when a municipality in Colorado suggested making a drone hunting license I thought to myself, that the best way to get people killed or injured would be to tell people it is ok to shoot rifles into the sky. I suppose there are locales in Colorado were this is not a problem, but in farm country and towns this can kill.
mythbusters I believe proved that if the bullet is straight up and down that the bullet probably can not kill, but almost any angle less than 90° can.
Mythbusters are morons.
They should have a 630 grain bullet dropped on their head from a mile up.
Doof!!!
That’s why they dictated that you had to shoot them down with shotguns.
http://www.frfrogspad.com/miscella.htm#straight
The two best references on the subject are “Hatcher’s Notebook”, (by Julian S. Hatcher, 3rd edition, June 1962, Stackpole Books, ISBN: 0811707954) which includes a chapter on bullets fired vertically, and an article titled “Terminal Velocity and Penetration Studies,” by Lucien C. Haag, which appeared in Vol 2, No. 1 of Wound Ballistics Review. This information is excerpted from both.
The Haag article used a ballistics computation program to calculate vertically fired bullet performance and came up with results comparable with Hatcher’s work. Using bullets ranging from the .22 rim fire to the 180gr .30 caliber spitzer in the .30-06 the time of flight (up & back) ranged from a low of 25 seconds for the .25ACP to a long of 77 seconds for the M193 ball. Maximum altitudes ranged from a low of 2288 feet for the .25ACP to a high of 10,103 feet for the 180gr .30-06. Terminal velocities ranged from 134 f/s for a tumbling .22 Short to a high of 323 f/s for the 180gr .30-06.
As a point of interest, a velocity of about between 180 and 360 f/s (±) is needed to penetrate skin. The wide range comes from the non-uniform strength of normal skin tissue. Projectile shape has no statistically significant effect on the penetration. However, one could still be seriously injured if struck by a falling bullet even if it doesn’t break the skin.
MUCH MORE at link.
Mythbusters is garbage science and should be viewed for entertainment only.
That makes absolutely no sense.
Thanks for adding that. I have always wondered how shooting straight up could be lethal...on a vertical shot, once you reach the highest point of ascent what you are going to be left with is the terminal velocity of a bullet falling a few thousand feet, right?
While that might draw blood and hurt like hell it doesn't seem like it could be deadly. 'Less you were shooting a cannonball etc....