6 Responses to “How far will a bullet travel if it does not hit anything?”

1. Man.with.a.Plan Says:
   October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am

   depends on the gun/cartridge type and how hot it is loaded
   some well over a mile

2. Iconic Says:
   October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am

   It depends upon the weight and velocity of the bullet, sometimes a .22 calibre bullet fired from a rifle can go as far as over a mile.

3. lynx Says:
   October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am

   a bullet can fly for many miles.how many miles? that depends on the weight of the bullet and the angle in which you shoot.
   the heavier your bullet is the further it will fly. if you shoot in an angle of 45 degrees you will have the optimal range of the bullet.

4. Wink Winkleman Says:
   October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am

   Very far….and in some cases, even farther.

5. muffinfishing Says:
   October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am

   weight times velocity times gravity of the earth will determine the distance. In lamens terms { when the speed of the bullet slows, the weight and the earths gravity will help it find its final resting place.}

6. Manevitch Says:
   October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am

   As other have said, it depends on a couple of variables:

   1. The muzzle velocity of the bullet

   2. The angle at which the bullet was launched. Oddly enough, 45 degrees is less than optimal - according to the calculator provided at the link below, optimal launch angle for my .308 rifle is 32.5 degrees from horizontal.

   3. The weight of the bullet. The heavier it is, given the same velocity, the greater distance it will travel.

   4. The ballistic coefficient of the bullet. In layman’s terms, the amount of wind resistance.

   Go to the calculator in the link below and you can play around. My .308 spits out 168-grain bullets with a ballistic coefficient of .477 at 2650 feet per second. Plug those numbers in there and you’ll see that my bullet will travel an astonishing 5200 yards, or just about 3 miles.

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