I just read about tho in our local paper.It s very sad but I am relieved to hear it was an accident and not someone targeting a buggy like thy wondered at first.
Terrible.
When I read about this this morning they hadn’t determined the source of the projectile.
This is stupid on the part of the shooter. Firing a weapon without having a clue where that projectile is going is inexcusable to me.
Sad, and stupid.
As an aside, I never thought of muzzle loaders as being able to fire that far.
sorry, not buying it.
There’s no way to know the shot came from THAT firearm.
Basic rule of firearms safety. Know where the damn round is going.
This MORON ought to be barred from ever owning another firearm. He VIOLATED one of the cardinal rules by firing into the air with NO idea where the projectile would land. Geezz...Tragic!
If I was the local constabulary I'd be seriously looking into it.
As an aside, I've seen a lot of Amish people over the years, but have not ever seen a buggy being driven by one of their females....just sayin'.
Ping, because you might be interested.
Tragic, terrible story. Prayers for the family.
This is an inexcusable violation of firearms safety rules and the shooter should pay a hefty price.
In a non life threatening situation, it is criminal to purposely discharge a firearm without knowing trajectory and backstop.
Jeez, when it’s your time, it’s your time...just wow.
Call me skeptical, but I'm not convinced that a black powder rifle could do this.
I am so sad. I pray for her faamily.
There seem to be unanswered questions here.
Most obviously, you would clear a gun by firing it into a backstop, not firing it into the air. Sure, that would be unlikely to hit anything in the country, but you still shouldn’t take the chance.
Second, is it possible for a muzzle loader to shoot more than a mile? It seems unlikely, but I don’t know for sure.
Third, have they done ballistic checks? Does the bullet match the muzzle loader?
Finally, we only have this guy’s word for where he fired from. I should think that, if the ballistics match, they should check that out, too. Did he fire it from where he said he fired it? Might he have fired it from somewhere closer? Does the wound, and its angle, suggest a spent bullet?
A muzzle loader going a mile and a half?
Hitting a girl in the head?
The odds are off the scale.
I'm sure he knew that all guns are always loaded.
That did not help however.
Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to useNRA Gun Safety Rules will keep you safer :
Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction
The Mythbusters did an episode on free falling bullets. IIRC, they concluded that a bullet shot straight up would not be lethal on a free fall trajectory, but, I believe they did conclude that a bullet returning to the earth in a normal trajectory could be lethal. The primary difference being a free fall bullet would be tumbling and have less velocity where as a bullet returning on trajectory would likely still be spinning and have greater velocity.
Still, in this case, I suspect we may hear more to this story. It seems too improbable to me for a black powder projectile, even a sabot, to carry this far. Suppose the wind would need factored in, but still....
As always, a news article about a firearm is woefully lacking in information.