Silver dollars used as shooting targets

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by willieboyd2, May 25, 2014.

  1. Pacecar

    Pacecar Well-Known Member

    I don't know about the Silver Dollar exhibit, but the Museum is still going strong. I had to contact them to get the factory records for a 1889 Marlin Lever Action Rifle that I picked up at an estate auction. They do the Marlin records for antique guns.
     
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  3. JonG

    JonG New Member

    I shot this when Uncle Sam was providing the ammo - 5.56mm. Shot from the obverse.

    photo 3.JPG photo 1.JPG
     
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  4. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    You are correct Larry. But as said by others, it can depend on variables. The type of bullet, velocity, angle of incidence, so there are some times when the coin could be penetrated.

    And since somebody brought up William F. Cody, he was my great, great, granddaddy.
     
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  5. Circus

    Circus Tokens Only !! TEC#4981

  6. mlov43

    mlov43 주화 수집가

    Careful, shooting at flat pieces of metal.

    The "ouch" part is at 0:17:
     
  7. Blaubart

    Blaubart Melt Value = 4.50

    Just FYI - A .22 LR, one of the lowest energy cartridges out there, will penetrate a half dollar when shot square on.



    (I don't think the guy realized that a 1965 half is 40% silver. Oops!)

    While it was somewhat secured in a wooden base, the bullet would have passed through the coin was in the air. I have shot quarters taped to paper targets without any backing and a .22 LR passed right through. The mass of the coin and the speed of the bullet makes it so that it doesn't simply push the coin.

    When I was a kid, I used to place a quarter on the end of the barrel of .177 caliber pellet gun pointed straight up and it would push through the quarter (barely). Similar to the coin on the right:

    [​IMG]

    The ammo he was using in the video above was CCI Mini Mag, which is right around the middle of the road in the .22 LR family as far as energy goes:

    CCI Standard Velocity - 102 ft-lbs
    CCI Mini Mag - 135 ft-lbs
    CCI Stinger - 191 ft-lbs

    If a bullet with 135 ft-lbs of energy can penetrate a clad half, I suspect a bullet with 191 ft-lbs could penetrate a silver dollar, but I'm not going to try it.

    Just for comparison, here's how much energy other handgun calibers have:

    9mm - 380-500 ft-lbs
    .45 - 350-616 ft-lbs
    .44 mag - 760-1533 ft-lbs

    Older handguns had less energy (150-400 ft-lbs) than modern center fire calibers, but they were also shooting 90% silver coins, which are softer and easier to penetrate than cupro-nickel clad coins.

    So, yes, virtually any handgun could have enough energy to put a hole in a dollar. But, as mentioned above, much depends on the angle at which the coin is struck.
     
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  8. vlaha

    vlaha Respect. The. Hat.

    English Pit?

    NM, I doubt they'd allow that. :nailbiting:
     
  9. CamaroDMD

    CamaroDMD [Insert Clever Title] Supporter

    No, this was out in the woods...near Eugene, Oregon. There a bunch of long abandoned old quarrys out there and all kinds of places to go shooting.
     
  10. vlaha

    vlaha Respect. The. Hat.

    Hmm, that makes so much more sense... :bear:
     
  11. rzage

    rzage What Goes Around Comes Around .

    We were trying a new .357 I bought out at my friends house out in the boonies , shooting at an old washing machine , all of a sudden the lamp next to the girl I was with shattered . Now we were next to a small barn and the women were in the house . Suffice to say we were young and stupid . Since then I've only shot at ranges or places with a large safe background .
     
  12. CamaroDMD

    CamaroDMD [Insert Clever Title] Supporter

    I went shooting with a buddy at a gun range a while back (probably a year ago now)...we were shooting at those steel pistol targets, the one's that when you hit them they fall down. Well, he shot one (I think he was shooting a .380) and must have just grazed it because a small fragment of the bullet came back and hit him in the arm. It didn't really injure him...just broke the skin. But, it looked like it hurt. I have shot thousands of rounds of ammo in my life...I have never seen anything like that before or since.
     
  13. rzage

    rzage What Goes Around Comes Around .

    I guess one can never be too careful . Glad no one was seriously hurt . BTW what's an English Pit ?
     
  14. CamaroDMD

    CamaroDMD [Insert Clever Title] Supporter

    I googled it earlier...and the first thing that came up was a shoot range/gun club in Vancouver, Washington.
     
  15. BooksB4Coins

    BooksB4Coins Newbieus Sempiterna

    Good stuff... ;)
     
  16. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

  17. I was at a local coin show looking through some of he lower end stuff in baskets and I came across a 1868 Shield Nickel with a Colt .44 round ball dent in it. Could quite possibly be of the era. I wanted it so bad but the price was to high for a damaged coin.
     
  18. Allen Kennard

    Allen Kennard New Member

    I have one with a hole shot through it . It's dated two years before she died . My grandfather said she shot it , but my mom says she thinks granddad shot it .
     
  19. Allen Kennard

    Allen Kennard New Member

    I do , My grandfather said once it was shot by her , it's dated two years before she died . Mo mom said she thinks he shot it . He did like a practical joke , so...
     
  20. ToughCOINS

    ToughCOINS Dealer Member Moderator

    Good thing . . . you're MUCH bigger than a silver dollar!
     
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  21. Allen Kennard

    Allen Kennard New Member

    Kind of weird that it looks like the bullet pushed out both sides .
     
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