Posted on 07/21/2016 5:21:31 AM PDT by marktwain
An extraordinary shot from a Colorado gunfight is being described as a "one in a billion" shot. The shot is extraordinary, but the odds are much better than a billion to one. It is fairly common for people in a gun fight to get hit in the gun arm or gun hand, or for their firearm to be hit. The gun is usually out front, facing the person who they are firing at and or who is fireing at them. People tend to equate the gun with the threat, so they focus on the gun hand. Where the eyes look, the bullets tend to go. From denverpost.com:
In an exchange of gunfire that left him seriously wounded, Marquez hit one suspect in the leg, and another of his .45-caliber bullets made a “one in a billion” shot, according to a letter Orman wrote to Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader and Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz.Let us do a quick calculation of the odds. If the barrel is facing the threat, the bullet has to hit the barrel fairly close to the center for it or a significant fragment to travel down the bore. A reasonable assumption would be that the center of the bullet would have to hit within .1 inches of the center of the bore.
That round traveled up the barrel of the attacker’s gun, colliding with a cartridge in the chamber and rendering the .40-caliber pistol inoperable, the letter said.
Actually, I could care less what the odds are, the shot stopped the threat and THAT is what is the most important.
They should teach police to use this technique and save lives.
Interesting to do the math on the odds of dropping one right down the barrel. It doesn’t make it any more or less lucky, in my opinion, than making a hole-in-one on a golf course.
he fired 37 rounds at the target before that one round found its way up the barrel...
odds get better with every shot...
jk about the 37 rounds... as per freerepublic, i did not read the article.
series.
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To much thinking, just point and shoot. Let the gods sort out the rest.
The angle also has to be exactly right, that’s the hard part.
I do not believe the angle is as critical as you might think. If the firearms are pointed pretty much at each other, if one of the bullets hits close to the center of the bore, the bullet is likely to fragment and sent pieces down the barrel of the firearm that is hit.
This is particularly true with the common hollowpoint rounds used by police. They are designed to open up, almost an invitation to send a chunk of lead down the barrel in this situation.
You are way off on your calculations. These 1/250,000 or even 1/billion odds are based on the gun being held still. But not only does the angle of the receiving gun have to be exact right, it has to be right when the bullet reaches the gun. You must also take into account that people flinch when a gun goes off. The person will not just stand and keep pointing their gun at the same angle as before.
The odds must include the reaction of the person on the receiving end. That is incalculable.
It was either RIPLEY’S Believe It or Not or STRANGE As It Seems by Hix that reported a similar incident in which about a 100 years ago a sheriff shot a criminal’s gun blocking the barrel with a bullet.
lol funny
They have dug up muskets from civil war battlefields with enemy bullets lodged in the barrel!
Very interesting, as are all your articles, and very unusual at the same time. Thanks.
The Lone Ranger was very good at shooting the gun out of the bad guy’s hand.
Of course, he used silver bullets, so that helps.
IIRC, from an article written years ago, it was not uncommon to find revolvers with bullets from the other shooter lodged in the cylnder.
The point of the article was “do not shoot at the gun, shoot for center mass”.
actually the odds are the same with every shot
Otherwise it would actually be possible to dodge bullets (like in the matrix)
darn statisticians....
hehehe
If that being true, why are there not dozens of stories about a round going down the barrel of the other gun?
The very few stories I have ever heard deal with battles, like on the Somme or Antietam.
Never a two person gun duel.
It’s somewhat closer to 1 in 7 million.
Figure that (angle of target gun aside) the placement grid is about a tenth of inch, and you can bring your shot to a square about 18 inches on a side — that 32,400 grid spots only one of which is good for true. That’s your odds of hitting the barrel.
To go UP the barrel you then need angular alignment, which is controlled by the target person. Figure that the target gun is being pointed at you pretty closely, so there’s a grid of maybe 15 angles up/down and 15 angles side/side only one of which is good for true. You multiple by 32,400 by 225 (15x15) to get in one in 7,290,000.
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