Shot at!

[Vapin' Joe]

They should be able to look up who in that area owns an air rifle and go hunting

when selling air rifles we have to have a copy of the buyers passport / driving license, take a note of their address and the police have that information.

I assume from your post you work either in a firearms dealer or a sports shop. Is it automatic that the details of gun buyers are passed to the police?

 

[Cubist]

When I was a kid, air rifles were really powerful, Ie the BSA Air sporter, if a slug from one of those had hit you in the helmet it wuold have killed you.
But seriously, you where lucky it was your helmet, just a few inches diffrence and the story could be diffrent.

For sure the police will follow it up, as it assualt, and you where lucky then, but next time it could end up with someones death.

Even with a square section spring, my Airsporter never pushed out over 9.7ft/lb. Modern air rifles (Cubester's BSA lightning for example) manage just under the legal 12ft/lb limit.

The reason 12 ft/lb was chosen as a legal limit is supposedly because that is the power required to penetrate an adult skull, so limiting the muzzle energy of a 15 grain pellet (average .22 hunting pellet weight as an example) was an effort to keep them as low powered as possible, whilst still remaining effective for hunters.

The pellet in the pic doesn't indicate close range or high velocity. All it's done is penetrate the polycarbonate shell and penetrate the polystyrene underneath. That could be achieved at very long range, or by a lowish powered rifle, or even an air pistol.


A modern hunting air rifle would have gone all the way through the helmet, both outer shell and lining, if fired from close range.

That said, I would hate to be on the receiving end of the shot.

My guess is that this was either an air pistol fired from a car (they are limited to 6 ft/lb) or a chance in a million shot from some dickhead firing randomly at traffic from a hundred yards or so away.

Either way, I sincerely hope the police do take it seriously, and the tossers brought to book.

 

[Cubist]

In the interest of cycling ballistics I've just shot an old helmet of mine with Cubester's 11.9ft/lb BSA lightning.

The anoraks will want to know that I used a domed hunting pellet (RWS Superdome, 14.5 grain), from a range of 20 metres.

I used a four year old Bell Venture, as it APPEARS to be of similar construction to the OP's Dunlop.

The pellet penetrated the outer polycarb shell, then the polystyrene lining (c.2.5cm thick ), then exited the other side of the helmet, through the lining material just at the rear of the temple vent, nicking the outer shell on the way out. The pellet then went on to strike the wall behind the helmet with sufficient force to deform the pellet.

If the OP had been shot with a modern air rifle from close-ish range, I don't think they would be here posting.

I think they have had a bloody lucky escape, but repeat my hypothesis as in my previous post.... this was an air pistol or a very long range fluke.

 

[Cubist]

Entry

Exit

Trajectory

Recovered pellet

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

In the interest of cycling ballistics I've just shot an old helmet of mine with Cubester's 11.9ft/lb BSA lightning.

The pellet penetrated the outer polycarb shell, then the polystyrene lining (c.2.5cm thick ), then exited the other side of the helmet, through the lining material just at the rear of the temple vent, nicking the outer shell on the way out. The pellet then went on to strike the wall behind the helmet with sufficient force to deform the pellet.

Bloody 'ell!

Interesting experiment. This pellet has gone about 2cm into the polystyrene; the picture is a bit misleading as I took it from an angle so that you can see the back of the pellet. I'd better start wearing a motorcycle helmet!

 

[Tynan]

so that air rifle can't penetrate an adult skull?

skulls must a lot tougher than I thought then

 

[Cubist]

so that air rifle can't penetrate an adult skull?

skulls must a lot tougher than I thought then

I used the term "supposedly" in the definition. There would be a lot of factors in play, such as "average" thickness, pellet shape, angle of strike (remember the Chobham effect) but to an extent I would hope that for the majority of skulls it wouldn't be powerful enough to penetrate.

Having said that I wouldn't volunteer to test it for real.

My 12 ft/lb .177 hunting rifle could enter a rabbit's skull, and exit the other side at ranges up to 40metres, but rabbit skulls are nowhere near as thick as a human's. ..........

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I have an SMK SYNAX which is a fair bit below the 12ft/lb limit, but it will penetrate both sides of a soup can full of water from 10 yards and cleanly dispatch a rat at that distance. I wouldn't fancy taking one in the head at that range.

The Op was lucky the pellet didn't hit him in the face or the eye.

 

[som3blok3]

My 12 ft/lb .177 hunting rifle could enter a rabbit's skull, and exit the other side at ranges up to 40metres.

I'm guessing your avatar is an ex bird then??

 

[Cubist]

I'm guessing your avatar is an ex bird then??

No, I never even got round to asking her out.

 

[david1701]

I used the term "supposedly" in the definition. There would be a lot of factors in play, such as "average" thickness, pellet shape, angle of strike (remember the Chobham effect) but to an extent I would hope that for the majority of skulls it wouldn't be powerful enough to penetrate.

Having said that I wouldn't volunteer to test it for real.

My 12 ft/lb .177 hunting rifle could enter a rabbit's skull, and exit the other side at ranges up to 40metres, but rabbit skulls are nowhere near as thick as a human's. ..........

what is the Chobham effect a quick google only mentioned chobham armour is it the effect of having a composite sandwich?

 

[Cubist]

what is the Chobham effect a quick google only mentioned chobham armour is it the effect of having a composite sandwich?

Chobham effect is where the effective thickness of a plate increases by setting it at an angle to the projectile. Chobham armour was used on tanks, where no plate was set vertically. The article on Chobham armour you found on google probably demonstrated that a plate set at 45 degrees to the projectile was half as thick again as a perpendicular one, thus allowing for lighter armour to be used for the same effect, or increased the effectiveness for the same weight of armour.

So, if the pellet struck a 3 mm thick piece of skull at 45 degrees, the effective thickness of the skull would be greater than a perpendicular strike.

 

[dellzeqq]

blimey! I'm relieved that you're ok, GC, and hope that the police will find the perpetrator.

I had to respond to a proposal from an insurer on Thursday. They were insisting on 'protective clothing' and helmets. I covered the proposal in red ink......

 

[dellzeqq]

we assume that Cubester was not wearing the helmet during this test.

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

Update: Disappointing, I'm afraid. I received a letter from the Police this morning, which stated: "At this stage there are no further lines of enquiry. However, we will review your report in the event of any further information received. In the mean time, we are closing this crime report in accordance with crime recording guidelines. If any circumstances change, we will inform you and reopen the investigation."

They also provided me with a form to list any further items stolen, plus some information on victim support and a hope that I would find the information in the enclosed leaflet useful. (There was no leaflet enclosed.)

To be honest, I didn't expect a lot, given the limited information I was able to give them.

(I have to say that, given that it was clearly a standard letter, the English was of a pretty poor standard.)