what happens to bullets when shot in the air?

[DeerWoods26]

came across and thought itwas interesting ....

what happens to bullets when shot in the air?

"The saying "What goes up must come down" is an appropriate starting point. If you fire a gun into the air, the bullet will travel up to a mile high (depending on the angle of the shot and the power of the gun).

Once it reaches its apogee, the bullet will fall. Air resistance limits its speed, but bullets are designed to be fairly aerodynamic, so the speed is still quite lethal if the bullet happens to hit someone. In rural areas, the chance of hitting someone is remote because the number of people is low. In crowded cities, however, the probability rises dramatically, and people get killed quite often by stray bullets. Most major cities have laws in place to try to keep people from shooting guns into the air in celebration."

[JR]

Mythbusters tested this myth.

[Kevin]

So is it correct?

[JR]

If I remember their show correctly after it begins to fall back to earth it achieves terminal velocity and the bullet doesn't have enough mass to do much damage. I think it is youtube time to check it out.

[ArkansasSloughboy]

Well... I know that on CSI Miami a returning bullet killed someone. It's got to be real then.? Huh?

[elkhunter-ny]

I don't believe many things on mythbusters.  They set up a machine to shoot arrows for a "Robin Hood."  The machine couldn't do it.  They said it was a "busted" myth, a Robin Hood shot is impossible.  Almost everyone I know who shoots archery has at least one Robin Hood, some have many. 

[GH1]

 According to Wikipedia, the US Army did a study in 1920 regarding terminal velocity. They used a .30-06 bullet for the test and it's terminal velocity was 200 mph, or about 325 FPS.
 Terminal velocity is acheived when the force of gravity that causes something to accelerate towards earth is counter acted by the friction of the air on the object. Eventually a point is reached in which the object can't accelerate any more.
  T.V. is different for different objects and is affected by air density, humidity, and the aerodynamics of the falling object.  A skydiver falls at about 120 MPH, a Falconm gets closer to 200 MPH.
 Personally, I think getting hit with a 150 gr bullet @ 325 FPS will most certainly wreck your day, I don't care what Mythbusters says.
GH1