How far will it go??

K

kai5row

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I cannot find my question on the internet anywhere.
On a box of 22’s it says it could go up to 1 to 1 ½ miles. What about a 7MM Mag or 30-06 or even a 223. I would assume about 3 miles. But not knowing bothers me a great deal. I always make sure of my back stop.
 
Like everything else in life, it all depends. Bullet weight, velocity, etc. The maximum range of the military Cal .30 Model 1906 (30-06 to you non military types) was determined to be 3300 to 3400 yards. The later Cal .30 M1, with the heavier bullet, was determined to be about 5500 yards.

The maximum range of the 16" guns on the old Iowa Class battleships was in excess of 40,000 yards. Yes, that's 40 Thousand. MV was only about 2500 fps.

Ray
 
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How far will it go???

Tooo far. I worry everytime I go hunting in the flat lands of West Texas,that a stray bullet from a long distance away will accidentally land too close for comfort or worse.




Glenn
 
kai5row said:
I cannot find my question on the internet anywhere.
On a box of 22’s it says it could go up to 1 to 1 ½ miles. What about a 7MM Mag or 30-06 or even a 223. I would assume about 3 miles. But not knowing bothers me a great deal. I always make sure of my back stop.
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22 rimfire ammo will go farther if it is subsonic rounds. The hyper velocity rounds tend to tumble as they pass the sound barrier. Then they drop like a rock. For an example, I could not hit an acre pond at 500 yards with hyper-X ammo. But, if they stay stable and have proper elevation (about 37 deg muzzle up) they'll go a LONG way.

Probably best to heed the 1.5mi warning.
 
I think they go into orbit if shot straight up. When we were kids we would shoot straight up and then put pots on our heads should it come back and hit one of us. We never did see or hear from any one of them and assumed that they got past gravity.
 
Cheechako said:
Like everything else in life, it all depends. Bullet weight, velocity, etc. The maximum range of the military Cal .30 Model 1906 (30-06 to you non military types) was determined to be 3300 to 3400 yards. The later Cal .30 M1, with the heavier bullet, was determined to be about 5500 yards.

The maximum range of the 16" guns on the old Iowa Class battleships was in excess of 40,000 yards. Yes, that's 40 Thousand. MV was only about 2500 fps.

Ray
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Off just a tad. That has been tested by doppler radar with richocets of bullets fired at a 10 degree angle. You can google DA PAM 385-63 and go to table B-1 in the back. Look for Distance X. That is how military (Army and USMC range Surface Danger zones are established). They look like a snow cone wedge shape. The Distance X is from the firing point to the far end of richocets.

7.62 M118 ball (173 gr bullet in a 308@ 2600 fps) has a distance x of 5288 meters

50 cal M2 ball (750 gr) has a distance X of 6500 meters.

Informal tests with 300 Win mag and 338 lapua put the richocet distance right in between but closer to the 50 cal. They use the 50 cal SDZ to ensure capture. 7mm Mag will be just under the 50 cal SDZ parameters with bat wings on the side to catch ricochets going left and right. Yes, the 22 LR can go a mile and half.

That is the easy part that everyone understands. The hard part is the lateral richocets left and right to just under 2000 meters left and right of the target line for a 308. That is firing at earth targets, not metal or concrete.

Plus dopplar radar has proven that they will go up and out (visulize a fireworks fountain) in a circular manner.

I have seen standard 150 gr 308 ball come back over a firing line,(nearest target was 250 meters) go 500 yards behind the line and penetrate the steel siding walls of a warehouse. This was after hitting dirt (no concrete, no steel and no surface rocks)

BH
 
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BH

You lost me. Were you responding to my post or to the OP??? Either way, I have no idea what you just said.:confused:

Ray
 
jackie schmidt said:
Yeh, but that is 2500 fps with a 2800+ lb round. .........jackie
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Looks like a 19,600,000 grain round............was that a flat base or a boat tail..............what am i thinkin???????............they're shootin off a boat..............or a ship to the sailors....

Later
Dave
 
Ray

Pretty simple. Bullets go a lot further than most people think and ricochet much further left and right.

the Distance X is the richocet distance from the firing point in a direct line down range to capture the bullet after it hits the ground and ricochets. They seldom stop unless fired directly into something and then can go back/left/right if they hit something in the dirt.

