The disc didn't survive? I bet...
... a Blu-ray disc with the special coating would have.
US man saved by bulletproof DVD
A South Carolina fire chief caught up in a scuffle for a gun had a close shave when a ricocheted bullet hit a DVD in his jacket pocket, saving him from a slug in the guts. Barry McRoy, director of Colleton County's Fire and Rescue Department, had popped into Walterboro Waffle House early on Saturday morning after helping put …
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Wednesday 20th February 2008 12:30 GMT Anonymous Coward
What's that smell, smells a bit like a cow pat...
No, it must be bull sh*t
If a bullet had enough kinetic energy to smash a DVD, it would simply have continued into his stomach... more likely it smashed when he doubled over in surprise and simply broke it that way.
The 'bullet fragment' might have fallen into his pocket, or it might be something quite old - I find all sorts of old things in my jacket pockets!
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Wednesday 20th February 2008 12:49 GMT Graham Dawson
@ac's cow pat
Read the article again. It definitely doesn't say that the bullet was discharged directly into the disc. It says the bullet ricocheted off something and back into his abdomen, which means it probably hit the dvd at a shallow angle and bounced away again, shattering the disc in the process. If it had just been soft squishy flesh there it would have dug in and made a nasty hole but since the disc is made of a flexible material it would be able to absorb a lot of energy and disperse it by shattering under the stress, a teeny bit like ablative armour. I don't think anyone is suggesting that a DVD could stop a bullet travelling straight at it...
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Wednesday 20th February 2008 12:49 GMT milan
@ Anonymous Coward
You must have failed to read that the round had already been slowed by contact with the gunman, passing through a plate glass window and a richochet.
It's very very possible that the round retained enough momentum to pass through his coat and hit the DvD. In all likelyhood it was the coat that saved him from any harm, (slight though it may have been). It's also possible that the DvD was the final piece of resistance that stopped the round as it was pressed against his body.
If the DvD hadn't been there it's possible he may have been scratched or have a bigger bruise than he currently has, unlikely to be anywhere close to lethal though. Take it from someone who has actually been shot at far too may times.
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Wednesday 20th February 2008 13:48 GMT Nick Cassimatis
Illegal to record a TV show
Since when is it illegal to record a TV show? Would then owning a VCR be illegal? Is there a list of DVD recorder owners out there, with someone sneaking into their homes nightly to see what they recorded???
If DVR's are illegal as well, I'll take Time Warner down with me!
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Wednesday 20th February 2008 15:18 GMT Liam O'Flaherty
A Ben Dover DVD more like!
I bet it was actually filthy muck muck and he was too ashamed to say:
"Yes, I was on my way home to pummel the pudding to a vast compilation of dirt my friend obtained via p2p app's".
Still, lucky guy (apart from the loss of his filth).
Paris because she features in a dirty DVD, the wee harlot!
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Wednesday 20th February 2008 20:04 GMT geekWithA.45
The DVD's irrelevant.
Experienced shooters are often struck by riccochets of the "bounceback" variety. I've been hit myself, (from my own .45, no less) and I know at least a few others who have as well.
A "bounceback" strikes a wall, target fame, or whatnot, and changes direction by nearly 180 degrees, which means that most of the momentum and velocity is expended. If you spend any time at the range and are observant, sooner or later you'll find a fired bullet on the wrong end of the range.
They strike with roughly the same force as a paintball, which is enough to hurt & raise a welt, but generally not enough to break the skin. That it hit the DVD was entirely arbitrary and not germane to the outcome.
The riccochets that can harm you are the ones that substantially follow the original vector of the bullet. Striking a wall, for example, will change the direction of travel by less than 180 degrees, leaving most of the velocity intact. Those are the riccochets that ranges are specifically designed to contain, as they can lead to tragedy.
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Wednesday 20th February 2008 23:00 GMT Jon Tocker
re geekWithA.45
Had a similar experience years ago with an air rifle and received a very light tap when the .177 slug came back at me. It surprised the hell out of me as I wasn't expecting it. Never experienced it with any of my more powerful firearms so far.
To the AC who can smell cow-pats: I suggest the origin of the smell is a lot closer to you than your computer. I get seriously annoyed by those who obviously know no more about firearms than what they've learned from watching Hollywood movies trying to pass themselves off as experts on the topic.
The fire chief did say "I felt something like being hit in the stomach and assumed it was the /percussion/ from the discharged firearm," (my emphasis on "percussion") which suggests it was not a particularly substantial impact so the projectile (or a fragment thereof) was probably already robbed of most its energy prior to striking him.
Milan and gWA.45 are quite correct: in this case, he probably would have been no worse than bruised even if the DVD were not in the way.
He was just plain lucky. If he'd been in a position to take a skimming ricochet of less than 180 degrees (such as gWA.45 mentioned) or the projectile had impacted with less objects en route, he would probably be in hospital getting fragments of projectile and DVD removed from his guts.
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Thursday 21st February 2008 01:44 GMT Anonymous Coward
Air Rifle Bounceback
Yeah, there was one particular fence post that I hit it square on with my air rifle it would send the slug almost straight back at me. I got hit a few times, never broke the skin.
PS: This was in the days before DVDs and CDs, so I was unprotected.
Mine's the one with the prirate copy of "The Shootist" in the pocket.
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Thursday 28th February 2008 11:39 GMT Chris
@stuart byrne
Thats a load of old crap.
It's perfectly legal to record a TV show in the UK. Where the law gets stupid is that this recording can only be watched by the TV Liscence holder once, then must be erased.
If it was illegal to record TV shows completly in the UK, these new DVR TV recorders (Sky+, BT Vision) would have a bit of a hard time wouldn't they?
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Friday 29th February 2008 06:54 GMT Jacob Lipman
@people arguing about UK TV laws
Irrelevant. This happened in South Carolina (conveniently located on the opposite side of the pond).
Something similar happened recently in my area (Nebraska, US), but with much worse results. A fellow was disassembling a Glock handgun at a local range, and neglected to clear the chamber first. As a result, the weapon discharged when he pulled the trigger (which must be done to disassemble the weapon), and a bullet fragment ricocheted off a counter and into another man's chest.
At the same range, I've been struck by chunks of copper jacket a few times, but never a whole bullet. They definitely lose the better part of their momentum when they bounce back; a piece of jacket roughly 2mmx3mm struck me in the throat once, and resulted in nothing more severe than a minor burn.
I see no reason to doubt the fire chief's story. A projectile is bound to stop eventually, as it loses momentum every time it strikes something or someone. He simply happened to be the last thing it struck, and it lacked the momentum to penetrate his DVD.
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