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Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:05 pm
by ScubaSigGuy
Did anyone else here about this woman? A .50 bmg round ripped throuhg her motor home at TMS and hit her in the arm.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:13 pm
by Hos
Yeah, I work at this hospital and talked to this person as part of my duties. Pretty weird, the person will be ok. I hope the PD can figger out what in the world happened.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... becde.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:27 pm
by HighVelocity
I believe that Quail Creek Range is within 50bmg distance from TMS. I hope it didn't come from there.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:58 pm
by ScubaSigGuy
HighVelocity wrote:I believe that Quail Creek Range is within 50bmg distance from TMS. I hope it didn't come from there.

I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to say it out loud.

I am not sure if it's within 2-3 miles. Probably though. The rifle range runs S-N though, so that would be a colossal error.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:21 am
by CHL/LEO
I believe that Quail Creek Range is within 50bmg distance from TMS. I hope it didn't come from there.
CH8 news (DFW's ABC affiliate) reported tonight at 10 PM that the police believe the round came from that gun range. Showed photos and signage of the range. Local radio stations reported the same thing this afternoon. A $3,000 reward has been offered.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:29 am
by The Annoyed Man
The idiot on the local news who reported the story opined that it came from a large caliber handgun. Idiot. :roll:

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:16 am
by Jason73
HighVelocity wrote:I believe that Quail Creek Range is within 50bmg distance from TMS. I hope it didn't come from there.
I dont think it could have come from Quail Creek for 2 reasons:

1 - they dont permit FMJ ammo, Ive never seen a .50 BMG hollowpoint
2 - when firing on the range the rounds go north, TMS is to the south

The latest conspiracy theory I've heard via word of mouth and internet blogs is that someone was firing at an aircraft headed for Alliance with the hopes of bringing it down over the speedway - I think someone has an overactive imagination.

Im glad she is ok and they were able to save her arm, what a terrible thing to happen!

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:37 am
by jimlongley
The Annoyed Man wrote:The idiot on the local news who reported the story opined that it came from a large caliber handgun. Idiot. :roll:
Yeah, I already emailed them about that. I won't bother to hold my breath waiting for an answer.

The pics in the news are confusing, if the projectile came through the roof, as it appears, and then passed through her arm, and then lodged in the wall at that height, then it seems that it might have had to make a sharp turn in there somewhere.

Also, the one hole, supposedly in the ceiling, looks like the bullet was traveling out, not in.

Hmmmm?

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:47 am
by Keith B
Here is the link to the video about it. http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Hom ... geId=1.1.1

The thing about Quail Creek is someone would have to be shooting the opposite direction IIRC. TMS is south of there, and I believe their lanes do run south - north. You would also intentionally have to shoot into the air as it is down in a pretty deep hole. :confused5 However, nothing is impossible.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:31 am
by KaiserB
Jason73 wrote:
HighVelocity wrote:I believe that Quail Creek Range is within 50bmg distance from TMS. I hope it didn't come from there.
I don't think it could have come from Quail Creek for 2 reasons:

1 - they don't permit FMJ ammo, Ive never seen a .50 BMG hollow point
I have never seen a hollowpoint either but they do manufacture a 50 BMG 727 gr. soft point round...

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:42 am
by HighVelocity
The latest conspiracy theory I've heard via word of mouth and internet blogs is that someone was firing at an aircraft headed for Alliance with the hopes of bringing it down over the speedway - I think someone has an overactive imagination.
Never under estimate the power of stupidity.

The person that fired that round will get caught because someone will talk. It's just a matter of time.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:38 pm
by G.C.Montgomery
It's unfortunate this woman was hit...I'm assuming they did verify this was in fact a round from a .50 BMG? IIRC, absolute maximum range exceeds four-miles. Maximum "effective" range is almost two-miles with the right ammo, glass and shooter. If it did come from Quail Creek, I agree it would have to be extreme negligence and/or stupidity. Rounds fired at that range are supposed to head north, away from TMS. Unfortunately, the worst evidence is the fact that htouter parking areas commonly used for camping/RV parking at TMS are within 2-miles of Quail Creek.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:13 pm
by WarHawk-AVG
Does the bullet show sign of ricochet?

There are videos on youtube showing just that thing...if someone was shooting at a metal target or pipe, its feasible that it could have ricocheted and gone back over the range with enough energy to go thru the flimsy wood of a trailer home.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 2:24 pm
by The Annoyed Man
G.C.Montgomery wrote:...I'm assuming they did verify this was in fact a round from a .50 BMG? IIRC, absolute maximum range exceeds four-miles. Maximum "effective" range is almost two-miles with the right ammo, glass and shooter. If it did come from Quail Creek, I agree it would have to be extreme negligence and/or stupidity. Rounds fired at that range are supposed to head north, away from TMS. Unfortunately, the worst evidence is the fact that htouter parking areas commonly used for camping/RV parking at TMS are within 2-miles of Quail Creek.
The reporters on TV showed the actual bullet. There is no mistaking it for anything else but a .50 BMG bullet.

However, I have an alternative theory...

...the cartridge was fired within the TMS property, at a near vertical angle. It reached apogee and descended, reaching terminal velocity before striking the roof of the motor home, the woman's arm, and then burying itself in the wall of the motorhome. Why? A .50 BMG round fired at an acute angle from a distance within the cartridge's range would have torn through the motorhome's roof, ripped the lady's arm right off (and possibly killed her outright), blown through the motorhome's wall, and buried itself in the ground outside. There would have been little or no deflection of the bullet off of its ballistic trajectory on impact with the roof/arm/wall.

THIS bullet punched a hole in the roof, hit the woman in the arm, deflected into the wall, and was stopped there. On camera, the bullet looked nearly perfect, without any deformation to its shape at all. Therefore, it did not hit either the roof, woman, or wall with anything close to the full energy a .50 BMG normally delivers to the target. Since the bullet was not deformed by the impact, and since the velocity was demonstrably low - relative to its normal velocity - the bullet was falling almost vertically under terminal velocity rather than at its normal velocity.

Re: Ft Worth woman hit by stray 50BMG at TMS???

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:28 pm
by Keith B
I don't know about that. From the video, it looked to be that it came in at an angle, so the trajectory could have been from farther out. Effective range on a .50 from a M82 is about 1.4 miles, with a max range of 4.2 miles. The velocity WILL decrease if fired at a steep angle, but still have plenty of punch on impact. I don't think terminal velocity on that bullet would have penetrated the roof of the motorhome, gone through her shoulder and arm breaking bone and then buried itself that deep into the wall, even with a 800 grain (1.8 oz.) bullet. But then again, I don't want to be the one to test it and find out!! :leaving

A new video is here http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Hom ... 1.1&sflg=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;