Shoot A GUN?

Question

if u shot either a rifle gun or hand gun or whatever type of gun straight into the air without winds, how far and how fast would it go returning to ground level? and could it kill ? discribe one type of gun, or all in this situation

Answer 1

If you shot a gun in the area you do not have the right to have any guns. People like you give the good law following weapon owns a bad name.
suro

Answer 2

Most rifles and pistols will fire a bullet between 1-3 miles if you just point it at a 45 degree angle. What the bullet will be doing is a function of the bullet design - the heavier and more aerodynamic (pointy) the bullet is, the more likely it will still be stable, flying straight, and be travelling fast enough to do fatal damage. Most pistol bullets or bullets with flat sections or hollowpoints will start tumbling and will be travelling slowly due to air resistance and wouldn't be likely to do fatal damage.

Any bullet shot straight up will tumble on the way back down, and isn't likely to cause a fatal wound.

Answer 3

This question has been asked many times and it seems that everyone always answers with yes, when the answer isnt quite that simple.

A bullet fired at a true 90 deg vertical, which has lost its initial energy (i.e. being shot from a gun) will fall back down in a sideways tumble, and accelerate at a rate of 32feet/second per second, until it reaches terminal velocity, once it does, it can NOT go any faster than that. At this speed, the projectile will only give you a bump on your head or shoulder. It will NOT have lethal speed, not even close to it !!!!!!!!!!!

However, a bullet fired at less than 90 degs vertical, will maintain its spin and trajectory, and if those are maintained, then yes, the velocity can be lethal as the bullet has not lost all of the initial energy imparted to it Also the likely hood of anyone firing a weapon absolutely vertical, is highly unlikely.

The fact still remains that if it goes straight up, it will not return to kill, if however it archs, then it has lethal speed and imapct.

For further insight, we turn to Hatcher's Notebook (1962) by Major General Julian S. Hatcher, a U.S. Army ordnance expert. Hatcher described military tests with, among other things, a .30 caliber bullet weighing .021 pounds. Using a special rig, the testers shot the bullet straight into the air. It came down bottom (not point) first at what was later computed to be about 300 feet per second. "With the [.021 pound] bullet, this corresponds to an energy of 30 foot pounds," Hatcher wrote. "Previously, the army had decided that on the average an energy of 60 foot pounds is required to produce a disabling wound. Thus, service bullets returning from extreme heights cannot be considered lethal by this standard."

If 30 foot pounds doesn't mean much to you, the bullet made a mark about one-sixteenth of an inch deep in a soft pine board. About what you'd get giving it a good whack with a hammer. Note that we're talking about bullets shot straight up here. If the bullet is fired more or less horizontally, it may not lose much speed before returning to earth and could easily kill someone.

BTW, Mythbusters came up with the same answer. Besides that, dont forget mythbusters is a tv program and is ment to entertain. I give more credit to someone who is paided soully for a job than those who do it for tv purposes. The mythbusters episode everyone is refering to was also not complete because of uncontrolable issues.

Answer 4

What goes up MUST come down. In the case of a bullet it can come down with enough force to kill, injure or maim.

Depending on the caliber, a bullet fired straight up can travel as much as a mile before returning. I've seen damage to cars by returning bullets during New Year and if a person had been hit, that person would have been hurt or even killed.

Best.

H

Answer 5

Yes, shots fired in the air can come down and kill people on the ground. I live in New Orleans, and between 1993-1995, there were a couple of people killed exactly in this manner by people firing guns into the air to celebrate New Years.

Answer 6

A high powered rifle can probably fire a bullet a mile or so straight into the air. Probably a couple of miles but I don't know how much of an effect gravity would have on it. When fired parallel to the ground a rifle can fire a bullet anywhere from 1-7 miles.

The bullet would come down with plenty of velocity to kill a person if it struck them. This is why it is so crucial to have a backstop when you are shooting. If you don't have one, you don't shoot.

Answer 7

I could, indeed, kill someone if it hit them coming down. People have been killed and injured that way in places where guns are fired in the air as celebration.

Answer 8

Hey go to youtube or somthing like that the Mythbusters had a episode all about that.

Answer 9

A+ Yes proven on myth busters!

Answer 10

just saw this on mythbusters.the awnser is no it would not have enough force to kill