Based on what I’ve heard, the shooter was using a type of gun that’s only effective over longer distances. I do wonder how they were able to time the shot so perfectly. Although I have no idea how guns work
Life is stranger than fiction. We’ve all experienced moments in real life that would be considered bad, cheesy writing if we wrote them ourselves.
As far as “only effective over longer distances” is concerned, that’s just not a thing. Like, sure, I wouldn’t bring a hunting/sniper rifle to a close-quarters situation, and it would mean the overall setup would be pretty ineffective, but the weapon itself does not have an “effective minimum distance”.
That type of gun is called a “rifle”, and it’s typically considered most effective at distances greater than ~3 feet. Any closer and you might need to step back to avoid smacking the target with the barrel.
Guns don’t really have “effective ranges” like is often portrayed. Close range guns are usually close range because they’re physically larger, not because of the movement of the bullet. A gun you need to point upwards to carry up stairs is not as good if you might need to fight on stairs. Likewise, if someone is close enough to grab the barrel you probably want a weapon that they can’t do that to.
Weapons with longer barrels can often accelerate a bullet longer, giving it more power and accuracy. That’s why they tend to be viewed as distance weapons.
Long guns aren’t great at shooting somebody who’s currently grappling you because it would be hard to get the barrel pointed at them, but that’s about it.
Actually, no. Weapons like the RPG only arm a certain distance away from the launcher, to protect the operator in the event the warhead detonates prematurely.
Of course, the blunt force impact would probably do the job alone.
It’s pistol-sized, pistol-shaped, and it fires projectiles. It’s effectively a gun. The projectiles just happen to be self-propelled instead of having a casing with gunpowder.
There might be some edge cases where a round going fast enough to exit a target would impart less energy than a shower round that completely stops inside the target
This isn’t Battlefield. Guns don’t have a specific range where they’re more deadly, in fact every bullet fired gets weaker over distance the moment it leaves the barrel. From there the thing that matters is projectile drag, barrel length, type of rifling, and the gunpowder load.
One part practice, one part luck. Kirk was seated stock still had his attention fixed on his debate opponent, so this was probably an easier shot than the one that domed JFK, coming around a slow curve at Dealy Plaza.
A gun is just a tiny mechanical cannon. Explosives launch a bit of lead really really fast. Every gun does this, and I promise that lead doesn’t care how far or close, if it gets you your gonna have a bad day.
Based on what I’ve heard, the shooter was using a type of gun that’s only effective over longer distances. I do wonder how they were able to time the shot so perfectly. Although I have no idea how guns work
Life is stranger than fiction. We’ve all experienced moments in real life that would be considered bad, cheesy writing if we wrote them ourselves.
As far as “only effective over longer distances” is concerned, that’s just not a thing. Like, sure, I wouldn’t bring a hunting/sniper rifle to a close-quarters situation, and it would mean the overall setup would be pretty ineffective, but the weapon itself does not have an “effective minimum distance”.
That type of gun is called a “rifle”, and it’s typically considered most effective at distances greater than ~3 feet. Any closer and you might need to step back to avoid smacking the target with the barrel.
Guns don’t really have “effective ranges” like is often portrayed. Close range guns are usually close range because they’re physically larger, not because of the movement of the bullet. A gun you need to point upwards to carry up stairs is not as good if you might need to fight on stairs. Likewise, if someone is close enough to grab the barrel you probably want a weapon that they can’t do that to.
Weapons with longer barrels can often accelerate a bullet longer, giving it more power and accuracy. That’s why they tend to be viewed as distance weapons.
There isn’t a gun that works worse at close range.
Long guns aren’t great at shooting somebody who’s currently grappling you because it would be hard to get the barrel pointed at them, but that’s about it.
There is one… but it’s incredibly rare.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrojet
Technically it fires very small rockets.
Do grenade launchers count as guns?
You could absolutely shoot somebody point blank with a grenade launcher and get them. Might get you to, but it would work just fine.
Actually, no. Weapons like the RPG only arm a certain distance away from the launcher, to protect the operator in the event the warhead detonates prematurely.
Of course, the blunt force impact would probably do the job alone.
“Rocket Propelled Anything” is probably going to hurt a ton if it hits you directly, whether it explodes or not.
FTFY
There isn’t a gun “alive” in the first place. Bad faith argument.
i mean, yeah? it was never intended to be a serious argument in the first place.
Eh. There IS a gun that works worse at close range, but it is very much not in production and its ammo is very, very hard to source.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrojet
In that sense, you could say it’s a dead gun.
Wiki says it’s a rocket launcher. That’s not the same thing as a gun.
It’s an RPB!
It’s pistol-sized, pistol-shaped, and it fires projectiles. It’s effectively a gun. The projectiles just happen to be self-propelled instead of having a casing with gunpowder.
There might be some edge cases where a round going fast enough to exit a target would impart less energy than a shower round that completely stops inside the target
Probably not the case with a hunting rifle though
This isn’t Battlefield. Guns don’t have a specific range where they’re more deadly, in fact every bullet fired gets weaker over distance the moment it leaves the barrel. From there the thing that matters is projectile drag, barrel length, type of rifling, and the gunpowder load.
Don’t forget velocity; mass, density, materials, shape and fragmentation characteristics of the projectile!
One part practice, one part luck. Kirk was seated stock still had his attention fixed on his debate opponent, so this was probably an easier shot than the one that domed JFK, coming around a slow curve at Dealy Plaza.
A gun is just a tiny mechanical cannon. Explosives launch a bit of lead really really fast. Every gun does this, and I promise that lead doesn’t care how far or close, if it gets you your gonna have a bad day.