If a .50 caliber bullet hit someone. Would it a) go right through them or b) propel someone far away.?

Question

I ask this question because on IMDB.com it has started a huge discussion. I saw it in the movie smokin' aces and I didn't believe it. So would a bullet from a M83A1A sniper rifle go right through a person or propel them? Here is the link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0475394/board/flat/72532028?p=1

Answer 1

My brother was in Iraq, twice. In the initial invasion he told me how they drew fire from a 2 story building. He was in a HUMVEE with an M-2 .50 cal. He put three bursts into it, maybe 10-11 rounds. It was made of cement. The side where the rounds hit, collapsed. The shooter(s) were so torn up, they couldn't tell it it was one or two Iraqis.
Moral of the story, don't mess with M2's, kicking azz for 75 years now. Can't improve much on perfection!

Answer 2

The story about bullets throwing people backwards, is only a story. Even with a 50 cal round a person will only drop straight down. Newtons law says that an action has an equal but opposite action, so if a round from a 50 cal sniper rifle was able to lift and throw a 12 stone man backwards then there would need to be a force of at least 12 stone on the rifle butt. Obviously this would break the shoulder of the shooter.
As far as round traveling through people, there is a lot of truth in this. The technology used in bullet design has over the recent past developed down the route of specialist rounds, designed with specific purposes in mind.
If a "Hard" full metal jacket round was fired at the mid section of a person at 50 feet it will defiantly travel straight through.
However is a Glaser type round was fired with the same conditions the round would not pass through the target.
Sniper rounds are a combination of straight flight, good energy discharge and repeatability.

Answer 3

I've seen Smokin' Aces and loved it!
I know the scene you are referring to and enjoyed it.

That being said I am a life long lover of all things that go bang and have to tell you;
A: It's a Barrett M82A1 with a really nice U.S. Optics scope
B: The round would completely penetrate and exit a human body at the ranges show in the film.

As has been pointed out above even at high velocity a .50bmg projectile only weighs 647 to 750 grains.

That's 1.45oz to 1.71oz (not a lot of weight impacting a 160-220 pound male human)

Yes the damage through permanent and temporary wound channels and hydrostatic shock would be devastating.

But it would not lift a human off the ground and fling them through the air.

Answer 4

The human body would not be propelled by any round from a gun unless it was possibly a small to large cannon round. In that case it would simply blow the person up. Movies depicting a human body being blown 20 feet away by rifle,handgun,shotgun is all Hollywood. Never happens. Physics wont allow it since the human body weighs much more than a projectile, the projectile would either go through the body and continue on or lodge itself inside the body if there wasn't enough force to exit.

You can find actual footage of people being shot on the Internet. They are more likely to " fall into" the direction of the shot or just fall down. I have been to enough crime scenes to guarantee that humans are not propelled by a shot.

If the movie was'nt so unreal in its "realism" people would get bored

Answer 5

in theory its like : mass(kg) x speed(meter/second) = impact force.... so you do the math and see if its enough to fly up some one .there are things to consider tough: most of the time bullet runes trough the entire body and exits so to correct the calculation you gotta have the entry speed of bullet and exit speed of bullet + the bullet creates dammage to the internal organs..that means that that the impact energy got reduced because some of the absorbed energy is used to dammage the organs . but in general no bullet will fly someone one unless:1-shotgun fire with heavy ammo like no.3-2-1 because this ammo releases almost all of the energy on the target specialy if the target is wearing hard protection like a bullet proof layer..2- if the target is not in ballance so a small force would cause it to bounce or fall in distance.3- if the target is too close to the weapon so the powder gas may cause extra force od the target.....................................but for the 50 cal.sniper amoo it`s just too heavy and too fast so it would cause the body to fall in the shot direction but will not make it fly because the necessary force to fly the body is much more than the force that would tear it apart(because the bullet is small) so the body would be blown up before it flies away.

Answer 6

The Hydrostatic shock of the the high speed, heavy round going through the body would cause a huge would or take limbs off. The round, heavy as it is, would not pick up the body and throw it. That's Hollywood stuff.

What makes folks move when hit is shock and pain. Try this experiment. Go to the local biker bar. Find the largest biker in the place. Walk up behind him and jab in the butt with a stick pin. He willl yell and probably jump off the ground. The shock and pain is what moved him, not the pin. You will also find that despite the large fists, boots, and pool cues the biker will beat you to death with, you wil not do much more that fall to the ground and bleed.

Answer 7

It depends on the .50 cal round that you are talking about. A .50 BMG would go right through a person like Rosie Odonnell through a box of twinkies. A .50 AE (like the one the Desert Eagle shoots) with hollow point bullets stands a better chance of pushing a person back but not sending them flying.

Answer 8

The only way that might happen is if someone was shot by a shotgun loaded with 00/000 Buckshot from about 20-30 feet away

Answer 9

pass right thru.watched one go thru a tree in front of me and bury into the ground next to me.The tree was about 16 inches thick.I have seen way to many 51's and 50's and their damage to humans and water bulls.
Combat Marine
0311 68 69

Answer 10

.50 cal bmg? Now way a human would stop this round at less than luck shooting range(less than a mile) even then doubtful.