# Killing T-Rex with a gun **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2012, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156 "2012-05-17T00:56:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/21 "2012-05-17T14:03:29Z")
I’d want either an RPG or a phaser. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/22 "2012-05-17T14:18:49Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Something like [Raufoss ammo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raufoss_Mk_211), Good gad. I want some. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/23 "2012-05-17T14:53:41Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I’d take a flamethrower. Shooting it with anything smaller than a bazooka would be a bit chancy. A rifle might well inflict a fatal wound, but is it going to chew me up before it goes down? However, I can’t see it running through a wall of flame. Huh. This would be near my last choice for a weapon, actually. (Better than a spear, but not by a whole lot.) Relatively short-range, and while flame is certainly going to be painful, is it going to cook through that much flesh fast enough to incapacitate or kill? Yes, I’m sure it will be painful - but I suspect t-rex (or any animal that feeds on large prey, for that matter) is going to be used to the idea that Dinner Sometimes Hurts. That might not make him stop trying to eat you. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/24 "2012-05-17T15:06:55Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Yes, I’m sure it will be painful - but I suspect t-rex (or any animal that feeds on large prey, for that matter) is going to be used to the idea that Dinner Sometimes Hurts. Actually, predators, especially nonsocial predators, back off potential injury far more than nonpredators, because any injury that makes it unable to hunt would make it starve. Better to be safe than sorry and wait until you can get an easy meal. Now the question is whether the T Rex would recognize the flame as a threat or not. My thoughts are that it would. ETA that is if you turn on the flamer well before the T Rex attacks you. If you only use it as a weapon to hurt it rather than as a warning, the dinosaur might maul you to death in the heat of the moment (see what I did there?) before it backed off due to injury. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/25 "2012-05-17T15:38:44Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Actually, predators, especially nonsocial predators, back off potential injury far more than nonpredators, because any injury that makes it unable to hunt would make it starve. Better to be safe than sorry and wait until you can get an easy meal. Sir, you have fought my ignorance - thank you! If I might trouble you a bit further, would you be so kind as to provide a cite? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/26 "2012-05-17T15:44:33Z")
Maybe we need to clarify the situation. Are we hunting for T-Rex safari-style? Are we a hardy group of time travelling explorers who have stumbled upon one at its kill and caused it to attack us? Are we attempting to bag a specimen for a museum? Depending on what we are about, the choice of weapons is going to vary dramatically. A big-ass, high powered dart gun that dumps a massive overload of some hyper-deadly neurotoxin would surely kill one, maybe even without it realizing it’s been shot; but is that in the spirit of the OP? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/27 "2012-05-17T15:53:47Z")
The most important thing is not the caliber of the gun; that’s secondary. The most important thing is becoming an expert on the animal’s anatomy, and knowing _ **exactly** _ where the brain is. That’s how you bring 'em down. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/28 "2012-05-17T16:17:59Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Huh. This would be near my last choice for a weapon, actually. (Better than a spear, but not by a whole lot.) Relatively short-range, and while flame is certainly going to be painful, is it going to cook through that much flesh fast enough to incapacitate or kill? I’m more interested in preventing Mr Rex from eating me than killing it, so I see it as part deterrance and part weapon. There are of course a lot of unknowns concerning T. Rex behaviour, but I’m assuming that it won’t run through a wall of flame. Military flamethrowers have a range of over 200 feet, much further than is commonly assumed. If it persists in attacking, burns would further discourage it. As **Ludovic** says, predators are generally risk-averse. In any case, it’s not known if T. Rex was primarily a scavenger or a predator, and how aggressive it might have been. In terms of killing a T. Rex as the OP asked, a flamethrower would be pretty effective, as large burns would become infected. A high-power rifle would probably work better if you have time to aim and take several shots, but a flamethrower would make a good defensive weapon. I’m unlikely to get a chance to test any of this, as I never get invites to newly opened theme parks. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/29 "2012-05-17T20:22:35Z")
If I’m ever in a position to be killing a T. rex, I’ll want something that kills a lot faster than infection. Or at least, incapacitates: Hamstringing might be good enough. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/30 "2012-05-17T20:32:36Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Sir, you have fought my ignorance - thank you! If I might trouble you a bit further, would you be so kind as to provide a cite? You see it a lot in documentaries. In one I was watching a while back, a cheetah had snagged something. While it was in the process of chowing down, a leopard wandered by. A cheetah is decidedly outgunned in a match with a leopard, but after a few dirty looks back and forth, the leopard went on it’s way. The narrator voice-over pretty much saying that to the leopard, it just wasn’t worth it. But you also see that sort of thing a lot in documentaries. Often you’ll see a lot of posturing and displaying, and someone backs down before any contact actually occurs, inter-species and intra-species. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/31 "2012-05-17T20:45:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If I’m ever in a position to be killing a T. rex, I’ll want something that kills a lot faster than infection. Or at least, incapacitates: Hamstringing might be good enough. Maybe you could feed him a bunch of ice-cream really fast, give him an ice-cream headache 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/32 "2012-05-17T20:57:50Z")
