Spartan0536

Hello everyone, It's been quite a while since I have last posted here. I have been doing some ballistics work for ArmA III over the years, most of it is just behind the scenes primarily with the NIArms team which is a fantastic group. My work on Ballistics in ArmA III will likely continue to be more "behind the scenes" as I reach out to other developers of mods and offer my ballistics code to them. Right now I am finalizing 30-06 Springfield which comes with 5 different rounds, 3 of which are US Military Designated, and 2 that are modern day civilian handloads that follow all proper handloading guidelines. I also am finishing up 6.8x51 Common Cartridge aka .277 Fury which is what the US Military selected as its next gen caliber to serve with its XM7 rifle, the XM250 Machine Gun, and likely future marksman/sniper weapons systems as they are developed, tested, and approved. The 6.8x51 is just a single round, it's the official US Military one which is an EPR style bullet, the information I have on it comes from an unverified source but they did manage to get their hands on a few rounds of it and "test" it so it's the best info I have to go on right now. I hope everyone has been doing well these past few years, and thanks for all the support over the years, I really appreciate it!

As some of you are aware NIArms has 2 projects going on right now... the M1941 Johnson LMG which I am looking into re-doing the ballistics on 30-06 to make sure they are up to date with my most recent and stringent standards, but also the much awaited SCAR family. As for the SCAR's I am going to keep my current work on them a secret, but yes it is ballistics work and it's something very special, unfortunately it's not multiple barrel lengths with the same magazine, that is all BI's doing. But yeah, dem SCAR's have something special coming.

32 years young... I am an old man, I even have a few grey hairs to prove it 😛

I assisted with ACE3 Ballistics but I did not create them. My ballistics are "basic", they use the BI parameters so there is 0 extra performance hit and I manage to get my ballistics within 3% (max tolerance is 5%, my worst ever has been 3%) of real life velocities. I also watch videos and read technical documents on the wounding capabilities of the round (if available) and use FBI protocol to determine barrier penetration performance. ACE3 has good ballistics but some people do not like the performance hit of advanced ballistics, this is why I still provide mine.

This is mainly my fault people, Toadie was waiting on me to finish the ballistics work and I have been slacking as I just became a father on Valentines Day. My daughter Athena takes up a large portion of my time these days as I am the "stay at home father" as my wife works as a math teacher. I sent the ballistics data to Toadie yesterday for the C96 and this only comes with 1 round, a WW1/2 milspec ball/FMJ round with ballistics data that came from a personal source that owns a C96 "Bolo", and a book from the 1950's from someone that shot WW2 7.93x25 milspec ammo from a C96 Schnellfeuer. My final tests with the round shows a velocity match out to 100m with a deviation from IRL ballistics calculation by 0.07%. The update should be coming very soon and I apologize for having you wait on me.

Regarding the BTHP in 6.8SPC, it was using one of my earlier ways of calculating ballistics in ArmA and has sense with NIArms been tweaked to reflect more realistic parameters. As for body armor penetration, there is no such thing in ArmA unfortunately, body armor in ArmA III only mitigates damage based on the level of protection it provides, simply put it works like this... 6.8 SPC BTHP bullet = 12 damage Center Mass kit to incapacitate = 6 damage Target body armor level IV = -50% damage Shot hit target center mass = 6 damage = target incapacitated. this is not exactly how it works but it's close enough to give you the gist. This makes for an interesting anomaly where hollow point bullets do more damage than AP even when wearing body armor. Quite honestly as the base game sits the only useful purpose of AP rounds is to go through barriers and POTENTIALLY light armored vehicles to hit occupants inside albeit with reduced impact force. When I started looking into this paradox I figured out why BI's values are "all over the place" they were making general purpose rounds that do everything equally well because of how they simulate personal protection and barrier performance. I have considered going down that same route but what I came to conclude by popular vote was that people wanted options in their loadout even if that meant that body armor would make things less realistic than they might be.

Update: Toadie2k and I have looked over all of the config data, only a few issues have been detected, mainly dealing with .300 Blackout's TAC-TX round and 5.45x39's 7u1 subsonic round. These have since been corrected and should be updated accordingly, I believe Toadie2k has already pushed the necessary "patch" through.

