3 ms·

If you want to shoot 1 mile ammo, you need anti-material stuff like .50 BMG or at least .338 with some very hot loads. Probably even bigger if you want to have

by jajko 1y ago

If you want to shoot 1 mile ammo, you need anti-material stuff like .50 BMG or at least .338 with some very hot loads. Probably even bigger if you want to have better chance, wind can easily carry the round 10 meters aside even in calmer conditions. Plus bullet would leave very distinct entry and exit points that couldn't be mismatched with some random shrapnel or other damage, or get lodged in more solid parts of rocket body and it would still be identifiable as bullet. Such shot would be heard for a mile in quieter conditions. Not joking. Even during distant launch, a perimeter of few 100s of meters of shooter anybody there would hear it clearly. I never owned or operated seriously any gun, just followed few gun channels + you have all the info on wikis and elsewhere, its just rather basic physics. Anybody with similar or better knowledge would quickly debunk such theory as bs and focus more on known facts (but we talk about elon's ego here, not the most rational entity, he ie prefers pedophilia accusations when things don't roll as he wants). If they stated some very powerful laser gun, mkay more reasonable but then no visible flashes outside target itself. And such gun would require massive installation, preparation, testing etc.

aeonik 1y ago
You could reasonably hit a target within 36 inches at a mile with a lot of different calibers. You don't necessarily need large caliber. .50 cal has a great ballistic coefficient, but bullet design and speed matters a lot too. 6.5 creedmoor and others in the intermediate precision class can all do this as well. That being said 1 mile is really really long shot, and right where a lot of the lighter calibers start getting near transonic. Wind is another beast, if it's steady it can be compensated for, but I don't know what the weather was that day... chaotic gusts will wreck a shot for sure. All that being said, the rocket is a pretty big target, 12 feet across and almost 230 feet high... that's going to compensate for a lot. Agreed that if you found the piece where the bullet punctured it should be pretty evident what happened. But I don't have any experience doing investigations in this area, and I've heard at least from plane crashes that the fuselage can disintegrate pretty readily in high force scenarios. I have operated and owned precision rifles, but not big bore, and have not gone out to extreme distances. More fun to play with the math and ballistics. Would love to hear from someone who knows more than either of us.

by jajko 1y ago

aeonik 1y ago

You could reasonably hit a target within 36 inches at a mile with a lot of different calibers. You don't necessarily need large caliber. .50 cal has a great ballistic coefficient, but bullet design and speed matters a lot too. 6.5 creedmoor and others in the intermediate precision class can all do this as well. That being said 1 mile is really really long shot, and right where a lot of the lighter calibers start getting near transonic. Wind is another beast, if it's steady it can be compensated for, but I don't know what the weather was that day... chaotic gusts will wreck a shot for sure. All that being said, the rocket is a pretty big target, 12 feet across and almost 230 feet high... that's going to compensate for a lot. Agreed that if you found the piece where the bullet punctured it should be pretty evident what happened. But I don't have any experience doing investigations in this area, and I've heard at least from plane crashes that the fuselage can disintegrate pretty readily in high force scenarios. I have operated and owned precision rifles, but not big bore, and have not gone out to extreme distances. More fun to play with the math and ballistics. Would love to hear from someone who knows more than either of us.