The effects of a shot are determined primarily by the cartridge: the bullet’s mass, muzzle velocity, and its construction. Weapons chambered for the same cartridge therefore have identical or similar damage and penetration values.
The weapon itself also affects these values, particularly through barrel length and operating system. A longer barrel can accelerate the bullet to a higher velocity, while a manually operated action directs all propellant gases into driving the bullet forward. As a result, an assault rifle, a semi-automatic marksman rifle, and a bolt-action sniper rifle may produce similar but not identical results even when firing the same cartridge.
Ballistics
Bullet ballistics depends on the cartridge and weapon design in much the same way as damage and penetration. For most weapons, however, it requires little attention within their effective range.
Pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, and machine guns are generally used at distances where bullet drop remains limited and is outweighed by rate of fire, accuracy limitations, and dispersion. Beyond their effective range, the more important factor is the bullet’s loss of energy, which reduces both damage and penetration.
Longer-barreled and larger-caliber weapons are used at greater distances. In these cases, bullet trajectory becomes increasingly important, especially for precise sniper fire where the cost of a missed shot is high.
Ricochets
Ricochets occur when a bullet strikes an obstacle at a certain angle and fails to penetrate the surface, instead deflecting either intact or after fragmenting into several smaller pieces.
Hard surfaces that absorb little of the bullet’s energy greatly increase the risk of ricochet and may send the bullet or its fragments back toward the shooter or nearby teammates. This makes combat in confined spaces particularly dangerous. In such environments, personal protective equipment with extensive fragmentation coverage is strongly recommended.
Overheating
Barrel overheating occurs during sustained fire without sufficient pauses, particularly on weapons fitted with suppressors or enclosed muzzle devices that retain hot gases for longer periods.
Each shot heats the barrel, chamber, and muzzle device. If the weapon is not given time to cool, the heat begins to affect its performance: shot consistency deteriorates, and the action may become unstable, causing fluctuations in the rate of fire. An overheated barrel or muzzle device can also create heat shimmer across the line of sight.
The negative effects of overheating mainly affect weapons with large ammunition capacities — magazine-fed and belt-fed machine guns, especially when fitted with enclosed muzzle devices.
