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« Fast & Furious: a reply to "but it was done under Bush, too." | Main | Graph on correlation between "shall issue" and homicide rates »

Strange firearms accident

Posted by David Hardy · 21 December 2011 10:59 AM

According to news reports, a hunter fired a muzzleloader in the air, and killed an Amish girl over a mile away. I don't think a round ball would go that far, let alone arrive with lethal force. Perhaps a modern saboted projectile could do it -- although those are essentially pistol projectiles, and I believe the max (not max lethal) range of a .45 is 1.1 miles. As I recall, increasing the muzzle velocity only slightly extends range, since it's largely offset by higher wind resistance.

11 Comments | Leave a comment

Justin Buist | December 21, 2011 12:29 PM | Reply

I don't do blackpowder myself but the last time I heard some hunters talking about their gear one was running a .45 cal bullet over 70 grains of black powder. The number stuck in my head because that's basically just a 45/70.

And those will stretch well over a mile.

Whitebread | December 21, 2011 1:07 PM | Reply

Maybe he was cheating with a more modern slug?

CDR D | December 21, 2011 4:31 PM | Reply

Hmmm...

Where was Eric Holder when this happened?

O'Rourke | December 21, 2011 4:58 PM | Reply


Something like this maybe?

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shooting/Black-Powder/Sabots-Bullets|/pc/104792580/c/104701680/sc/104547780/Barnes-Expander-MZ-and-Spit-Fire-MZ-and-TMZ/740773.uts?destination=/catalog/browse/shooting-black-powder-sabots-bullets/_/N-1100204

James Gibson | December 21, 2011 10:41 PM | Reply

Given its an amish man it tough to believe he might have been using a mine-ball type bullet. Though the round ball flintlocks were pretty much limited to a max range of 400 yards, the change to conical bullets made a horrible difference in lethal range during the civil war. Such a bullet would have had the capability of killing at over a mile.

5thofNov | December 22, 2011 3:16 AM | Reply

You don't shoot into the air...bring him up on charges and tell the amish to have their day in court....civil also. The mother died about 4 months ealier, so that family is going through hell.

Kman | December 22, 2011 5:13 AM | Reply

What comes up must come down. You should never just fire a rifle "into the air". Seems to me that this scenario meets the threshold for criminal negligence. You are responsible for where the bullet you fire goes!

Bill | December 22, 2011 5:58 AM | Reply

A modern .50 caliber muzzleloader shot using 3 pellets is more comparable to a .35 Rem or .45-70 than a pistol cartridge.

At 250 yards that's over 1,000 ft. lbs. of energy.

Definitely lethal at 1.1 miles.

fwb | December 22, 2011 9:57 AM | Reply

BPC guns are well known to shoot up to 3000 yds. Now, this is a lobbed shot but the bullet carries that far easily. My friend was on Believe it or Not a few yrs ago shooting his BPC rifle at a buffalo gong at 1100 yds.

The Raton BPC shoot is 800, 900 & 1100 yds. So carrying a mile or more at an elevated firing is not a big deal.

This guy should be eliminated from the human race.

O'Rourke | December 22, 2011 3:21 PM | Reply

I tried to click and drag a link to modern saboted bullets which approximate the aerodynamics of modern center fire rifle bullets. The 1995 era technology of this site doesn't accept such hot links, but you can search and check it out for yourself.

Emil | December 23, 2011 7:09 AM | Reply

A common misconception is that the bullet is always traveling the slowest at the furthest point in its trajectory. When shooting at max range or at high angles the slowest point is close to the maximum ordinate. Example, shoot straight up, the projectile will slow down at a rate of 32 fps per second until the speed reaches zero. At this point, there being nothing to hold it there, the projectile will return to earth picking up speed at the same rate it was shed. This simplification disregards air resistance but a .50 caliber round ball, weighs 177 grains, dropped from 3000 feet, it will have an impact velocity of 462 fps. That would deliver about 83 foot pounds. By contrast, the .41 rimfire cartridge from a Remington derringer fired a 130 grain bullet at velocity of 425 feet per second and a muzzle energy of 52 foot-pounds force.

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