[Darren McCarty]

I didn't know .45 pistols could travel at that distance (Rifles-yes), but this is yet another reason why backdrops are so important. I don't want this on my conscience, and with proper planning and a little bit of common sense, I won't.

As Col. Cooper says:

1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.
4. Identify your target, and what is behind it.

[Domandred]

Police reports showed that four guns, at least three of them handguns, were being fired.

That sentence just doesn't sit right for some reason...

[Westlander]

[VeniVidiVici]

"As bad as it turned out, it could've been even worse," Bennett said.

They are lucky that guy wasn't shooting .45 with cluster bomb rounds. Otherwise that bullet could have dodged all those trees like it did, and just as it crossed hwy 96, explode and release it's bomblets. A tragedy, as surely as I sit here, was averted.

[Dust in the Wind]

1/2 mile very easy; 1 mile possible but a very high trajectory.

A semi-related nonhighjack attempt to add to your list...
ALL railroad crossings are like looking down the barrel of a loaded gun.

[wastedyears]

***but pending a prosecutor’s review would not disclose the backstop used to protect others from errant shots.***

Which means there wasn’t a backstop.

I do truly have to say this is THE best article I’ve ever seen written on here about firearms, by any local journalist. I’m not including John Lott or other writers like him, just the local ones.

The guy that was shot told his wife to get down, call 911, and she even put pressure on the wound, rather than freezing due to fright.

This is a very good author. I’d recommend e-mails commending him on his writing.

[Graybeard58]

Police are in the process of determining which one of them fired the shot.

Why?

[Myrddin]

A standard .45Auto (230 gr @ 830 FPS) will travel 1600 yards from a pistol and 1700 yards from a submachine gun. It can penetrate 4 inches into white pine at 250 yards.

My outdoor range has high berms with length of 25 ft, 50 yards and two 100 yard areas. A large, uninhabited mountain lies beyond the berms. We do have to watch for livestock up the hill before shooting.

[matthew fuller]

"Police reports showed that four guns, at least three of them handguns, were being fired"

I wonder if the "non-handgun" was in fact a .45 cal rifle?

[SpaceBar]

The guns were believed to be legally possessed for target practice...

A "reason" is required to own a firearm in Michigan?

[fproy2222]

A few years ago here in SLC, some folks were testing a .50 caliber sniper rifle on an indoor range.

A couple of rounds went through the back stop and ended up in the shed of a house.

The home owner was a little upset.

[jim_trent]

About 10-12 years ago, the police missed the berm at their range and hit houses in a neighboring state. I have yet seen anyone top that.

(They were firing full-auto .223’s at targets placed on top of the berm instead of in front of it. Stupid. The range was next to the river that separates my state from another state. Total distance was about a mile.)

[MediaMole]

It could have been a .45 cal hunting round. .454 casull or one of the other high performance rounds.

.45 acp would have had to have been in a ballistic trajectory to hit at 700 yards.