Welcome Escapists to a new edition of Marine Mike Reviews, where I take my knowledge of modern warfighting and compare it to the video game world. Due to popular request, today's review will take a look into the concept of bullet penetration.
Hiding behind a chest-high wall might save your life... from a pistol.
Modern rifle rounds are specifically designed for penetrating armor at long ranges. This is achieved through a pointed tip, longer cartridge, and smalled caliber compared to pistols. The typical US Military M855 5.56x45mm ball ammunition used in the M4 and M16 type weapons is capable of penetrating a 1/8" (3mm) steel plate at 600 meters, so that brick wall you're content to crouch behind doesn't stand a chance. Keep in mind that the 5.56 NATO round is widely consider the "weaker" of the widely used rifle rounds, the 7.62x51mm NATO round (used by weapons such as the M240 machine gun and M40 sniper rifle) has about DOUBLE the delivered energy.
-As a side note, I'm playing around with this unit conversion thingie and have determined that the Big Mac is mightier than the machine gun. Really, the 7.62 NATO delivers about 3,275 Joules of energy while the energy contained in the Big Mac converts to 2,302,740 Joules... perhaps someone familiar with converting Calories into other units of energy can explain this to me.
So, considering that the majority of surfaces in the game world are just like life and not made of rolled homogeneous steel armor we can determine that the standard 5.56 NATO rifle (and by extension, all rifles firing higher calibers) would be able to penetrate the majority of surfaces on any given level.
Well, even if they're not steel, most surfaces are a lot thicker than 1/8".
This is a very astute observation, which is why we will now take a look at the anatomy of your standard rifle bullet. Remember the 5.56mm M855 bullet I mentioned earlier? The bullet itself is a full metal jacket, meaning that the core is completely jacketed in a copper "skin" that you can see deforming and peeling away in the picture on the left. Inside the copper jacket is a steel core which is a much harder material than the copper. A general rule when two different materials collide is that the less dense material gives way to the denser one. So while a bullet may have the energy to penetrate only 1/8" of steel which is about the same density as the bullet's core, that wall you're hiding behind is made of bricks it is far less dense than the bullet meaning it take less energy to penetrate further. We are taught to make sandbag walls three deep (the long way comes to about 36") because that is the minimum amount to stop the typical AK-47 bullet. Now think about that wall you've chosen to hide behind, how thick was it when you ran up to it? Most shooters make the obvious cover look like its between 12" and 18" which is great if you're hiding behind reinforced concrete or anarmored bulkhead, just about anything else will only provide concealment and minimal cover. What about building walls, you say? Again the same applies here, rifle rounds will reliably penetrate a brick wall and will penetrate multiple interior walls (A lovely experiment shown here [http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot1.htm] shows that even a 9mm pistol will penetrate more than 6 interior walls)... even if the bullet hits a stud it wouldn't be enough to stop the bullet from being dangerous.
Lets find out what happens to bullet after they penetrate a piece of cover.
Once a 5.56mm NATO round impacts something its flight path become wildly unpredictable in a phenomenon known as "tumbling". Once a round begins to tumble it loses a lot of penetrating power but will still cause grievous wounds if impacting a 'soft' target such as your head. Larger caliber rounds are typically heavier and thus will need a more substantial impact to begin tumbling, and can therefore be fired through multiple obstacles and still achieve its desired effect (death). If the bullet impacts a tougher obstacle the round will begin to fragment and tumble as it releases its energy into the target. If the projectile managed to penetrate the obstacle after this it will likely be the steel core and several fragments of copper jacketing. With a lot of the round's energy being released into the obstacle its likely to send fragments of concrete/brick/wood flying in the direction the bullet is travelling. While at this point the core of the projectile is probably the only lethal part left, you can't underestimate the disorienting effect the secondary missiles would cause.
I mentioned pistols in the beginning so I'll do a short bit on them.
Most pistol rounds are not designed for penetration. They have a blunted tip and have a tendency to flatten on impact with a hard target. Because of these different properties as compared to rifle rounds, they tend to disperse almost all of their energy upon impact with a target. Therefore, even if a pistol round manages to penetrate an obstacle chances are it has already lost the majority of its velocity and thus its killing power. The exception to this are thin targets like drywall and sheet metal that don't cause the bullet to deform, so the bullet will maintain most of its energy.
