Posted on 06/02/2013 6:16:57 PM PDT by Sawdring
Today while I was planting the garden, a neighbor started shooting his guns. He is known to do this during the summer and for his bachelor party he and his crew shot constantly for four hours. I do not mind the noise and before today my only concern was how he could afford all the rounds he fires.
Today was different because he would shoot and then I would hear a bullet "whiz" through the air above the swamp and then thwack into the woods on the other side. This was right behind my property and I knew the bullets were ricocheting so I didn't know which way they would go next.
I live on the edge of a subdivision and his property is rural farm land. Another neighbor lady asked if it was dangerous to be in the back yard because she heard bullets in the air as well. I assumed it would be so she went in and I crossed a swamp and started whistling to get his attention. I introduced myself and told him what was happening and he wouldn't believe me. I explained to him that I didn't mind his shooting and actually appreciated that he was a gun owner but he needed to know where his bullets were landing.
I looked at his setup and all he was shooting was a Glock .40 caliber pistol, he had a berm in back that goes up to the railroad tracks and then our houses are at about a 30 degree angle from where he was standing and the barrel he was shooting at.
When I saw what he was doing I didn't think he was doing anything wrong but he would not accept that he bullets could even come close to our houses. When I got home I looked up our properties on Google Earth and found he was shooting at barrels about twenty yards from him and the barrels were about 480 yards from where the bullets hit woods.
Unless he takes some sort of corrective action, I'm going to play indoors when he starts shooting and if he hits my house I will have to call the authorities, have them extract the bullet and then we can match it up. I don't really know what else I should do.
Your neighbor is an idiot. Call the police. He is gambling with everyone’s lives downrange.
According to the Hornaday ballistic calculator, a 155 grain .40 caliber bullet with a muzzle velocity of 1205 and a ballistic coefficient of .137 (this is from a 155 grain .40 cal hollowpoint), will have a velocity of 719 fps at 400 yards and 657 fps at 500 yards.
At 1000 yards it will still have a velocity of 422 fps, which is still enough to be lethal.
Velocities have to drop below 400 fps before a blunt projectile will be stopped by ordinary clothing and/or skin, and then much depends on the projectile shape and weight.
SAWDRING: Hey! Hey! Yes, you! Listen, we have some stray rounds making their way to my property about 500 yards that way!
SHOOTER: Christ! Really? (turns to other shooters) Hey guys! Stop. We have a problem here...some of our rounds are making it past the backstop! This guy had a few fly his way.
OTHER SHOOTERS: (in unison) Crap! Really? Is everything okay?
SHOOTER: Yeah. Hey, is everything okay? Nobody hurt? If there is any damage, I will pay for it. We won't shoot again until we can verify the issue is fixed, would you be willing to help me with that, just to be sure? Here is my cell phone number...
Thanks for posting it! The train track is about 12 feet higher than where the barrel is. If you brought it up on Google you could see a couple more barrels further north also. The first line is where he was standing on a platform and the path of the bullet to the nearest barrel. The second line is what I’m assuming the path of the ricochet was.
I presume you are the blue dot, from your description.
You said it.
Don’t wait for a stray bullet to blow someone’s brain pan out to start thinking about escalating.
Either the guy is dangerous or incompetent. When you’re talking about the possibility of killing someone, you stop that person regardless.
Ah. I understand now.
That reminds me, in Texas it is a felony to fire a bullet that crosses a property line.
That google image gave me the chills. Your neighbor needs a much better backstop, and much better range discipline.
At the minimum, if he would allow it, show him this thread!
He could easily end up seriously injuring or killing someone, and we do not need the extra greif!
If he will not listen to reason, stronger methods, such as contacting the authorities are called for.
Just consider the road that bullets from his location are crossing. Any randon vehicle on that road is potentially at risk.
Note: all of this is base on your description. I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv.
That dude is in big trouble. His rounds are crossing a road.
That is a railroad track to the north and a small private dirt road they use to get to their property on the other side of the track.
Zactly! Guy’s a fag for being nonchalant and his rounds are crossing a road.
Big trouble in a small town if sheriff finds out.
Oh! Thought that was a road.
RR is even better. Call the sheriff if’n he ain’t gonna be concerned about the safety of his neighbors.
I would have told him he can believe me and modify what he was doing, or he could explain why he was such a dumbass to the policeman that would be showing up to investigate. Being a good neighbor does not include getting shot because of an irresponsible gun owner. Being a good neighbor does include not shooting your neighbor.
Just press the Prt Screen key for the whole window or Alt and Prt Screen for the active one. Then paste it in a graphic editor (File>New) like PhotoFiltre and save itr as a jpg.
Or download PrintKey 2000 (free version) http://www.freewareweb.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?download=1&ID=292
A .40 caliber bullet will, fired level, drop less than 42 feet over 500 yards. That means him aiming the gun up just 1.6 degrees will drop the bullet in your property.
Heck yeah it can travel 500 yards. A whole lot farther if you aim higher.
Please delete that pic when this thread is over
The Latitude and Longitude is on there.
Just saying....
Heh, I’ll fix that for him right now.
I thought he said it was a railroad, but either way, you are right. That is trouble.
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