OK Guys, Now, remembering that you got an idiot Yank living in the third world asking about this... I did not think the drag itself was the problem. From reading other work, I thought it was the change in drag that brought about tumbling that was the problem. If that were correct it would seem that just getting up to Mach 2 would not stop the tumble, but, it would reduce the drag coefficient mathamatically.

If this is only a mathamatical construct, then the increased drag caused by the tumble would not really reduce the drag at all. Seems it would require a redesigned pellet to beat the phantom. If enginering got Chuck Yager there in a jet; then enginering should be able to get a simple pellet to crack the barrier and not tumble wildly.

Please, Somebody set me straight!