Comment on How likely is it that Trump will be the first President assassinated since Kennedy?
Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 11 months agoRange - Trump was over 300 yards away from the shooter.
He was around 150 yards. Not 300.
But if he had a proper target rifle in a better long range caliber and a telescopic sight he would have had a much better chance of succeeding.
At that distance and wind conditions a chest shot would have been better. But he aimed for the head.
Fixed, thank you.
Chest shot wouldn’t work. Like I said, at that point in the campaign, the former president has secret service protection and was probably wearing soft armor underneath. Even then, you would need a hit that is instantly lethal. If you hit the lung, liver, or even a major blood vessel, and he still lives because he has priority medical care on standby, so you would need to hit the heart to get the job done. Heart is smaller than head.
Even with soft body armor. A high velocity round like the .300 win mag or 6.5 creedmoor with boat tail JHPs would still zip through like nothing is there. The cavitation that those rounds make is devastating. Also the shooter tried to go for a follow up shot but missed. Double hitting the chest would have been more possible and that would be much more likely to do it.
I am aware of the circumstances that president’s and ex-presidents have in terms of medical support. All of his bodyguards are probably EMT level trained and they probably have a full on trauma team ready. But getting the head under those circumstances would have been tough.
But then again… if he did have a proper target rifle and long range caliber… the head would have been easier to hit and maybe the wind wouldn’t have blown it off course as much.
Was he using 300-win or 6.5? From what I heard it was 223 or 5.56.
He was using a .223.
The rifle he used was a cheap, bottom of the line AR-15. The AR-15s are so popular and made by so many manufacturers that they have super low end and super high end. He had on the lower end.
I do not know what kind of .223 he was using. But that round has been experimented with for so long that there is a load for every occasion. He probably didn’t use decent ammo. You need something that can is specifically designed for longer range, precision shooting. The rounds are much more expensive but you do get what you are paying for.
He also used iron sights. No scope. And he was not known as a particularly good shot. It is actually surprising how close he came.
BTW, the .223 would still have penetrated soft body armor even at that distance. Even military vests designed for combat zones don’t stop rifle rounds until it is fired from a few hundred meters. It would not have stopped a .223 to the chest.
Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world 11 months ago
He had a 2x optic on the rifle.
Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Not what I heard. But if that was the case then he was a worse shot than anticipated. He still came VERY close though.