Rimfire shooting angle safety

[TrapperBR549]

Missouri squirrel season opens this weekend and the thread about shooting range safety got me thinking. I grew up shooting squirrels out of big hickory trees with a .22lr. Now I wonder about the wisdom of it.
How dangerous would it be if someone were hit by a .22 or .17 projectile when it fell back to earth?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

A 22 bullet will not reach terminal velocity on its way back down so itll hurt like hell but not break the skin i wouldnt think. A 36gr may only get to 60mph while falling but a 30cal will get to about 300

 

[1K6BRA]

That got me to thinking about all the different conflicts we’ve been in throughout the world. Wonder how many people got bonked in the head in the Middle East when they started spraying and praying at unseen airplanes in the sky? And most of that stuff was huge cannon artillery I’m sure.

 

[Uthink Uknow]

Detroit New Year Eve Salute calls for you to go outside and blaze away at the moon and stars. This included a Detroit Lawman who went outside his home and emptied his 9mm service sidearm magazine into the sky. One came back to earth dead center in a roof valley. This valley had two layers of valley material for an asphalt composition roof. The bullet pierced both layers of the valley material but barely scratched the roof boards under it.

 

[Big Mc]

Missouri squirrel season opens this weekend and the thread about shooting range safety got me thinking. I grew up shooting squirrels out of big hickory trees with a .22lr. Now I wonder about the wisdom of it.
How dangerous would it be if someone were hit by a .22 or .17 projectile when it fell back to earth?

Side note, You can shoot squirrels any time of the year here in Texas. Just my two cents. Tommy Mc

 

[TrapperBR549]

Side note, You can shoot squirrels any time of the year here in Texas. Just my two cents. Tommy Mc

But you have to go to Texas...…...

 

[Dusty Stevens]

But you have to go to Texas...…...

Not everyone can be so lucky

 

[hpshooter]

Missouri squirrel season opens this weekend and the thread about shooting range safety got me thinking. I grew up shooting squirrels out of big hickory trees with a .22lr. Now I wonder about the wisdom of it.
How dangerous would it be if someone were hit by a .22 or .17 projectile when it fell back to earth?

Several years ago in Richmond Virginia in one of the outlying upper end sub divisions a youngster died as the result of a celebratory round returning to the ground, hit him in the head. Best I can remember it was a pistol or revolver round and I can't remember if the person who was responsible was ever caught.

Personally, I will never shoot a squirrel in a tree with a .22 unless it is directly in front of the trunk of a medium to large tree or has a good earth backstop within a couple yards behind it.

Lawyers and court cost will decimate a retirement fund quickly.

 

[Dub]

I lived in Richmond when this happened. To this date they have not solved the case. That being said, when I shoot at a squirrel with my 22 I fully intend to hit it.

 

[hpshooter]

" That being said, when I shoot at a squirrel with my 22 I fully intend to hit it."

Me to, but at some distances and angles, CCI standard velocity or SK pistol match will shoot thru and have enough retained velocity to penetrate into the tree. Especially if hit in the neck.

 

[JMayo]

I wonder if the summer squirrels in TX have worms/larva in them.
Here in the midsouth I always waited until a frost cleared them up.

 

[Cemetery21]

^^ I've always heard that too. I remember cleaning one when I was a kid in the 50s that had a thumb sized "warble?". Hard to figure how frost would get rid of something inside an animal, but I've stayed away from squirrels until cold weather here in MO.

 

[TrapperBR549]

I always heard you had to wait until cold weather for rabbits and wondered the same. Then in a college biology class I asked the professor and he said the cold had no affect on the parasite, it just normally killed the animals that were infected.

 

[JMayo]

It's the bot fly larve "wolve" its the life cycle. Comes out, bores into the ground, comes out it as a fly in the spring.
It doesn't kill the animal.
Even ppl can get em.
Any animal that eats close to the ground gets them.
I use to mash em out of our bulls back when we fed him.
Looks like grub worms.

 

[dthomas]

I wonder if the summer squirrels in TX have worms/larva in them.
Here in the midsouth I always waited until a frost cleared them up.

When you cook them it will kill them. I'm not from Texas but have not seen worms in them here in Louisiana.

 

[Gappmast]

A 22 bullet will not reach terminal velocity on its way back down so itll hurt like hell but not break the skin i wouldnt think. A 36gr may only get to 60mph while falling but a 30cal will get to about 300

Would Galileo agree with that

 

[joshb]

Back when I was a kid, we used to shoot snapping turtles in our pond, off the back porch. Sometimes we’d sit for an hour waiting for one to pop it’s head up. One day, I was rabbit hunting on the other side of the pond and a snapper head popped up in the middle. I carefully aimed and fired. That little 22 skipped off the pond surface and broke a window pane on the back porch. I learned a lesson that day! My father gave me the belt to make sure I didn’t forget. It’s been 50 years and I haven’t forgotten. Always know what’s behind what you’re shooting!

I don’t think the bullet would kill someone. “Hurt” is another story. These days, some people are hurt if you look at them wrong. What are the real chances of you hitting someone with a shot fired in the air in the woods of Missouri? How many people are outside in Missouri these days? Can they sue you if they’re violating a “stay at home” order? Can they sue you if they get a welt from a falling bullet? Hmmmmm! Serious thinking needed for this one!

By the way, I found the bullet among the broken glass on the floor, a few inches inside the house.

 

[JMayo]

When you cook them it will kill them. I'm not from Texas but have not seen worms in them here in Louisiana.

I know summer squirrels have wolves (bot fly larva) ...it's not in the meat is under the skin. Not like worms in the gut ....

I've also bounced a few off the pond. Water will send them a crazy distance.

 

[topclass2017]

But you have to go to Texas...…...

I think it is better expressed "You GET to go to Texas"