Highest velocity out of small arms

[TXDMERC73]

The OP is referring to out of a Handgun not just the fastest bullet.

My best guess would be a Remington XP-100 bolt action handgun in .221 Rem Fireball caliber and Thompson TC single shot bolt action handgun.

[knight0334]

The OP is referring to out of a Handgun not just the fastest bullet.

My best guess would be a Thompson TC Mountain lion gun .

If that is the case, one of the Contenders or other singleshot with a rifle cartridge would probably be on the top end.

Out of my 8" Python I'm able to get 1950-1975fps with 125gr JHP's.

[TXDMERC73]

Smith and Wesson .460 XVR magnum is 2300 fps

[max384]

I'm pegging 4500fps with my .220Swift with 30-35gr varmint grenades. My .225Win is hitting 4100 with same vitamin Pb pills.

Holy crap! Are you having any problems wearing out your barrels with that .220 Swift?

The OP is referring to out of a Handgun not just the fastest bullet.

My best guess would be a Remington XP-100 bolt action handgun in .221 Rem Fireball caliber and Thompson TC single shot bolt action handgun.

Are you sure the OP is referring to handguns only? A 'small arms' weapon is traditionally any weapon that an individual soldier can carry (m-4/m-16/m-9/m-14, etc... even an RPG can be considered a small arms weapon).

[knight0334]

Holy crap! Are you having any problems wearing out your barrels with that .220 Swift?



Are you sure the OP is referring to handguns only? A 'small arms' weapon is traditionally any weapon that an individual soldier can carry (m-4/m-16/m-9/m-14, etc... even an RPG can be considered a small arms weapon).

No. The barrel burner thing is from the old days when the steel was of lessor grades. And, I dont use the fastest burning, highest peak pressure, powders. And, I let my barrel cool between shots - not that I shoot it much. Its generally the throat that burns out with such fast guns, not so much the rest of the barrel.

[PA Rifleman]

Random question. What's the highest velocity to come out of small arms?

It's limited by a few factors, the bearing friction between the bullet in the bore, bullet mass and the burning characteristics of the powder. I don't have the material in front of me, but I recall a theoretical number of 6900 ft/sec for smokeless powder as the absolute maximum speed. BUT, smokeless powder requires confinement to develop pressure, usually in the form of a bullet. This adds back pressure from both friction and mass, slowing the propellant gasses down.

Here are two interesting online articles discussing actual examples:

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
The fastest factory cartridge ever produced is the 204 Ruger-4225 fps with a 32-grain bullet. The 223 WSSM can also achieve this with the use of 40-grain bullets. Your father is right about the small bullets. It all depends what you want to do with the rifle. Weatherby loads it .257 Magnum with 87-grain bullets at 3825 fps. If you handload, and simply must have the highest velocity, there are companies which make plastic sabots which will allow you to load .22 caliber bullets in .308, 30-06 or a .300 mag to achieve velocities close to 5000 fps.
Source(s):
http://www.eabco.com/Reports/report04.html

Source

This was first developed to prototype stage by Gerlich in the 1920s, who demonstrated examples at Woolwich in 1932. A cartridge case, apparently based on an extended .303" (7.7mm) necked out to 9.25mm, fired a 95 grain projectile with an emergent calibre of 7mm at a muzzle velocity of 4,880 fps. The British showed interest and continued to experiment for some years, but the only service weapon using this principle was the 2-pdr Littlejohn (a translation of the name of the Czech inventor, Janecek).

The Germans were the first to introduce taper-bore weapons. They required entirely new gun barrels, with a calibre which reduced from the chamber to the muzzle, and a tungsten shot of muzzle calibre, fitted with flanges of chamber calibre. As the shot proceeded down the barrel, the flanges were squeezed into the shot, leading to the nickname "squeeze bore". Anti-tank guns of 2.8/2.0, 4.2/2.9 and 7.5/5.5cm bore were introduced. The velocity champion was the 2.8cm PzB 41, with a 28mm cartridge reducing to 20mm at the muzzle, which achieved a muzzle velocity of just under 4,600 fps. These weapons were highly effective, but doomed in German service because of the tungsten shortage (steel shot would disintegrate on impact at these velocities).

Source

If you're after extreme speed, consider looking into a rail gun or perhaps particle accelerators.

[pandemic]

What do you consider small arms? Pistols only? Counting the .223 pistol or no?

I'd say anything .50 cal and under that can be fired from the shoulder.

[Dragracer_Art]

I'd have to say the .204 Ruger, .22-250, .17 Remington and .220 Swift are pretty far up the chart when it comes to commercially available cartridges.

[wa3ra]

As far as handguns, the FN FiveseveN has a round that travels 3300fps, naturally we lowly civvies can't have that round.

A friend of mine works for an outfit that has fired 10mm bullets (titanium shell, steel core) at over 20,000 fps; they have a gun the equivalent of a stack of claymores that fires 625 rounds at one time (or ripple fire, or one at a time), 10 deep...but it uses magnets to propel the projectiles. It can fire all 6250 rounds in just over a second, muzzle velocity around 8000fps average.

The rounds that they have moved the fastest (20k fps, about 13000(!)mph literally disintegrate into molten metal shortly after leaving the barrel, so it is too fast; at half that speed, the blobs will sear into a tank, cooling back into shards that literally shred everything inside.

Picture a stack of 10mm barrels 25 high by 25 wide, mounted in a polycarbonate box that a crew of three can deploy!

[max384]

As far as handguns, the FN FiveseveN has a round that travels 3300fps, naturally we lowly civvies can't have that round.

A friend of mine works for an outfit that has fired 10mm bullets (titanium shell, steel core) at over 20,000 fps; they have a gun the equivalent of a stack of claymores that fires 625 rounds at one time (or ripple fire, or one at a time), 10 deep...but it uses magnets to propel the projectiles. It can fire all 6250 rounds in just over a second, muzzle velocity around 8000fps average.

The rounds that they have moved the fastest (20k fps, about 13000(!)mph literally disintegrate into molten metal shortly after leaving the barrel, so it is too fast; at half that speed, the blobs will sear into a tank, cooling back into shards that literally shred everything inside.

Picture a stack of 10mm barrels 25 high by 25 wide, mounted in a polycarbonate box that a crew of three can deploy!

Do you have a reference to that velocity out of an FN FiveSeven? I had only heard of 2500 fps max... which, IIRC, really pushes that round to its limits.