All it takes to shatter a tempered glass window into a zillion tiny pieces is one tiny sharp and hard point, such as the point inside the black plastic end of this tool:
It's not implausible that it was an air rifle.
Posted on 05/12/2009 7:48:13 AM PDT by Califreak
The California Highway Patrol is on a manhunt for the person using vehicles on a stretch of Bay Area freeway for target practice.
At least 10 cars on Interstate 680 near the Fremont-Sunol border have been riddled with pellets over the past week or so, leaving the people inside rattled with fear. Five of the shootings happened within a five minute span on Saturday.
Tom Loker was driving on 680 north of Fremont Saturday at about 11:45 p.m. when his car was hit.
"All of a sudden we heard a bang." Loker explained, "It sounded like a gun shot or a small explosion and then a millisecond later, the window on the passenger side blew into the car, shattering glass all over the seat and all over my wife, although she was uninjured."
Loker's son was asleep in the back seat of the car when the car was hit. He was unharmed
The five cars hit Saturday were traveling between Washington and Mission Boulevard on 680. One person suffered minor injuries from the broken glass.
The CHP says they believes the shooter was in a stationary spot off the freeway firing pellets from an air rifle.
Loker is convinced that it was much more than a pellet that came shattered his car window amd sent shockwaves through his family, "If you look at the pictures you'll see ... if that's a pellet, I'll eat somebody's shoes."
Officers say if your car gets hit while driving, pull off to a safe location and call 911.
No way am I buying that it was an airgun or a pellet gun after I saw the pictures on the news.
Bay Area ping
Here it comes! More anti gun legislation.
Was this in Perata’s district?
I thought there was a gun ban down there.
Ya’ll have enough crap to deal with in Alameda/Contra Costa County ya dont need some sick person taking shots at the cars on the freeway.
Thank God no one has been hurt.
I bet other than fear the Dad who had his son in the backseat when shot at is reeeeeally P O ed.
Hope they catch the creep ASAP.
The nature of tempered safety glass is if it breaks at all the whole piece shatters. Kind of hard to imagine a pellet having enough energy to break it in the first place though unless it was onw of those precharged air guns.
Ellen Corbett & Alberto Torrico
Wow! A pellet? I’ll take one!
Heard this on the radio today. It’s part of my daily commute, nice upper middle class neighborhoods in the area.
All it takes to shatter a tempered glass window into a zillion tiny pieces is one tiny sharp and hard point, such as the point inside the black plastic end of this tool:
It's not implausible that it was an air rifle.
A CO2 powered pellet gun won’t knock over a soda can even if it’s close once the CO2 gets low.
It couldn’t possibly shatter a car window.
Probably not even it was tweaked by Tim the Toolman.
Kids rode through the nieghborhood with pellet guns a few years back shooting out car windows for fun. Got six or seven cars.
Most of the side windows looked like his.
Still, if it was a pellet rifle it would have had to been close.
Even if it was an air rifle, wouldn’t the shooter have to be awful close?
Some of the new pellet rifles will get a .22 pellet over 1000 fps, that isn’t anything to sneeze at.
When I was a kid my old Crossman 760 would bust a car’s side window (not front, with the plastic liner) in the junk yard at 100 yards easy.
There are a number of air rifles capable of producing projectile velocities greater than 1000 fps. I’d say that would easily shatter tempered safety glass.
It just didn’t seem possible, but goodness knows I’m no gun expert.
Thanks to all of those who responded.
Hmmm... The guy can tell how long a millisecond is. And... The report traveled faster than the bullet. Hmmm...
Yeah, I wondered about that too.
a LOT of the new spring/air pellet rifle will bust a window.
There are units, that even in .22 or 5mm, will power out over 1100fps.
A 22 long rifle is lsted at 1080 fps w/ 40 gr solid
If you haven’t looked at air rifles of late,try
http://www.airgundepot.com/22caliber-air-rifles.htm
(nothing for my cookpot, just a very comprehensive site for seeing the extreme range of products offered)
The web also hosts webrings dealing with air rifle hunting or pest control.
All that said, I hope they get this nutter locked up fast.
.
This kinda thing could lead to a very long thread....LOL....
Back in the days of my youth, when we had the old style crossman pellets that were mostly hollow we would put a couple of dozen grains of sand in the front, pack about 2/3 of the pellet with lead azide, and then glue a balsa wood plug in the back. This would considerably increase the damage the pellet would do when it hit a hard surface like a bottle or a can. This was back in the days when cans were steel - an ordinary pellet would dent the can one of these would shred it. The secondary fragments would leave the backside of the can looking like a sieve. Back then we also had real m-80s for blowing things up too.
