Discharging A Charged Muzzy Gun

[TUMBLEWEED]

Just heard a tragic story on the radio this morning.

Somebody in ?? Ohio, was cleaning a muzzleloader

and it was discharged into the air. A mile and a

half away, a young Amish woman was struck in the head

by the round and killed.

Always aim your rifle into the ground or the base of

a large tree. Do not fire in the air!! It has to come

down somewhere....

S

[Pooh]

I heard PA, either way bad deal. Does a muzzleloader have the capability of the bullet carrying that far?

[LightningBG]

Sounds a little fishy. 1.5 miles seems a little out of range even at the perfect angle. Thought process being that once the velocity drops to a certain point, the bullet will start to tumble and lose velocity at a rapid rate.

[Gordie]

Always aim your rifle into the ground or the base of

a large tree. Do not fire in the air!! It has to come

down somewhere....

S

You would be better off pulling the breech plug and pushing the load out of the gun instead of firing it all.

[96trigger]

Legit story, just did a google search for it. Pretty sad story to say the least. The girl was only 15 coming home from a xmas party by herself in a buggy. Her brother found the horse at home going around in circles with her still in the buggy.

[nofishfisherman]

Yeah I heard the story on the news the other night. I'm not sure they can say with 100% certainty it was this guys bullet though. Considering the range and fluke nature of the incident.

I think all they know is that he discharged the muzzleloader at roughly the same time they believe the girl was hit and that it was the only known gun shot heard in the area. I'm sure they've asked him what direction the gun was pointed when it went off and it must have been been pointed in the general direction of the girl. Although after traveling 1.5 miles I'm sure that bullet traveled laterally quite a ways depending on wind conditions.

Sounds like the guy turned himself in a few days after it happened once he realized that it could have possibly been his bullet. Didn't sound like any charges were filed against him.

[pureinsanity]

Sad story in deed. Sounds like a myth busters thing to try out and see how far a bullet would fair

[LightningBG]

I'm not sure if this is a good comparison, but this has the closest bullet weight, and muzzle velocity that I could find.

44 Magnum (240 gr FP)

Muzzle Velocity 1760 ft/s

Maximum Range 2500 yard, 1.42 mile

Impact Velocity 350 ft/s

[LightningBG]

Now, if we were keeping the math simple (by comparison), in a vacuum, an object moving at 550 m/s could travel could travel almost 20 miles if launched at 45 degrees. But I think we all know that isn't realistic. Drag is going to be the biggest factor and especially if the bullet starts to tumble. Now also, keep in mind, for the bullet to travel that far, its going to take a lot of time to get there. She could have been on a different road all together when the gun was fired.

It is tragic in the end. But my guess is that there was someone else closer to the incident that actually fired the shot. Keep those guns pointed down.

[harvey lee]

I agree Elwood, pull the breech plug.

[TruthWalleyes]

Pull the breach and push out the load. I've never fired to unload... Tragic story to say the least! However i don't quite believe the distance.

[flipper]

Depending on what powder you are using, you might be well advised to dampen your load before pulling a breech plug. I prefer to shoot it out but I do so at an appropriate target.

[Archerysniper]

I always shoot mine to empty it sometimes they are very hard to push out and I am going to clean it any ways,but I always shoot it at a nice back stop common sense is not so common now days.

[certified jumbo]

agree. if you do shoot it, shoot it into a good back stop. I always push mine out, its just as easy to push out as it is to push into the loaded postion.

[fishinjosh98]

isnt it illegal to shoot in the air?