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(KOAM TV Joplin)   Gun show organizers at a loss to explain how a Howitzer shell hit a house three miles away in a different direction from where it was fired   (koamtv.com) divider line
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    More: Weird  
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7879 clicks; posted to Main » on 25 Jun 2014 at 2:45 PM (8 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



110 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest


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ZAZ [TotalFark]
2014-06-25 11:35:19 AM  
I saw a sign in Colorado:

"WARNING back country skiers -- avalanche blasting at any time using long range weaponry"

The gun show should post signs like that around the county. Then it's your own dumb fault for living downrange (whichever direction that may be today).
 
Yaw String [TotalFark]
2014-06-25 12:27:13 PM  
i65.photobucket.comView Full Size
 
groppet
2014-06-25 2:47:17 PM  
Kentucky windage?
 
Valiente
2014-06-25 2:48:14 PM  
Men of this mental calibre...
 
Maud Dib
2014-06-25 2:48:57 PM  
Another responsible "canon" owner.
 
Callous
2014-06-25 2:49:02 PM  
The gun range owner says the weapon was fired safely by professionals at a downward projection.

Excuse me if I fail to believe you.
 
cgraves67
2014-06-25 2:49:17 PM  
It went ALL THE WAY AROUND THE EARTH.
 
vudukungfu [TotalFark]
2014-06-25 2:50:15 PM  
  Sergeant Frank Tree: You shouldn't touch the ordnance at all.
 Sergeant Frank Tree: But more specifically, you should never pull this hand-operating lever to the rear.
 Ward Douglas: Never.
 Sergeant Frank Tree: Do not push a clip of ammunition down into the feed rollers here.
 Ward Douglas: No Sir, never.
 Sergeant Frank Tree: You never restore this lever to firing position. Do not make sure that this cover is completely closed.
 Ward Douglas: No Sir.
 Sergeant Frank Tree: Never depress operator's foot triggers here, here and at the rear here.
 
ChipNASA
2014-06-25 2:50:22 PM  

Yaw String: [i65.photobucket.com image 733x550]


wired.comView Full Size
 
stevarooni
2014-06-25 2:51:00 PM  
I wish the local gun shows would also offer full auto shoots!  :D

Sounds like they were way too close to residential areas to be firing a howitzer.
 
busy chillin'
2014-06-25 2:51:04 PM  
It was fired by a guy name Ric O. Chet.
 
StopDaddy
2014-06-25 2:51:13 PM  
chrisandelizabethwatchmovies.files.wordpress.comView Full Size



Guilty party...
 
Jaden Smith First of His Name
2014-06-25 2:51:34 PM  
Sure everybody gets all weepy when a lost dog finally finds its way home, but oh no this Howitzer shell returns and everyone's all like "Hey, safety first, man."
 
DrunkenYodaZen
2014-06-25 2:51:39 PM  
It is an Australian cannon and has a boomerang effect.
 
busy chillin'
2014-06-25 2:52:01 PM  
named!

/$732
 
Mikey1969 [OhFark]
2014-06-25 2:52:15 PM  
Homeowner Gene Kelley could not fathom what he found after hearing a large crash inside his home.

Dance, motherfarker, dance!!

listyes.comView Full Size
 
iheartscotch
2014-06-25 2:52:20 PM  
Somebody really screwed up on their trajectory calculations or it's a different 105mm shell. But, I'm betting that somebody really screwed up on their trajectory calculations.
 
Dadoody
2014-06-25 2:52:21 PM  
m9.i.pbase.comView Full Size
 
UncomfortableSilence
2014-06-25 2:53:09 PM  
If we ban howitzers, then only criminals will have howitzers.
 
groppet
2014-06-25 2:54:01 PM  
Must be related to the Kennedy magic bullet.
 
Egoy3k
2014-06-25 2:55:30 PM  
The comments are pretty telling.  Nothing is really condemning but anything negative about the range is down voted and the guy saying something like "Oh yeah but I bet they fired a lot of rounds from that so only one shell accidentally plowing through a house 3 miles away is totally OK" is up voted.
 
