Question about air rifles

[Miss Chicken]

This event happened a few years ago but my son mentioned it in a conversatiomion last night so I thought I would bring it up here.

One day I went into my son's room and found a small round hole in his window. The edges around the hole had cracks radiating ourwards.

I though that the 14 year old brother of man next door might have shot at the window with his air rifle. I phoned the police and told a woman about the hole and that I though someone might have been firing at my house with an air rifle. She took some details 'for insurance purposes' but said it wasn't serious enough to send a police officer around to look at.

Could anyone tell me a) if an air-rife pellet would cause this sort of damage and 2) could an air rifle pellet be dangerous if someone had been standing near the window?

 

[SeerSGB]

This event happened a few years ago but my son mentioned it in a conversion last night so I thought I would bring it up here.

One day I went into my son's room and found a small round hole in his window. The edges around the hole had cracks radiating ourwards.

I though that the 14 year old brother of man next door might have shot at the window with his air rifle. I phoned the police and told a woman about the hole and that I though someone might have been firing at my house with an air rifle. She took some details 'for insurance purposes' but said it wasn't serious enough to send a police officer around to look at.

Could anyone tell me a) if an air-rife pellet would cause this sort of damage and 2) could an air rifle pellet be dangerous if someone had been standing near the window?

a) Depends on the glass and the type of pellet or BB, it could though I've seen it down to car windshields, but house glasses is a different beast.

2) Again, yes and no, a lot depends on the "load" and the type of air rifle and how much pressure it used.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

The description matches the memory of my youth of such things. The hole was not much bigger than a pencil lead, yes?

As for personal injury, pretty unlikely. If the kid inside happened to be immediately below the window with his eye below the impact point, some glass *might* fall into said kids eye. The glass would absorb enough of the kinetic energy from a BB or pellet to render it mostly safe. The actual projectile probably didn't make it inside.

AG

 

[Rii]

You need a full firearms license to own and operate air rifles in Australia. Somehow, I doubt this 14yr-old has one.

 

[SeerSGB]

I known people that had to go to the hospital to get pellets/BBs (not the same thing) dug out by a doctor, but they were like within a dozen feet or so and the air-gun was really pumped up beyond what you'd normal pump one.

You need a full firearms license to own and operate air rifles. Somehow, I doubt this 14yr-old has one.

To be fair, that hasn't stopped parents and big brothers in the past from buying them and giving them to kids. A lot of people don't see a problem with air rifles and kids, they're "not real guns, so what's the danger". Hells, I've had to tell people in my family that my 6 year old son was to young for a .22 caliber real rifle, and I'm the asshole for saying no. "what, it's just a .22?"

 

[Miss Chicken]

The kid definitely had access to an air rifle. I had seen him with it. However it might have been his brother's or else be given to him by his brother.

The description matches the memory of my youth of such things. The hole was not much bigger than a pencil lead, yes?

Yes it was only a small hole. I could think of any other way such a small hole could be made.

The actual projectile probably didn't make it inside.

That probably explains why I didn't find anything inside. I thought at the time I might have vacuum it up the day before.

 

[Chaos Descending]

You need a full firearms license to own and operate air rifles in Australia. Somehow, I doubt this 14yr-old has one.

That depresses me greatly.

 

[Major Chord]

This event happened a few years ago but my son mentioned it in a conversion last night so I thought I would bring it up here.

One day I went into my son's room and found a small round hole in his window. The edges around the hole had cracks radiating ourwards.

I though that the 14 year old brother of man next door might have shot at the window with his air rifle. I phoned the police and told a woman about the hole and that I though someone might have been firing at my house with an air rifle. She took some details 'for insurance purposes' but said it wasn't serious enough to send a police officer around to look at.

Could anyone tell me a) if an air-rife pellet would cause this sort of damage and 2) could an air rifle pellet be dangerous if someone had been standing near the window?

An air rifle could definitely put a hole through a glass window, if it was sufficiently powerful. I doubt that if the pellet made it through the glass, it would do much damage to anyone on the other side, but there still could be a risk of injury. Air rifles are used to kill small game, so they do have lethal potential. Given the size of the projectile (not just the small caliber, but the light weight of the bullet), it most likely wouldn't kill a human unless it penetrates a vital, and relatively soft spot. But the danger is still there.

From what I've observed in my experiences firing air rifles, (and correct me if I'm wrong about your description of the hole Miss Chicken), chances are it was a flat nosed target pellet (or wadcutter) that was fired. A pointed or domed hunting pellet, or a BB probably would have caused more damage to the glass, instead of a relatively precise hole, because wadcutters are designed to make clean, visible holes. They're not normally used for hunting, because of their poor penetration (don't get me wrong though, they can still do plenty of damage). If someone had been standing by the window, and it had been hit with a flat nosed pellet, they'd probably be a bit safer than if they were standing behind one shot with a hunting pellet, because the flat nosed pellet would lose it's velocity quickly, and most likely deform after hitting the glass. A pointed pellet would have most likely done more damage to the glass, and maintined it's shape better making it a bit more dangerous. I'm not an expert on the subject, by far, and since I've never shot glass with any of my rifles, I could be wrong, but that's what it sounds like to me.

 

[warriorsfan]

You need a full firearms license to own and operate air rifles in Australia. Somehow, I doubt this 14yr-old has one.

That depresses me greatly.

You're forgetting that they're descended from criminals.

 

[Star Wolf]

You need a full firearms license to own and operate air rifles in Australia. Somehow, I doubt this 14yr-old has one.

That depresses me greatly.

You're forgetting that they're descended from criminals.

So were a quarter of the colonist in America.

 

[FrontLine]

Could anyone tell me a) if an air-rife pellet would cause this sort of damage and 2) could an air rifle pellet be dangerous if someone had been standing near the window?

A) For glass used in residential and even in many 1/4" thick commercial windows the answer is yes. A small concave hole with some possible very minor radial cracks is the norm. The narrowest part of the impact cone will be pointing towards the house and if there is a hole it will be about the diameter of a pencil lead. The wide part of the impact cone will be on the exterior edge of the glass.
B) Meh, not really under most circumstances. The BB or Pellet will loose most of its kinetic energy when it impacts the glass. In fact most times the BB or pellet will bounce back from the impact and not go through the window. Of course if you shoot the air rifle from an optimal distances so that when the BB impacts the glass it is traveling at its maximum speed and if ones face what right next to or extremely close to the glass, then it could possibly injur someone. But that would have to be a lot of improbably instances occuring all at once.