Dr. John Stutz, UWF Ballistics Researcher

[HappyHellfire]

John, We're you around when the tests were run for the 9mm VS 45 ACP at Eglin with the shooting in the open range tests taking place at Hurlburt, which was then Field #9? Where the Eglin R&D folks had to redesign the 9mm 115 grain tea cup projectiles to get the 9mm through the minimum accuracy requirements of the test. The original 115 tea cup design would not pass minimum standards in the test. They created the truncated cone bullet design offered it to anyone that would make them the ammo for the test, had one taker, and they gave the TC design patent to Hornady in exchange for 3,000,000 laded 124 grain rounds to shoot in the 9mm test, speakng of redesign of bullets. Did you know that occurred?
This is a redesign of a revolver round I built on a DW Super Mag frame with a 445 cylinder furnished by Bob owner of DW. By the time I got the gun and dies built and the ammo loaded and tested DW had sold to CZ. The right had loaded round is a 200 grain Saeco 30 cal that shoots 1/10 inch at 50 meters. The most accurate round in that gun.
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My last government job was with the Navy at Dahlgren with. When I decided to finish up in academia I chose UWF because it was close to Eglin and the work there. I'm still trying to figure out how to worm my way in there.

 

[HappyHellfire]

Do you have any hypothesis behind why some individuals have issues with grouping on the 6.5s? What projectile model was the simulation and testing run against?

I write my of trajectory simulations. They use the drag curve directly and not the BC approximation.

I just bought a 6.5 Creedmoor this spring to develop the bullets. The older guns have slower twist and it is easier with the newer guns. That said, I just don't have that much experience with the platform yet.

 

[cjackson31]

I write my of trajectory simulations. They use the drag curve directly and not the BC approximation.

I just bought a 6.5 Creedmoor this spring to develop the bullets. The older guns have slower twist and it is easier with the newer guns. That said, I just don't have that much experience with the platform yet.

I'm very curious to see the results and how these perform. As a former ELR guy I'm always looking for better projectiles. Especially in the 375 variant.

 

[Olopez]

Hi, my name is John Stutz, PhD. I have studied external ballistics for about 20 years now. I conduct research on new bullet shapes and the math behind how bullets fly. I also teach courses in ballistics at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. I have recently started a small bullet company to try to market a new bullet design called Aerospike Bullets. I have some pretty extensive shooting experience with both pistol competitions and rifle hunting but I'm more of a researcher than an active shooter. Most of my shooting now is for prototype development and testing.

I love talking about ballistics and the little details of spin drift, jump, Coriolis, etc. Feel free to ask me those questions that have always bothered you about bullets.

Forgive me if this sounds like a gimmicky question or if you’ve heard this a bunch, but recently I’ve been reading a book on the Kennedy assassination, and obviously there are a lot of theories surrounding this, but from a strictly ballistic point of view, is there any thing that leads to the belief of the idea of multiple shooters? Or what is your professional opinion on this, other than the obvious entry/exit wounds that basically show that the bullet came from the front rather than the back where the Texas school book depository was located. Again this I just a subject I’ve done a whole lot of reading about, but have never asked anyone who actually would have a logical opinion on this. Thanks again!

 

[HappyHellfire]

Forgive me if this sounds like a gimmicky question or if you’ve heard this a bunch, but recently I’ve been reading a book on the Kennedy assassination, and obviously there are a lot of theories surrounding this, but from a strictly ballistic point of view, is there any thing that leads to the belief of the idea of multiple shooters? Or what is your professional opinion on this, other than the obvious entry/exit wounds that basically show that the bullet came from the front rather than the back where the Texas school book depository was located. Again this I just a subject I’ve done a whole lot of reading about, but have never asked anyone who actually would have a logical opinion on this. Thanks again!

When I first got a security clearance and access to the classified library that was the first question my wife asked!

Sorry, I've never really studied it. I have this weird love of ballistics as a science but I really don't care for the practical use of it most of the time. I'm not pacifist, just don't like this beautiful science used for violence. Image how a an airplane designer felt on 9/11.

 

[Olopez]

When I first got a security clearance and access to the classified library that was the first question my wife asked!

Sorry, I've never really studied it. I have this weird love of ballistics as a science but I really don't care for the practical use of it most of the time. I'm not pacifist, just don't like this beautiful science used for violence. Image how a an airplane designer felt on 9/11.

No problem I can understand that, never really looked at it that way myself, thank you for the response either way!

 

[DustyDog]

Always knew the “this bullet came from this gun” was a load of crap

Kinda like DNA... yes, you can ascertain that a DNA sample belongs to someone, but how it got there can be another thing entirely!

But the average, dumb-ass juror hears "The DNA is a match!" and immediately shouts "GUILTY!" because they don't understand...

 

[jimbonecrusher]

Dr. Stutz,
Have you found that different bullet weights affect the effectiveness or characteristics of your bullet design?

I gather these bullets are intended for target shooting only and would be terrible hunting rounds, correct?