Ok so I figured I would report in here before some people end up noticing... There are some errors with the ballistics, the code gets really messy in those configs and you start to see things and mess up.... Some of the ballistic values are not correct, I am working with Toadie2K to evaluate what changes need to be made to remedy this, NO ETA given on a fix at this time. Not all of the ballistics are affected just a few, when I have more details I will let you know.

Ok since Toadie2k has now cried havoc and let slip those Sig's, here is what you are in for..... *Special Note: The Geneva Convention never specified the use of or ban thereof expanding ammunition, it was the Hague Convention, to which the USA never signed or ratified. However the USA does follow the guidelines despite this with 1 major caveat, in the 1990's due to the advent of modern terrorism the Geneva Convention approved and acknowledges that USSOCOM (All US Special Operations) have an exclusion to the Hague Convention Parameters providing that they are engaged with forces that are non-standard (ie. Terrorists, Insurgents, and other non-national non-recognized uniformed forces). This allows them the use of any ammunition deemed mission critical including the use of explosive, expanding, fragmenting, bursting, ect... ammunition as the opposing forces are acting outside of Geneva guidelines. 9x19 M882 Ball - US Current mil spec ball, anyone that has shot this can tell you it's good for nothing better than plinking (target practice), if you are out of ammo in your rifle, I suppose it's better than throwing rocks. (Supersonic Loaded) Mk243 Mod 0 - US Current mil spec JHP (yes, this is legitimate, used by USCG and DOD), actually a decent bullet based on the Winchester USA9JHP2 bullet, yes it is that cheap Whitebox Winchester JHP I have more than quadruple checked this, it's an ok round way better than that ball crap, see SPOILER for a picture reference. (Subsonic Loaded) .357 Sig FMJ-FN - Full Metal Jacket Flat Nose, based on DoubleTap Ammunition FMJ-FN loading, used for reduced ricochet and helps it do better (slightly) against soft targets, not a bad bullet if you need to use FMJ to meet certain restrictions, and .357 Sig's high velocity makes this FMJ considerably deadlier than it's 9mm counterpart. (Supersonic Loaded). JHP - Jacketed Hollow Point, based on the Hornady Critical Duty LE (pretty much the same as the public Critical Duty, just sold to LE and is FBI approved). This JHP uses what Hornady calls their "FlexLock" design, a very soft plastic "plug" to stop it from getting clogged when going through barriers, due to .357 Sig's high velocity this round is the only one that consistently meets FBI test spec, and it's deadly, one of the most damaging rounds of the new pistols, see the SPOILER for a picture reference. (Supersonic Loaded) .40 S&W MK309 Mod 0 Ball - US Current Mil Spec ball, based on the Federal American Eagle AE40R2. Yes this is for real, again used by USCG and DOD. This is actually a Total Metal Jacket (jacket entirely encapsulates the bullet, not just the front) and it features a flat nose for reduced ricochet, it also helps with soft target performance (slightly). Considerably better than M882 ball in every way, and is a good choice if wanting to meet Hague Convention guidelines. (Supersonic Loaded) MK308 Mod 0 JHP - US Current Mil Spec JHP, based on the Federal Tactical HST P40HST2. Again yes this is for real, used by USCG and DOD. This is one of my personal favorite JHP's in just about any handgun caliber, the wound channels these bullets make is just astonishing, and it does well through barriers, it's only real competition is the Hornady Critical Duty LE, this is easily one of the deadliest rounds in the pack, and it packs one hell of a punch. (Supersonic Loaded) XTP JHP - Civilian loaded Jacketed Hollow Point using the reliable Hornady XTP bullet, ammunition loaded by HPR HyperClean. This round is a follow up to MK308 Mod 0 but it designed for use when noise abatement restrictions dictate the use of special ammunition, see the SPOILER for a picture reference. (Subsonic Loaded) .45 ACP M1911 Ball - WW2 to Modern Production Full Metal Jacket round nose, rather limited in performance and it's age shows, but it is Mil Spec as produced by Winchester as per DODIC ordinance reports dictate. (Subsonic Loaded) JHP - Civilian/LE Loaded JHP based on the Federal Tactical HST in +P loading, yep, now this is where .45 ACP gets deadly. This is one of the best rounds to use if it meets your units specific ROE, great for when noise abatement restrictions are in place. See SPOILER for a picture reference. (Subsonic Loaded) BONUS! H&K 10mm AUTO (Submachine Gun ONLY) FMJ-FN - Civilian/LE loaded, Based on Buffalo Bore's HEAVY 10mm Auto Full Metal Jacket Flat Nose offering. If you are looking for enhanced lethality from an MP5 but looking to meet Hague restrictions, this is definitely an appealing option to consider. (Supersonic Loaded) JHP - Civilian/LE loaded, Based on Buffalo Barnes TACTICAL Low Flash & Low Recoil Barnes TAX-XP JHP bullet. This round is the single most devastating round out of all the Pistol caliber JHP's, it's high velocity and weight allows for massive expansion and it still defeats most FBI barriers, if you are not bound by Hague restrictions this round is an easy choice, however this is like walking into a firefight blasting Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture finale, sure you have a cannon but it also sounds like one even with a suppressor, not recommended when noise abatement restrictions are in place. See SPOILER for a picture reference. (Supersonic Loaded) I have also re-worked and added new bullets for other NIArms Core weapons such as .300 Blackout, 6.8 SPC II, 5.45x39, and 7.62x39, I would take up the entire forum writing this stuff out, if people have questions regarding the changes to these calibers/bullets I will be happy to reply.

