ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Transitional ballistics

Okay kiddo, so let's talk about transitional ballistics! When a bullet comes out of a gun, it starts off going really fast. That's called the "muzzle velocity." But as the bullet travels through the air, it starts to slow down. This change in speed is what we call "transitional ballistics."

The bullet is affected by a lot of different things as it travels through the air, like gravity and wind resistance. These forces cause the bullet to lose speed and drop down towards the ground. So if you shoot a bullet straight ahead, it won't keep going straight forever. It will eventually start to curve downwards.

Transitional ballistics is important to understand because it affects the accuracy of a gun. The longer the distance the bullet needs to travel, the more it will be affected by the forces of transitional ballistics. This means that if you want to hit a target that's far away, you need to take into account how the bullet will slow down and curve as it travels through the air.

So, to sum it up, transitional ballistics is the process of a bullet slowing down and curving as it travels through the air after being fired from a gun. It's important to consider when trying to shoot accurately at long distances.