ORIGINAL: statjunk
What happens to a jacketed and un-jacketed bullet after it leaves the barrel but before it hits a target?
Does it change shape?
I certainly hope not! Its not supposed to! Supposed to be spinning like a Payton Manning pass. Despite popular belief, bullets do not acctually travel in a straight up and down line. Rather, they travel more like a golf ball hit by a right-handed golfer with a bit of a slice. Sort of a left then right hook as they drop. The "slice" of a bullet really isn't as bad as say, my sliceis. It is enough to notice on paper inside of 100 yards, but unless you knew about it, you would probably just chalk it up to user error.
If you fire slow moving bullets (under 1500 fps, .22LR works great) with the sun at your back you can watch the path through the scope. Pretty neat.