Thanks to Toadie2k for giving me access to the private testing version of his new Sig Sauer Pistol Pack. Test results are in. There are a TON of P226's and P229's as well as the M11A1 and the MK25 P226 for you Navy SEAL fans. The reload animations are as you would expect from Toadie to be absolutely top notch, with the correct slide racking technique. Multiple interchangeable front and rear sights INCLUDING raised sights for suppressor use. Suppressor list is good and carries both my favorite pistol suppressors the AAC Ti-Rant and Ti-Rant shorty Recoil mechanism seems to be realistic, recoil especially in terms of pistols varies by shooter, stance, and situation so getting recoil "perfect" is literally impossible, either way it fits correctly IMHO. Ballistics, yes there is a difference and you can tell, subsonic rounds confirmed to emit no sonic crack and when used with a suppressor is extremely quiet, great for noise abatement for clandestine operations. Laser modules are here, and yes there are IR laser and Visible lasers Overall the level of customization that has gone into this pack shows the hard work and dedication that the NIArms team has put into this project FOR FREE, this is easily payware quality and takes weapon customization to a whole new level for ArmA regarding pistols, it out does everything BI has done to date. You guys are in for a nice treat when it releases and it should be released.....

Ah ok, those weapons are done by NIArms at their discretion, and USUALLY involve working with another mod group to produce the weapon system. If you wish to become a patreon NIArms is always welcoming of that.

All pistol/SMG rounds will feature Full Metal Jacket/Total Metal Jacket as well as Hollow Points and even in MOST cases (NOT ALL) Subsonic rounds comprised of Hollow Points to retain maximum effectiveness against soft targets. .357 Sig & 10mm Auto (10mm Auto is only in the MP5A/10) will NOT have Subsonic rounds, however they do have hollow points and full metal jacket/total metal jacket rounds.

I am confused as to your question?

No problem, it's what I do, besides pester developers..... Now if only BI would let me use if = then arguments in their code I could really get a nice project going!

Well it's done, I have sent of my latest batch of ballistics to the NIArms team as of this morning, it's now entirely in their hands for release. Ballistics list includes.. 9x19mm Parabellum .357 Sig .40 S&W H&K 10mm Auto (SMG ONLY) .45 ACP 5.45x39 Russian 5.56x45mm NATO 6.8x43mm SPC II (yes SPC II, better SAAMI pressures and enhanced performance over the original 6.8 SPC) .300 AAC Blackout (7.62x35mm) 7.62x39mm Russian 7.62x51mm NATO .300 Winchester Magnum (updated some values) Please note that due to popular demand and talks with multiple developers it has been agreed that multiple barrel lengths only make ammunition sharing impossible, so outside of any documented cases all barrel lengths will be uniform to ensure magazine interoperability for field swapping.