From: Tim

> On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 08:38:43PM -0700, shadow@shadowgard.com wrote:
>> The classic "long rod" penetrator doesn't do nearly as well if it hits
>> sideways instead on point first.
>
> At speeds much above 10 km/s, shape matters very little as both projectile and target behave like fluids.  They "splash" into themselves
> and each other on impact.  A rod hitting point-first and a ball produce impact craters of very similar depth.  A rod hitting sideways may
> produce a shallower impact crater if the rod is *very* long, but negligible for ordinary ratios of 10:1 or less.

Wrong threshold. Fluid penetration still cares about shape, it's just that once you exceed the speed of sound in both materials it
no longer cares about material strength. The time when orientation ceases to matter is when the crater depth (from explosive effects)
exceeds the penetration depth.