muzzle velocity

Women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service firing a 25 pounder shell at the Royal Artillery experimental station at Shoeburyness. The shells are fired through a velocity screen, which has a grid of copper wire. When the shell is fired through the wire, the circuit is broken, by which the speed of the shell can be checked. The velocity screen being disassembled after use.

Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately 120 m/s (390 ft/s) to 370 m/s (1,200 ft/s) in black powder muskets, to more than 1,200 m/s (3,900 ft/s) in modern rifles with high-velocity cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to 1,700 m/s (5,600 ft/s) for tank guns firing kinetic energy penetrator ammunition. To simulate orbital debris impacts on spacecraft, NASA launches projectiles through light-gas guns at speeds up to 8,500 m/s (28,000 ft/s). Several factors, including the type of firearm, the cartridge, and the barrel length, determine the bullet's muzzle velocity.