A Little New Year's Cheer

[Dragonfighter]

2 people wounded tonight by falling bullets in Dallas. One was a two year old girl in her trailer house with the family. The bullet pierced the top of the home and grazed her arm. The other was an adult male in his yard hit in the back, evidentally suffered just a welt though. Happy New Year

[LarryH]

Last night, Houston's Channel 11 News had segments in which Houston PD officers cautioned against "celebratory gunfire". One of the segments mentioned a young woman, seven months pregnant, who was killed by a falling bullet, a few years ago.

[Charles L. Cotton]

People shouldn't celebrate in the city by firing guns into the air.

That said, I don't believe one word about "falling" bullets killing anyone. (Okay, perhaps a 750 gr. 50 BMG would smart, but we're not talking about them.) I have doubted it for years, then the Myth Busters did a segment on it. While not the greatest scientific work, their experiments usually use reasonable methods. After concluding that "falling" bullets couldn't kill and probably wouldn't even injury someone, they interviewed an E.R. doctor who claimed to have been involved in threating two people who died from "falling" bullets. He was lying. One of the incidents involved a man who fired a rifle from a hilltop and if I recall correctly, the shot was fired either downward off the hill, or horizontally; not up in the air. The second incident was not documented, as I recall.

Chas.

[Keith B]

I have seen multiple tests that confirm the Mythbusters vertical shot. All energy is spent in the upward travel of the projectile and the most energy gained by the bullet is terminal velocity on the way back down.

However, those shots that are done horizontally or at as slight angle (up to 60 degrees) where the energy is not lost before impact are definately at risk of being lethal.

[M9FAN]

People shouldn't celebrate in the city by firing guns into the air.

That said, I don't believe one word about "falling" bullets killing anyone. (Okay, perhaps a 750 gr. 50 BMG would smart, but we're not talking about them.) I have doubted it for years, then the Myth Busters did a segment on it. While not the greatest scientific work, their experiments usually use reasonable methods. After concluding that "falling" bullets couldn't kill and probably wouldn't even injury someone...

Chas.

I saw the same segment.

[txinvestigator]

There is a break over point where if the bullet is fired at enough of an angle deviation from straight up it still has enough energy to be deadly. I imagine that depends on caliber, muzzle velocity, etc.

[Mike1951]

There is a break over point where if the bullet is fired at enough of an angle deviation from straight up it still has enough energy to be deadly. I imagine that depends on caliber, muzzle velocity, etc.

The Mythbusters episode and other studies consider a bullet fired vertically that stops at some point and begins to accelerate downward at 32 ft/sec per second (roughly) until it reaches a non-fatal terminal velocity.

As TXI said, a bullet fired at an angle also retains it forward velocity, so depending on the angle and distance, could prove fatal.

[Keith B]

Another thread is covering a similar topic. We can move the dicussion over there.

http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... 23&t=12501

[Dragonfighter]

People shouldn't celebrate in the city by firing guns into the air.

That said, I don't believe one word about "falling" bullets killing anyone. (Okay, perhaps a 750 gr. 50 BMG would smart, but we're not talking about them.) I have doubted it for years, then the Myth Busters did a segment on it. While not the greatest scientific work, their experiments usually use reasonable methods. After concluding that "falling" bullets couldn't kill and probably wouldn't even injury someone, they interviewed an E.R. doctor who claimed to have been involved in threating two people who died from "falling" bullets. He was lying. One of the incidents involved a man who fired a rifle from a hilltop and if I recall correctly, the shot was fired either downward off the hill, or horizontally; not up in the air. The second incident was not documented, as I recall.

Chas.

And yet we have a hole in the ceiling of a mobile home, a deformed bullet in the carpet and a screaming two year old girl with a laceration on the elbow.

I have in years past had dents in the top of my car when I got off in the morning and know of two separate incidents where a windshield was starred from falling bullets. Now I suspect that given that record, a smack that landed TDC on a skull could have serious consequences. TXI is right as well, indirect fire, whether artillery or a bullet, carries quite a bit of kinetic energy and truth be told, very few aerial shots are truly vertical.