Bottom line for a 308 with a 175 SMK you will need 5288 meters downrange and 4000 meters distance from right to left edge to capture your ricochets.

For the magnums go to the 50 cal numbers. So the 7mm mag can go the 3 miles if you work it out.

Military jacketed bullets are real similar to our match bullets, so figure same distances. A lead tip bullet will deform when hitting and will go substantially less. Go to PA legislature website and look under "Studies and Reports" for Mar 2007 and they paid for a DARPA study with 30'06 150 lead tip against the plastic tip slug and muzzleloading sabot and found the 3006 ricochet less than the other two. Made the rounds in lot of magazine write ups that year.
 
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I teach Hunter Ed so get this question a lot :)

Some thoughts..... I can't really add to Bounty Hunter's post but some thoughts anyway.

YES .22LR's can go over a mile. Stuff like wind, elevation and pressure/humidity will play a big part with those funky little slugs but they'll still carry more than a mile, sometimes. I've also fired 22's over water on days when you couldn't get much over 4-500yds seemed like.

"Hunting rifles" like 308's, 7MM's and such will show maximum ranges of 3-7 mi altho getting one to fly over 3mi is tough. The big 338's and 50's will go over 5 miles.

On shooting straight up. I get asked "if I shoot straight up will the bullet come back down and kill me?" And the answer is "NO...... unless you're on the moon." :) (On the moon a bullet WOULD kill you on the way back in...) I use the old "it's illegal to drop a penny off the Empire State Building" wives tale to get their attention. Amazingly enough my informal poll indicates that about 5/8 of the population of America believes a penny can kill you.

And no, bullets can't "go into orbit" even on the moon ;) it takes a lot more than that to get outta' the gravity well....and going into orbit requires some serious finesse LOL

I know a girl who was shot (by a guy I know) at a documented distance of almost two miles by a 223. Low angle fire, dude shot at a coyote on a rock pile in the field, hit the girl on a motorcycle.

He could never duplicate the shot though..........

al
 
So...if a bullet was shot straight up at 1000fps, how fast would it be moving when it returned to the same elevation it left?
 
Hatcher's Notebook (1962) by Major General Julian S. Hatcher, a U.S. Army ordnance expert. Hatcher described military tests with, among other things, a .30 caliber bullet weighing .021 pounds. Using a special rig, the testers shot the bullet straight into the air. It came down bottom (not point) first at what was later computed to be about 300 feet per second. "With the [.021 pound] bullet, this corresponds to an energy of 30 foot pounds," Hatcher wrote. "Previously, the army had decided that on the average an energy of 60 foot pounds is required to produce a disabling wound. Thus, service bullets returning from extreme heights cannot be considered lethal by this standard."
 
Terminal velocity 30 cal bullet about 200 mph or so. That is dropped straight down. I think it might hurt if the pointy end hit you at 200 mph. If you shoot up but not exactly 90 degrees then you get a trajectory and way more speed I think. There is a formula on Wikipedia but I would not call that general terms.
 
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Not to be argumentative, but Al, if that bullet is coming down at 325fps and hits you in the head, I'm bett'n yer dead.

I shot 1/4" ball bearings out of a primer test rifle some years ago. At 225-250fps, they shoot right though 2 layers of 18ga stove pipe. Also penetrate 3 layers of commercial carpet. Quadruple the weight and add 100fps, and you've got quite a bit of energy. I'll agree that terminal velocity of a penny in atmosphere is a good bit lower, but, I still am not interested in being the guy they test it on. ow.

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I also remember years ago during a really dry summer, watching some shooting at 100 yards. With no backstop other than the mountain in the distance, bullets were skipping off the dirt and making another dust poof at 400+ yards out. Without any formal testing of the lost velocity, just going from gut feel, it didn't look to me as if they shed a bit of velocity, and the hits were consistent enough to make me believe the bullets had not been deformed appreciably. If I were to estimate the change in trajectory, I'd guess 5-10 degrees. The dirt poofs at 400 looked to be a decent grouping, even after bouncing off the ground at 100 yards. Interesting stuff.
 
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"How far will it go?"

"How far will it go?".......This is or should be a serious consideration when playing around with firearms. Its not how far bullets travel, but what they might hit on the way to their final landing. Most people don't stop to think about the damage stray bullets can cause.

The Military application of long distance bullet travel is intriguing as long as the enemy is on the receiving end.




Glenn
 
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