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/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> The Cafe >> "Shooting gun up in the air" warning /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1493646899 Message started by Oldfeller on 05/01/17 at 06:54:59 |
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Title: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by Oldfeller on 05/01/17 at 06:54:59 Just a quick factoid while I wipe the black asphalt tar crud off of my fingers. For my entire life I have been "casual" about firing a gun up into a tree chasing a squirrel along from branch to branch. Many is the tubular magazine full of 22 long rifle that went up chasing Mr. Bushytail in his frantic dodging efforts ..... Payback has finally arrived. Got a leak in my roof that magically appeared just barely off the headboard of my bed. I didn't do it, somebody else provided me with my "what goes around, comes around". Found the cause up on the roof --- small caliber bullet hole --- looks just about vertical up/down and yes, when I looked there is a tiny hole in my ceiling drywall right off the headboard of the bed. Hole on roof side is tar gooked and won't leak any more -- but the warning is real. Bullets that go up, must come down. |
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Title: Re: Appropriate "shooting gun up in the air Post by Dave on 05/01/17 at 07:21:38 I can remember as a kid.....we would stand in a field and shoot our BB guns repeatedly straight up in the air - then stand with our hands over our heads and listen for the BB's to hit the ground around us. (My hearing was better back then). |
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Title: Re: Appropriate "shooting gun up in the air Post by stewmills on 05/01/17 at 07:32:42 704B4651404C57514A424F50230 wrote:
Haha. When I was a kid, we used to play a similar game but with vinyl records. Everyone laid in the yard and one person tossed it up in tha air real high and laid down too. The 45s weren't bad, but a good smack from a 12" would hurt a little :-? :-? :-? |
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Title: Re: Appropriate "shooting gun up in the air Post by koehlerrk on 05/01/17 at 07:54:00 Oldfeller, did you find the bullet? Because I highly doubt that was the cause. A normal 22 round launches a 40 grain bullet at 1200 feet per second. Now, if fired straight up, it will attain an altitude of almost a mile before air friction slows it to zero feet per second and gravity can start to drag it back to Mother Earth. Now, this is where it gets fun. Gravity is pulling the bullet back, but the air is still interfering with the fall. It can only achieve what is called "terminal velocity" which is the point where the air resistance matches the pull from gravity. For a 22 caliber, 40 grain bullet, that's about 300 feet per second, or another way, that's the speed they limit paintball guns to on a professionally run paintball field. Why? Because at that speed, a paintball can't do more than bruise you. With the 22 bullet, that results in 8 foot pounds of energy... the equivalent of dropping eight pounds 12 inches. You'll have more energy launching the bullet from a good wrist-rocket style slingshot. That might put a dent in a steel roof, but a hole... not a chance. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by oldNslow on 05/01/17 at 08:06:29 The squirrels are up in the trees shootin' back. It was only a matter of time till you pis*ed them off. The ones around my house hold a grudge for a long time. |
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Title: Re: Appropriate "shooting gun up in the air Post by justin_o_guy2 on 05/01/17 at 08:51:43 2C2B3A28323633332C5F0 wrote:
Haha. When I was a kid, we used to play a similar game but with vinyl records. Everyone laid in the yard and one person tossed it up in tha air real high and laid down too. The 45s weren't bad, but a good smack from a 12" would hurt a little :-? :-? :-? [/quote] I launched an album from the front yard. It wound up stuck about five inches in the flower bed across the alley, and the houses on that side of the block, and across the road. The wind in west Texas is helpful. An album could do real damage, I think. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by Ruttly on 05/01/17 at 09:01:22 We would wear goggles and go in the woods and play war with our BB guns. Only allowed body shots, chest on down and never too close. Wow that use to sting !!! |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by philthymike on 05/01/17 at 09:20:47 In high school some friends and me would play capture the flag with fireworks. We knew a guy who sold fireworks out of the back of his shop, $50 would get you a 100 piece air or ground assortment. These were big items - the air assortment was 3 dozen 12 - 16 oz rockets and a gross of bottle rockets and screamers. We'd light up punks and go assault each others bases with fireworks until one team or the other got a flag. One time I got a full pack of spinners to land in the other team's arsenal (the dummys kept it all in one box) and boy did it go up. It set the abandoned