I have another question that has had my dad & i stumped for some time: What is the little black ring around the bullet hole when shooting paper?

Think about how fast the average bullet is sent down a hole that is to small for it (the barrel) and then meets MASSIVE air resistance as it travels at extremely high speed through the atmosphere. Bullets are simply HOT. Ask anyone who has been shot! I have an uncle who took a .357 at point blank in the gut. [:'(]He said all he really remembered was a loud bang and then a burning feeling in his stomach.

I can only assume the "black ring" you are talking about is actually cinged paper? If you shoot a can of gasoline or propane it EXPLODES on impact. Think of the bullet as a 3K fps match.
RA

hey RA, how exactly did he end up taking it in the gut?

squirrel it wasn't purty.

He had just gone through a nasty divorce and he didn't like a guy that his ex-wife was seeing at the time. Hiskids lived withher and he didn't want that guy around his kids. So he went over too his ex's house to "express his anger" and "let know what he thought". Well the a-hole guy was actually there and he answered the door. My uncle told the guy what he thought about him, right there on the doorstep and proceeded to force his way in the housetoget his kids. But the a-hole had a .357 in the small of his back and so he "skint that smokewagon" and made noise with it. He stuck it in my uncles gut and pulled the trigger once.

I believe they removed about 25% of my uncles intestines in surgery, yet being in rural Oklahoma (this was in the early 80s) it was ruled justified as I don't remember the guy doing any time out of the deal.

LOL but eventually my uncle DID get custody of his kids!!!
RA

Holy cow, your uncle is lucky to he's still alive.

Forcing your way into a home makes you fair game here in Texas, Oklahoma, and some other states. I thinkmost states refer to it as the castle doctrine.My criminal law book referred to Oklahoma's deadly force/self defense doctrine as the "make my day" doctrine. Of course, I think the authors were liberals. If the ex- had custody of the children at the time, and he was attempting to remove them, that pretty much amounts to kidnapping, another offense that might justify the use of deadly force. It's a wonder your uncle didn't spend time in jail. And it is a real wonder he got custody. He must have had a really good lawyer and his ex must have hired a really, reallybad one.

Hot bullet? no. The air would cool the bullet down if anything.

Singed paper would be brown in color not black or gray.

My best guess would be powder residue (graphite) on the bullet rubbing off on paper.

Gas cans or propane cylinders won't explode when hit by bullets, unless you get all of your information from Sillywood.

Kinda my thoughts too, Ive seen both a steel gas tank out of a chevy truck about 1/4 full of gasoline and a coleman propane cylinder both shot. the gas tank was shot with 15 rounds from a 9mm, my buddy was hoping it would explode......... it never did. The propane cylinder was shot with a 44 magnum it too did not explode into a massive fireball like it does in hollywood aka sillywood. The propane cylinder did shoot off like a rocket about 50 feet into the air spinning all sorts of crazy though.

Briman

Yeah, I've had the opurtunity to shoot propane cylinders, after they changed that valve configuration a few years ago we ended up with some extras. A Mini 14 and .223s didn't ignite any of them, too bad, we were looking for some fireworks...Gas tanks rarely go up unless the bullet makes a spark on something or is a tracer round. It's the fumes in the tankthat ignite the easiest.

I'm not sure what causes that black ring but looking at some targets I have on file, pointed lead bullets leave much more than jacketed.

Doug

Briman think about your logic. "Cool air" or ambient temperature is cool too stationary objects. BUT too an object moving 3K fps that same air creates friction and that friction heats up that object. A centerfire rifle bullet moves fast enough to create this friction. As does airplanes like the SR-71 Blackbird and the fastest jet fighters of today. The SR-71flew at altitudes as high as 100K ft (at which the airtemps would be in the 50-100 below0 range)yet the skin had to be made of titainium and othertrick alloysto withstand the friction and heat as it moved through even the extremely thin air at such altitude. (Sidenote, that aircrafts skin became so hot during flight that it would "recure/retreat" itself, the useful life of that skin was thought to be nearly forever!)

The space shuttle (and any other spacecraft) returning through the earths atmosphere is another example of this "air resistanc/friction induced heating". The space shuttleusually orbited the earth at 17K too 20K mph. Yet because once it was out of the earths atmosphere there was no air in space to offer that resistance. Yet we all know as evidanced by the Columbia disaster, that once the space craft encounters atmosphereat about 500Kft (which is simply extremely thin layers of air) great amounts of heat were encountered until the space craft slowed too a speed (below about 1500 mph) at which the air resistance (friction) would no longer build heat.

I can see where a pistol bullet would NOT cause ignition of something like a can of gas or a tank of propane. But try that same "experiment" with something like a .270 or a 7mag and see what happens. Most handgun bullets are traveling about 1/2 too 1/3 the velocity of modern centerfire calibers. A similar "effect" can be noticed while shooting a gallon jug of water with a 9mm and then trying the same thing with a 30/06. The end result is MUCH different!

Like I always say... SPEED RULES!!!
RA

Good insight there Red, but even a 45 ACP moving at ~700fps creates a ring around the hole. Even with what you say, a bullet would have to be seriously HOT to burn paper as it travels through. Think about running a torch over paper. Do it quickly enough & the paper doesn't get hot enough to be set on fire.