The problem with a .22 long rifle projectile is it's range without dropping to the ground from inertia is about 1 mile plus or minus. What this means in real life is that if you fire a .22 long rifle shell from a rifle it will go "AT LEAST one mile or further without slowly dropping to the ground from gravity and loss of velocity. But, a .22 long rifle projectile might be fairly accurate if you are a good shot with a sighted in scope for at least a mile if there is no cross wind or other factors that change this.
What happened to me near Red Rock Canyon in Southern California deserts was that we lived then in Glendale and my father and two 5 year older cousins and I were hunting jackrabbits on a weekend together.
However, earlier that day all three of us were shooting at running jack rabbits. However, the other two older boys decided to stop shooting but I wasn't done shooting. Because they were excited they didn't say anything to me about this change and just started running in front of me chasing the running Jackrabbit.
So, my father long experienced with guns simply lifted my rifle barrel so I didn't wind up shooting one of my cousins. I was grateful he did this at the time.
Later in the day, because they were 5 years older than me so if I was 8 they would be 13 and if I was 10 they would be 15 years old. So, when they set off running we got separated. Later in that day I was walking towards them and they were about 1 mile away but were now running towards me and they were shooting at a rabbit between me and them. So, they couldn't see me standing there. Since I didn't want to shoot in their direction so they would see me I simply laid down on the ground so I wouldn't get hit by a lot of lying lead.
This was the first time I heard the buzz of bullets going over my head. What is interesting when someone shoots in your direction from about a mile away is that you here the bullet which sounds like a buzzing bee flying over your head and a few seconds later you hear the gunshot coming from a mile away.
They were sorry to be shooting in my direction but by laying on the ground I had solved the problem.
In retrospect as a 70 something person now I likely should have just shot my gun in the air to let them know where I was. But, the problem with this is "What goes up must come down" and in countries where people shoot into the air in celebration often people die when those slugs return to earth from a mile or more into the sky. So, many people die from a bullet to the top of their brain in countries where people do this by shooting into the air in celebration. Before I thought to much about this aspect of life many members of my family (especially in the 1950s and 1960s shot guns into the air during days like the 4th of July at night or New Years Eve. Over time as more people became aware of the problem of bullets returning to earth this is less of a problem than it once was (at least here in the U.S.) But, it's still a problem many places on earth where "life is cheap?"
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