Something that isn’t often taken into account in the threads on this question is that a t-rex is so huge with a clear line of sight it would be clearly visible at least 2 miles away and probably more. It is like trying to shoot a 2 story building. There is a lot of debate about how fast a t-rex could run (or if they could run at all) but most estimates range between about 11Mph at the slowest and 30Mph at the fastest. So let’s say they could travel at 20Mph. If you could line up a clear shot from 2 to 3 miles away, especially from a high vantage point that is an uphill run for him, you would have 5 or 10 minutes after the first shot before he could reach you. At that range there is even a chance he would have no idea where the attack was coming from, and you might have unlimited time/shots. I think I would prefer a very long range round and lots of ammo in the hope of disabling him before he got close enough for one of these big game rounds to even be effective. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/33 "2012-05-17T20:58:34Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > The most important thing is not the caliber of the gun; that’s secondary. The most important thing is becoming an expert on the animal’s anatomy, and knowing _ **exactly** _ where the brain is. That’s how you bring 'em down. The one thing you are absolutely positively not going to be able to do is hit a Tyrannosaur in the brain. Its head is four feet long. Its brain is bigger than a walnut, but not by much, and buried under layers of muscle, skin, bone, air spaces, teeth, and sinus. Trying to hit it in the brain is like trying to fight a mugger by shooting the knife out of his hand. Now, maybe shooting it in the face is a good way to scare it away. There’s probably a lot of sensitive tissue there. Or it might get mad. Tough call. But you’re not going to hit the brain. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/34 "2012-05-17T20:59:56Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > On a related note, could The Texans beat The Mexicans at The Alamo with a AK-47 if the Mexicans had a Tyrannosaurus Rex? How is that note related??!!? 😕 :dubious: 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/35 "2012-05-17T23:35:14Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > The most important thing is not the caliber of the gun; that’s secondary. The most important thing is becoming an expert on the animal’s anatomy, and knowing _ **exactly** _ where the brain is. That’s how you bring 'em down. The really important thing is: don’t step on any butterflies. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/36 "2012-05-17T23:55:39Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > On a related note, could The Texans beat The Mexicans at The Alamo with a AK-47 if the Mexicans had a Tyrannosaurus Rex? I’m not sure, but I’d say they would be short work for a team of raptors on hoverboards. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/37 "2012-05-18T01:07:42Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > The Master speaks > > [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3016/could-i-take-down-a-em-t-rex-em-with-my-beretta-9mm-pistol](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3016/could-i-take-down-a-em-t-rex-em-with-my-beretta-9mm-pistol) Thank God somebody reads the column. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/38 "2012-05-18T02:42:14Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > How is that note related??!!? 😕 :dubious: 😉 😃 [It’s an old thread…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=68960) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/39 "2012-05-18T02:49:00Z")
Not only was T-Rex huge but it’s brain would be a small target buried in the back of a big bony head, it might have had osteoderms (bony plating) in it’s skin and gastralia- bones armoring the front of it’s torso. Definitely maximum penetration is called for here. This round and the guns that shoot it sounds like a contender: [.460 Weatherby Magnum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.460_Weatherby_Magnum) > [@](#): > > The .460 Weatherby Magnum was designed as an African dangerous game rifle cartridge for the hunting of heavy, thick skinned dangerous game. The cartridge is billed as the most powerful commercial sporting rifle cartridge available > [@](#): > > Typically a full metal jacketed or monolithic solid type bullet will penetrate more than 40 in (1.0 m) when impacting a dangerous game animal such as the Cape Buffalo or African Elephant. > [@](#): > > The .460 Weatherby Magnum compares well with the classic English big bore cartridges; it exceeds all these cartridges in velocity, energy, trajectory and penetration . > [@](#): > > The .460 Weatherby is one of the very few rifle cartridges approved by the International Whaling Commission for the harvesting of whales. The cartridge was deemed to have the penetration necessary to penetrate to the brain stem to provide a quick kill on whales. > [@](#): > > As a hunting cartridge, the .460 Weatherby Magnum has a very limited role. While it is capable of taking any species of game animal, it is too powerful for most game species. As a hunting cartridge, due to its power, energy and penetration, the .460 Weatherby Magnum has a very limited sporting niche. The .460 Weatherby Magnum is primarily a thick skinned dangerous game cartridge. It is designed to provide the ultimate in stopping power against African elephant, African buffalo, hippopotamus and the rhinoceros. The .460 Weatherby Magnum when loaded to its full potential has little use outside its primary design purpose ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156/40 "2012-05-18T03:17:47Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > On a related note, could The Texans beat The Mexicans at The Alamo with a AK-47 if the Mexicans had a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Who has the _Alamosaurus_? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-t-rex-with-a-gun/622156.md?page=3)