Also, don't even think you're safe behind a car for a second, unless you're hiding behind the engine.
So why don't games use a more realistic penetration system?
Similar to my review on grenades, a lot of realism comes from unpredictability. It would be extremely difficult to have a bullet tumbling off course through several interior walls and hitting someone 6 feet to the right of the point of impact. Current games have the bullets travel through the walls in a straight line only with reduced damage, which is about the most effort even a huge budget game would be willing to do for a relatively small game concept. As for why they don't use realistic penetration depths? That would mean that anything made of sheet metal, brick, drywall, glass, or wood the majority of the primary weapons in the game would be able to shoot through and kill you... people would simply use cover less than they use it now. I personally would like to be able to shoot straight through a house with a machine gun and be able to kill someone on the other side, but then again most players would rather eat their controller than see that happen on their kill-cam. Do you think you would have fun in a game where anyone's weapon would still be lethal through 6 walls? Remember, given enough ammunition even that concrete bunker can be penetrated. I only wish I could get my hands on Bad Company 2 to see how the destructible environment holds up.
There topic was probably one of the most fun and most frustrating ones to research, but along the way I found a spectacular 10 minute video of slow-motion bullet impacts.
<youtube=LKR4atl8h-I>
Thank you to all of you who enjoy reading my reviews, I may eventually do a Bullet Penetration Part 2 if I can dig up some more data on the subject. Also, as a side note, I was thinking about renaming this series to "Games and Ammo" kinda like the magazine "Guns and Ammo"... let me know what you think.
RPGs, Rockets, and Backblast [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191392-Marine-Mike-Reviews-RPGs-Rockets-and-Backblast]
Grenades [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.190907-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Grenades]
Magazines and Reloading [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191343-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Magazines-and-Reloading]
Things to know about me: I served in the US Marine Corps for four years from 2003-2007 as an Infantry Anti-Tank Assaultman. I've had two deployments to Iraq and one to Haiti, and love to talk about my experiences to anyone willing to listen.
COMING SOON:
-Combat Optics
-M4A1 Carbine
-M18 Claymore
Hiding behind a chest-high wall might save your life... from a pistol.
Modern rifle rounds are specifically designed for penetrating armor at long ranges. This is achieved through a pointed tip, longer cartridge, and smalled caliber compared to pistols. The typical US Military M855 5.56x45mm ball ammunition used in the M4 and M16 type weapons is capable of penetrating a 1/8" (3mm) steel plate at 600 meters, so that brick wall you're content to crouch behind doesn't stand a chance. Keep in mind that the 5.56 NATO round is widely consider the "weaker" of the widely used rifle rounds, the 7.62x51mm NATO round (used by weapons such as the M240 machine gun and M40 sniper rifle) has about DOUBLE the delivered energy.
-As a side note, I'm playing around with this unit conversion thingie and have determined that the Big Mac is mightier than the machine gun. Really, the 7.62 NATO delivers about 3,275 Joules of energy while the energy contained in the Big Mac converts to 2,302,740 Joules... perhaps someone familiar with converting Calories into other units of energy can explain this to me.
So, considering that the majority of surfaces in the game world are just like life and not made of rolled homogeneous steel armor we can determine that the standard 5.56 NATO rifle (and by extension, all rifles firing higher calibers) would be able to penetrate the majority of surfaces on any given level.
Well, even if they're not steel, most surfaces are a lot thicker than 1/8".
