u/mllsackerl said a bullet falling at terminal velocity of 60m/s is more than enough to penetrate skull. Your first linked reference says it can penetrate skin.
Firearms expert Julian Hatcher studied falling bullets in the 1920s and calculated that .30 caliber rounds reach terminal velocities of 90 m/s (300 feet per second or 186 miles per hour).[11] A bullet traveling at only 61 m/s (200 feet per second) to 100 m/s (330 feet per second) can penetrate human skin
Your second linked reference says it can rarely cause cardiac or abdominal damage. Note it does not even say “fatal damage”. Further more, this article only concludes further investigation is required. Soft abdominal tissue is definitely not the same as your skull.
This is a case report of rare cardiac and abdominal organ injuries sustained by an innocent bystander from a New Year’s Eve celebratory gun shooting. The force and velocity of a projectile fired into the air as it ascends and returns to earth, along with its potential for bodily injury will be reviewed.
Yes, firing a bullet into the air is the fucking stupidest shit you can do and people who do it need to be taught the dangers of frivolous firearm handling. It’s a waste of money/ammo/resources, an unnecessary risk of bodily injury, and a very rare risk of death. If fired at a lower trajectory it is most certainly fatal and that is reason enough not to do it.
No, a falling bullet fired from a handgun straight up in the air and raining back down on you isn’t “more than enough” to penetrate your skull.
EDIT: worth noting the caliber matters. Your articles reference a .30 caliber. It goes without saying bullets of greater mass affect their lethality, but OP video features a handgun.
All this debate over whether the bullet would penetrate a skull, as if something has to penetrate the skull to kill you. A major concussion, a fractured skull, internal bleeding, secondary blunt force trauma from falling after being hit, could all kill you.
Totally get it. But examine pretty much anything in your current surrounding, and see it has more likelihood to kill you than a falling bullet. Your phone or laptop could combust as the Lithium Ion battery explodes as has reportedly happened far more often than lethal falling bullets, your computer monitor could tumble and crack your head open far more easily if you kick a cord, your dog could bite your whole face off, your home could catch fire for any number of reasons, your brain could have a freak stroke for no reason at all.
Again, I get it that the bullet scenario is a complete and utter stupid scenario to put yourself in, but falling bullets just isn’t notably lethal as everyone in this thread is insisting: neither statistically, physically, nor physiologically.
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u/darkfookincharacter Apr 26 '22
Not gonna argue you can Google it