I do not believe that an un-bulged barrel is a guarantee there was absolutely no check to the projectile, but simply there was not enough check to produce a bulge. The severity of the hammer would of course be dependent upon the extent of the check. Agree. It would seem unreal that if the ball is large enough to be engraved by the rifling that at least a "Slowing of Acceleration" if not a slight check would indeed occur. I agree and would support the "slowing of acceleration." A gas hammer would occur only if you had a negative acceleration which produced a lowering of instantanious velocity.
