Or sticking to conventional, this bullet.
Why even bother with a head shot? The .50 can would punch a hole straight through the T-Rex’s chest.
A T-Rex is comparable in mass to an African Elephant, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to assume what is lethal to an elephant could kill a T-Rex.
I would think a .50 BMG to the torso would suffice, although possibly it wouldn’t be as instantly lethal as you would prefer.
First, you need to know why he is angry - perhaps you could talk him down.
The genus Tyrannosaurus is presently believed to be at least part scavenger. Congratulations, you just gave the T-saur an easy meal, with garnish.
No, as specified in the OP, I am a former Ranger. I am therefore highly qualified as a marksman, and could be relied upon to hit my target in pretty much any situation.
Also, describing the above scenario as a simple headshot is misleading. Now, we don’t know the range at which I’d be shooting the tyrannosaur, but is it a tougher shot than a moving human head-sized target at 1200 to 2400 feet? Yeah, I would doubt it.
Shoot the spectator that is hanging out over the arena wall, hoping he will fall into the pit and be an easier dinner than I am. You don’t have to run faster than the bear, just faster than the cameraman.
Otherwise, I’m dino-chow.
I missed the part where we were Rangers. OK.
But still, hitting a T rex in the brain is much tougher than hitting a human in the head. The brain is bigger than the proverbial walnut, but not much bigger. If the brain were exposed, then you could hit it. But the problem is that it’s hidden inside the head. Even if you can hit any spot on the head you want, the problem is knowing what spot to hit. And if you miss the correct spot by even an inch, you miss the brain.
Quoth L. Sprague deCamp, via CalMeacham:
No man-portable weapon can knock down an elephant (or T. rex), except by causing enough injury that it loses balance. The momentum the bullet delivers to the target is the same as the momentum the gun delivers to the shooter in the recoil. Fortunately, it’s not momentum that kills, it’s energy.
To the OP, I could probably find a way to survive, but it’s probably not going to involve the rifle, and if it does, it probably doesn’t involve shooting it at the rex. I might, for instance, climb over the arena wall, or shoot out the lock on the tunnel to the slave pens. More details on my plan would of course involve the specific details of the situation, which were not given.
But even if you miss the brain isn’t 1/2 the head gonna be gone? I’d imagine that would be a bit of a distraction and would most likely result in a loss of appetite.
Nonsense. A .50 caliber bullet isn’t going to make a neat little 1/2 inch hole, it’s going to grab a big lump of T-rex and rip it out the back of its head. As long as the brain or spine is somewhere within a 30 degree cone of where you hit, the dinosaur is history.
Well, first, caliber isn’t everything. While a larger caliber will displace more mass, the shock (stopping) power depends just as much on the gunpowder load. Range has a lot to do with the end result, as well, which is why .30-06 is preferable for sniper shots.
And I wouldn’t go for headshots. Remember a guy named James (I need this job like a hole in the head!) Brady? More recently, some Congresswoman in AZ (If I had half a brain…)? Granted, they were both politicians, which reserves opinion about any brains TO damage, but it still makes the point.
One thing that is constant, while brains are not relevant to physical size, hearts typically are. And when THAT’S blown out, all the willpower in the world ain’t gonna keep moving that body. Just make sure you know where the heart is located in a T Rex.
(Cue showbiz tune, You gotta have heart; all you really need is heart…)
It really depends on the round. If I have my choice of .50 cal rounds, I’d pick an explosive round, and aim for the head (assuming my Ranger training would allow me to confidently place shots on a moving, close range target). Even if I didn’t take out the brain, a .50 round packed with HE would put a crimp in any predator’s dinner plans.
If I was stuck with a vanilla .50 ball round, I’d aim for center mass, hope I hit something vital, and drop my gun and haul ass around the arena, hoping I slowed the beastie down.
Either way, if I hit it square, even if the shot wasn’t immediately fatal, I think it would likely bleed out, or simply not be able to carry its mass around. Remember, a T-Rex is a big animal - you do any significant damage, and it will very quickly wear down, after which point it’s a waiting game. Just don’t go to sleep while you’re waiting for it to kick the bucket.
While a .50 caliber round does a lot of damage to a human-sized target due to the energy of impact, it’s not like the energy scales up with the T-rex’s size. The same amount of energy being dissipated in a larger body would likely mean a smaller exit wound - although a lot of internal damage, which is why I’d go for center mass with a standard round. Plus, the negative space in a T-rex’s skull cavities would negate much of the bullet’s energy if a standard round was fired at the head.
There is no other kind.
Knowing absolutely nothing about T-Rex physiology, I was thinking about aiming for the eye and trying to achieve about a 45 degree angle from the pupil toward the center of the head. The reasoning being the brain would likely be in close proximity to the eyes as it is in other vertibrates. I may not hit the brain, but there would be one hell of a lot of energy delivered deep into the soft tissues of the skull–possibly enough to disable the other eye. With luck the shock could stun or knock the beastie out–at which time I bite out its throat.
But the idea of poking a hole in its chest and collapsing its lungs (if not puncturing what must be a massive heart) is pretty elegant.
Like Crown Prince of Irony says, what kind of ammo would I be shooting?
50 cal ball might possibly deform if it hit a big enough bone, and would eventually yaw as it penetrated deep enough.
50 cal AP would probably go in one side, and straight out the other, leaving a 50 cal hole.
50 cal softpoints would probably be my choice, but how far would they realistically penetrate? I’d hate to shoot the thing in the chest and find out that 32" of penetration was 3" too short to hit it in the heart or major blood vessels!
Do they even make 50 cal HE rounds?
Oh, yeah: Raufoss Mk 211 - Wikipedia.
This one
High explosive, incendiary, armor piercing.
Obligatory link to Shooting an Elephant. It appears that Orwell missed the brain, but the first shot still had a terrible effect.
A 50cal round would do enormous damage, I would bet on the sniper. Even if the shot did not kill, it would have a high chance of incapacitating a T-Rex. At the very least, it might well be enough to dissuade the T-Rex from attacking, which is all the sniper needs for a win.
This was going to be my response.
Violence never solves anything. Reason with him. Ask him why he’s so angry.
Then while he’s thinking about it, run away.