2022
> Feeding the Beast (Feed System Overview): SADJ, Vol 14, #1, Jan/Feb 2022
Ammunition Demystified condenses 40 years of experience designing and troubleshooting ammunition into 400 pages of text, photos, tables and graphs. Ammunition Demystified is now available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble!
​
Ammunition Demystified is “Hatcher’s Notebook” for the 21st century. It’s a “soft” technical document intended for small caliber ammunition design and production engineers, as well as more advanced shooters and reloaders who want a more in-depth understanding of how guns and ammunition work and interact with one another. There is very little that is truly simple about small arms ammunition due to the enormous stresses to which the bullet and cartridge case structures are subjected during the firing process, and the non-linear material properties of these ammunition components.  Ammunition Demystified untangles these interactions, and will help put you on the path of increased understanding of a simple, yet complex, topic. This book encapsulates the technical knowledge acquired on bullets, cartridge cases, barrels, and ammunition testing over a career spanning four decades. It is a useful reference for shooter, reloaders and “ammo guys” to assist them when they troubleshoot the mechanical and dispersion performance of their firearms and ammunition.

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Bulletology Mission Statement
Bulletology is  intended to be a reference source for small caliber ammunition engineers, dedicated shooters and reloaders who want facts to help guide their efforts instead of the rantings of garglers at the fountain of knowledge commonly found on the internet, or occasionally, in print. To the extent possible, I will communicate the "why" to the best of my understanding, so the functional principles can be applied by others to solve their ballistics problems.  I freely admit I don't know everything, and I'm more than willing to listen to new ideas and approaches to solving shooting/reloading problems, provided they come with a bit of background and explanation.

The facts I've listed here are based on:

  1. Test data whenever possible. Data may have to be presented in a "normalized" form to avoid proprietary or other sensitive issues.
  2. Engineering analysis. If this is the situation, I will identify the analyses performed and the limitations of the analyses.
  3. 40+ years experience working on ammunition ranging from 0.177 cal air rifle pellets to 203mm howitzer, and nearly everything in between.  In this case, I will state my opinion or suspicions.

About Bulletology


While at ArrowTech, I taught classes in ballistics and the company's projectile design software at numerous customers in the US and offshore. I've run finite element analysis assessments of projectiles of all calibers, helping to assess their structural performance and suggested design improvements to help keep group sizes as small as possible.

I've been a shooter and hunter since my teens, and I've reloaded rifle, handgun and shotgun cartridges since 1983. Bulletology is my effort to provide the shooting world with accurate information to replace some of the gargling at the fountain of knowledge commonly found on the internet.  Below is a photo of a yaw card stand to extract pitching moment coefficient derivative from projectile flight motion. This aerodynamic coefficient must be determined accurately if an appropriate exit twist is to be chosen for barrels.


I'm a recently retired ballistics engineer with 40 years experience working on ammunition, guns, barrels, fuzes, and rocket systems.

Over the years, I've worked on ammunition from 17 caliber up to 8" howitzer, and nearly everything else in between. In my early days, I worked at General Electric in Burlington, VT on ammunition for medium caliber guns and high velocity test fixtures. While there, I had the great fortune to work on 20mm Cased Telescoped ammunition with muzzle velocity of 5000 FPS, special test ammunition in 30x173mm that used a blend of 20mm Ball Powder and 155mm artillery propellant for a high performance barrel development program that needed high flame temperature propellant, the M774 Fuze found in the M830A1 cartridge for 120mm M256 cannon, and several high velocity test fixtures resulting in muzzle velocities in excess of 6000 FPS.

I was hired by ArrowTech in June of 1989 and worked on a wide variety of small, medium and large caliber ammunition as well as barrels for several customers. I've also done radar data reduction on bullets from 30 caliber up to 155mm howitzer, extracting drag coefficient vs. Mach number from the velocity-time information. Projectile design and refinement, interior ballistics simulations, bullet-barrel interactions, case-chamber interactions, and dispersion error budgets were part of a routine assessments on ammunition.  Yaw card testing was conducted on occasion to extract aerodynamics for bullet shapes that were not well predicted by the existing database. Early in my career with ArrowTech I was involved with "sticker" simulations and testing in 155mm and 8" howitzers to determine the threshold peak pressure required to prevent an artillery projectile from remaining in the barrel after all the propellant had been consumed. Work on barrels involved rifling design, straightness and dimensional performance limits, and useful life testing, as well as running balloting simulations to examine the dynamic interactions between a flexible barrel and a flexible projectile.


Contact
All rights reserved © 
1001-A East Harmony Rd.
#109
Ft. Collins, CO 80525

802-238-8519
Email
jeff@bulletology.com

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