How Far will a M-16 round drop at 500 yards?

Answer 1

I don't know where the 17 feet and 90 inches came from, but that is not the case. I am no physicist, but I was a rifle expert all four years in the Corps. We shot from the 500 yard line in the prone position(laying down). If those answers were the case, our rounds would have been in the dirt everytime, or we would have had to aim our weapons and a much higher angle and lob them in there.

I don't know about it being designed as a short range weapon. It has an effective range of 500 yards for a point target(one person). It has an effective range of 800 yards at an area target(meaning if there were 15 people, 800 yards away, and you were on the right settings, you would likely hit one of the people if you aimed at the group.).

Answer 2

If an M-16 has a muzzle velocity of about 2800 ft/sec and gravity is 32ft/sec, roughly, in 500 yards, a bullet will drop about 17 feet (500 yards being 1500 feet and it's flight would be a bit longer than half a second). This is just a rough estimate.

Answer 3

Approximately 1/32 of an inch depending on the temperature and weather. -

Answer 4

that depends on whether or not it is a standard military issue round or something else... it will also depend on lots of other factors as well so it is hard to answer that question with any accuracy... it was designed as a relatively short range weapon for short range combat more depending on rapidity of fire than range.

Answer 5

Depends on the round, and a few other variables as well. Generally in the vicinity of 90". Here are a few charts:
http://www.ak-47.net/ammo/ss109.txt
http://www.65grendel.com/graphics/grendelballistics.pdf