Archived Posts » 59,646,491
What it takes to shoot an airplane.
1/5/2011 12:47:41 PM
According to the History channel AA guns take an average of 2,400 shells to bring down a plane. Once they invented the proximity fuse it took 400 to bring down planes. So much for anti-gun talk of a guy with a single shot or mag feed 50 takeing down a 747 over a major city. The fact that full auto AA guns and the bigger guns that shot the big shells had such a hard time knocking down the planes shows it's not as easy as it looks, yet I still hear this as a reason to ban the 50. 
1/5/2011 1:53:15 PM
Originally Posted By ARsR4ME:
According to the History channel AA guns take an average of 2,400 shells to bring down a plane. Once they invented the proximity fuse it took 400 to bring down planes. So much for anti-gun talk of a guy with a single shot or mag feed 50 takeing down a 747 over a major city. The fact that full auto AA guns and the bigger guns that shot the big shells had such a hard time knocking down the planes shows it's not as easy as it looks, yet I still hear this as a reason to ban the 50.
According to the History channel AA guns take an average of 2,400 shells to bring down a plane. Once they invented the proximity fuse it took 400 to bring down planes. So much for anti-gun talk of a guy with a single shot or mag feed 50 takeing down a 747 over a major city. The fact that full auto AA guns and the bigger guns that shot the big shells had such a hard time knocking down the planes shows it's not as easy as it looks, yet I still hear this as a reason to ban the 50.
I was at a machine gun fun shoot that had a firing line 1400 feet long devided up into 10 foot shooting spots. Each spot had a couple shooters in it. They were flying these remote controlled airplanes up and down the line rolling and doing loops and everything else to keep from getting shot. The 1st plane that took off to get shot at flew back and forth along that 1400 foot long firing line back and forth with everyone shooting what ever they had at it. From ar's to full auto 50's. That plane ended up running out of gas before it was shot down. It was a 4 day event so eventually people got better and it would only take about 5 minutes on average to shoot it down. I had to resort to fully loaded 30 round mags of .223 tracers and finally shot one down myself after many many tries.
Ed
1/5/2011 2:01:44 PM
Thats why I'm gettin more and more pissed about this. Everytime they mention the guns in Mexico and they show a 50 some dumbass reporter will go down that road that you could shoot down a plane with one shot with it. We've all seen those old war videos of the planes all shot up from Air to Air combat and they still got our boys home safe.
1/5/2011 2:59:30 PM
Banning .50's? It's "for the sake of the children" - lets not forget that one.. 
1/5/2011 5:33:49 PM
Originally Posted By ARsR4ME:
Thats why I'm gettin more and more pissed about this. Everytime they mention the guns in Mexico and they show a 50 some dumbass reporter will go down that road that you could shoot down a plane with one shot with it. We've all seen those old war videos of the planes all shot up from Air to Air combat and they still got our boys home safe.
Thats why I'm gettin more and more pissed about this. Everytime they mention the guns in Mexico and they show a 50 some dumbass reporter will go down that road that you could shoot down a plane with one shot with it. We've all seen those old war videos of the planes all shot up from Air to Air combat and they still got our boys home safe.
Right, but you *could* in a perfect world, with a lucky shot that hit a fuel tank with say a API round, take down a plane. They don't care that no one in this world could make that shot 2 out of 2 times, let alone every time they try. When has the media ever done anything that makes sense?
1/5/2011 5:51:59 PM
Yes, and on that History Channel stat I think we need to define our terms. What AA guns used against what aircraft and in what environment?
The .50BMG isn't even considered an AA gun anymore. Even in WWII it was ineffective as a ground employed gun. In the air to air context, it was effective against fighter aircraft but remember that the ranges it was used were usually less than 300 yards and involved converging multiple fully automatic guns on the target. US fighters employed the .50 almost exclusively because they were usually going up against fighters and not bombers that were considerably more difficult to bring down. German aircraft mounted 20mm and 30mm Minen rounds devastated allied heavy bomber formations.
The USN did a study in WWII that found that a 20mm was 2.5 times as terminally effective as a .50 at close range and 2 times as effective at long range. In the Korean war, Mig15's often came back peppered with .50 holes.
Yes, the .5BMG lends itself well to fearful soundbites from the anti's. Trust me. You ain't bringing down a low flying airliner with a civilian, semi-auto .50 BMG.
The .50BMG isn't even considered an AA gun anymore. Even in WWII it was ineffective as a ground employed gun. In the air to air context, it was effective against fighter aircraft but remember that the ranges it was used were usually less than 300 yards and involved converging multiple fully automatic guns on the target. US fighters employed the .50 almost exclusively because they were usually going up against fighters and not bombers that were considerably more difficult to bring down. German aircraft mounted 20mm and 30mm Minen rounds devastated allied heavy bomber formations.
The USN did a study in WWII that found that a 20mm was 2.5 times as terminally effective as a .50 at close range and 2 times as effective at long range. In the Korean war, Mig15's often came back peppered with .50 holes.
Yes, the .5BMG lends itself well to fearful soundbites from the anti's. Trust me. You ain't bringing down a low flying airliner with a civilian, semi-auto .50 BMG.
1/6/2011 3:29:30 PM
Vs. a few single engine fighters in this vid... remember the p47 has 8 .50's in the wings....
Video
Against a modern twin engine jet liner, 1 shot.. no chance.
Video
Against a modern twin engine jet liner, 1 shot.. no chance.
