Shotgun blasts into the air... threat to others?

[Vol46]

Any projectile be it big or small can be lethal. Its the stroke of luck to escape harm..

Take a handful of bird shot - throw it off the top of the Empire State Building - see how many people you kill or injure. My guess is zero.

 

[deadin]

A range I used to belong to 300 yard target line was in the beaten zone of the trap/skeet range. You just learned to not look up when changing targets. Wearing a hat also helped.

 

[mugsie]

I don't think falling shot is anywhere near as dangerous as a bullet. A few years back, while changing targets at my local range, I felt a stinging sensation on my left arm. I was wearing a T-shirt and the arm was exposed. A trap shooter on a range about 70 - 90 or so yards away fired in an inappropriate direction and I was hit with a couple of pellets, about 7 1/2 in size. None of them broke the skin. Had that been a bullet, I would have been lucky to retain my arm. Shot isn't nearly as dangerous as a bullet. If it were buckshot, maybe it would have been a different outcome, but birdshot only stung - thankfully.

 

[PRM]

Some years back there was a group of us riding motorcycles. A duck fell from the sky almost hitting one of the other riders. Some hunter at an unknown location sent the shot up, duck came down. Don't guess that counts for the OP's question, but, there is a cause and effect. No harm - we all had a good laugh.

 

[tomrkba]

Yes. Never fire into the air other than sport shooting or hunting. We shoot to stop, never to warn or make some sort of statement.

 

[Trent]

My Uncle Don, when he was young, fired a 12 gauge load in the air celebrating the 4th of July once. Two houses down, a police officer was getting done off of a long shift and pulled in to his driveway. He got out of the car, and then he and his car were sprinkled with lead shot. He looked at my Uncle, who was still holding the shotgun in the driveway, and had quite the exchange of words about firing a 12 gauge in the air in town.

That was back in the 70's. Today? They'd haul your butt away and lock you up.

Inertia plays a role. Birdshot isn't bad, but the heavier the bullet the worse it'll hurt coming down.. I sure wouldn't want to catch a 1oz slug in the noggin. 00 might sting a little, too.

I've often wondered about the millions of rounds of AA fire that were launched in the air during WWII. Or 50 BMG, 8x57, or 30mm cannon fire from aircraft. It's all gotta come down somewhere. The AA fire especially though; which was concentrated around major metropolitan areas.

Insignificant compared to the bombs raining down, but it stands to reason that quite a few people were probably injured from friendly fire in WWII off AA projectiles coming back down to earth.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

There was a court case where a farmer faced attempted murder charges for firing a shotgun with small birdshot at a trespasser at a range a bit over 200 feet. Tests of the gun with the same ammunition against blue jean material at the same measured distance established that at that range the pellets would not penetrate a layer of heavy denim. (A goose or turkey load might have been a different story; buckshot or slugs at 200 ft definitely would be a lethal combination).

"Shotgun blasts into the air... threat to others?" If the shot is straight up, the highest velocity of an object like a coin, bullet or ball falling from a dead stop is limited by wind resistence--I seem to recall 120 mph or 176 feet per second. Lower than the velocity of a BB gun shot. It could put your eye out, kid, if you looked at it. I would not want to be hit by a rifled slug falling at 176 fps on my head, even tho 437 gr @ 176 fps = 30 ft/lb (12ga muzzle velocity of 1600 fps gives 2,480 ft.lbs e = m v[sup]2[/sup] that squaring the velocity ups the impact energy).

HOWEVER, any shot at an angle is going to maintain part of its original velocity; it won't be falling from a dead stop. A lot of folks are killed by "celebratory gunfire" incoming at 45 to 60 degrees. Velocity will be greater than velocity of a falling object retarded by air resistence.

 

[Catpop]

O'biden said it was ok, so must be ok. Right? I mean, have the Democrats ever misled you?

 

[Mike1234567]

The OP mentioned dropping marbles from tall heights, citing that the material is less dense than lead. Sticking with that OP I'd think #0000 buckshot or small slugs is what we should be considering and I'd bet a good bit of cash that #0000 buckshot or small slug at terminal velocity could easily kill if it hits in the right spot.

Why do so many keep mentioning bird shot? The OP mentioned marble-sized objects.

 

[StrutStopper]

When I started bow hunting on public land when I first moved here I didn't realize that the fields close to where I was set-up were stocked with pheasants. I'm just glad I was wearing a hat. I make sure that I'm nowhere near stocked fields now when small game season opens.

 

[buck460XVR]

The OP mentioned dropping marbles from tall heights, citing that the material is less dense than lead. Sticking with that OP I'd think #0000 buckshot or small slugs is what we should be considering and I'd bet a good bit of cash that #0000 buckshot or small slug at terminal velocity could easily kill if it hits in the right spot.

Why do so many keep mentioning bird shot? The OP mentioned marble-sized objects.

The reason is, 'cause the OP asked specifically about shot in the OP. While he did acknowledge that marbles and slugs MAY be hazardous when dropped from heights, his question was about shotgun shells containing pellets.....not slugs or marbles

So again, is falling shot a hazard? Does it matter whether it's double-ought buck or birdshot? (Let's not discuss slugs. I think those are a different issue.)



- - - Yoda

 

[Mike1234567]

I read the OP again. The poster wrote, "Does it matter whether it's double-ought buck or birdshot? (Let's not discuss slugs...)"

 

[we are not amused]

While the legality of firing warning shots is not in question, (although I can think of more than one situation where it would be a good tactic, even if not legal) Bird shot fired into the air would pretty much be harmless, as anyone who has done much bird shooting in public hunting areas can (and have) attest.

 

[MErl]

I've often wondered about the millions of rounds of AA fire that were launched in the air during WWII. Or 50 BMG, 8x57, or 30mm cannon fire from aircraft. It's all gotta come down somewhere. The AA fire especially though; which was concentrated around major metropolitan areas.

That is a secondary advantage to detonating rounds in AA. Shrapnel comes down instead of a solid stabilized shell. I was wondering why the mortar interceptors used 20mm over 50 or even 30cal, no self destructing bullets for the lighter calibers.

 

[benEzra]

The answer is no, falling shot is not a big deal.

If you're talking about birdshot, yes. But the OP was talking about firing a defensive load (which would typically be buckshot or slug) up in the air as a warning shot, and *that* can be a much bigger deal.

Take a handful of bird shot - throw it off the top of the Empire State Building - see how many people you kill or injure. My guess is zero.

Again, since we're talking about shotguns loaded for defense rather than bird hunting, throwing a bunch of .24 to .36 caliber lead balls---or a .729 caliber slug---would be more to the point. And those things *could* cause injury (even serious injury or death, under the right circumstances) falling from that height.