Re: sort of OT: range of guns

In article <1149053097.451374.236210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"cindi" <allisonacres@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi all. We have some crazy neighbors who shoot on their property.

Let's get something straight right from jump, shall we?
You don't have "crazy neighbors". You have neighbors exercising their
constitutional rights. Granted, in a manner that makes you, in your
ignorance, nervous, but that doesn't make them crazy.

Repeat that as many times as needed until it sinks in. Ignorance is
curable - Just rub in a little "edjumication" :)

Crazy neighbors would be the ones actually taking pot-shots at your
barn/stock/etc.

I'm not sure what guns they have; I don't know much about guns.

Then neither you nor I have any useful information to answer your
question with. "A gun" could be anything from a .22 pistol to a .30-06,
to a .50 BMG, and the only thing they have in common is they all go bang
and pitch a chunk of lead downrange. The sound doesn't tell you much of
anything beyond "somebody fired a gun". It can reasonably be assumed
that "bigger bang" equals "bigger gun", but due to more factors than I
care to try listing, that *IS NOT* reliable. I've been on the line "next
door" to a fellow shooting a .223 (slightly bigger than a .22) "prairie
dog gun" outfitted with a muzzle brake that "spoke" *MUCH* louder than
my (comparatively speaking) cannon of a .30-06 with no muzzle brake.

I do know
that sometimes when they shoot, there is no gap between bangs, and they
will go bang maybe 6 times in a row, pretty darn loud.

Meaningless. All you know from that information is that they're firing
fast. My guess would be a semi-auto pistol of some sort. Which could be
anything from one of the new 5.2mm pistols (New enough that I'm not even
sure I've got the ".2" part right), to a .17HMR, a .38 special or .357,
or even a .44 magnum. Or, I could be dead wrong, and it's a semi-auto
rifle or shotgun. <shrug> Like I said, the only absolutely certain thing
that the sound of a gunshot tells you is that somebody pulled the
trigger on a gun that had a round in the chamber.

Other times
it's one bang and then a pause and then a bang bang and a pause and
then a bang... If that makes any sense.

It makes sense - I catch your drift - but it's pretty much meaningless.
The firing pattern doesn't really tell you anything about what they're
shooting. On second thought, I take that back - There are certain
patterns that say "That's a 6-shooter", or "that's a single-shot rifle",
or "that's a pump shotgun with a 7 round tube", or "That's probably a
muzzleloader" ('cause it goes "Bang-wait-about-2-3-minutes-Bang" :) )
But without a distinctive pattern... <shrug> They might be shooting just
about anything from handguns to shotguns. (And maybe both - There are
some handguns that will chamber either the normal-for-them cartridge or
a .410 shotgun shell)

They are around 1300' feet
from me when they shoot. Their property line is 1000' or so from the
back of my barn, and 500 or so feet from the nearest horse, and zero
feet from the potentially nearest cow.

What information do you have that indicates they're shooting even
kinda-sorta like your way? Based on what you've said so far, they COULD
easily be shooting exactly *AWAY* from you and your barn, critters, etc.

Even if they aren't, it only takes a 4 foot thick dirt/sand berm to stop
*EVERY* round from even the most potent big-game rifles that can be
reasonably shoulder-fired (As opposed to needing to be mounted on
something) Can you say that they don't have such a berm behind whatever
they're shooting at? Or maybe they're shooting into a gully? Or... (The
possibilities are too many to try to list, and this note is getting big
enough already.)

Anyway, I'm wondering what the longest range of a gun that a typical
person might have - although I guess they aren't typical people since
they used to be cops, which is part of why they never get in trouble
for their shooting. Anybody have an idea?

Insufficient information. Any answer you get will be pure guesswork as a
result. Would need to know what gun, what caliber, gun's barrel length,
direction and angle of the shot, bullet shape (Makes a major difference
in some calibers, less but still significant in others) bullet weight,
as well as knowing what kind of powder (and how much of it) it was
using, just to name a few things that can have an impact on how far a
shot might travel.




Lemme give it to ya as straight as I know how:

A *VERY* good idea would be to pack away your absolutely ***-lousy
"crazy neighbors" attitude (See mantra, above) and see if they'd welcome
a visit sometime. Have a chat with them and get to know what they're
shooting, where they're shooting it, and so on. But be careful! You
might <gasp> learn something, and figure out that shooting is fun even
if all you EVER get around to doing with a gun is poking holes in a
piece of cardboard! :)

Until you get some information, you've got nothing useful to go on, and
can succeed at one thing, and one thing only: Sounding like the average
clueless gun-phobic.

which is part of why they never get in trouble
for their shooting.

Well, there could also be the factor that, depending on
state/county/local regulations, the shooting that they're doing is 100%
legal. I'm sure you could pitch a noise gripe at 'em if they were
shooting at ridiculous hours, but *IN GENERAL*, if it's daylight, and
shooting isn't otherwise prohibited, then it's permissible to load up
and fire at will, so long as you're doing so in a manner that isn't
going to hit any neighbors. Obviously apply some common sense - One
wouldn't be too wise if one were to start blazing away with a high power
rifle in the back yard of a subdivision home (particularly not at 4 in
the AM) ferinstance.

Anybody have an idea?

Well, you've seen mine... Take it as intended: No malice, just stated
bluntly.

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@xxxxxxxxx - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info
.

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