Brassiere belays boob-bound bullet, begetting bruised breastbone A German woman's brassiere may have saved her life by deflecting a bullet. A woman was almost killed during a hunt in North Eastern Germany, when a hunter missed his target and the rebound hit the 41-year-told tourist. The woman, who was cycling through Germany's least densely populated state of Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania …
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The shooter was damned lucky it was a ricochet and that it went nowhere near, say, one of her eyes. If the ricochet could strike her, it seems probable that she was lucky the direct shot missed her and her husband. As the couple were cycling across a field, how did this clever shooter manage not to see them? I imagine the law there is as clear as in other European countries about responsibility, taking care etc.. Merely being "within the law" is no defence against damage to property or injury to people or live stock. Of course, in the USA, as far as gun fans are concerned, neither other people nor property (apart from the gun) are relevant or important, as shown again and again by careless shooters, householders fearing burglars and the gun lobby after every fresh shooting outrage.
What is it about fans of guns that makes them careless of everyone else?
I do know about guns: I carried one for several years in a job. I have got no time for those who want to play with them anywhere outside a shooting range and not much time for those either.
How much impact can a bra-wire really stop? To my best knowledge*), they are similar in gauge to coat hangers meaning that the bullet did not have much energy left at the time and therefore would be very unlikely to kill the lady, even if she had been topless.
Bu never let facts spoil a good story ;-)
*) Mainly based on hanging the household laundry. Should do some more research...
Since no skin was broken and there was no mention of broken bone the question is whether it managed to put a hole in the cloth of whatever she was wearing. Typically, a hunting round has a soft tip or hollow point and will often break up on the initial impact leaving smaller parts that fly off with much less capability of inflicting damage. Of course it could have been a solid or tmj which is less likely to break up but the article doesn't state. The only time I've been hit by such shrapnel I was lucky enough that it didn't make it through the denim I was wearing but I did make the mistake of quickly picking up the shard in a wtf was that moment, a mistake because it was damn hot.
"How much impact can a bra-wire really stop?"
Depends on bullet velocity, composition and angle of impact.
Not knowing the details, but based on the report, low velocity due to "rebound" (ricochet), and a shallow angle of impact since the victim was riding by the hunting scene.
Assuming it was a shallow angle instead of head on, the length of the underwire would have helped deflect the bullet.
Plus, bra underwires are tougher than coathangers, spring steel rather than soft steel.
The strike was from a "rebound" - ricochet in the US -so, no, it didn't have much energy left. If you follow the screwy news, the armadillos in the southeast US and Texas have been shooting back too. One fellow bounced a round off an armadillo, through a fence and into his mother-in-law. That's the kind of hurt that keeps on giving and giving and giving. "No honey! No, I really was shooting at an armadillo. I'ld never mistake your mom for an armadillo. No honey, I could never have said something like that! You must have misheard!"
"One fellow bounced a round off an armadillo, through a fence and into his mother-in-law."
That armadillo's aim is getting better, This time he hit the guy that shot him!
Clearly the Reg is lacking in knowledge of female clothing.
Underwire is not "wire lining". Not even in Old East German bras.
As Stork says, a rebounding bullet (wtf is a rebounding bullet? it's a bullet - not a basket ball) will be unstable and would have shed most of its energy. It certainly would not be likely to kill her.
About the minimum you'd need to kill a person with a direct hit to the chest would be a .22 and that would cut straight through an underwire. I have shot .22s through a car door [details redacted] and that's way stronger than any underwire.
Sorry Mr Manning, you might need to go back to the test lab. A thin skin like a car door is not much protection against anything small and fast (even if light) and the underwire being a chunk of heavy gauge wire is going to be more resistant to that, including by moving under impact.
You can stick a screwdriver through a car door but you have to stand on the wirecutters to dismantle the bra - using instruments of the small domestic non-electric non-industrial non-Tim-the-Toolman variety or all bets are off.
You're not wrong but ultimotely (see what I did there) it's not as useful a comparison as might first appear. No doubt one or more of the resident genius pedants will have more to offer.
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I can't rid my mind of the image of some hefty Brunhilde riding her bike in horned helmet and armoured bra.
Gauge of underwire is somewhat dependent on overall size of garment. Given that it stopped a ricochet, and well, healthy cycling female, and umm.... Perhaps measurements are in order to determine which gauge of wire was in play.... *cough*
(and from my experience, its usually *spring* steel, not coat hanger type steel, and that crap is *hard* to break)
(possibly mask is relevant)
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