Re: At what angle will a bullet ricochet off water?

Hello Andrew

Thanks for a challenging question! I didn't expect to get a gun question (I
am a licensed gunsmith as well). Ricochet is a quite complex situation;
well beyond any simple plug and chug formula. Naval gun and armor
manufacturers  use very powerful computers with computational fluid dynamics
programs to get approximations of how artillery rounds will perform against
ships and other hardened targets.

As you have learned empirically, angle and velocity are important factors
in ricochet, but there are many others; mineral content of the water,
temperature, shape of the projectile, rate of spin of the projectile,
hardness of the bullet, any deformations or imperfections on the surface of
the bullet, etc.  This is one of the reasons hunter safety courses teach
that shooting across or into water is a bad idea.  Not only does it
introduce lead into the environment, it is very difficult to determine if a
ricochet will occur and at shallow angles, the bullet may make several
skips before coming to rest.  Make sure you hit the turtle and that you
only fire when you have a safe backstop.

There were many empirical experiments conducted during the 16th through
19th centuries to determine the most effective ways to use both cannon and
longarms against both fortifications and ships.  Ricochet was an often used
tactic in ground engagements because a bouncing cannonball was likely to
hit multiple targets before coming to rest.  The various artillery manuals
from the American Civil War actually give some angles that are less likely
to cause ricochet for smallarms. If you really want to know, you might take
a look at the Gibbons manual, there is a copy on the web.

Keep them in the X ring.
Greg