GunFacts Hasn’t Any (7)
A quickie. Page 15:
Myth: .50-caliber rounds can pierce light armor at 4 miles81
Author cites “81 Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senate testimony, March 9, 2001.”
Unfortunately, Sen. Feinstein said no such thing. In fact, this quote was attributed by the Fifty Caliber Institute to the Violence Policy Center. VPC asserts they made no such claim:
FCI Alleged Lie #1: “.50cal rifles can shoot with deadly accuracy up to four miles away.”4
The Truth (Pages 4-7): The VPC has never claimed any such thing.
As FCI’s staff should well know, the “maximum range” of the 50 caliber
rifle—i.e., the maximum distance a fired bullet will travel if it doesn’t hit anything in the way—is indeed four miles. But the “maximum effective range”—the maximum distance of deliberately aimed fire—is much less. Here is what the VPC actually did write on the subject of “maximum range” and “maximum effective range” in 2001’s Voting From the Rooftops: How the Gun Industry Armed Osama bin Laden, Other Foreign and Domestic Terrorists, and Common Criminals with 50 Caliber Sniper Rifles:
The maximum range of the 50 caliber round is between 7,000 and 8,000 yards, depending on the specific ammunition….This is the maximum
distance a fired 50 caliber bullet can travel, considerably more than the
distance that a round can be accurately fired. The latter, called the “maximum effective range,” is….certainly at least 1,000 yards and about 2,000 yards in skilled hands.5
That may just be a bad citation. I know I’ve heard the “.50 can pierce armor at 4 miles” myth elsewhere. I wonder what is considered “light armor” these days. I’d also be interested in seeing the actual ballistics… I’ve seen some tests, and a standard civilian-ownable (i.e. not steel-core or explosive) round won’t even penetrate that much steel at 2000 yards.
Comment by Gregory Morris — January 3, 2008 @ 8:19 am
“How the Gun Industry Armed Osama bin Laden, Other Foreign and Domestic Terrorists”, once again you bring this up, the State Dept. is part of the gun industry? or maybe it was the CIA, but the “Gun Industry” didn’t sell or give guns to ObL, the government did.
So since VPC’s statement begins with a bogus lie, then the entire report should be ignored.
Comment by JDFAR — January 4, 2008 @ 2:02 pm