What caliber for firing squad?

[MillCreek]

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/firing-squad-executions-get-the-greenlight-in-south-carolina/

I wonder what the modern firing squad uses.  Utah has done three executions by firing squad, the last one over 30 years ago.  They used Winchester Model 94s in .30-30 caliber.

[sumpnz]

I would think 7.62x51.

[zxcvbob]

.30 caliber.  :)  I agree with 7.62x51, or maybe .30-06

[Perd Hapley]

Shouldn't the convict get to choose?

[Ben]

RPG. I would want to go quick, and I don't know how good those firing squad guys shoot. Is it still "only one guy has a real bullet"?

Edit: Oh, from the article, at least in SC, three shooters, all with live ammo. I could swear I remember reading something about only one guy having the live round, so none of the squad would know for sure if they killed someone. Though if you volunteer for a firing squad, maybe you don't care.

[WLJ]

Shouldn't the convict get to choose?

Did the victim?

[HeroHog]

Detcord

[lee n. field]

RPG. I would want to go quick, and I don't know how good those firing squad guys shoot. Is it still "only one guy has a real bullet"?

Edit: Oh, from the article, at least in SC, three shooters, all with live ammo. I could swear I remember reading something about only one guy having the live round, so none of the squad would no for sure if they killed someone. Though if you volunteer for a firing squad, maybe you don't care.

I always heard it was "one guy has a blank".

[zxcvbob]

Shouldn't the convict get to choose?

No.  They might pick something like a .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer or 5.5 Velo Dog.  (no guns chambered for it.)  Perhaps you could let her choose from a short list of approved cartridges.

[Ben]

I always heard it was "one guy has a blank".

That could be. It was a long time ago that I read it, so I could have it backwards. Or maybe every state does it differently.

[zxcvbob]

I always heard it was "one guy has a blank".

Yes, I thought it was 5 (maybe 6) shooters, and one had a blank.

[lee n. field]

No.  They might pick something like a .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer or 5.5 Velo Dog.  (no guns chambered for it.)  Perhaps you could let her choose from a short list of approved cartridges.

.22 CB caps.  Repeat until task at hand is accomplished.

[RoadKingLarry]

Red Ryder BB gun. Shoot until done.

[Angel Eyes]

RPG. I would want to go quick,

You might want to rethink that.  RPGs are not that accurate, and you don't want to die slowly from shrapnel or having a limb blown off.

[Ben]

You might want to rethink that.  RPGs are not that accurate, and you don't want to die slowly from shrapnel or having a limb blown off.

Okay then.

George Carter Stent described the process as follows: “The prisoner is generally tied to a gun with the upper part of the small of his back resting against the muzzle. When the gun is fired, his head is seen to go straight up into the air some forty or fifty feet; the arms fly off right and left, high up in the air, and fall at, perhaps, a hundred yards distance; the legs drop to the ground beneath the muzzle of the gun; and the body is literally blown away altogether, not a vestige being seen”.

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/execution-cannon-1890s/

[HankB]

RPG. I would want to go quick, and I don't know how good those firing squad guys shoot. Is it still "only one guy has a real bullet"?

The Norks held at least one execution by placing the condemned at the impact site of a pre-sighted mortar. IIRC the word used to describe the result was "obliterated."

[cordex]

I always heard that firing squads were told that one gun was loaded with a blank so that they could tell themselves that they had not fired the lethal shot, but that no blank was actually used.

From the perspective of someone who has shot live rounds vs blanks and even light loads, it is hard for me to figure how you would have any doubt whether you had a live round or not.

[Jim147]

They should use the AR15 in 5.56. Afterall it is the most dangerous firearm in the world.

[WLJ]

I always heard that firing squads were told that one gun was loaded with a blank so that they could tell themselves that they had not fired the lethal shot, but that no blank was actually used.

From the perspective of someone who has shot live rounds vs blanks and even light loads, it is hard for me to figure how you would have any doubt whether you had a live round or not.

Yep, noticeable difference in recoil.
If the stories of using blanks are true perhaps to ease the minds of the shooters pre order to fire

[sumpnz]

I know when hunting the adrenaline makes it so I don’t notice the recoil when I shoot a deer or elk.  I can imagine a similar thing with a firing squad especially with everyone firing simultaneously.  It might be tough to really tell if you had the live round or the blank.  That said, at least with true volunteer firing squads one would think they wouldn’t need that “peace of mind” that handing out a single blank would give.  For forced squads I can see it being necessary.

[Pb]

Detcord

I agree.  Wrap the head with detcord.  Dig a hole in the woods, have the perp stand in it.  Detonate and fill..  Simple and painless.

[WLJ]

For those who unquestionably committed particularly horrendous murders skip the firing squad and just go straight to the hogs.

[zxcvbob]

I don't know why nobody uses nitrogen gas asphyxiation.  Give the condemned a tranquilizer pill ahead of time if they want it.  Put a respirator on them, supplying air.  Have a silent valve that switches it over to pure N₂.  They will lose consciousness in seconds and be dead in a minute or so.  (give it 15 minutes just to make sure) It's cheap and painless.  Perhaps it's too cheap and too painless, and some things need to have a cost.

[MechAg94]

Yep, noticeable difference in recoil.
If the stories of using blanks are true perhaps to ease the minds of the shooters pre order to fire

I think that is about right.  Some people are going to harbor some guilt over it.  Giving them some reason to think it wasn't them that did the killing might make it a bit better.  They will convince themselves the recoil felt different. 

[Hawkmoon]

I could swear I remember reading something about only one guy having the live round, so none of the squad would know for sure if they killed someone. Though if you volunteer for a firing squad, maybe you don't care.

I thought it was six shooters, and five live rounds.