Mikey1969 [OhFark]
2014-06-25 2:55:39 PM  
I don''t have PS here at work. Can someone throw an artillery shell into this pic?

www-tc.pbs.orgView Full Size
 
bungle_jr
2014-06-25 2:55:49 PM  

Yaw String: [i65.photobucket.com image 733x550]


glad to see this so early in the thread
 
gaslight [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2014-06-25 2:56:52 PM  
Canons don't kill people. People kill people.
 
JustGetItRight
2014-06-25 2:56:55 PM  
I understand the story writer doesn't know artillery, but when I saw 14" shell in the headline I wondered how the house was still standing.

This is a 14" shell.
concretebattleship.orgView Full Size


They were fired by battleships.

Here's what hit the house.
psywar.orgView Full Size


/Artillery shell size is measured by diameter, not length.
//Wouldn't want to be on the business end of either one.
 
MFAWG
2014-06-25 2:57:08 PM  
Actual military gunners get it 180 out occasionally, so yeah dipshiats.
 
johnny_vegas [TotalFark]
2014-06-25 2:57:45 PM  
media.sdreader.comView Full Size


I think i see what happened....
 
iheartscotch
2014-06-25 2:58:31 PM  

DrunkenYodaZen: It is an Australian cannon and has a boomerang effect.


Well, you remember Einstein's theory, sir- space is curved?

/ If you're scratching your head; think Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Martin, movie, 1996
 
SovietCanuckistan
2014-06-25 2:58:43 PM  
Fun fact: A Howitzer is technically not a gun
 
Felgraf
2014-06-25 2:59:15 PM  
RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERSHIP.
 
Crass and Jaded Mother Farker
2014-06-25 2:59:17 PM  
"OK guys, we've almost got it..

If we crank it up 2 more degrees when we fire it..

The cannonball will travel around the world and land right here in this wastebasket."
 
fappomatic
2014-06-25 2:59:38 PM  

iheartscotch: Somebody really screwed up on their trajectory calculations or it's a different 105mm shell. But, I'm betting that somebody really screwed up on their trajectory calculations.


Either that and/or the downward angle caused a ricochet and the rotation of the projectile caused a change in degrees of train at the point of contact with the ground.
 
Milo Minderbinder
2014-06-25 2:59:58 PM  
I think this Second Amendment stuff is getting out of control.

/wants to open carry a flamethrower.
 
UNC_Samurai
2014-06-25 3:01:14 PM  
Ordnance templates must have gotten really nasty scatter dice in the new edition.
 
Ivan the Tolerable
2014-06-25 3:01:14 PM  

ZAZ: I saw a sign in Colorado:

"WARNING back country skiers -- avalanche blasting at any time using long range weaponry"



They don't screw around, either. Don't know if they still use them, but in Colorado about 15 years ago I was introduced to what the 'long range weaponry' there were using at one of my buddies resorts to clear avalanche danger -  and other than being painted bright yellow and missing some external parts, it appeared to be a standard Korean War-era 105mm recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher. Yes, they were shooting off goddamn full-sized bazookas to solve the problem. Admittedly, safer than climbing up into the danger area and manually placing charges, but still. Daaaaaaaaamn.

/Wouldn't let me shoot it though.
 
Jument
2014-06-25 3:02:14 PM  

SovietCanuckistan: Fun fact: A Howitzer is technically not a gun


What if it's an assault howitzer?
 
stevarooni
2014-06-25 3:02:30 PM  

Milo Minderbinder: /wants to open carry a flamethrower.


Check your State and local ordinances, but it doesn't count as a firearm (ironically?).  :D
 
iheartscotch
2014-06-25 3:02:34 PM  

iheartscotch: DrunkenYodaZen: It is an Australian cannon and has a boomerang effect.

Well, you remember Einstein's theory, sir- space is curved?

