Shooting from a roof six floors up

seun · Apr 10, 2012

I suspect the answer to this question is 'no chance' but here it is:

If someone is on a roof six floors up and they're shooting with a handgun (rather than a rifle or any weapon with a telescopic sight), what are the chances of hitting a person on the ground? They're not experienced with guns, the windspeed is around 20mph and they're under a great deal of stress. Is it more likely their shots will just miss any people?

alleycat · Apr 10, 2012

A specific person on the ground?

A semi-auto with a large magazine?

That's going to be somewhere around 25-30 yards or so. Normally someone with no experience with guns and nervous wouldn't be able to hit a standard target at 25 yards with a handgun, but if they have a handgun with, say, 14 rounds, their luck is going to increase quite a lot.

In a story I think you could play this any way you want to.

seun · Apr 10, 2012

alleycat said:
A specific person on the ground?

A semi-auto with a large magazine?

That's going to be somewhere around 25-30 yards or so. Normally someone with no experience with guns and nervous wouldn't be able to hit a standard target at 25 yards with a handgun, but if they have a handgun with, say, 14 rounds, their luck is going to increase quite a lot.

In a story I think you could play this any way you want to.

I'll have to Google the bold to find out what it means. :tongue

It's not a specific person situation - more of a crowd and the person taking shots in the hope of wounding/killing any or all. Wouldn't it'd be more than 30 yards? I figured it would be difficult to hit anyone given the distance and lack of experience.

waylander · Apr 10, 2012

What do you want to have happen for the story?

alleycat · Apr 10, 2012

I was just estimating 10 or 12 feet per floor, then allowing a little for the angle. I didn't actually calculate it.

It there's a crowd the person is shooting at, they're almost sure to wound or kill at least a few if they're using a modern semi-auto. It would be a little like spraying a crowd with sub-machine gun fire.

The shots would probably be somewhat wild, but a human makes a fairly large target, especially if they're bunched together, even at 30 yards. It's much harder to hit a standard target bullseye at that distance. Again, luck would play a part.

alleycat · Apr 10, 2012

seun said:
I'll have to Google the bold to find out what it means.

Something like this, a GLOCK 17. It hold 17 rounds.

There are any number of similar semi-autos that hold 10 or more rounds.

seun · Apr 10, 2012

waylander said:
What do you want to have happen for the story?

Ideally, for several of the people on the ground to be wounded if not killed but my concern is being realistic.

alleycat said:
It there's a crowd the person is shooting at, they're almost sure to wound or kill at least a few if they're using a modern semi-auto. It would be a little like spraying a crowd with sub-machine gun fire.

The shots would probably be somewhat wild, but a human makes a fairly large target, especially if they're bunched together, even at 30 yards.

Good point. I'll have to bear that in mind.

seun · Apr 10, 2012

alleycat said:
Something like this, a GLOCK 17. It hold 17 rounds.

There are any number of similar semi-autos that hold 10 or more rounds.

Interesting. I'm at the first draft stage at the moment so I hadn't looked closely into the makes of guns, but that image was what I had in mind.

alleycat · Apr 10, 2012

The first shots would probably be the most effective. The crowd would be tightly bunched, then they would scatter and run in all directions. It would be harder to hit someone then.

seun · Apr 10, 2012

alleycat said:
The first shots would probably be the most effective. The crowd would be tightly bunched, then they would scatter and run in all directions. It would be harder to hit someone then.

Apologies, I should have clarified. The crowd are all in the advanced stages of a terminal disease. The person on the roof is protecting the building. When they start shooting, the sick people want to run, but are unable to do so.

alleycat · Apr 10, 2012

seun said:
Interesting. I'm at the first draft stage at the moment so I hadn't looked closely into the makes of guns, but that image was what I had in mind.

I have one like this (as well as a target pistol and a small Beretta). An "oldie but a goodie"--a S&W Model 39. It holds a total of nine rounds. Many more recent semi-auto models hold more.

Shooting from a roof six floors up

seun

Horror Man

alleycat

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seun

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waylander

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seun

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