How far will a 9mm bullet travel?

[kramden]

Lets say you have a long stretch of perfectly flat ground. Take an M&P9 (or any other handgun) and holding level , fire a round. How far would a target load 9mm travel before hitting the ground? I'm talking your run of the mill paper punching load , nothing "hot". Thanks in advance.

 

[robertrwalsh]

If you hold it level to the ground (horizontal, zero elevation) I am guesstimating about 500 yards or so until it hits the dirt. Maybe a tad more. Depends a lot on how tall you are, assuming you are firing at eye level.

 

[Harper]

Not much more than 140-150 yds for your run-of-the-mill 124gr FMJ (if that!)

 

[gunnails]

Let's say a bullet that fell off your level firearm takes 2 seconds to hit the ground.
And let's say a 9mm travels at 1300 feet per second.

Would we be correct in saying the bullet would travel 2600 feet before it hit the ground?

 

[Dsorgnzd]

The time it takes for a falling body to travel a distance d is the square root of 2d/g, where g is the acceleration due to gravity (about 32.2 feet per second per second) . Assume your pistol's bore is 6 feet above the ground, then when the bullet is fired it will take about 0.61 seconds to hit the ground. If the muzzle velocity is 1,000 fps and assuming that velocity remains constant (which it won't, but just for the sake of simplicity) then the bullet would travel about 610 feet horizontally before it hit the ground. If the bore is less than six feet above the ground (certainly true for me) the distance would be less. In the real world, where the bullet's velocity does not remain constant, the distance would be less. If the muzzle velocity is greater or less than 1,000 fps then the distance would be correspondingly greater or less. So this is really just a ballpark figure.

 

[Saudade]

Mythbusters did this. Look it up.

 

[kramden]

Did Mythbusters use a 9mm handgun?

 

[kramden]

The time it takes for a falling body to travel a distance d is the square root of 2d/g, where g is the acceleration due to gravity (about 32.2 feet per second per second) . Assume your pistol's bore is 6 feet above the ground, then when the bullet is fired it will take about 0.61 seconds to hit the ground. If the muzzle velocity is 1,000 fps and assuming that velocity remains constant (which it won't, but just for the sake of simplicity) then the bullet would travel about 610 feet horizontally before it hit the ground. If the bore is less than six feet above the ground (certainly true for me) the distance would be less. In the real world, where the bullet's velocity does not remain constant, the distance would be less. If the muzzle velocity is greater or less than 1,000 fps then the distance would be correspondingly greater or less. So this is really just a ballpark figure.

Thank you!!

 

[Weimar]

Google says 2300 meters and quotes the NRA Factbook
Range of a Handgun Bullet - The Physics Factbook

 

[FloridaS&W]

Not exactly the same question, but interesting...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wXFf34bB34[/ame]

 

[RGVshooter]

I actually tried the Jerry Miculek shot with my S&W model 10 38spl, a bodyguard 380 and a Beretta 92 at a steel plate at 200 yards like he did in the video with the M&P 380 just to see if I could do it. I live in coastal south Texas so we're about 3' above sea level and all 3 pistols would hit dirt holding level at around 150-180 yards. To hit the plate at 200 yards I had to hold the beretta 92 at about I'm guessing 3-4' above the steel plate. The plate was 18 x 24".

Just in case you're wondering. No I didn't hit the plate with my first shot. But I did eventually hit it...

 

[CalmerThanYou]

Is this going to involve math?

 

[MichiganScott]

Google says 2300 meters and quotes the NRA Facebook
Range of a Handgun Bullet - The Physics Factbook

The OP asked for a level shot, not one angled 45 degrees. If you include air resistance, a bullet from a barrel angled somewhere in the 30-35 degree range will actually travel farther than one angled at 45.

 

[Srruger762]

Found this:

Range of a Handgun Bullet - The Physics Factbook

 

[Arik]

Not much more than 140-150 yds for your run-of-the-mill 124gr FMJ (if that!)

So your bullets only travel about 450fps? If that?

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[RGVshooter]

Is this going to involve math?

To be technical, yes. Trigonometry... But read comment #12

 

[nanney1]

I shoot on a 50 yd pistol rifle range with a banked dirt wall at the 50 yd mark. I shoot at 5 yards defensive range on the target with a 9mm. At 50 yards, by the time I see the paper hole shoot in the air at 5 yards, I've already seen the dirt/dust fly in the air out at 50 yards. And it seems to be at the same height that I've fired.

 

[CB3]

Lets say you have a long stretch of perfectly flat ground. Take an M&P9 (or any other handgun) and holding level , fire a round. How far would a target load 9mm travel before hitting the ground? I'm talking your run of the mill paper punching load , nothing "hot". Thanks in advance.

According to a ballistic drop calculator, a 9mm 115 grn Target bullet fired level at 1100 fps will drop 6 feet in 220 yards. Adjust parameters slightly as you may. The bullet will not necessarily stop when it hits the surface.

ShootersCalculator.com | 9x19mm Luger 115 grain FMJ



ShootersCalculator.com | Ballistic Trajectory Calculator
Parameters:
115 grn
.14 BC
1100 fps
Range 300 yards

Depending on the bullet design (BC), the length of barrel, the muzzle velocity, environmental factors, the height of the launch at about 6 feet, such a bullet should strike terra firma about 220 yards out, +/- Closer if heavier/slower. Farther if light/faster.

 

[gonerydin]

Let's say a bullet that fell off your level firearm takes 2 seconds to hit the ground.
And let's say a 9mm travels at 1300 feet per second.

Would we be correct in saying the bullet would travel 2600 feet before it hit the ground?

No because the bullet is not traveling at constant velocity. It starts to drop as well as slow down when it leaves the muzzle. That’s why we have ballistic calculators.


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[fdw]

Here's a good little article I read recently on trajectory and zeroing a gun.

Handgun Trajectory Table

With the article's stated parameters a 9mm handgun 115grain bullet at 1,135 will drop 1.7 inches at 100 yards. This doesn't really answer the question but it's an interesting read about maximum point blank range.