Would a 9mm pistol round bounce?

[BaldEagl]

I didn't get to read all the posts but at least in the game I've stood at the end of an enemy runway and wounded the pilot before takeoff or been able to get his engine smoking so it clearly does more than bounce off at very close range.

[Die Hard]

.... and at 300 MPH that's about 150 yard in about a second. IIRC

Whether the two aircraft are flying 200 yards apart at 300 mph, or stationary 200 yards apart in a 300 mph wind tunnel... the result will be the same. (Assuming air density is the same in both cases.) Distance traveled by the aircraft is irrelevant as long as the relative distance is the same. The only factor is the increase in drag due to the speed of the airflow being added to the bullet.

An 88% increase in drag at the muzzle would mean that the 9mm has lost half its energy at about 130-150 yards. Drag is reduced by the square of the loss of speed so it is not a linear increase in drag, and will affect the speed of the bullet mostly in the first 50 yards or so.

[Die Hard]

Well, if 2nd (or 10th) hand experience is insufficient for you, and ignoring military service, I worked my way through college at a then local range as an NRA-certified pistol instructer.  We got into all sorts of mischievous testing after hours.  What sort of first-hand accounts would you like?

Shooting a 9mm at the windshield of a car and not penetrating. That's the only experience that actually matters in this case.

[Saurdaukar]

Shooting a 9mm at the windshield of a car and not penetrating. That's the only experience that actually matters in this case.

Then you may refer to my previous post(s).

If you disagree with my statement, you may ignore it at your leisure.  Alternatively, what is it you would expect me to do for you?  Commission a second party to handle the cinematography while I shoot up my cars in the driveway after work tonight?

[Die Hard]

Have you actually shot a 9mm at a windshield and not penetrated?

[Strip]

I have fired at the front windshield, more than once in fact, had them go out the back windshield afterward once or twice.

CZ75 firing standard FMJ....

Strip

[Chalenge]

don't some of those police records show people being killed from celebration gunfire
(pointing guns up in the air and firing them) coming back down from very far (miles) away?

Myth.

[phatzo]

Myth.

when Mythbusters tried this the bullets tumbled down at terminal velocity, more likely to give you a headache than kill you.
Rats, I wasn't going to get involved in this thread. 

[thorsim]

"A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 80% of celebratory gunfire-related injuries are to the head, feet, and shoulders.[6] In the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, about two people die and about 25 more are injured each year from celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve, the CDC says.[3] Between the years 1985 and 1992, doctors at the King/Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, treated some 118 people for random falling-bullet injuries. Thirty-eight of them died.[7] Kuwaitis celebrating in 1991 at the end of the Gulf War by firing weapons into the air caused 20 deaths from falling bullets.[7]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebratory_gunfire

not according to the CDC, and LAPD ...

Myth.

they fired perfectly straight up on myth-busters, which is somewhat different ballistically, and not pertinent to our discussion about how much energy a bullet carries at distances longer than it's optimal range.  as i recall they also stated that such injuries were documented fact and that firing at an angle off of pure vertical would allow the bullet to carry much more of its energy through the entire flight ...

http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2006/04/episode_50_bullets_fired_up_vo_1.html

when Mythbusters tried this the bullets tumbled down at terminal velocity, more likely to give you a headache than kill you.
Rats, I wasn't going to get involved in this thread.  

[Chalenge]

Myth.

[phatzo]

I have fired at the front windshield, more than once in fact, had them go out the back windshield afterward once or twice.

CZ75 firing standard FMJ....

Strip

another two payments and it yours. 

[thorsim]

Myth.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/4084756/detail.html

[Chalenge]

That was an SKS rifle that was not fired anything like 'up' but whats weird about it is that the man that was killed was also planning on celebratory firing of a gun he bought just for the occasion. Its pretty weird reading a news report where the reporter is against guns at all but then says something like 'he never got the chance to fire his gun in celebration.'

Guns are dangerous and celebratory fire is stupid. Hundreds are injured in the Philippines every year but it is still a myth that firing 'up' is lethal but you have to be careful how you define 'up' and that brings in the stupid part.

I was always told dont shoot at anything you dont intend to kill and dont shoot unless you know whats down range.

[Strip]

another two payments and it yours. 

I dont follow...

 

[thorsim]

i agree on all counts below ...

however my point is that bullets, all bullets, carry a certain amount of energy while in flight and i still think that in the case of the 9x19, within a few hundred yards, that energy would still be sufficient to penetrate most aircraft skins, not bounce off.

That was an SKS rifle that was not fired anything like 'up' but whats weird about it is that the man that was killed was also planning on celebratory firing of a gun he bought just for the occasion. Its pretty weird reading a news report where the reporter is against guns at all but then says something like 'he never got the chance to fire his gun in celebration.'

Guns are dangerous and celebratory fire is stupid. Hundreds are injured in the Philippines every year but it is still a myth that firing 'up' is lethal but you have to be careful how you define 'up' and that brings in the stupid part.

I was always told dont shoot at anything you dont intend to kill and dont shoot unless you know whats down range.