building that was their base and the surrounding woods on fire. What a time putting that out too. Those 16 oz rockets have a heck of a wallop when they hit you - ouch! :'( One time we emptied the powder out of a dozen or so larger rockets and dumped it into a capped aluminum pipe with a small hole in the cap. A fuse was threaded through the hole. then we gently packed the powder down with an empty CO2 cartridge that snugly fit into the pipe. We stood it upright on the park bench lit it and ran. It went off with a deafening boom. Dust rose up out of yards all across the neighborhood. We inspected the park bench and it had a clean hole in the top the same size as the pipe and a jagged hole about 6 inches across on the bottom. We found the pipe about two and a half feet underground. The CO2 cartridge was never found. I often wondered how far up the thing went and where it finally did come down. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by engineer on 05/01/17 at 09:53:06 About two years ago a local Amish boy was out deer hunting using a muzzle loader. He didn't find any deer and when he got home he discharged his gun into the air. This is often done as it is considered to be the fastest way to make the gun safe. The round came down a mile away and struck a teenage Amish girl in the head and killed her while she was driving her buggy home after a church function. The horse kept going and returned to the family farm. It took about two days before the boy realized he had fired the fatal shot and then he turned himself in to the Sheriff. It was a very sad and tragic event for all concerned. I think muzzle loading rounds for deer weigh close to an ounce, certainly a lot more than a 22 LR round. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by justin_o_guy2 on 05/01/17 at 10:26:21 Isn't that just something. Imagine, people accepting as normal and reasonable that which may well Be Normal, but is Not Reasonable at all. Gee, Wally, I wonder where else people just accept STUPID as reasonable, because it's ubiquitous, it must therefore be good and reasonable, you know, like the Fed.. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by oldNslow on 05/01/17 at 10:42:42 Ran out of rice, I guess: https://youtu.be/IJEO3rmefmI |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by verslagen1 on 05/01/17 at 12:17:24 585A515A535A564C3F0 wrote:
I think mine are 250 grains vs 40 for a 22LR using an energy calculation on the net, assuming they have the same terminal velocity. 107 vs 17 foot-pounds of energy. It take 277 foot-pounds to break a bone. They didn't elaborate which bone, but there are a lot of critical fleshy bits in the skull too. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by koehlerrk on 05/01/17 at 12:20:21 55575C575E575B41320 wrote:
I heard of this story too... we now use it as a cautionary tale in Hunters Education classes. You are absolutely right in that a typical muzzle loader bullet is a lot heavier than a 22. Also, in that case, the round never reached zero velocity by going straight up. Rather, it was in an arc, and likely retained well over half it's original velocity, and again, with a lot more mass. It was a case study in a violation of Rule #4, Be sure of your target and what is behind it. Air is a terrible backstop. If one needs to shoot a muzzle loader at "nothing" then please, please, PLEASE shoulder the rifle, point it down at about a 45 degree angle and shoot into the dirt. The planet is a great backstop, and shooting into it from only a few feet away makes it easy to verify your round is not sailing through the air towards someone. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by verslagen1 on 05/01/17 at 12:49:41 393D373A3E37202039520 wrote:
My planet is full of rocks, shooting down at such a short distance I would worry about ricochets. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by buster6315 on 05/01/17 at 16:05:21 142A2B27352928460 wrote:
Each new season I live trap gray squirrels ;D, and re-locate them to a nearby town. I just hope they don't find their way back here! Maybe I should paint them to be sure they don't! |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by verslagen1 on 05/01/17 at 16:18:51 paint them black with a white stripe [smiley=evil.gif] new breed of tree climbing skunks |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by koehlerrk on 05/02/17 at 05:47:33 716275746B6660626936070 wrote:
Some intelligence is required when using firearms... and yes, shooting into a rock that close is a bad idea. The point is to discharge it in a safe direction, safe meaning you know where the bullet will be stopping. If you live on nothing but a bare rock outcropping, then get a 5 gallon bucket of sand. Shoot stright down into it, no worries. |
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Title: Re: "Shooting gun up in the air" warning Post by Ed L. on 05/02/17 at 15:40:32 If you are going to be shooting a large caliber muzzle loader using a light load don't shoot it into a piece of wood, the ball can bounce back just like a BB does. Don't ask how I know. ;) |
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