/ If you're scratching your head; think Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Martin, movie, 1996


Damn auto correct; meant Phil Hartman.
 
BraFish
2014-06-25 3:03:23 PM  
Clearly they shot in the opposite direction and just used too much powder.

galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.eduView Full Size
 
Muzzleloader
2014-06-25 3:03:33 PM  
Proof yet again that the 10% rule is a real biatch.
 
R.O.U.S
2014-06-25 3:03:37 PM  
From the video it's a pretty shallow valley and everyone is at the top of one side, supposedly shooting down. It would be easy enough to bounce the shell off something in the valley (rock, metal target, etc) and over the far edge of the valley.

ncit.comView Full Size


Probably happens plenty of times with small caliber bullets, but they don't have enough energy after ricocheting off a rock/target to make it 3 miles...
 
Rootus
2014-06-25 3:03:47 PM  
I love the brilliant deduction of the guys firing the cannon.  "Hey, we pointed down towards the ground, how could it have gone up instead?"  Okay numbnuts, you are hereby disqualified from ever firing a large caliber weapon again.  Next time make sure you have a proper backstop or don't fire the damn gun.
 
DrunkenYodaZen
2014-06-25 3:03:59 PM  

iheartscotch: DrunkenYodaZen: It is an Australian cannon and has a boomerang effect.

Well, you remember Einstein's theory, sir- space is curved?

/ If you're scratching your head; think Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Martin, movie, 1996


Can't is a four letter word in this platoon.
 
SonOfSpam [BareFark]
2014-06-25 3:04:18 PM  

Milo Minderbinder: I think this Second Amendment stuff is getting out of control.

/wants to open carry a flamethrower.


Flamethrowers are not controlled items, so knock yourself out.
 
Knockers
2014-06-25 3:04:31 PM  
So how did a 105mm howitzer fire a 3 1/2 inch shell?

Maybe the writer should check his math next time.
 
uncleacid [OhFark]
2014-06-25 3:05:24 PM  
Cover up the hole with duct tape, it's the American way.
 
Raoul Eaton [TotalFark]
2014-06-25 3:06:41 PM  

JustGetItRight: I understand the story writer doesn't know artillery, but when I saw 14" shell in the headline I wondered how the house was still standing.

This is a 14" shell.
[concretebattleship.org image 800x600]

They were fired by battleships.

Here's what hit the house.
[www.psywar.org image 500x386]

/Artillery shell size is measured by diameter, not length.
//Wouldn't want to be on the business end of either one.


I kind of wondered about that.  It seemed weird that they'd be able to get one of these into a gun show:
uss-corry-dd463.comView Full Size
 
JohnnyRebel88
2014-06-25 3:12:04 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size

Sometimes I am disappointed with the lack of quality references
 
R.O.U.S
2014-06-25 3:12:44 PM  

Ivan the Tolerable: ZAZ: I saw a sign in Colorado:

"WARNING back country skiers -- avalanche blasting at any time using long range weaponry"


They don't screw around, either. Don't know if they still use them, but in Colorado about 15 years ago I was introduced to what the 'long range weaponry' there were using at one of my buddies resorts to clear avalanche danger -  and other than being painted bright yellow and missing some external parts, it appeared to be a standard Korean War-era 105mm recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher. Yes, they were shooting off goddamn full-sized bazookas to solve the problem. Admittedly, safer than climbing up into the danger area and manually placing charges, but still. Daaaaaaaaamn.

/Wouldn't let me shoot it though.


They often are 50-year old obsolete surplus rounds, and sometimes they don't go off. You can also see signs warning of unexploded rounds at ski hills that use ordnance:

crust.outlookalaska.comView Full Size


Pretty sure this kid got on Fark when he found one and took it home... http://juneauempire.com/stories/080306/sta_20060803018.shtml
 
Foxxinnia
2014-06-25 3:12:45 PM  
The shell that exploded near the house was not fired from the howitzer. It was planted earlier by someone who knew they would be firing those kinds of shells on that day. It's the perfect cover.
 
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