I am sure myth busters may have to do this but I think a 7.62 round shot “in the air” would not do much more harm that taking that same bullet and throwing it as hard as you can at someone.
Think terminal velocity. If it was fired at less than a 45 degree arc than it would have been dangerous.
to imagine terminal velocity of an object, you can imagine driving a car and having that object(a bullet) suspended on a string outside the window. Now drive the car fast enough to have that object on a string reach a 45 degree angle(fudging for the string drag) and you have the terminal velocity for that object.
A paper cups terminal velocity might be 10 MPH and a penny’s terminal velocity might be 30 MPH. A tumbling bullet? I don’t know.
I am guessing it would be about as fast as a MLB pitcher could throw it and it would suck to get hit by it but I don’t think it would be deadly, unless it hit you in the eye and if that happened it just wasn’t your day.
“I am sure myth busters may have to do this but I think a 7.62 round shot “in the air” would not do much more harm that taking that same bullet and throwing it as hard as you can at someone.”
Wrong. They can kill when they come down unless you manage a perfect 90 deg into the air shot.
Your premises are wrong — unless fired exactly 90* into the air, a falling bullet retains it's spiraling motion (i.e. it will not “tumble”). Also, lead is denser than copper, and a bullet is more aerodynamic (i.e. pointy-ended) than a penny.
Must be pretty safe. Muslims do it all the time at weddings.