Falling .45

[Stevens]

a couple of years ago I found this in my Cardiologist's parking lot. It was the weekend after the 4th of July so I guess it was from some celebratory holiday gunfire. There is a "bad neighborhood" a couple of blocks away, probably from there.
It seems to be a .45 cal. My theory is that it was tumbling as it fell back to earth and the corner hit the concrete first.
What do you all think? Besides "he's lucky he wasn't standing under it when it came down"
Steve W

 

[Gunslinger808]

IMHO:
I don't think if it was "tumbling" it would have distorted that badly, having lost all it's inertia on the way up, it would have fallen like anything else and bounced.
Looks more like a ricochet.

 

[m1gunner]

The wear looks more like it got stuck in a tire tread for a while and eventually got tossed out.

I have seen other metal objects lodge in heavy tire tread lugs and get worn like that.

 

[Stevens]

The copper jacket is definitely "squished" not worn at all,
It seems to me a ricochet would show damage on the forward part of the bullett?
It has rifling groove marks so at some point was fired.
sorry, the picture doesn't show much detail.

 

[mtb1bkr]

I think it looks like someone was shooting their gun in the hood, probably holding it sideways and jabbing with the gun to get an extra few feet per second of velocity, the bullet looks like it had a nice bounce off of the pavement shortly after leaving the gun. He must need to adjust the side sites on his gun.

 

[Muley Gil]

"The wear looks more like it got stuck in a tire tread for a while and eventually got tossed out.

I have seen other metal objects lodge in heavy tire tread lugs and get worn like that."

I agree.

 

[handejector]

I think it fell, but it was not tumbling.
Possibly fired at a high arc, and still travelling horizontally when gravity pulled it down.
Show us a pic of the base.

Several years ago, I found a 30 cal bullet in my driveway that had landed on the nose.
Probably from the very popular triente-triente. I forget if it was after New Year's or Cinco de Mayo.
About 20 feet from the house, 10 or so from where I park.

 

[A10]

I think the only way it could be a ricochet if is the round was tumbling very badly. Is the jacket scraped or just smashed?

 

[venomballistics]

looks like the flat side was a coarsely ground off section.
I'd go with the jammed in tread theory as the most likely delivery method

 

[Stevens]

here are a couple more shots of the bullett, the grooves are still visible on the indentation. I believe if the indentation was from wear they, and the jacket, would have been worn off?
opinions welcome
Steve

 

[Rule3]

Clearly fired ganster style, fell to the ground and then lodged in 22" tires with spinners.