Took a bullet on the 4th of July

[willtel]

On the 4th of July I was driving home from my parents house with my family in my wife’s Xterra. My pregnant wife was riding shotgun, 3 year old daughter in the back seat with my MIL. As I was picking my way along a tiny backroad through some road construction barriers we heard a loud crack like a sizable rock hitting the windshield at Interstate speeds. We all jumped and took a look around and didn’t see any broken windows so we continued on our way home thinking we kicked up some sort of construction debris.

Two weeks ago my wife and I were making the same trip over to my parents house for a visit and I kept hearing wind noise from what I thought was the passenger door. I got my wife to re-close the door at a red light thinking maybe a purse strap had been closed in the door but it didn’t change the noise. When we arrived I took a look at the weather stripping and it all looked ok. Sometimes the weather strip on the rear door opening will pull away from the wheel well area when people slide out of the seat but that wasn’t the case up front. I didn’t think much else about it as it isn’t the quietest car in the world.

Today my wife dropped the car off at the dealer for service so she mentioned the new wind noise to them. After all the guys in the service department freaked out about a pregnant lady driving a six speed Off Road package Xterra they took a quick look at it and asked if she knew about the bullet hole in the A pillar! Needless to say lots of questions and explaining took place and my wife remembered the drive home on the 4th and the loud crack that we never were able to pin down.

I can only assume that some asshat was firing his gun into the night sky in a celebration of his freedom and we caught the bullet on its way back down. I suppose we are all really lucky that it hit the structural A pillar instead of in the roof or windshield where someone could have easily been killed.

Sigh of relief, fit of rage, badge of honor. Our Xterra took a bullet for us!

[Hugh R]

WTF?

Bullets fired into the air come back to Earth at about the same speed that they left the gun. Wow.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That's just crazy.

I'd report it for starters but you should go buy a lottery ticket! Glad nobody was hurt.

Looks to be a decent caliber too - 9mm perhaps? Did you find the slug?

[HardDrive]

Yikes!

[willtel]

Did you find the slug?

The car is spending the night at the dealer but I should be able to look at it tomorrow. I really doubt I will find anything if it is in a cavity I can't get to.

I think I will report it. Maybe they arrested some guy the same night for firing off rounds and can tie it back to him. Very unlikely but who knows.

Guns are more than noise makers, hard to wrap my head around someone being so irrespronisble.

[Arizona_928]

Might have been accidentally using a private road? Lucky not a foot or so over

[quicksix]

Holy Cow, glad you and yours are okay.
scary stuff.
the thought of some asshat shooting into the night sky with no regard,
hug your little girl and your wife....

[Charles Freeborn]

My wife grew up in Southern California (Orange County). When she was in High School (70's) one 4th night she was in her bedroom being good when a bullet came through the roof - ceiling of her room....
-C

[stomachmonkey]

Glad you are OK.

Scary ****.

But I have to ask, A pillar, how did you not notice that by now?

[winders]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

WTF?

Bullets fired into the air come back to Earth at about the same speed that they left the gun. Wow.

No.

https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=2089

[HHI944]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

WTF?

Bullets fired into the air come back to Earth at about the same speed that they left the gun. Wow.

A rifle round, if it somehow stabilized on the descent, would hit ~300fps. Sufficient to do that.

OP, whip out the gauges and let us know how big the hole is!

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by HHI944

A rifle round, if it somehow stabilized on the descent, would hit ~300fps. Sufficient to do that.

OP, whip out the gauges and let us know how big the hole is!

I was thinking the same thing. Mass is part of the kinetic energy equation. But terminal velocity would be the same.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Wow. Luck was smiling on your family that day.

[tevake]

It allways makes me wonder when seeing scenes from the Middle East, where they often celebrate by spraying automatic weapons into the sky with no seeming regard as to where the rounds will come down..

Glad no one was hurt in your car Willtel

[legion]

What town are you in Will? Remind me not to drive there...

[SiberianDVM]

Just this week I found what appears to be a bullet hole in the roof of my carport; can't find the bullet, though. And this is directly over where the 911 is usually parked, but it is in Charlotte getting an engine change.

[scottmandue]

Glad you and your family are okay!

At work we had a huge tent out on the parking lot for a display... we found holes in the top of it and I believe someone found bullets on the ground... our new lobby has a glass atrium... one of the glass panels shattered (laminated glass so nothing fell).

But then I work in south central Los Angels.

[peppy]

Glad no one got hurt.

This happened in VA. in 2013.

UPDATE: Child shot in head watching fireworks has died | WTVR.com

[emcon5]

Originally Posted by rusnak

I was thinking the same thing. Mass is part of the kinetic energy equation. But terminal velocity would be the same.

That only works if the bullet if fired perfectly straight up, which almost never happens. 10-15º off and you get a very different result. For the bullet to be fired straight up and hit will's car, it would have to have been fired from the road, or close to it.

Try it yourself with a football. Throw a spiral straight up, the ball will run out of velocity and fall. Throw it at an angle, it will nose over and spiral all the way to where it hits the ground.

[creaturecat]

There was a post soccer match celebration at the hippodrome in Istanbul, when we were there, years ago. Lots of gunfire. We stayed in our hotel room.
Two people died from falling lead, that evening.