84-year-old granny shoots son-in-law dead from 220 yards.

[jimpeel]

TallPine

She must be one heck of a shot. The bullet drop at 200 yards is what - about 24 to 36 inches?

A .22LR has a velocity of ~1,200FPS so he was struck within 1/2 second after the shot. Gravitational physics states that the drop in 1/2 second for a simple falling object is ~16 feet. Bullets don't act according to pure gravitational physics, though.

Blackhawk

Actually, I think she missed her intended target.

From the story:

"From statements she made she intended on killing him," Glenn said.

Doesn't sound like a lucky shot to me.

Gila Jorge

From what I've heard just another first degree premeditated cold blooded murder. So what if she's 80...she's still a cold blooded murderer!

Yep!

 

[Calamity Jane]

Police say Gertrude Raines shot Charles Davis, 62, with a .22-caliber rifle. Authorities say the rifle did not have a scope.

And at 220 yards.

Holy Astonishing Shots, Batman.

 

[KMKeller]

Granny's got an eagle eye on her!

 

[TallPine]

jimpeel:

I was just going by a chart in a Marlin catalog comparing the 22 LR and the 22 magnum. The chart only goes to 125 yards.

Sighted in at 50 yards (and 25 yds, both the same because the bullet goes up then down), the 22 is about 5-6 inches low at 100 yds. This is correct because I have tried it - holding at the top edge of a piece of 8.5*11 typing paper puts the hole right about in the middle. The chart looks like about 12" low at 125 yards. Hmmm, that's losing 6" in 25 yards. What would it be at 220 yds?

So ....? Does anybody else think this article is incorrect about the yardage? She would have had to aim several feet over his head.

 

[Greg L]

Apparently I'm in the minority here as I really don't consider a 200 yard shot all that great of a distance especially on a man sized target.

When our local range has silhouette practice my boys and I go down to plink with our .22s. My 10 year old has no problems hitting the 200 yard rams with his non-scoped 10/22 probably 75% of the time. In the army we trained on popups out to 300 meters. It really doesn't seem to me to be that difficult of a shot to make. A single killing shot at that distance with a .22 is certainly not easy, but a solid torso hit shouldn't be that difficult.

Just my 2% of a $

Greg

 

[TallPine]

My 10 year old has no problems hitting the 200 yard rams with his non-scoped 10/22 probably 75% of the time.

So ... ... how do you adjust for the bullet drop?

I know, I know - you aim high ... but it must be several feet ...?

 

[Azrael256]

I think Jim might be onto something here. It could well have been a .223... although I can't really imagine my grandma shooting anything larger than a .22. I was always told that a .22 isn't very accurate beyond about 100 yards, and with that much bullet drop... man... I have a really hard time imagining anybody pulling off that shot, much less grandma. I could be totally wrong, she could be just that good.

 

[Bainx]

Me thinks this be a hoax.

 

[TallPine]

220 feet maybe ..... ?

 

[Art Eatman]

I have an 18" square hanging plate out at 185 yards. With my 10/22 zeroed for 50 yards, I easily hit the lower part of the plate by holding on its top. There's commonly a 75-degree, 10mph crosswind; I rarely hold farther upwind than the upwind edge.

It's easy to hit that big a target with irons; I have a Mauser single-shot with the sight calibrated in meters. Using the 150-meter setting and high velocity stuff, you can clang the steel all day long.

Figure Granny was aiming at the head or upper torso; the hit in the mid-section would be expected. We don't know from reports what the wind was; she might have been just lucky, between her wavering and the wind direction.

The guy was probably just surprised; fell off the roof and the fall killed him. I'll wait for the coroner's report.

Art

 

[TallPine]

Now I just gotta go try dropping 22 LR bullets into a 5 gal bucket at 200 yards

Wonder if they'll come out the other side ....?

 

[gk1]

The drop on a .22 LR is 36"-40" at 200 yards, give or take a little. I can hit a soda can at 200 yards with one shot from my scoped 77/22, and do it any time I can get beer money for the shot. Granted, the scope makes it easier, but Granny's probably had a bit of practice in her 84 years. I can hit a 9"x16" gong at 200 yards with my iron-sighted .45 ACP 1911 just by holding over (though I'm not to the range trick stage with it yet; need to practice more). I get about 4 hits on the gong out of 7 shots. Keep in mind, that's a 230 grain bullet at 830 fps, and a 6.5" sight radius. Again, Granny's got good enough eyesight and a steady trigger finger, but she's not Carlos Hathcock.

George

 

[John Galt]

You guys are funny....

If it drops 36" & she aimed for the head with a 6-12" holdover, that's right in the middle of torso. If she was trying to kill him, she was aiming for his head & missed.

 

[cratz2]

I can hit a 9"x16" gong at 200 yards with my iron-sighted .45 ACP 1911 just by holding over

You are the man! I got to where I could hit the 12" diameter gong at 100 yards about 7 to 9 times out of 10 with a 6" barreled Dan Wesson with a 2 lb trigger. At 125 yards, about 5 or 6 out of 10. Tried to transition to centerfire. Been shooting 1911s two thirds of my 30 year life - on a good day, I can hit the 12" gong 3 out of 10 times with my most bestest, most accurate-ist 1911. And I could keep my shots at 25 yards to 1.5-2.5" with that gun.

 

[TallPine]

If it drops 36" & she aimed for the head with a 6-12" holdover, that's right in the middle of torso. If she was trying to kill him, she was aiming for his head & missed.

"Middle of the torso" ... ? That guy would have had to been seven feet tall.

A 36" drop aimed at his head would hit just about at his ... oh, never mind

Maybe she wasn't trying to kill him at all ... maybe she hit a little higher than she intended

 

[WilderBill]

Yep, you don't wanna mess with grannys.
When we helped my granny move to a nursing home, we discovered that Grandad had left her his pistol for protection.
20+ years later it was still in the drawer by the bed...loaded with .357+p+ semiwadcutters!
I don't doubt that she would have used it in the event of a breakin.

 

[Blackhawk]

jimpeel said:

From the story:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"From statements she made she intended on killing him," Glenn said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doesn't sound like a lucky shot to me.

You're going by the story. Her statements aren't "official" therefore not admissible therefore deniable.

She's going to say she intended to scare him under oath, I'll bet. Then it becomes involuntary manslaughter, and due to her age she'll walk unless she gets instutitionalized due to diminished capacity.

As for the TRUE facts, we'll never know, but I'll bet the shot itself was not the cause of death.

It will be an interesting story to follow.

 

[Cougar]

.22 caliber rifle

That could be any number of chamberings...

.22 rimfire in bbcap, cb cap, short, long or long rifle
.22 WMR (Magnum rimfire)
.22 Hornet
.22 Jet
.222 Rem
.223 Rem
220 Swift
.22-250
.22 PPC

All the above are technically .22 caliber rifles. I'm sure there are a bunch more...

 

[jimpeel]

Bainx

Me thinks this be a hoax.

I don't think the Arkansas Democrat Gazette would run a hoax, especially one with several respondents being quoted. Now, rense.com might support your contention, however.