obviously not shot much up in the air

by Charles, Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 15:10 (4669 days ago) @ bj

Uh..not so fast. A bullet falling straight down from several thousand feet will do serious damage or kill a human being if it hits them.

Years ago, the army developed a little missile code named "Lazy Dog". This little thing looked like a bomb about an inch long with stabilizing fins. Thousands could be dropped from air planes at one time. If a soldier on the ground was struck with one of these things in the head, it would go all the way through his body and a foot or two into the ground.

The army dropped the idea, because even though dropped in quantity, the dispersal was go great that it was not effective on troops. Truly a hit and miss more situation. High explosives was much more effective.

When Commandant of Frankfort Arsenal General Hatcher conducted experiments on firing a 30-06 round straight up. It landed a distance from the rifle when it came back down due to the rotation of the earth. Hatcher and crew barricaded themselves for protection from the falling bullet.

As to Myth Busters , that is a TV program and they can't shoot a cannon very well either.

In my part of the world, it is common practice for Mexican folks to fire guns in the air to celebrate New Years and 4th of July. Every year some of them things fall onto houses and go through the roofs. Over the years a few people have been hurt and one young girl killed by this stupid practice.