Scum Ballistics

[2024-09-29] - Updated the windage section and removed some useless information
Welcome to our guide to ballistics for SCUM! SCUM is one of the few games that use (mostly) real ballistic values and calculations for its firearms, that means it's possible to calculate the trajectory of a certain cartridge and take advantage of that, more specifically, long range operations, due to the harsh bullet drop experienced at longer distances.
Since SCUM offers that possibility, and because we enjoy looking at the technical side of things (nerds), we decided to make this guide, to show people the true power of math and physics.

Introduction

This guide contains an accurate simulation of the trajectory of each projectile and its impacts, plus information to predict a projectile's path in more details to eliminate guesswork.

Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behavior and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.

If you wish to skip the flavour text, head to the Ammunition section. This guide won't cover assault rifles and its cartridges, because they shouldn't be used for medium to long range operations that this guide is supposed to cover, due to horrendous ballistic coefficients. However, we may add them in the future. And we decided to include the Hunter 85 just for fun.


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Hunting Bolt-Action Rifles

Hunter 85

The Hunter 85 is a firearm in SCUM. usually used for hunting, based on an bolt action mechanism, the magazine can hold up to 10 rounds. I'ts chambered in .22 Hornet, despite the fact the in-game .22 ammo icons and model shows .22LR rounds. It can be fitted with it's own scope, that can magnify 3x, 6x, and 12x. Due to the limited power of the caliber, it can only reliably kill another prisoner with head shots, and of course, with no ballistic helmet, at close-mid range.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
.22 Hornet	731.5 m/s	35 rpm	10	1000 m	2.8 kg

Carbon Hunter

The Carbon Hunter is a fancier version of the Hunter 85. The difference, besides its carbon fiber stock, is the fact it fires .30-06 rounds, having much more potential than the Hunter 85. The magazine can hold up to 13 rounds, and it can be fitted with the hunting scope, which provides a magnification of 3x, 6x, and 12x. It can spawn at military areas, and hunting grounds.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
.30-06	853 m/s	35 rpm	13	1000 m	2.8 kg

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Bolt-Action Rifles

Karabiner 98k

The Karabiner 98k, or simply Kar98, was the primary rifle used by the German army during WW2. Chambered in 7.92x57mm s.S. Patrone. It can be found at the WW2 bunkers scattered around the map, it's a great choice for long range operations, due to the availability of the ammunition and its excellent ballistic performance.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
7,92x57mm	760 m/s	35 rpm	5	1000 m	4.1 kg

M1891

The M1891, also known as Mosin-Nagant, is a Russian rifle used by army of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, during both world wars. Chambered in 7.62x54mmR, it can be found at the WW2 bunkers scattered around the map. Despite being very similar to the Kar98, we recommend using the Kar98 instead due to the much better ballistic coefficient, and the fact that its ammo ideally should be reserved for the SVD.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
7.62x54mmR	830 m/s	35 rpm	5	1000 m	3.9 kg

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AWP

The AWP is a sniper rifle intended for use by law enforcement as opposed to military, with AWP standing for Arctic Warfare Police. The most notable feature is that the distinctive frame is black instead of light green. It also has a shorter 24 in (610 mm) barrel than the AW model. The AWP is chambered in the recently added .308 Winchester ammunition. Can be found in TEC01 bunkers and other high grade military loot areas.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
.308 Win.	850 m/s	35 rpm	10	800 m	6.5 kg

AWM

The AWM is very similar to the AWP. The difference, is that it's meant for military use, and more importantly, it's chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum, a powerful cartridge that bridges the gap between the 7.92x57mm and the .50BMG. Can be found in TEC01 bunkers and other high grade military loot areas.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
.338 Lapua	701 m/s	35 rpm	6	1000	6.9 kg

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Semi-Automatic Rifles

M1 Garand

The M1 Rifle (Frequently referred to as the "Garand" or "M1 Garand") is chambered in the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, It can be found at the WW2 bunkers around the map, It was the first standard-issue autoloading rifle for the United States. By most accounts, the M1 rifle performed well. It can be a good option since it's semiautomatic, the clips however are slightly rare. For some reason, the in-game information says that it's effective range is only 400 meters, we highly doubt that's the case, as we are sure the caliber can do just as well as the 7.62x54mmR.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
.30-06	853 m/s	500 rpm	8	400 m	4.3 kg

SCAR 17S DMR

The SCAR 17s it's a gas-operated rifle that was designed as a DMR. Manufactured by FN Herstal its loaded in .308 Winchester's round, this rifle boasts a modular design, allowing quick adaptations. With its 16.25" barrel length makes the SCAR 17s delivers potent firepower at long-ranges, making it a good choice for those who are looking for accuracy at mid to long range actions.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
.308 Win.	870 m/s	625 rpm	20	500 m	3.3 kg

