Maximum safe shot size to fire in the air

Are you talking Shotgun type shot or a rifle bullet? All shotgun rounds are meant to be fired into the air with the exception of slugs or buck shot. Rifles are never safe to fire into the air. A 22 bullet goes over a mile while a .30 caliber bullet will go over 5 miles...
 
Everything is safebut..

what are your conditions to fire in?

Some trap ranges limit to 7-1/2, nothing larger.
 
Hey DonR, haven't you ever hunted birds before?

I was asking about shot size, not rifle bullets. I've read that duck hunters use some rather large shot. I've also read not to shoot a .22 in the air, so that would eliminate some types of buckshot, but where do you draw the line?
 
what are your conditions to fire in?

Some trap ranges limit to 7-1/2, nothing larger.
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I'm not sure exactly what you mean by conditions to fire in, but I'm thinking about hunting if that is what you mean.
 
H&R, have you attended the hunter safety course? I got a ticket for not having my little card along with the hunting license. :confused: It should show you right in there how far different kinds of bullets/shot go. To answer your question, how far is civilization or other people? What are we looking at down range?
 
H&R - Shot shells are totally different animals than rifles as far as carry.

Personally, I would not shoot anything designed for mammals (buck shot, slugs) into the air. Maybe if deer started flying... By their nature, loads designed for shooting at flying critters (birds and ducks) kinda have to be fired in the air. Even those do come down, so you have to be aware of your shooting area.

One public duck area I hunted a long time ago (pre-lead ban - so you know it was a while) you almost needed to wear a hard hat. The assigned pits were set up so no one could possibly get shot directly, but you got rained on with shot from other pits all day long...
 
Shotguns only of course you know that though. I hunt geese with 3 inch magnum BBB steel shot. I wouldnt fire straight up because what goes up comes down and that shot could spread into a rather large area if fired straight up.
 
Making the assumption that the shot in question got fired upward at around 45 degrees or thereabouts, I really doubt that free-falling shot of BB size or smaller would penetrate skin. I doubt that buckshot would do anything serious, but I don't care to be the guinea pig...

Art
 
I have shot and have been "rained on" by birdshot from #8 all the way to BB with no problems. We even thought it was kinda fun in the dove field. I have had them bounce off bare skin and they do not hurt. I would not try this with Buckshot of any size because of it can go higher in the air and the mass of one pellet could hurt like hell on your head. I do highly recommend shooting glasses for obvious reasons.
 
That is the kind of answer I'm looking for. Especially first hand experience.

Maybe I will do an experiment on some type of target sometime with #4 buck and heavier shot. It would require a lot of space.

Sounds like as long as its not buckshot though, it is probably ok.
 
I have killed dove at 50 yards with 7 1/2 shot from Low based shells(3 1/4 Dram) equivalent.
I have killed Gambel's Quail at 53 yards using 7 1/2 Hi base(3 3/4 Dram Equiv).
I have killed Chukar at over 60 yards using #4 Hi base(3 3/4 dram Equiv).

I have killed geese using #2 Lead(Pre-Ban)2 3/4" in Nitro Magnum at 30 yards and at 30-35 yards using Steel "T" Shot.

This info may give you an idea of the effective range of shot at various ranges on various sized birds.
 
Maximum, falling out of the air range of birdshot by Journee's Formula is the pellet diameter in inches times 2200 equals range in yards. Pellet diameter in hundreths of an inch is 17 minus shot size. This for moderate elevation as for a flushing bird and gives 209 yards for # 7 1/2, the largest size allowed in trap and skeet. In actual tests, with shots fired at high enough elevation for high house skeet targets, # 7 1/2 was carrying farther than that. It is not coming down very hard at that distance, the tester reported just a pitter-patter on the sheet of plywood over his head. But being "peppered" at half that far is no fun at all.
 
When I used to hunt ducks, we would get rained on by shot from guys from across the ponds, about 200 yds. It was annoying more than anything else, but I suppose if I had looked up at that instant it might have hurt a bit. Probably not seriously.

When I used to hunt geese on frozen lakes, we would get rained on by shot from across the ponds, too, but the larger shot hurt a bit when it hit you. No blood drawn, just stinging.
 
Myth busters did a test on this very subject w/ a 9mm 115 gr. projectile in the salt flats somewhere in Utah. They fired a 9mm round in the air, and actually found where it hit. I don't know how many they fired, but they found one. It penetrated about .5" into the mud. That's it. Think about it. without a powder charge, objects can only fall so fast before they quit accellerating due to friction w/ the air. The stated it based on their findings that it would be impossible for a bullet to serriously injure anyone byond a bonk on the head from falling out of the sky.
 
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