Shooting From Inside Your Vehicle

[carlson1]

I am not much for youtube, forwarded emails, etc. . ., but someone sent this to me and it caused me to do a little thinking. Shooting from inside your vehicle. It would be very loud and a lot of glass.

[KD5NRH]

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/thebuickotruth.htm

The first two sections are the most relevant, IMO, since I don't plan on using a car defensively for anything beyond concealment, counterattack or retreat.

[G.C.Montgomery]

My training and personal observations indicate that most humans cannot shoot and drive at the same time while doing a very good job at either. If the vehicle is running, there are few reasons not to simply drive away from a threat. In some cases, you might have to use the vehicle itself as a weapon. If it comes to that, don't do doughnuts over the body like Clara Harris...Doughnuts are hard to explain as justified behavior.

All joking aside, it's worth pointing out that in static tests as seen at the "Box-o-Truth" website, bullets fired into a stationary vehicle do indeed sail through car doors and glass to easily hit targets inside the vehicle. But the obvious lesson there isn't that bullets go through cars. The lesson is the same lesson we apply to defensive shooting in general...If you stand still, you get shot!

The best illustration of the need to keep moving that comes to mind is actually an LA County chase in 2005 that wound up in Compton. A suspect was covered on both the driver and passenger sides of his vehicle by no less than a dozen officers at the end of the chase. IIRC, the suspect received four, non-life threatening gunshot wounds and one officer was shot, apparently as a result of crossfire, by another officer. Another way of looking at it is a dozen or more "trained" officers averaged 1 hit or less for every 30 rounds fired at the suspect. The suspect was only able to drive a few feet in the time it took to fire those rounds and never exceeded 10mph but, he was moving!

[KD5NRH]

Also on this note, the video Crossfire: Shooting at and from Moving Vehicles (I wouldn't buy it at that price, by any stretch of the imagination.) covers the leads for rifle pistol and shotgun, and all of the shooters were rather surprised at the amount of lead necessary for a 10yd shot at a vehicle going 10mph. At 30mph, hits with anything but buckshot are pretty much dumb luck for anyone that hasn't practiced against moving targets extensively.

Of course, that only applies to lateral movement relative to the shooter; driving directly away at 60mph won't do you as much good as crossing at 10mph.

[J.D.]

On Purpose ???

[NcongruNt]

Yeah, details! Why did you fire 7 rounds from an AK through your door???

Also, is that rim I see bare?

[txinvestigator]

And how did you get an AK?

[NcongruNt]

From the looks of the improvised armoring on the insides of your vehicle and the other one visible in the second picture, your spare tire up top, the dusty terrain, and the fact that you shot an AK through your door at naughty people.....

I'd say you were working private security somewhere in the sandbox when this happened. I'd guess at Iraq, judging from the hue of the dirt visible in the background.

[Doug.38PR]

I would think that it would make you instantly deaf....or at least severely damage your hearing....this guy doesn't seem to be too badly affected.

I fired my gun unprotected inside a concrete enclosed firing range (the walls were about 11 ft apart and the alcove walls were about 3 ft apart)..............(it was an accident of course)....one single shot from a .38 Spl service revolver....and my ears were shreaking in pain and were ringing for the next two days (and even a little into the week).

I fired outdoors once right next to a hill and behind a car......my right ear rang after the first 4 shots for the next 5 days and a little more months onward....even now when it's late at night and quite in bed I feel I can still hear a slight whistle miles away sometimes.

[LarryH]

I've had tinnitus for nearly forty years because of shooting revolvers next to a vertical riverbank. Couldn't hear anything for over an hour after the fun was done. Didn't realize it until we were on the way home.

[mctowalot]

Hello again it's me. The grown up kid that shot his encyclopedia set up with a 30-30 when mom and dad were out having dinner. (just to refresh memories/keep questions down the bullet stopped around the "k" volume, no I don't remember the bullet type, weight, grain, etc. ) but the "funny" thing is I don't remember going deaf when firing said rifle in my 20x20 ft. bedroom. However-when dad cut me loose with his .357 Blackhawk when I was- oy veh! - nine years old I shot quite a few rounds in a creekbed, and was deaf for at least 24 hours! (I think he meant well there just wasn't any internet forums for a parent to learn from back then, in todays world CPS probably would have taken me away) The moral of this story is if your going to let your 9 year old loose in the woods with a large caliber revolver for goodness sakes give him or her some hearing protection!

[flb_78]

I would assume that since most vehicles now have so much sound proofing so that we don't hear the outside world, that the sound proofing would also deaden any sharp noises, such as gun fire, as well. Cars are lined with carpeting and cushioning. It's not the same as firing in an enclosed room or concrete shooting range.