Sad, and stupid.
As an aside, I never thought of muzzle loaders as being able to fire that far.
She'd have probably been safer if he had been aiming at her ...
Same here, perhaps it was a sabot load in a magnum in-line.
To fire a rifle into the air,,,,, stupid and irresponsible.
I agree. I have a hard time believing that a black powder rifle can reach that far, even under perfect conditions.
With muzzle velocity in the neighborhood of, what... 1500 fps or so? At 200 yards it’s likely shed about half of it’s energy and it’s going down quick. Fired at a 45 degree angle, I doubt it would reach beyond 800 yards, and at any rate at that point it is merely falling with gravity with little if any momentum left. A falling bullet is orders of magnitude less lethal.
I suspect that there’s something not reported here, or misreported. In any case, I suppose, it’s a bizarre and wildly unlikely circumstance and very sad indeed for the girl.
I agree. I don’t think it would be able to travel that far. It seems it would arc and lose a great deal of power before going that far.
I find this unbelievable.
>> “As an aside, I never thought of muzzle loaders as being able to fire that far.” <<
.
So think a little more!
A muzzle loader can use a huge powder charge, and at the optimum trajectory can travel about 3 miles. Especially the long guns.