Dragunov

The SVD is a semi-automatic designated marksman rifle chambered in 7.62×54mmR and developed in the Soviet Union, The Dragunov was designed as a squad support weapon since, according to Soviet and Soviet-derived military doctrines, it's sometimes regarded as the best sniper rifle in the game, due to being easier to get and lighter than the M82, for the 10 round magazine and its semi-automatic action. However, the bad ballistic coefficient for a long range rifle hinders its long range performance. Can be found in TEC01 bunkers and other high grade military loot areas.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
7.62x54mmR	853 m/s	500 rpm	10	1000 m	5.3 kg

M82A1

The Barrett M82A1 its a semi automatic, anti-materiel precision rifle developed by the company Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, is chambered in .50 BMG and has a Mag. capacity of 10 rounds and cannot be breach loaded. The M82 and its ammunition are extremely rare to find and only spawns at high grade military loot spawns, such as the armories. Its own scope has three magnification levels: 8,5x, 14x and 20x. The M82A1 is the most powerful rifle in the game and also the heaviest firearm, it can destroy targets at pretty much any range. It's perfect for the those who are looking to snipe towns 1000m away. In real life this gun is not used for actual anti-personnel purposes like an actual sniper rifle, instead it's actually used for disabling vehicles and destroying enemy equipment and munitions from afar. The M82 has relatively poor accuracy. The longest confirmed kill was done by a Canadian sniper in Iraq, he used .50BMG, but it came out of a McMillian TAC-50, a bolt action rifle. These tend to be the most accurate due to having less moving parts.

Caliber	Velocity	Rate Of Fire	Capacity	Range	Weight
.50 BMG	928 m/s	200 rpm	10	1000 m	14 kg

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Ammunition (IMPORTANT)

Here we have some information about the long rifle cartridges available in SCUM. Alongside the most important part of this guide, the charts.

However, the chart steps are 100m apart, zeroed at 100m, so, they're not exactly very helpful, but they are, most importantly, an example. The idea is that we gathered the information you need to more accurately predict a bullet's trajectory, because, for example, the jump from 100m to 200m, is usually a drop of a few centimeters, but, at longer distances, such as 700m to 800m, that 100m gap is massive, requiring you to guess how much to aim up or down. This guide is supposed to eliminate that guesswork as much as possible.

We encorage you to use one of many ballistics calculators out there, so you can set the zeroing to any range you wish, and make the chart steps as close as you want. A relatively basic but sufficient calculator will demand the mass, muzzle velocity, and most importantly and by far the hardest value to get, the ballistic coefficient (BC) of your bullet. They will give you all sorts of useful information, including windage.

We recommend Hornady's calculator [www.hornady.com], since it's easy to use and looks nice. It should be noted that it only supports G1 and G7 drag models, although, these two are the most common models. We also recommend switching to metric because SCUM itself is fully metric. We have the ballistic coefficients that we used for every round in this guide.
We believe that the following cartridges are the ones used in SCUM, but, they might not be accurate, trying to find a game's exact reference cartridge is not exactly the easiest thing in the world, but we tried our best.

TIP: When using a ballistic chart, you'll find out how many centimeters you need to aim up (elevation) so your bullet lands at your desired location, it should be noted that the SCUM prisoner's height is exacly 180 cm. That means you can use your own targets to figure out "how much do i need to aim up". Remember that the in-game scopes jump 100m every zeroing step. At longer ranges, the difference of bullet drop inside that 100m step, becomes quite significant. That's the sole reason we are making this guide. Additionally, refrain from using crafted and tracer cartridges for long range shots. The crafted cartridges have reduced in-game damage and penetration values, and the tracers will easily give away your position.
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Windage (Incomplete)

Figuring out what the windage adjustment unit is:

Using trigonometry and two objects of known size at a known distance, shooting as downwind or upwind as possible, and with pixel measurements, we have figured out that the "WNDG" value on the scope HUD is milliradians. In other words, 1 "WNDG" = 1 MRAD, sometimes called MILS too. We were expecting this to be the case, since the game is fully metric.

This conclusion was double checked, with a 10% margin of error, which is very precise considering the crude measurement method. You basically just measure how much distance it deviated to the left/right, after setting the wind adjustment to a few milliradians, making sure the shot does not deviate without the adjustments. If the bullet lands on an easily recognizable point, you just take a screenshot, and measure how many pixels the object of known height is, and then the distance from where you aimed and where the bullet landed. Then you use cross multiplication to convert the pixel distance to real distance, plug those numbers in a trigonometry calculator, and compare the resulting angle to the angle set by the windage adjustment. I (Ramelstag) got 0.001889 radian out of an expected 0.002 radian (i had set the windage adjustment to 2 milliradians), that's only about 6% inaccurate, and I have an awful display resolution.

