Will a near miss with something like a 50 BMG injure, disable, or kill a human? This myth has been a part of internet lore for more than a decade. Today we’ll dig into this question with a scientific insights, an extensive “laboratory” setup, an experiment shooting 50 BMG, and analysis of the results. Let’s put this myth to bed once and for all!
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The Myth
For years now, people have claimed to have evidence that a near miss from a 50 BMG can be fatal. Here’s one example from YouTube.
Viewer Discretion Advised
In this video, Keith claims that his near missed killed the deer in question. It’s a bit hard to tell exactly what happened just from the footage.
You’ll also see this question arise in discussion forums and pages, here’s one example from Quora:
While this Myth seems to be discussed frequently, I’ve only seen anecdotal/simple experiments attempting to answer this question and solve the mystery. Enter scientific testing equipment!
Some Medical Information for Context
John found the following article which explores the required air pressure differential to cause damage to the ear:
The summary here is that as little as 5psi pressure can cause rupture of the ear drum.
John also found this article:
The above article concludes that about 1.0 MPa (145 PSI) pressure would be required to rupture the human eye. That’s a lot, and at first glance, eyes seem to be a lot more robust with regard to pressure compared to ears.
The Setup and Experiment
For this experiment, I’m joined by John Miller, VP of Engineering at Dewesoft. John is a Professional Engineer, experimenter, and an expert with data acquisition systems + hardware/software.
Pressure in the air is the only phenomenon where forces can be transmitted from the bullet to the human body when direct contact does not occur. In light of this, we decided to focus on air pressure differential as the key factor when considering injury or death due to a near miss from a bullet.
Pressure Testing Setup
Here we have:
- Dewesoft Sirius 8-channel DAC module (capable of 200,000 samples/sec)
- 100 PSI pressure sensor (open to the air)
- Windows PC running DewesoftX Software
Our Sirius 8-channel unit:
Protective case we put together:
Test Data Software Setup used to collect and plot data in real-time using DewesoftX:
The Test
For the shooting in this test, we’re using the full-custom 50 BMG that I built here on Ultimate Reloader. A quick overview of the setup:
- BAT EX Action
- Accurate Rifle Systems ELR Chassis
- Accuracy Solutions BipodeXt
- Triebel Reamers and Gauges
- Brownells Barrel Vise
- APA Gen 2 XXX Bastard brake
The ammunition we’re using here is 680 grain military ammunition (belt fed machine gun ammunition) with a velocity of around 2,750 feet per second average.
Shots were fired at the following distances from the air pressure sensor:
- 24″
- 18″
- 12″
- 6″
- 3″
These were the distances I aimed at, with actual distances varying from this by as much as 1″. The goal was to correlate increasing air pressure observed as distance was reduced.
Results
As seen in the video, pressure builds in a non-linear fashion as the distance between the bullet and pressure sensor is reduced. Here’s a plot of the pressure readings:
As you can see in the diagram, the hypothetical maximum for air pressure at near-zero distance between the bullet and the human head would be perhaps as high as 4.0 PSI. Interestingly, this is just below the 5.0 PSI threshold for ear drum rupture outlined in the article referenced earlier in this write-up. 4 PSI is WAY below the 145 PSI required for eye rupture, so that’s not a concern at all.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a near miss from a 50 BMG presents a VERY small likelihood of actual damage to the human ear. A near miss from a 50 BMG will not cause damage to the eyes. While a lot of people on the internet have “disproven” this myth with anecdotal information and experiments, it has been interesting and fulfilling to put actual numbers to the phenomenon and to end this myth once and for all!
Here are some links for the equipment used in this article:
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Thanks,
Gavin