Scholars' Mine Masters Theses Student Theses and Dissertations Spring 2015 The effects of physical flash hole deviations on factory-grade rifle ammunition Nicolaas Martin Schrier Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses Part of the Explosives Engineering Commons Department: Recommended Citation Schrier, Nicolaas Martin, "The effects of physical flash hole deviations on factory-grade rifle ammunition" (2015). Masters Theses. 7416. https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/7416 This thesis is brought to you by Scholars' Mine, a service of the Missouri S&T Library and Learning Resources. This work is protected by U. S. Copyright Law. Unauthorized use including reproduction for redistribution requires the permission of the copyright holder. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL FLASH HOLE DEVIATIONS ON FACTORY- GRADE RIFLE AMMUNITION by NICOLAAS MARTIN SCHRIER A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the MISSOURI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE IN EXPLOSIVES ENGINEERING 2015 Approved by Paul Worsey, Advisor Gillian Worsey Jason Baird iii ABSTRACT The objective of this research is to determine the effect of dimensional and positional changes of the primer flash hole on the performance of factory-grade rifle ammunition. The studied variables were flash hole diameter, offset from center, and orientation of the offset in the primer pocket. Cartridge performance was quantified by measuring muzzle velocity, chamber pressure, and target grouping size (precision). Five different flash hole diameters were tested for both the Remington .223 and Winchester .308 calibers: 1.4mm, 2.0mm (the Fiocchi standard), 2.4mm, 2.8mm, and 3.0mm.