Originally Posted By: pbm
I'm currently in south Florida (where it was in the high 40's this morning... brrr....but still much warmer than NY).
I heard a lot of what I think was gunshots around midnight NYE....which is a new phenomenon for me.
It got me wondering...what happens when someone shoots their 9mm up in the air??...where does that bullet land?...I'm totally pro 2nd amendment but this sounds like a DUMB practice.
'cuz it is dumb practice. What goes up must come down and all.
I recall reading though that bullets go up, stop, and pretty much come down in the same orientation (barring wind effects). Being backwards, and with nothing other than gravity to accelerate them, they fall back down at a pretty lazy velocity. Nothing I want to get hit by, but something like 300fps, something lazy like that. [Was it Hatcher that did a bunch of experiments years ago? I think he went as far as to load bullets backwards, and indeed they fell at a higher speed. I recall him testing using pine boards and measuring the dents.]