Posted on 12/20/2011 9:38:28 AM PST by TSgt
FREDERICKSBURG, Ohio -- An Ohio sheriff says a man cleaning his muzzle-loading rifle accidentally shot and killed a 15-year-old Amish girl driving a horse-drawn buggy more than a mile away.
Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly said Tuesday that the accident occurred Thursday night when a man fired his loaded rifle to clean it. He says the victim, Rachel Yoder of Fredericksburg, was nearly 1.5 miles away when she was shot in the head.
No charges have been filed.
Yoder was shot while traveling to her home in adjacent Wayne County, between Columbus and Akron. She was riding alone after attending a Christmas party for employees, most under 18 years old, who work at an Amish produce farm.
My shot balls always had the rifling marks left by the patch.
In case you want to do the math for yourself:
Vertical Velocity = Muzzle Velocity * sin (angle)
Horizontal Velocity = Muzzle Velocity * cos (angle)
Time to reach ground = 2 * Vertical Velocity / Acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s^2)
Distance traveled during time in flight = Horizontal Velocity * Time to reach ground
I’m sure someone on this thread can give us some decent estimates of the rate of velocity lost due to air resistance, and we can recalculate. I don’t think it’s that far-fetched...
“I thought it was a breech-loading black powder cartridge rifle. If that’s the case, then I’d say we’re still dealing with apples and oranges here.”
Whether loaded at the breech or barrel, what counts is the size of the black powder charge. A black powder cartridge rifle has no more potential power than a muzzleloader using a similar charge. It’s just more convenient to load and carry ammo.
i dont think those ranges are right for the 300wby. mine can actually hit a target at 800 yards, on the range, and i am not aiming up anywhere near 45 degrees. so that gun, my guess, would easily fire miles. i heard 7 miles in hunter safety but dont know if thats right.
1500 yards is about 3400 feet short of a mile and a half.
My .50 (actually .495) is air powered.
See Quackenbush Air Guns...
no they can’t.
You need to know the ballistic coefficient of the projectile.
1,500 yards is a little less than a mile.
Note: all values for my equations should be in meters and seconds... one inch = 2.54 cm
The elevation required for controlled, accurate 3/4 mile shots was not extreme, and the lethality of the projectile at double that distance is pretty much certain. Sadly this indeed may be an idiot accident.
Amish women, especially younger women and girls, often drive buggies alone - it's not at all uncommon among the Ohio Amish communities.
My reckoning was that if you are out farting around with a black powder rifle now, you are most likely whitetail deer hunting. Everyone I know that hunts deer with blackpowder uses a .50 Saboted, conical shaped projectile.
In much of the midwest, deer can only be hunted with bow, shotgun, muzzle loader and some pistols to avoid this very thing from happening. Population is too dense to use large center fire rifle loads.
I imagine the Mythbusters crew felt the same way about their cannon.
The Sharps is a breech loader, but it is still a black powder rifle. During the 1874 Creedmore Match, the US and Irish marksmen were regularly hitting the bullseye at 1,000 yards (the furthest target available at the match), with one American scoring thirty-six bullseyes and nine centers with his forty-five shots for an amazing 171 out of 180 points possible.
It may be a dumb accident but he still killed the girl through his reckless conduct.
He needs to be held accountable in some way.
This is a “depraved-heart murder” due to his gross negligence.
It’s unusual, to say the least.
4,000 foot pounds of knock down.
There will be microtagent residue imbedded in the base of the bullet, imprints of the patch (rifling traces on the ball would identify the land count and twist even through a patch), if it was a Minié ball, rifling can be read out directly as from any other firearm, if it was a sabot round the sabot will have a unique impression of the ball and an equally unique set of rifling/barrel marks, the rod would leave a unique impression on the ball, the trace elements in the lead can narrow the bullet down to a single melt batch/casting pour, trace DNA could identify anyone who ever touched the bullet, there might be traces of marks from a resizing die or the original casting mold, residual lubricants might be unique to that shooter's preferences and usage history on that fire arm.
I'm pretty sure those skilled in the art can add to my list.
What have you got to support your assertion that "There’s no way to know the shot came from THAT firearm."
Please, do enlighten me.
football shaped projectiles will tumble when they fall below a certain velocity. Tumbling increases drag by an order of magnitude at least.
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