Bullet Bouncing off Boar Kills Motorist Two Kilometres Away!

[Vikram]

Either someone was extremely unlucky to become a victim of a freak accident or someone is telling a fantastic story.What do you think?

http://www.thelocal.fr/page/view/freak- ... RDaLB0qaE3

The apparent accident took place in the Oise department of northern France early on Sunday morning, where a hunt was in progress at the time.

According to reports in French media, the hunters have claimed that while out tracking wild boar, one of their party aimed a shot, but the bullet flew off the animal at an “unlikely angle,” before travelling across the fields and striking the passing motorist in the head.

The victim’s wife, who was with him in the car when he was shot, managed to take control of the vehicle and narrowly avoided a line of trees before ending up in a nearby field.

The woman was found in shock by firefighters and taken to hospital.

“It’s unheard-of,” Guy Harlé d’Ophove, president of the local hunters’ federation, told Europe 1 radio.

“The bullet rebounded [off the boar] at almost a right angle. In terms of probability, it’s very unlikely,” he concluded.

The suspected shooter is said to be an “experienced and level-headed” 68-year-old hunter, according to French daily Le Parisien.

As police combed the surrounding area for clues, investigators have been left mystified as to how the hunter’s bullet ricocheted off the boar at such a wide angle, and travelled a reported 2km before killing the motorist.

The local prosecutor emphasized that “everything remains to be clarified.”

Autopsy results are expected later on Monday.

Best-
Vikram

[nagarifle]

possible but have doutes about this though

[TC]

Vikram reports like these make me extremely curious. This sounds like a fantastic tale to me.... but it would help if we knew what rifle and cartridge was used.
If the slug travelled 2 km after hitting a boar and still had enough energy to kill a man by penetrating the skull (I presume that's what the report means when it says 'hit in the head') then it had to be a very high velocity round and possibly a hard nose. A soft nose or hollow point would have deformed on first impact, tumbled, possibly disintegrate badly and thus lose most of the energy. Moreover it would have taken a shape in which it would be difficult to travel at high speed, hit a second target (that too a human head) and still retain some shape that would make people recognise it as a bullet and not a fragment of metal.
I am too confused. Something does not fit in the picture. For example we don't know what kind of boar we are talking here. Where was it hit? The report says the hunter in question is very experienced so he must have used the right rifle and not an old blackpowder gun and ball ammo. Question is, did he actually hit the boar or fire in the air and the bullet hit the motorist directly ?

TC

[dr.jayakumar]

Or could be a planned murder?i don't believe that it could ricochet for 2km.
regards
dr.jk

[brihacharan]

> Seems highly improbable - almost mysterious!
> As TC put it the first impact on the Boar ought to have deformed the bullet & caused it to lose momentum & drop heavily, forget travelling another 2kms!!!
> BTW there's no mention of the "wounded boar" anywhere in the report!
> Anther angle is that the old hunter might've been using a full metal clad 'army issue' ammunition & might not have hit the boar.
> Would be interesting to read what their subsequent investigation found!
Briha

[essdee1972]

Sherlock Holmes required!

If we take the two extreme options given by TCda & Brihaji.......
1. muzzle loader with black powder and round ball - can this even travel for 2 KM? Unless the load was heavy - at the risk of a barrel blowout.
2. FMJ round - how did it not penetrate the boar? OK, maybe the boar was thicker skinned than normal boars (which are thick skinned anyway). But any impact would probably have thrown the bullet off it's spin, making its flight unstable and hence tumble and lose velocity.

Brihaji, you have experience of boar hunting in the old pre-ban days...... ever heard of something like this?

The cops should probably check the relations of the hunter with the victim / his wife. And so on. Just hope the French don't put that inspector from Pink Panther on the job!

[brihacharan]

[quote="essdee1972"]
Sherlock Holmes required!

Brihaji, you have experience of boar hunting in the old pre-ban days...... ever heard of something like this?

> NO!
> Boars are tough skinned with a lot of bristles on them - Remember many years ago 'A big male took 2 180gr above the shoulder and ran 500yds before he finally rested!
Briha

[hvj1]

In Kolhapur many years ago,in the pre-ban days, a hunter fired his 30-06, the bullet bounced off the skull of the boar and hit the same hunter in the eye. Now hows that for an unlikely angle?
Had it not been for my brother in law, who was in the same hunting party at that time, I would have dismissed the story outright. But I firmly that it was a bloody cover up. So also this case in France.

[TwoRivers]

Didn't know they made body armor, or steel helmets for boars. Learn something new every day.

Jokes aside, a glancing hit, a bullet hitting the top of the skull at a very slight angle, could be deflected upwards and keep on traveling a considerable distance. So I would say that it is definitely possible for this to have happened; though statistically extremely unlikely. A cosmic chance. Getting hit in the head by a bullet fired two kilometers away, and meant for a boar, just doesn't happen once in a million shots fired.

[TC]

Essdee you probably did not read the whole of it. I said

The report says the hunter in question is very experienced so he must have used the right rifle and not an old blackpowder gun and ball ammo.

As two rivers says. I agree with his theory that a slug can travel if it just skids off a boar's head at a very low angle. But for how long and at what angle ? This report of too full of mystery and too short of specific information.

Hvj1 I can narrate another incident from the pre-ban days where a fully grown male took a 450-400 in the shoulder and ran for at least 50 mts towards the hunter before biting dust.

TC

[dr.jayakumar]

In Kolhapur many years ago,in the pre-ban days, a hunter fired his 30-06, the bullet bounced off the skull of the boar and hit the same hunter in the eye. Now hows that for an unlikely angle?
Had it not been for my brother in law, who was in the same hunting party at that time, I would have dismissed the story outright. But I firmly that it was a bloody cover up. So also this case in France.

Kholapur incident, the hunter must have been close,maybe 100yrds max.this is 2km...something fishy,am sure.probably someone shot him deliberatly.
regards
dr.jk

[brihacharan]

In Kolhapur many years ago,in the pre-ban days, a hunter fired his 30-06, the bullet bounced off the skull of the boar and hit the same hunter in the eye. Now hows that for an unlikely angle?
Had it not been for my brother in law, who was in the same hunting party at that time, I would have dismissed the story outright. But I firmly that it was a bloody cover up. So also this case in France.

Kholapur incident, the hunter must have been close,maybe 100yrds max.this is 2km...something fishy,am sure.probably someone shot him deliberatly.
regards
dr.jk

> Even 100yds is mystifying - In my experience with hunting boars, its rare that one confronts them at that range - In India they are confined to jungle thickets bordering paddy fields & they come to feed only at dusk.
> Most shots are taken between 50 to 75 yds and the shot placements are just behind the shoulder...
1. The shot enters the heart & the shock immobilizes the boar
2. If not it smashes the shoulder bone which incapcitates it - anchors it for placing a second shot.
> If shot anywhere else this blessed animal can take the punishment & turn around to charge at the hunter.
> There are several incidents I know of where hunters have come to grief through wrong shot placements.
Briha

[Skyman]

Only very powerful rifle rounds travel 2 km etc on target.A bullet which hit a boar, probably two feet high ricocheted and killed a guy in a car at least 4-5 feet high? .50 cal bullets at a mile drop something like 2-3 feet!

[Vikram]

.50 cal bullets at a mile drop something like 2-3 feet!

Are you sure?


Best-
Vikram

[Skyman]

Yes, was watching a video of a USMC sniper who took out a Taliban commander.He said the man was standing in a doorway, and he was aiming at the wall three feet above him, for the bullet to hit his chest for the kill, with a Barret .50.

This was after corrections made wrt wind etc.So that's corrections plus he had to aim higher.