Keith, at 21:11 on May 16 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BL> At close range, a .22 is the weapon of choice for the Mafia, for instance. 

BG> extremely quiet, harder to match gun with projectile because the .22
BG> is plain lead, and fragments quite dramatically when it hits bone,
BG> plus they can also be fitted with silencers (which only work properly
BG> with subsonic rounds anyway).

KR> i saw a gun on sale in a shop in paris. it was a bolt action pistol with a 
KR> barrel about 9" long and had a silencer and tele sight.

Oh dear.  The ideal assassins' weapon.

KR> the blurb stated that it was .22 calibre, and fired subsonic ammo. it makes 
KR> you wonder which market they were catering to.

Indoor 25m target shooting would be my guess (or would have been, in the
absence of a silencer).  The 'scope, bolt action and 9" bbl are for
accuracy, but I fail to see any need for a silencer.  It's a worry.

BG> Sorry Bob, but at 1000m the .22 has used almost all of its muzzle
BG> energy, and is at the extreme end of its maximum range (and only then
BG> if it's been fired at an angle of say 30-40 degrees).  At that
BG> distance, it would likely not even penetrate the skin of a victim. 

KR> there was a case some years ago in canberra when a guy picknicing at cotter 
KR> dam just dropped dead in front of his family. 

I once lived in Canberra for a little while, so I don't blame him.  :)

KR> it turned out that some kids had been shooting at a tree about 500 metres 
KR> away (and quite a lot further up the hill), and missed. you'd have to say 
KR> that the guy was very unlucky, 

Very.  Any idea where it hit him?  Even at 500m, there's very little muzzle
energy left in the projectile.  Any reloading manual will tell you that
too.

KR> but a .22 *can* be fatal to quite a distance.

Oh sure, no argument with that at all, but at 1000m range, you'd have to be
pretty damn unlucky, even if the bullet actually struck you.

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20