Improve your aiming/marksman skills

[hegykc]

EDIT: The info in this first post is outdated. Disregard the convergences you see here. After more testing I'll post my new recommendations later in the thread.

Before I scare away people with some more complicated stuff, here's a picture:





Now, something more complicated:

This are the harmonization and gun convergences for the P-51 mustang.

• No.1 guns converge at 1,000 feet / at sight line (inboard)
• No.2 guns converge at 1,100 feet / 11 inches below sight line (middle)
• No.3 guns converge at 1,200 feet / 18 inches above sight line (outboard)

From that you can see that the guns not only don't meet at the same convergence horizontally, but not even vertically.



I managed to model .303 caliber bullet trajectories in one of my CAD programs, and I tried to copy the same pattern seen in the P-51 charts. This harmonization pattern is there for a reason, it's not as simple as setting a one point convergence.

Spitfire/Hurricane convergences in the picture should greatly improve kill/damage probabilities for pilots that are not excellent marksmen.

I do not have a joystick at the moment so I need volunteers to test this out.
Preferably pilots who are flying online for a while now, and know their kill ratio and skill level. To see if there will be any improvement.

I put this in the main forum so that as many people as possible see it, because it should really make things easier for the average pilot reading through the front page mainly.

150 yards harmonization, and more advanced patterns coming up..

[ATAG_Doc]

This is very interesting!

[*Buzzsaw*]

Originally Posted by hegykc

Before I scare away people with some more complicated stuff, here's a picture:



Now, something more complicated:

This are the harmonization and gun convergences for the P-51 mustang.

• No.1 guns converge at 1,000 feet / at sight line (inboard)
• No.2 guns converge at 1,100 feet / 11 inches below sight line (middle)
• No.3 guns converge at 1,200 feet / 18 inches above sight line (outboard)

From that you can see that the guns not only don't meet at the same convergence horizontally, but not even vertically.



I managed to model .303 caliber bullet trajectories in one of my CAD programs, and I tried to copy the same pattern seen in the P-51 charts. This harmonization pattern is there for a reason, it's not as simple as setting a one point convergence.

Spitfire/Hurricane convergences in the picture should greatly improve kill/damage probabilities for pilots that are not excellent marksmen.
Gun sight distance should be set at 330 yards although the harmonization is set up for a target at 300 yards distance.


I do not have a joystick at the moment so I need volunteers to test this out.
Preferably pilots who are flying online for a while now, and know their kill ratio and skill level. To see if there will be any improvement.

I put this in the main forum so that as many people as possible see it, because it should really make things easier for the average pilot reading through the front page mainly.

150 yards harmonization, and more advanced patterns coming up..

Salute

Those are the official P-51 convergence patterns, drawn up for average pilots who were not very good shots.

Most experienced Aces preferred to go for a tighter pattern, for more concentrated hitting power. Also remember that the P-51 was equipped with .50 calibre weapons, much more effective than a .303, it only took a couple .50's to do the damage of 10 .303's, so you could afford to spread out your pattern and still be effective against the primary target for the P-51, which was single engined fighters, relatively fragile targets.

The British had as their primary focus, medium bombers, with fighters a distant second. Of course most guys in this game prefer to shoot down fighter opponents, but they will meet bombers.

It's the old dilemma, shotgun pattern for better chance of a hit, or concentrated for more effect when you do hit.

[GF_Mastiff]

this is confusing me, isn't the settings for guns in meters?

So whats those setting in yards? or meters?

and in the game the guns are out board to inboard another confusing thing?

so 1/8 is outer most, with 2/7, 3/6, 4/5.

I'm confused?

[hegykc]

Units of measurement int the pictures are yards. If the game uses meters, convert.
No. 1 guns are inboard, as per the mustang charts.

I can correct these to be as in the game, but later..

[GADGET]

Check out the the Spitfire convergence pattern.... really exotic:

[AirHog71]

Originally Posted by hegykc

Units of measurement int the pictures are yards. If the game uses meters, convert.
No. 1 guns are inboard, as per the mustang charts.

I can correct these to be as in the game, but later..

Thanks for providing this.

Mastiff has made a point though about confusion, the top chart is in yards, the below P-51 chart is in feet, it would be better to convert everything to feet I think.

150 yards = 450 ft

[hegykc]

So what does the game use for distance? meters?

[klem]

Originally Posted by hegykc

So what does the game use for distance? meters?

Metres.

I set my RAF sights to 200 yards (183m in the guns setting page). I set that as both horizontal and vertical convergence for point harmonisation of all guns at 200yds (183m).

If I miss, I miss. But you get a close scatter within a few feet up to about 50yds either side of harmonisation and it seems quite effective against bombers if not those pesky tungsten armoured 109s

I have a ballistics spreadsheet for all the guns in IL-2 '46 somewhere based on RL values but in the end it came down to KISS.

[hegykc]

Here's the "cone of death" for one point convergence vs. the harmonized one: