Took a Bullet at Midnight...Happy New Year

[achil]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Simple: they were good at sports, not math.

I doubt that Stu. Been shooting all my life and the first thing you learn about guns is safety- for others and yourself. I quit hunting many years ago because of the idiots that are loose in the woods. Even outdoor ranges are not safe.

[fuentes]

Started the year with a "bang". Now let us see how the rest of the year will develop!

[Russ]

Which Ft P Marina. I'm over at Cracker Boy on the Taylor Creek

Russ S/V Ascension

[PMac456]

Stayed with friends on their sailboat at the Crown Bay Marina in St. Thomas last New Years...we stopped at Tipsy bar at the marina just before midnight. A few fireworks... then lots of gun fire...including automatic rifle. We stayed put inside until all firing stopped...What the heck!!

[NorthCoastJoe]

Several years ago someone was killed in San Francisco by a bullet falling on New Years. I do not think the ever found who fired the shot into the air. Last night we heard at least two dozen rounds fired off at midnight. Who knows where they came down.

[S/V Alchemy]

I'm sorry you live in a country where freedom's spouse, responsibility, is so often invisible. Good luck patching your deck.

[SV Bacchus]

So glad you are not hurt. Wow, scary way to start the New Year!

Originally Posted by denverd0n

I cannot, for the life of me, understand the complete, brain-dead stupidity of shooting guns into the air as a celebration.

(And this is coming from a life-long NRA member!)

Life-long NRA members don't shoot into the air! It is the uneducated, or stupid, or drunk, or..

[Valmika]

Morons,shooting a weapon into the ground I can understand but in the air is just stupid....but you can check this out,if & I mean if it was straight up,they won't do as much damage on the way down, but the reality is that almost never happens..they go up at an angle & come down & you get the damage like you have...if that bullet fell from a vertical shot it probably would bounce off with just a slight boo boo..but why?


I don't understand ballistics I guess. Why is shooting straight up less dangerous? Serious question here. I am not trying to be provocative.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

We stayed at Harbortown in Ft Pierce a couple of times this year, and we Uber'ed around the town to grocery stores etc a few times. We were told by one driver which parts of town to avoid, so I guess Ft Pierce is a bit like Durham, NC where I used to work. We would often find spent bullets in the paring lot after New Years. Durham actually put up a billboard telling it's residents that shooting guns in the air is not an acceptable way to celebrate.

All that said, I liked Ft Pierce and Harbortown, and I will go back there. Nice marina. Perfect place to arrive if you're coming across from the Abacos via Memory Rock.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by wcapital

No...but you can (and maybe we should) shoot it!

I was thinking the same thing.

Edit: Shooting straight up, the bullet would fall more or less straight down (assuming no wind), but it would hit terminal velocity on the way back down.
This would be determined by the balance between gravity and wind resistance.

[Dave22q]

Originally Posted by Valmika

Morons,shooting a weapon into the ground I can understand but in the air is just stupid....but you can check this out,if & I mean if it was straight up,they won't do as much damage on the way down, but the reality is that almost never happens..they go up at an angle & come down & you get the damage like you have...if that bullet fell from a vertical shot it probably would bounce off with just a slight boo boo..but why?


I don't understand ballistics I guess. Why is shooting straight up less dangerous? Serious question here. I am not trying to be provocative.

Your confusion is understandable. A bullet fired 1/4 mile into the air will be Is the best case straight up? Yes because
at a velocity of almost 200MPH when it hits the ground about 18 sec after firing. Many hand gun ranges exceed a half mile and some more that that. Can it kill you? Hell yes! Is straight up safest? Yes, because the bullet has no forward velocity.. Bullets generally are still traveling fast when they hit the ground. Typically they cover a half mile in a second, nearly 9x the velocity of a falling object.

[Beavereater]

If Darwinism were 100% reliable this sort of thing wouldn't happen.

[MV Wanderlust]

Damn! The important point is that you're okay. Glass can be repaired. Stupid people. Makes me long to be at sea.

[Kita]

Originally Posted by Valmika

Morons,shooting a weapon into the ground I can understand but in the air is just stupid....but you can check this out,if & I mean if it was straight up,they won't do as much damage on the way down, but the reality is that almost never happens..they go up at an angle & come down & you get the damage like you have...if that bullet fell from a vertical shot it probably would bounce off with just a slight boo boo..but why?


I don't understand ballistics I guess. Why is shooting straight up less dangerous? Serious question here. I am not trying to be provocative.

Because if it is fired at an angle the round never slows down as much,picture a rainbow shot,then look at skydivers that can pass a ball back & forth,they are at terminal velocity which is much slower than speed of that rainbow shot,so the straight up shot is coming down at the same speed as terminal velocity which is going to do less damage,, it's not traveling as fast....

[alansmith]

At least u had the common sense to come in out of the metal rain.

Have a teacher friend in eastern Ukraine. She was telling me that her students, while sitting in class, can tell the difference between rocket fire, mortar fire, RPG fire, or tank fire. It makes me incredibly sad to hear this.