A little demo, why it is frowned upon to shoot over water.

[SmileDocHill]

YouTube - How to Curve a Bullet lol

I've heard many people talk about shooting tracers or even just shooting at night and seeing the aberrant paths a bullet can take. This is a cool video of the effect of water on that path.

 

[Hawkeye]

Yep. That's the random effect of a ricochet, alright. Now is there anything special about a ricochet off of water, or any other smooth, flat surface?

 

[Naptown]

wow, great video.

 

[jd4320t]

That is freakin wild.

 

[SmileDocHill]

in the comments after the video somebody mentions that the direction of spin (r or l twist in barrel) is why the bullet always "bounced" off and to the left. Anyone care to comment with any thoughts or credibility on that. It is an interesting statement but being ignorant on the specific subject (kinda got a handle on the physics but no practical background) I'm curious.

 

[Cru]

Awesome video!

It's obvious to me that there is no way to know where the bullet will go after hitting the water! Seems like something to avoid in my book!

 

[a.bentonab]

Not just frowned upon, I seem to remember an IC against firing at or over a body of water, in the same breath about being illegal to fire across a roadway. Rep inbound if anyone can find and quote it here.

 

[printcraft]

Not just frowned upon, I seem to remember an IC against firing at or over a body of water, in the same breath about being illegal to fire across a roadway. Rep inbound if anyone can find and quote it here.

DNR: Hunting Guide & Regulations

Bottom of the page in a link.

Shooting Across Roads or Waters
It is illegal to hunt, shoot at or kill any animal or to shoot at any object from within, into, upon or across any public road. It is illegal to shoot across a body of water, except in the lawful pursuit of wildlife.

 

[jblomenberg16]

in the comments after the video somebody mentions that the direction of spin (r or l twist in barrel) is why the bullet always "bounced" off and to the left. Anyone care to comment with any thoughts or credibility on that. It is an interesting statement but being ignorant on the specific subject (kinda got a handle on the physics but no practical background) I'm curious.

That probably explains the general left hand trajectory after hitting the water. If you think about ricochettes somewhat like billiard balls (similar physics at play, but in 2 dimensions), a ball with no side spin on it typically bounces off the rail at an angle similar to the angle it hit with. Put spin on the ball and you can affect this angle.

 

[esrice]

How do we know that it isn't just tiny pieces of the tracer material that is coming apart and flying through the woods?

Why would an entire bullet change its direction so quickly?

If the bullet is seen flying through the woods, then what made the splash in the water? If you're assuming it came back out of the water, why didn't you see the ripples from that?

 

[MontereyC6]

How do we know that it isn't just tiny pieces of the tracer material that is coming apart and flying through the woods?

Why would an entire bullet change its direction so quickly?

If the bullet is seen flying through the woods, then what made the splash in the water? If you're assuming it came back out of the water, why didn't you see the ripples from that?

You ask too many question....(and I think you should try and bank one on to the steel across the pond).

 

[esrice]

You ask too many question....(and I think you should try and bank one on to the steel across the pond).

I have (tried). With tracers even.

 

[wwdkd]

That's nifty.

 

[a.bentonab]

DNR: Hunting Guide & Regulations

Bottom of the page in a link.

I have (tried). With tracers even.

That's nifty.

That's illegal.

 

[moischmoe]

If the bullet is seen flying through the woods, then what made the splash in the water? If you're assuming it came back out of the water, why didn't you see the ripples from that?

Have you ever skipped rocks on water? The rock hits the water, makes a splash, and bounces off. It doesn't go under the water and come back out. Same with the bullet. If it hits the water at a fairly low angle, it will bounce off. The only way the bullet would go under the water, is if it was shot from a higher angle- maybe from a tree or hill.

 

[IndyMonkey]

That's illegal.

Dont confuse game laws and private property.

 

[Joe Williams]

How do we know that it isn't just tiny pieces of the tracer material that is coming apart and flying through the woods?

Why would an entire bullet change its direction so quickly?

If the bullet is seen flying through the woods, then what made the splash in the water? If you're assuming it came back out of the water, why didn't you see the ripples from that?

At those velocities, hitting the water is much like hitting concrete. Hitting it from a shallow angle as he was, the bullet probably didn't "enter" the water, just skipped off.

Do some full auto night firing on a range from a foxhole, just "denial" type firing where all you are doing is crossing your tracers with the fire from your buddies' foxholes, and you'll see bullets bouncing off in all kinds of directions downrange. Pretty cool when you've got a whole long line of folks doing it

 

[rmabrey]

That's illegal.

What you are referring to

It is illegal to hunt, shoot at or kill any animal or to shoot at any object from within, into, upon or across any public road. It is illegal to shoot across a body of water, except in the lawful pursuit of wildlife.

and what it means

IC 14-22-6-10
Shooting into or across waters of the state
Sec. 10. A person may not shoot into or across:
(1) the waters of the state; or
(2) the boundary waters of the state;
except in the lawful pursuit of wild animals.

Dont confuse game laws and private property.

So in other words. ^^ What he said

 

[a.bentonab]

What you are referring to


and what it means




So in other words. ^^ What he said

I stand corrected. The summary at the link I followed wasn't specific to state owned versus private property. The IC you stated is. Thanks for the heads up. Rep inbound for the education.

Still not a good idea though. If the surface of the water were always perfectly flat, the trajectory of any round could be precisely calculated. However, the surface is constantly changing. The bullet may strike at the bottom of a small wave, at the top, left, right, etc at any number of angles. Very unpredictable.

 

[esrice]

That's illegal.

Nope.

Dont confuse game laws and private property.

Yep.

At those velocities, hitting the water is much like hitting concrete. Hitting it from a shallow angle as he was, the bullet probably didn't "enter" the water, just skipped off.

Still skeptical.