Yep, fastest way there is to hijack a thread... :)
All I’ve got to say is “Damn!”
This is literally my neighborhood. I live a few hundred yards from 680 right as it heads into the hills for Sunol.
Now I know a few gun-lovin conservatives that live right at the border that have some acreage adjacent to the freeway. However, they are usually down at the coffee shop with me instead of practicing their aim.
Conservatives who truly love guns wouldn’t even think about doing anything like this.
Hearing a gunshot (which pellet guns don’t do...they have a pretty quiet ‘swoosh’ or ‘pffft’) would indicate a rifle or shotgun.
It sure would to me.
I don’t know how anyone could hear a pellet gun from that far away with all the freeway noise & whatnot.
I’m thinking the “bang” he heard was the pellet smacking on the class before it shattered.
In a closed car traveling at highway speed it would be hard to hear a .22 fired 100 yards or so away.
I agree on the first point but as to the ability of a "pellet" to shatter tempered glass consider that modern pellet design has evolved. I recall an almost universal pellet shape as having a domed head with a smaller then bore diameter waist and then a flaring cone shaped skirt. Now pellets come in a variety of shapes including sharply pointed which is a configuration that will shatter tempered glass, much like a center punch.
Regards,
GtG
:-)
OK, you guys type faster than me.
plink...
Still probably too soft. If a little piece of sharpened steel were inserted in the pellet that would probably do it too. But of course the a$$hole would have to have the intent of breaking windows to do something like that.
Agreed!
I was once in a train, sitting by a window that was shot out by an air rifle. The whole window just collapsed.
IMO air rifles can easily take out a windscreen.
Lack of proper training.
He should either have pulled off, assumed cover and returned fire, or powered through and called in an air
strike.
 |
  |
 |
|
| Send FReepmail if you want on/off SVP list | |
| The List of Ping Lists | |
LOL arclight
Yeah, tempered safety glass is strange. A tiny tap with something very hard and sharp can shatter it into thousands of tiny pieces, where a brick thrown hard would likely bounce off unless it happened to hit just right. That is why real bullets usually just leave holes in safety glass. They deform upon impact which means they don't have the sharpness needed for catastrophic failure.
Tools like center punches and bullets made of steel instead of lead, like air rifle pellets, don't deform upon impact, so are perfect for shattering safety glass.
The reason safety glass shatters like that, is that it is actually constructed of two sheets of glass laminated together under tension. Sort of like tension suspension bridges, they can be molded into complex curves that way, and are stronger than non tempered glass under most conditions.
You can go fast, OR you can go BIG
Career Dragon Slayer
Caliber: 0.50” Velocity: 570 ft/sec equals 192 ft/lbs of energy.
There are larger calibers. Even back in the day - Lewis and Clark carried air rifles for hunting....
Not trying to hijack the thread, just amazed at the breadth of non-regulated (for now) air powered arms for sale. No ammo shortages here.
>Not trying to hijack the thread, just amazed at the breadth of non-regulated (for now) air powered arms for sale. No ammo shortages here.<
I want to buy a few now.
I believe most pellets are made of steel. There is no reason to make them out of lead as air rifles generally lack the velocity to make the denser weight of lead a significant factor in flight characteristics or stopping power. See number #37.
You would be mistaken in your belief. BBs are made of steel. Pellets are lead because the barrels of air rifles are (duh) rifled and a soft material is needed to engage the rifling and not wreck the barrel.
Airgun pellets are almost universally made of lead.
Have you checked the prices tho?
A solid M44 carbine sells for $80 to $100.
A new, and solid, PCP will go for up to $600.
But the ‘no paperwork’ part might find many more buyers.
I guess I’ll just stick with what we have.
I’ve thought about getting a crossbow.
That might be fun.
Still the slower velocity of a pellet gun is likely the reason it can shatter safety glass instead of just punching straight through like a conventional bullet. It probably didn't hit with enough force to deform the pellet.
You are correct.
Those GAMO air rifles can hump a pellet out at about 1200 fps I heard...
They have been getting a lot of attention from gunowners around the country over the last few months...
Somebody in this case might have gotten a little froggy with their new toy if it turns out to be that way...
I bet we see a ban on those things soon...At least the ones that perform like that...
You are correct, the .177 pellet can make the speed of heat.
The .22 or .25 / 5mm are the better pick for hunting pests. Tho with the size of some urban rats (ratus ratus) the 7.62x51 would be the better choice!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.