Predicting wind deviation:

It is immediately clear that this part is not going to be an exact science, as the scope doesn't give you the exact wind speed and direction, instead it gives you an abstract speed of: LOW, MID and HIGH, and cardinal and intercardinal (N, NE, E...) directions. (btw, the reported direction is the direction the wind is blowing to, not blowing from, and, a negative adjustment means it's pushing the bullet to the left, and a positive value means it's pushing the bullet to the right.) Best thing we can do is assume that the direction is be precise (it's probably not), and consider a range of speeds from those meaningless low, mid, high "values".
Hornandy's calculator works for calculating wind deviation, the issue is the very inaccurate wind readings we can get in-game. After hours of testing, I have gotten speeds of 15km/h to 45km/h, in the "LOW" speed reading, of course, the high side was most likely because of the direction inaccuracy. At one point where the speed was fluctuating between "mid" and "high", i was getting seemingly over 90km/h, I'm very skeptical about all of this. You simply cannot calculate the exact wind speed without assuming that the reported direction is 100% correct, which is not, or vice-versa, it's like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Consider this section incomplete.

.22 Hornet

The .22 Hornet is a varminting, small-game hunting, survival and competition centerfire rifle cartridge, It is considerably more powerful than the rimfire .22 WMR and the .17 HMR, achieving higher velocity with a bullet twice the weight of the .17 HMR bullet, the cartridge can be crafted and found in houses, police stations, military bunkers, cabins, hunting stands/camps, and garages.

Case type	Rimmed, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	5.6 mm
Bullet Weight	2.915g

Velocity	731.5 m/s
Energy	763J
BC G1	0.130

*Image merely illustrative*
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Ballistic Chart

Range	Elevation	Velocity	Energy	ETA
Meters	cm	m/s	Joules	Seconds
100	0.03	534	414	0.144
200	-32.38	381	211	0.340
300	-132.92	302	133	0.599
400	-333.40	263	100	0.910
500	-663.96	234	80	1.263
600	-1150.64	210	64	1.654
700	-1843.79	189	52	2.085
800	-2775.43	171	42	2.561
900	-4017.97	154	34	3.083
1000	-5664.77	138	28	3.657
1100	-7797.31	124	22	4.290
1200	-10535.91	111	18	4.991
1300	-14176.05	99	14	5.761

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7.62×54mmR

After some research, we concluded that the cartridge load is the 7N1 load, a FMJ cartridge made for snipers. However, the ballistic coefficient and bullet mass used for SCUM's calculations doesn't match this or other loads, so, it might not be accurate. Can be found at WW2 bunkers and at military areas.

Case type	Rimmed, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	7.92 mm
Bullet Weight	9.8g

Velocity	853 m/s
Energy	3,291J
BC G1	0.411

*Image merely illustrative*
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Ballistic Chart

Range	Elevation	Velocity	Energy	ETA
Meters	cm	m/s	Joules	Seconds
100	0.01	780	2984	0.112
200	-12.33	710	2476	0.233
300	-44.22	645	2043	0.365
400	-98.89	583	1669	0.510
500	-184.26	525	1353	0.668
600	-304.52	472	1094	0.844
700	-470.32	424	881	1.035
800	-691.42	382	719	1.248
900	-981.55	349	599	1.481
1000	-1357.11	324	516	1.736
1100	-1820.80	305	458	2.010
1200	-2382.85	290	414	2.301
1300	-3058.04	277	378	2.606

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.30-06 Springfield

the .30-06 Springfield cartridge was introduced in the United States Army in 1906. The ".30" refers to the caliber, and the "06" refers to the year it was adopted. The cartridge type used in SCUM is most likely to be the M2 ball cartridge, the bullet weighs 9.85 g (152 gr) and achieved a muzzle velocity of 855 m/s (rounded to 850 in game). This gives the .30-06 a very similar performance to the 7.62x54mmR, being just slightly better. Can be found at WW2 bunkers, and sometimes at other military loot areas.

