What goes up, does in fact come down. I have proof.

[Reagan40]

We had the typical New Years eve this year. We stayed inside, ate, watched the ball drop, and listened to the idiots a few blocks away fire their hand guns in celebration of the new year. The not so typical part was what we found while getting in my car today. By the way, I bought this car about 3 months ago, so it is still new.



So, it appears that someone thought it would be a good idea to shoot a .45 ACP handgun up into the air. I had the police come out to file a report. They removed the bullet from my trunk lid which revealed the damage.



So, now I get to look forward to finding out how much it will cost to replace a trunk lid.

It pierced the top layer of metal and dented the second layer. I think it would be safe to say that if a person would have been standing in that location when the bullet fell, it would likely have been fatal. So, nobody be an idiot like whoever shot this. Something is always on the other end of the bullet.

 

[KJQ6945]

Mythbusters says this can't happen.

 

[Reagan40]

Mythbusters says this can't happen.

I missed that episode. Maybe physics works differently out in California where they are from...

 

[chef larry]

Always the four rules. Will your car insurance take care of the repairs?

 

[Leadeye]

Out here in the woods I don't fire guns in the air, I figure just the acceleration of gravity over the time it would take to fall is going to make it hurt either way.

 

[bocefus78]

In before the ".45 doesn't overpenetrate" crowd.

Sorry about your car op...at least you weren't hurt. That's closer than I'd care for.

 

[Reagan40]

Always the four rules. Wii your car insurance take care of the repairs?

It all depends on the cost. My deductible is $1,000. So, Ill be on the hook for most of it Im sure. I don't really know what it will cost. I saw online that an OEM trunk lid costs around $650, but that does not include paint I don't think. Then there will be labor to install it. I am supposed to get a call from my insurance person on Monday afternoon to talk through it. I should also get a copy of the police report that day as well. I'll have to get an estimate early next week to see what the repair will cost.

 

[Alpo]

I missed that episode. Maybe physics works differently out in California where they are from...

Fired straight into the air, it is unlikely to happen.

Fired along a ballistic trajectory, the results are within the realm of reasonableness. The path could be deduced.

 

[nipprdog]

You need to move. Whatever it takes.

 

[Leadeye]

Can't tell how deep the hole is but you might consider a little Bondo and touch up work to keep it looking OK. You don't have much to lose as you are eating the deductible any way.

 

[Reagan40]

In before the ".45 doesn't overpenetrate" crowd.

Sorry about your car op...at least you weren't hurt. That's closer than I'd care for.

I was sitting on my couch that sets up against an exterior wall. The car was parked in the driveway right outside of that wall. So, the point of impact was roughly 10' from where I was sitting. Now, had it come down directly over me, it would have had a lot more to go through since it is a two story house and we were on the ground floor, but I really don't ever want to know how well it would penetrate through my house. At the end of the day, we are thankful that it was just the car. It has reinvigorated our search for property out in the country away from these idiots.

 

[Reagan40]

Can't tell how deep the hole is but you might consider a little Bondo and touch up work to keep it looking OK. You don't have much to lose as you are eating the deductible any way.

This is a nicer car than I have driven in a long time, so I really want it looking like it did before. Im afraid an OK fix will bother me. I am afraid that paint will be hard to match, so having the whole lid replaced is only an option if the paint match is dead on. If the whole trunk lid isn't going to match, then I may go the bondo route.

 

[eric001]

Mythbusters did in fact show bullets fired straight up into the air had less than lethal force when they came back down...AND the bullets that they found from firing straight up came back down SIDEWAYS rather than point first. Since your impact looks pretty much point first, I'd say that's a good indicator it was on a ballistic path and not anywhere close to straight up & down.

 

[Reagan40]

Fired straight into the air, it is unlikely to happen.

Fired along a ballistic trajectory, the results are within the realm of reasonableness. The path could be deduced.

Im guessing they didn't fire it straight up into the air. For that to happen, and the bullet to come straight down and hit my car, they would have been standing in my driveway which would have made for a much more eventful night. From what it sounded like, Im guessing they were two blocks away or so. The bullet appeared to be almost straight into the trunk lid, however, the car was on an incline, so from that, the direction that the shot came from could be deduced. Whatever the case, a bullet was shot and went head first into my trunk lid. So, either it came from the ground, went up, then came back down, or someone was silently flying overhead and shot down and hit my car.

 

[Reagan40]

Mythbusters did in fact show bullets fired straight up into the air had less than lethal force when they came back down...AND the bullets that they found from firing straight up came back down SIDEWAYS rather than point first. Since your impact looks pretty much point first, I'd say that's a good indicator it was on a ballistic path and not anywhere close to straight up & down.

As I said, the shots were fired blocks away... So, that would mean a ballistic path.

 

[jkaetz]

This is a nicer car than I have driven in a long time, so I really want it looking like it did before. Im afraid an OK fix will bother me. I am afraid that paint will be hard to match, so having the whole lid replaced is only an option if the paint match is dead on. If the whole trunk lid isn't going to match, then I may go the bondo route.

a good body shop can match paint really well, I don't know about filling the whole but I would think your insurance should cover it under your comprehensive coverage meaning no deductible.

Mythbusters did in fact show bullets fired straight up into the air had less than lethal force when they came back down...AND the bullets that they found from firing straight up came back down SIDEWAYS rather than point first. Since your impact looks pretty much point first, I'd say that's a good indicator it was on a ballistic path and not anywhere close to straight up & down.

This exactly. Fired at 90° the bullet will go up until it runs out of energy then tumble back to ground via gravity. At angles not 90º the bullet can make an arc and come down with more energy. While I'm sure it wouldn't feel good, the sheet metal on car bodies isn't very strong leaving doubt that the bullet would have been able to kill.

 

[Hoosierkav]

Glue one of those bullet hole stickers over the actual hole.

 

[WebSnyper]

Not sure where you are located, but might check out Diamond Collision in Avon. Allen is a site supporter, does great work on cars and firearms. See his subforum here under Diamond Collision.

 

[Informed Decision]

Might want to ck elsewhere around your property. Just a thought.

like your roof!

 

[Reagan40]

Might want to ck elsewhere around your property. Just a thought.

like your roof!

Thanks! I did check my roof and all around my property earlier today. Fortunately, nothing else was found.