glynnm45 Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 What is the definition of "power factor"?? Such as " my loads have a pf of 135" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlmiller1 Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Power factor is a number derived by multiplying your bullet weight times the velocity, then dropping the last 3 digits. E.G. a power factor (pf) of 135 might be a 9mm 124gr bullet traveling at a velocity of 1089 feet per second. Or it could be a 147gr bullet at a speed of 918fps. It might even be a .40s&w 165gr bullet going 818fps. Does that help? MLM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glynnm45 Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 Power factor is a number derived by multiplying your bullet weight times the velocity, then dropping the last 3 digits. E.G. a power factor (pf) of 135 might be a 9mm 124gr bullet traveling at a velocity of 1089 feet per second. Or it could be a 147gr bullet at a speed of 918fps. It might even be a .40s&w 165gr bullet going 818fps. Does that help? MLM That gives me the basic math, but what exactly does it mean? Is the number a measure of "stopping force or power" or is it a measure of accuracy, ect ?? Thanks for your reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 To me all power factor is is an equation relating to the various shooting sports such as my favorite, USPSA. PF levels the playing field so to speak. I shoot production which has a minimum PF of 125 in order to keep shooters from loading super low recoil loads which would give them an edge. The open guns require much higher power factor for the same reason. PF relates to stopping power, I guess. But that is not the reasoning behind it. You won't find , "165 Power Factor", on a box of factory ammo. But the earlier answer explained it quite well. Bullet weight X velocity=PF. Only the first three digits count. Everything is rounded down, 124.9999999999999999 is still a PF of 124. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Neill Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Power factor is a momentum value (with inconsistent units) that relates back to a recoil level. Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glynnm45 Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 Power factor is a momentum value (with inconsistent units) that relates back to a recoil level.Guy Ahh, the red light comes on. Thanks for all the replies. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walküre Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Power factor is a momentum value (with inconsistent units) that relates back to a recoil level.Guy Really not so much "inconsistent" as "non-standard". Standard English units of momentum would be lb·s, which expanded to base units is slug·ft/s. Grains are also a unit of mass (just like slugs), so grain·ft/s is equivalent, albeit with a goofy scaling factor. 1PF = 1000 grain·ft/s = ~0.00444 lb·s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1shortofpar Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 To me all power factor is is an equation relating to the various shooting sports such as my favorite, USPSA. PF levels the playing field so to speak. I shoot production which has a minimum PF of 125 in order to keep shooters from loading super low recoil loads which would give them an edge. The open guns require much higher power factor for the same reason. Everything is rounded down, 124.9999999999999999 is still a PF of 124. This really helps me as well. I had this discussion with a friend from work the other day. So correct me if I'm wrong, but the ideal situation would be to have the greatest power factor you can while not giving up too much control due to recoil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 To me all power factor is is an equation relating to the various shooting sports such as my favorite, USPSA. PF levels the playing field so to speak. I shoot production which has a minimum PF of 125 in order to keep shooters from loading super low recoil loads which would give them an edge. The open guns require much higher power factor for the same reason. Everything is rounded down, 124.9999999999999999 is still a PF of 124. This really helps me as well. I had this discussion with a friend from work the other day. So correct me if I'm wrong, but the ideal situation would be to have the greatest power factor you can while not giving up too much control due to recoil? For competition, you want to get as close to the power factor as you can and still always be over the minimum. In terms of on-target perfromance, since PF is slanted towards momentum, it favors mass, so slow and heavy. Energy goes in terms of velocity squared, so PF is not really a good jusdge of on-target performance. PF for competition...Energy (and a bunch of other stuff) for on-target performance of a round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now