Case type	Rimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	7.62 mm
Bullet Weight	10g

Velocity	853 m/s
Energy	3,630J
BC G1	0.450

*Image merely illustrative*
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Ballistic Chart

Range	Elevation	Velocity	Energy	ETA
Meters	cm	m/s	Joules	Seconds
100	0.01	786	3087	0.112
200	-12.04	722	2606	0.231
300	-43.02	662	2189	0.361
400	-96.16	605	1826	0.502
500	-176.29	550	1510	0.654
600	-290.03	499	1246	0.821
700	-443.17	452	1022	1.004
800	-644.99	410	843	1.202
900	-905.85	375	702	1.421
1000	-1242.63	345	597	1.658
1100	-1659.76	323	522	1.914
1200	-2168.52	306	468	2.188
1300	-2780.98	292	426	2.478

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7.92×57mm Mauser

The cartridge is loaded with a 35.3 mm long, boat-tailed schweres Spitzgeschoß - s.S (heavy pointed) full metal jacked bullet, weighed 12.8 g (197.5 gr), and had a muzzle velocity of around 760 m/s when fired from the Kar98's 600 mm barrel. Since the bullet is heavier than the other rifle's cartridge in SCUM, besides the .50BMG and .338LM, it has an excellent ballistic coefficient, and it's able to retain supersonic speeds up to 1 km. Can be found at WW2 bunkers, and sometimes at other military areas.

Case type	Rimmed, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	8.22 mm
Bullet Weight	12.8g

Velocity	760 m/s
Energy	3,697J
BC G1	0.560

*Image merely illustrative*
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Ballistic Chart

Range	Elevation	Velocity	Energy	ETA
Meters	cm	m/s	Joules	Seconds
100	0.02	709	3224	0.124
200	-15.95	661	2798	0.256
300	-53.94	614	2419	0.398
400	-117.21	570	2081	0.547
500	-212.93	528	1784	0.709
600	-343.23	488	1527	0.885
700	-514.36	450	1301	1.071
800	-734.14	417	1114	1.270
900	-1011.12	387	960	1.486
1000	-1357.83	361	834	1.717
1100	-1778.34	339	739	1.963
1200	-2284.20	322	666	2.225
1300	-2887.87	308	609	2.500

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.308 Winchester

the 7.62×51mm (also know as .308 Winchester) was first developed in the late 1950s, the cartridge was first introduced in USA service for the M14 rifle and M60 machine gun but many other firearms that use the 7.62×51mm NATO remain in service today, especially designated for marksman rifles/sniper rifles. The cartridge can be crafted. It can be found in general military loot areas. According to the developers, it's an M80 cartridge.

Case type	Rimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	7.62 mm
Bullet Weight	9.50g

Velocity	883 m/s
Energy	3,708J
BC G7	0.209

*Image merely illustrative*
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Ballistic Chart

Range	Elevation	Velocity	Energy	ETA
Meters	cm	m/s	Joules	Seconds
100	0.01	812.47	3144	0.108
200	-11.08	744.81	2642	0.224
300	-39.85	681.04	2209	0.350
400	-89.65	620.41	1833	0.487
500	-165.10	562.36	1506	0.635
600	-272.77	509.17	1235	0.799
700	-418.25	459.25	1005	0.979
800	-611.48	415.33	822	1.173
900	-862.71	377.43	678	1.389
1000	-1188.80	346.61	572	1.624
1100	-1595.32	323.38	498	1.880
1200	-2093.50	305.63	445	2.154
1300	-2695.81	291.16	404	2.444

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.338 Lapua Magnum

The .338 Lapua Magnum is a rimless, bottleneck centerfire rifle cartridge. It was developed in the 1980's as a high-powered cartridge, specifically for snipers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and as such, it has an amazing performance. In SCUM, the cartridge has a slower muzzle velocity than it's real life counterpart, we have no idea why. We are quite sad about it. The .338 LM can be crafted, and can be found in military areas.

Case type	Rimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	8.58 mm
Bullet Weight	19.4g

Velocity	701 m/s
Energy	4,756J
BC G1	0.750

*Image merely illustrative*
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Ballistic Chart

Range	Elevation	Velocity	Energy	ETA
Meters	cm	m/s	Joules	Seconds
100	0.02	666	4298	0.134
200	-18.43	631	3867	0.274
300	-60.93	598	3473	0.422
400	-130.02	566	3111	0.574
500	-232.12	535	2782	0.737
600	-368.16	506	2486	0.909
700	-542.79	478	2216	1.090
800	-756.99	451	1975	1.279
900	-1020.49	426	1762	1.478
1000	-1343.79	403	1577	1.689
1100	-1721.55	382	1416	1.911
1200	-2169.63	363	1281	2.143
1300	-2697.18	347	1168	2.388

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.50 BMG

The .50 Browning Machine Gun (.50 BMG) is a cartridge developed for the M2 Browning machine gun in the late 1910s. The .50 BMG cartridge can only be found on military bunkers and other high grade military loot spawns. It's the only ammunition that can't be crafted, for a good reason. "How is the BC of the .50BMG lower than the .338's?" Well, it may seem weird, but the values do match the real BC value of these cartridges. Yet, the .50BMG goes much farther. But it's mostly because the developers picked the worst .50BMG load, the one with the lowest bullet mass.

