Anyone here ever shot a vehicle tire with a handgun...?

[AJMD429]

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I keep hearing that the officer about-to-be-run-over should have "shot the tire out", as if that was even possible when the vehicle was only a few feet in front of him (he would have had to squat or lie down to even see the tire under the front of the vehicle).

I guess the've seen the movies where Charles Bronson or whoever the lates James Bond character is, takes aim with his snubby 357 or 380, and hits the tire of a speeding vehicle, causing an immediate blow-out and loss of control, as the bad-guy's car then swerves, flips, and hits a bridge abutment upside-down, bursting into explosive flames (like all automobiles evidently do under such circumstances).

Having just removed pieces of a deer ulna (or whatever the deer-equivelant of that bone is) from my wife's car tire, I can tell you that that huge hole didn't cause the tire to immediately destruct, or even instantly deflate. There was a loud whooshing noise, and over a period of a minute or so the tire did go flat. Now one of our neighbors when I was a kid, took VERY unkindly to trespassers on his property, and he had three ways he'd deal with them. One was to flip the vehicle onto it's top with his front-end loader, but that was a lot of trouble to go to, so usually he would just take a gallon jug of gasoline, toss it under the car, and throw a match to it. Fortunately for him, he was a very wealthy guy with connections, so the sheriff would just tell the 'victim' - "I guess from now on, you'll be more careful where you park, and not park on other people's property". He would sometimes also push vehicles into the river, if they were on that part of his property.

But one thing he showed me when I was out walking with him, and he found a 'repeat offender' (he would just leave a note on the vehicles the first time they trespassed past the 'posted' signs, unless they had already cut a cable or smashed a gate). Too much bother to go get the tractor, and he didn't just carry around jugs of gasoline 'in-case', and the vehicle wasn't near the river and unlocked. So he got out his 1911 (Gold Cup no less - a wealthy guy). He told me that if he shot the rim, the tire would deflate faster, and if he shot the sidewall, it would deflate a bit slower, and if he shot through the tread, it would be slowest. He added that the other thing that could be done was to shoot straight into the rear axle (from a bit more distance), which would destroy bearings and really cause more trouble than just a flat tire. He then proceeded to demonstrate each method....! I wasn't as surprised that he was going to that length to deal with a 'mere trespasser' (he'd had a lot of theft and vandalism, so was kind of a zero-tolerance person when it came to trespass), as I was amazed that he hit almost dead-center on the rear axle from probably 30 feet or so. Whatever the bullet did there, must have been not-good, because thick oily fluid came oozing out of the hole.

As far as the tires though, it was exactly as he said, and NONE of them rim-shot included, deflated the tire fast enough that a moving vehicle would have even been affected until it had traveled probably 50 yards for the rim and maybe sidewall, but the tread-shot took at least 30 seconds to deflate the tire fully.

30 seconds would be plenty of time to run down someone three to six feet in front of your vehicle, and probably enough time to go and turn around and come charging back into the crowd with more speed and danger. Even after a tire is fully deflated, if it isn't on a drive-wheel, I think the vehicle would be harder to steer and bring up to highway speeds, but certainly could remain a very dangerous battering-ram.

I do NOT intend this post to be a re-visit of the "should the ICE agent have shot Ms Good" issue, but rather just specifically to address the comments by so many that "he could have just shot the tire out". IS THAT REALLY A VIABLE OPTION...???

[piller]

I was never around when a tire was shot. However, I see movies showing firearms doing the impossible all the time. 30 round magazines firing 500 rounds is my favorite.

[TedH]

I haven't, but now you have me wanting to conduct some experiments with various cartridges. I have a limitless supply of old tires I could use. Maybe this spring when things warm up.

[Blaine]

I haven't, but now you have me wanting to conduct some experiments with various cartridges. I have a limitless supply of old tires I could use. Maybe this spring when things warm up.

Gosh, Ted....Tread carefully.

[jeepnik]

I really like the way bullets cause tires to explode with a great deal of flame. Perhaps the bullet hits the rim on the way in and the tire is filled with hydrogen to make it lighter. Or, bullets sparking when it hits wood and such.

[4t5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udd-SHNIHoc

[4t5]

Adam Wies , aka who-tee-who ( on you tube ) also won season 6 of the Outdoor channel’s Air gun challenge .
He seems like a great guy .

[AJMD429]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udd-SHNIHoc

For the purposes of the Minnesota incident, it would be interesting to see that tire's speed of deflation if supporting a simulated load of some sort approximating that of a vehicle.

Interesting the 9mm sort of did better than the 45 ACP, to the extent it made a hole in the rim as well.

I think if I had a solid interlaced stack of tires to hide behind, I'd feel it was fairly good 'cover' versus many other things though. Our local range used shredded tires and allowed indoor fire of up to 30-06 and so on. BUT.....eventually someone fired a tracer round into the backstop, and it caught fire - and the fire department could NOT put it out...! They even bashed into the concrete block wall and took off the side of the building, but the tire shreds just kept burning.

[Paladin]

Yes, I have tried, while shooting from the back seat of a police cruiser on the interstate in 1978. Two rounds of .357 Mag from a 4-inch Colt revolver. One hit the hub cap that came off. And one hit the tire but did not deflate it. The driver had killed a PA Officer in Uniontown and had come into WV when we found him. Only time I ever tried with a handgun. Not a recommended course of action for anyone I ever trained.

[jeepnik]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udd-SHNIHoc

Apples and oranges. Shoot the .45 acp out of a 16" barrel and hit the tires at the same point and angle.