That's armor, eh? (was Re: Fail Quotes)

[Ibrahim90]

Going to firearms. That really depends of the type of bullet. Muskets balls were pretty low velocity, i believe buck or grape shots wold be the best because the smaller pellets fly faster.

actually, a musket would have usually gone right through a knight's armor (or a samurai's), even at distance. while they were low velocity (about that of a modern pistol or shotgun, so ~300-400 m/s), they were pretty large caliber (between .55 and 0.80), with suitable balls (slightly smaller than caliber) and charges, which made up for the low velocity. further, muskets were never used in Japan in the Sengoku era IIRC. unsurprising, as the earliest forms (in the 16th century) were ~5-6 feet long, and required a heavy monopod forked rest to aim with, and would have therefore been a pain for Portuguese travelers to lug around*. they also were very very slow to reload: because of how cumbersome they were, as well as the lack of suitable means of carrying ball and powder, they could take up to 2 minutes to load (the 2 shots a minute, no monopod is later--when it got lighter: 3 shots and more was possible when the matchlock gave way to the flintlock, and cartridges were introduced).

what was actually used, both in Europe and Japan itself, for you everyday shooting (battlefields included), was a weapon called the Arquebus (or Caliver): these were smaller, easier to wield (no rests), and could fire a shot every 30 seconds or so. downside was that they were smaller (i.e shorter barrel). therefore, it wasn't always reliable when penetrating armor at a distance, though it did better than an Arbalest or a war-bow at medium to close range.

either way, one things neither weapon would have been used to shoot at a knight (or any armored target), is buck-shot**/pellets: they're almost completely useless against armored targets at all but the closest of ranges, as the pellets are too small (the velocity is little different from a single bullet). they aren't even that good against unarmored targets: in the Battle of Zorndorf in 1758, the Russians partly used them against the Prussians, and it didn't help them much. (because of this, the Prussian officers suspected the Russians wanted to encumber the Prussians with wounded: it didn't work, as Prussian soldiers were forbidden to help the wounded. the battle was a draw--32,919 total casualties later, with 11,680 of those dead).

grapeshot of course, is for cannons, and the balls were typically larger than those in either a musket or an Arquebus: Canister (which didn't exist in the middle ages, or Sengoku era Japan), did use musket balls. those can penetrate a knight's armor, as velocity is higher.


*the Portuguese introduced them to Japan: some lord was apparently impressed with the duck-shooting skills of the travelers, and had copies made.
**not to be confused with buck and ball: that is definitely effective, though at close range (~30-50 yards and inwards)

[R.E.H.W.R.]

The bullet hitting the armor would actually make the wound bigger.

[R.E.H.W.R.]

Just In case you hear something that doesn't sound right.

http://www.thearma.org/essays/TopMyths.htm

[R.E.H.W.R.]

Seriously, Warrior Graveyard (tv show) on Netflix now., you have very realistic fights for the episodes about European battles, but you do one on samurai, the fights are OVERLY stylized! Provided Japanese duels were stylized, but, jumping in the air towards one another, REALLY?
And European broadswords are heavier than katanas?!? What the fuck? Why is it that scientist turn off their scientific process when it comes to samurai and their overrated katanas?
How hard is it to do actual research?

http://www.thearma.org/essays/weights.htm