Case type	Rimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	12.7 mm
Bullet Weight	42.8g

Velocity	928 m/s
Energy	18,416J
BC G1	0.650

*Image merely illustrative*
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Ballistic Chart

Range	Elevation	Velocity	Energy	ETA
Meters	cm	m/s	Joules	Seconds
100	0.01	879	16524	0.101
200	-9.01	831	14781	0.207
300	-32.14	785	13204	0.319
400	-70.79	741	11762	0.437
500	-127.98	698	10435	0.560
600	-205.13	657	9239	0.692
700	-305.18	617	8141	0.831
800	-429.15	578	7154	0.978
900	-584.42	541	6275	1.132
1000	-776.63	506	5487	1.298
1100	-1003.75	473	4792	1.476
1200	-1273.67	442	4180	1.662
1300	-1602.05	413	3657	1.860

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References

1. Ballistics........................................................................................Link[en.wikipedia.org]
   
2. Big Book of Ballistics: by Philip Massaro............................Link[books.google.com.br]
   
3. Weapons.......................................................................................Link[scum.fandom.com]
   
4. Data................................................................................................Link[www.scumdb.com]
   
5. .22 Hornet....................................................................................Link[en.wikipedia.org]
   
6. 7.62×54mmR..............................................................................Link[en.wikipedia.org]
   
7. 7.92×57mm Mauser..................................................................Link[en.wikipedia.org]
   
8. 30-06 Springfield......................................................................Link[en.wikipedia.org]
   
9. .50 BMG........................................................................................Link[en.wikipedia.org]
   
10. Exterior Ballistics 2.6................................................................Link[ballistics.eu]
    
11. Hornady........................................................................................Link [www.hornady.com]
    
12. Tomislav Pongrac.......................................................................X

All the pictures in this guide

1. .22 picture....................................................................................Link[www.hornady.com]
   
2. 7.92x57mm Picture...................................................................Link[www.prvipartizan.com]
   
3. 7.62×54mmR picture................................................................Link[www.wolfammo.com]
   
4. .30-06 picture.............................................................................Link[geco-ammunition.com]
   
5. 12.7×99mm picture...................................................................Link[www.cbc.com.br]
   
6. 7.62x51mm..................................................................................Link[en.wikipedia.org]

[Ramelstag]

@Edw4rd there you go, updated the windage section. i definitely noticed the difference, back when i wrote this guide there was almost no wind effect. trouble is, there's not a lot we can say about that, the only certain thing that we found out is what the windage unit on the scope means, but predicting wind accurately in this game is nigh impossible, because the readings we get on the scope are far too inaccurate and abstract

[Edw4rd]

Can you update the windage section please? It clearly has an effect now.

[Ramelstag]

@Mako if the newer versions did add a new caliber, or a gun with different ballistics which is not an assault rifle or anything like that which is not suitable for long range shots, then yes, we would probably look into adding it, it's just that we haven't played the game in quite a while due to a number of reasons.
It's very nice that you actually cared about to ask about updating it, thank you

[Mako]

Any possibility to update this for new versions ?

[eviltwinzak]

Beautifully put together but pointless as of now in game since the rendering distance is pretty much a mess.

[Ramelstag]

This guide is supposed to help with very long range shots, 600m-700m+, and even beyond 1000m. And, you definitely do not want to be doing those things with anything besides the long rifles. And the Hunter 85 is in the guide as mere joke. So no, we won't bother with assault rifle ammunition and the other stuff that is not long rifle ammunition or bigger.

[Reaper]

It would be really great if you could add rest of the ammo and ballistic charts to this guide

[Ramelstag]

alright, thanks for the info

[F.Writoni_Rune]

Not sure if ti was mentioned; but carbon hunter appears to spawn in hunting stands so far. This guide is very useful I admit, better than the scumDB which is apparentyl *way* out of date. Any other locations I find weapons I'll update with here.

[Ramelstag]

well, it's not impossible to use the AR's, and at 500m they'd work, ig. but, at like, 700+, the assault rifle cartridges will just drop like a rock without mentioning damage penalty. Also, this guide teaches you to predict the entire trajectory, with the ballistic calculator, check the ammunition section. so you don't need to go to the gun range.
3" grouping at 500m? good shooting mate! in june i fired a 5.56 for the first time, was quite fun