if you fire a bullet into the air how far would it go before it came back down.?

Question

has anybody ever been killed from a falling bullet

Answer 1

A .22 long-rifle bullet can travel over a mile or so if aimed 30 degrees above the horizon. Vertical height of about 3000 feet. And would be traveling 200 feet per second as it hit the ground.

Deer rifles (30-06 etc) would go up about 9,000 feet and 330 feet per second back at the ground. It could go 5 miles or so downrange if aimed to do so.

A few bullets from exceedingly large and powerful rifles (.50 calibre sniper rifles, those few .75 calibre monsters out there), could exceed 5 miles downrange.

People have been killed from shots fired up in the air. Most likely on New Year's Eve, Mid-east weddings, etc. Bullet weight becomes more of a factor on re-entry than normal 200 yard rifle shots where smaller bullets can be shot very fast (think about the terminal veloicty of a large versus small object).

330 feet per second is a slow bullet but .30-06 and .44 slugs are also relatively heavy. And, since it is coming nearly straight down, the chance of hitting someone in the head is much greater than in random, horiztonal firing.

Moral: don't shoot if you don't know your backstop. And, if wish to reduce your (minor) risk on Dec 31, stay inside.

Answer 2

It depends on a few factors,

- Initial muzzle velocity of the bullet
- Windage (wind speed and direction)
- Size, not weight or mass, actual size from which the drag on the bullet may be calculated. A bullets normal free-fall orientation is on its side (the most drag)
- Then mass (for terminal velocity calculation)

The bullet will fire up into the air with gravity acting directly opposite its motion... in a vaccuum the equation for the height it would go is...

y = Vo*t - .5*g*t^2

where Vo = initial muzzle velocity (in m/s or ft/s)
g = 9.81 m/s^2 or 32 ft/s^2 (depending on units used)
t = time until final height is reached

time can be found by t = v/a (we assume no drag or windage remember, also a constant deceleration due to gravity)

thus you can find height in a vaccuum with a uniform gravity field the magnitude of Earth's... adding in drag and windage is just slightly more complicated but can be found in certain texts and online...

Also on the way down, a bullet's final speed is limited by what is called its terminal velocity... this occurs when the force of gravity is counteracted completely by the drag on the bullet coming down... so say a bullet weighs 10 g and acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s^2... the force of gravity is 98 N, so once 98 N of drag acts on the bullet it will no longer accelerate. For a 9mm or 30-06 bullet even the terminal velocity is right around 100 m/s (when it leaves the muzzle it can be about 1000 m/s depending on grain and bullet)... therefore, no it is not a deadly speed. However, getting hit in the head with a bullet going at its terminal velocity would probably still not feel real good, but it sure wouldn't kill you.

Unless of course it went right in your eye. Kinda gross.

Also, see the episode of Mythbusters where they actually tested this myth out and busted it. Also, remember that everything I said applies for a bullet fired straight up. Apply an angle from the vertical and then you get into ballistic trajectories and down-range effects. At enough of an angle to the vertical, a bullet obviously will become more and more dangerous.

Answer 3

Many people have been injured in Middles Eastern countries where the tradition is to fire their guns into the air, The bullets fall from several hundred metres and so the acceleration is quite considerable. Determining a distance for a bullet to carry depends entirely upon the muzzle velocity and the force of the explosive charge. So distance can vary from several hundred metres to more than a kilometre.

Answer 4

If it was fired straight up the distance it would go depends on the type of rifle and the type of ammunition.
A 22 rim-fire would go only a fraction of the distance of a 30-06 for instance.
There is no end of bullet sizes, powder charges, calibers, etc.
If you mean, has anyone ever been killed by his own bullet fired straight up ? I can say that I've never heard of it happening.

Answer 5

How long it took to come back down depends on the gun and bullet type.

There have been people who have been killed by falling bullets. It happens a lot at new years, because of people that fire guns in the air.

Answer 6

1. It depends on the amount of powder. More powder= higher altitude and speed.

2. Mythubsters actually tested falling bullets killing, like a celebratory gunshot. The myth was busted, because the bullets may have been embedded 1/2 inch or so in the dirt, but the bullets had flipped in midair and fell on their sides, so they would have been deflected. Also, dropping them from a weather balloon was tested, same results.

Answer 7

It depends on the gun and the bullet and the trajectory angle. If you fire a 9mm round from a gun at a 75 degree angle it will fall to the ground about 650 away.

Answer 8

If you stood atop the Empire State building and dropped a grape, it would accomplish more or less the same thing. Galilleo got a grant to conduct just such experiments dropping things from a high point.

Depending on the round, about a thousand feet. Yes. It comes back with about the same force and will follow the trajectory it came in generally. There's documented evidence of this.

Answer 9

You always fire a bullet into the air, unless you live in a vacuum. I assumed you meant straight up. If I misunderstood, then the below may not be correct! ;-)
Until it runs out of upwards momentum, then it starts its return trip to the ground.

Answer 10

Depends on what bullet you fire, charge loading, winds, etc. And yes, people can be killed when firing a gun in the air.