Question about pistol and rifle ranges

M

markofkane

New member
I've seen that a .22 can go about a 1 1/2 miles if fired from a rifle? OK, another silly question: I am assuming that means that the bullet has slowed to a stop?
I don't mean shot straight up in the air, as it goes up and comes back down.

What I mean is shooting at an angle. How far can the bullet go and penetrate human skin? :D (don't worry, I am not going to experiment):p
 
Very good question. I have tried running 40 grain bullet info on a ballistic program but can only get it to give info out to about 1500 yard less than a mile but the bullet is still a bit over 200 fps. I have also read of several 'documented'(quoted because I have not been able to actually see the documentation) reports of 22 deaths at over a mile. So answer I don't know, but as for me I will not take any chances.
 
I've seen that a .22 can go about a 1 1/2 miles... I am assuming that means that the bullet has slowed to a stop?
Click to expand...
No. The 1-1/2 mile figure you see on .22 ammo boxes and gun instructions is the distance at which the bullet has slowed to a velocity that won't typically cause lethal injury to a human, IIRC around the 400 fps range. Assuming an adequately upwards trajectory on firing, the bullet will travel a good deal farther than this, it's just less likely to kill someone.

A fired bullet will never truly stop unless it is fired absolutely straight up, in which case it will stop moving for an almost infinitely short period of time at the top of its flight. This is, however, a practical impossibility because the barrel would have to be perfectly vertical and there would have to be absolutely no wind whatsoever. This is one of those theoretical situations that can be mathematically achieved on paper but will never happen in reality. :)

In reality, bullets travel in an arc, and they stop when they hit something. The pull of gravity will ensure this. The bullet will keep going; its path just becomes progressively less horizontal and more vertical.
 
In the mid-20's the War Dept., did range experiments...

down on the Floridau Gulf coast, [no tourist industry, then], the determine that the M2 ball ammo traveled maximum of seven (7) miles.

You need to dig-up a physics book and calculate the elevation angled requires
it likely somewhere about 22+ degrees above horizontal.

May be a chapter in Hatcher's Notebook, also.

A .22 bullet will ricochet off dirt, as I found out groundhog / woodchuck hunting, best to ensure a steeper angle when shooting.
 
It's just about impossible to get a .22lr to a 1000 yards before it hits dirt. That will scrub even more velocity and lose all of it's very limited BC and it will hit again, and again until it hits something to stop it. So getting it anywhere close 1 1/2 miles (2600 yards) with any dangerous velocity would be akin to winning 2 lottos in a year.

LK
 
The bullet won't "stop" until it hits something. That something can be a planet!

There's a rule of ballistics that says a bullet fired at (almost) 45 degrees will travel the furthest. Not that it will stop & drop to the ground, but that if you fire at a series of angles that one will travel furthest before completing an arc & striking the ground. The distances will gradually increase as you get closer to the optimum angle, and fall off again as you pass it.
 
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