This is a very astute observation, which is why we will now take a look at the anatomy of your standard rifle bullet. Remember the 5.56mm M855 bullet I mentioned earlier? The bullet itself is a full metal jacket, meaning that the core is completely jacketed in a copper "skin" that you can see deforming and peeling away in the picture on the left. Inside the copper jacket is a steel core which is a much harder material than the copper. A general rule when two different materials collide is that the less dense material gives way to the denser one. So while a bullet may have the energy to penetrate only 1/8" of steel which is about the same density as the bullet's core, that wall you're hiding behind is made of bricks it is far less dense than the bullet meaning it take less energy to penetrate further. We are taught to make sandbag walls three deep (the long way comes to about 36") because that is the minimum amount to stop the typical AK-47 bullet. Now think about that wall you've chosen to hide behind, how thick was it when you ran up to it? Most shooters make the obvious cover look like its between 12" and 18" which is great if you're hiding behind reinforced concrete or anarmored bulkhead, just about anything else will only provide concealment and minimal cover. What about building walls, you say? Again the same applies here, rifle rounds will reliably penetrate a brick wall and will penetrate multiple interior walls (A lovely experiment shown here [http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot1.htm] shows that even a 9mm pistol will penetrate more than 6 interior walls)... even if the bullet hits a stud it wouldn't be enough to stop the bullet from being dangerous.
Lets find out what happens to bullet after they penetrate a piece of cover.
Once a 5.56mm NATO round impacts something its flight path become wildly unpredictable in a phenomenon known as "tumbling". Once a round begins to tumble it loses a lot of penetrating power but will still cause grievous wounds if impacting a 'soft' target such as your head. Larger caliber rounds are typically heavier and thus will need a more substantial impact to begin tumbling, and can therefore be fired through multiple obstacles and still achieve its desired effect (death). If the bullet impacts a tougher obstacle the round will begin to fragment and tumble as it releases its energy into the target. If the projectile managed to penetrate the obstacle after this it will likely be the steel core and several fragments of copper jacketing. With a lot of the round's energy being released into the obstacle its likely to send fragments of concrete/brick/wood flying in the direction the bullet is travelling. While at this point the core of the projectile is probably the only lethal part left, you can't underestimate the disorienting effect the secondary missiles would cause.
I mentioned pistols in the beginning so I'll do a short bit on them.
Most pistol rounds are not designed for penetration. They have a blunted tip and have a tendency to flatten on impact with a hard target. Because of these different properties as compared to rifle rounds, they tend to disperse almost all of their energy upon impact with a target. Therefore, even if a pistol round manages to penetrate an obstacle chances are it has already lost the majority of its velocity and thus its killing power. The exception to this are thin targets like drywall and sheet metal that don't cause the bullet to deform, so the bullet will maintain most of its energy.
Also, don't even think you're safe behind a car for a second, unless you're hiding behind the engine.
So why don't games use a more realistic penetration system?
Similar to my review on grenades, a lot of realism comes from unpredictability. It would be extremely difficult to have a bullet tumbling off course through several interior walls and hitting someone 6 feet to the right of the point of impact. Current games have the bullets travel through the walls in a straight line only with reduced damage, which is about the most effort even a huge budget game would be willing to do for a relatively small game concept. As for why they don't use realistic penetration depths? That would mean that anything made of sheet metal, brick, drywall, glass, or wood the majority of the primary weapons in the game would be able to shoot through and kill you... people would simply use cover less than they use it now. I personally would like to be able to shoot straight through a house with a machine gun and be able to kill someone on the other side, but then again most players would rather eat their controller than see that happen on their kill-cam. Do you think you would have fun in a game where anyone's weapon would still be lethal through 6 walls? Remember, given enough ammunition even that concrete bunker can be penetrated. I only wish I could get my hands on Bad Company 2 to see how the destructible environment holds up.
There topic was probably one of the most fun and most frustrating ones to research, but along the way I found a spectacular 10 minute video of slow-motion bullet impacts.
<youtube=LKR4atl8h-I>
Thank you to all of you who enjoy reading my reviews, I may eventually do a Bullet Penetration Part 2 if I can dig up some more data on the subject. Also, as a side note, I was thinking about renaming this series to "Games and Ammo" kinda like the magazine "Guns and Ammo"... let me know what you think.
RPGs, Rockets, and Backblast [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191392-Marine-Mike-Reviews-RPGs-Rockets-and-Backblast]
Grenades [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.190907-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Grenades]
Magazines and Reloading [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191343-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Magazines-and-Reloading]
Things to know about me: I served in the US Marine Corps for four years from 2003-2007 as an Infantry Anti-Tank Assaultman. I've had two deployments to Iraq and one to Haiti, and love to talk about my experiences to anyone willing to listen.
COMING SOON:
-Combat Optics
-M4A1 Carbine
-M18 Claymore
