SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than is publicly known

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by AnimalMuppet on Monday May 05, 2025 @09:37AM (#43894992)

I don't know that much about sniper rifles. Can you not leave a muzzle flash? Is that possible (with flashless powder or something)? And if you do, what are the trade-offs?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by IshKebab on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:03AM (#43895263)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_suppressor

But a flash in the middle of the day would not be very visible anyway.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by free_bip on Monday May 05, 2025 @09:48AM (#43895096)

Silencers can reduce or even entirely eliminate muzzle flash.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by lazide on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:04AM (#43895279)

Yup. Definitely won’t suppress the supersonic crack from any projectile able to deliver useful energy at that range though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by coldburst on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:33AM (#43895588)

Suppressors only reduce the loudness of the muzzle blast without impacting the projectile's ability to break the sonic barrier. In fact, suppressors slightly increase projectile speed because they effectively add barrel length.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by lazide on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:46AM (#43895690)

First part - that’s what I said?

Second part - no suppressor I’ve ever seen or used did that, they all did the opposite.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by reverendsteveii on Monday May 05, 2025 @04:57PM (#43899375)

wasn't there a rocket launch going on at the time the shot was fired?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by taylodl on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:07AM (#43895327)

Sniper rifles have longer barrels that both suppress barrel flash and increase muzzle velocity - thus making the rifle more accurate at longer distances. They also fire larger rounds with larger cartridges to get even greater muzzle velocity. The trade-off is size and weight. Longer barrels, larger rounds, bigger cartridges - that increases the size and weight of the weapon and its ammunition. That's size and weight an infantry neither needs nor wants.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by thijson on Monday May 05, 2025 @09:53AM (#43895155)

The Boer's during the Boer war were able to using a sniping attack against the British because they had smokeless gunpowder, so I would imagine flashless is also an advantage. I remember seeing artillery and tanks having something on the end of the barrel that diverts the flame to the sides.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by mmh0000 on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:15AM (#43895405)

The thing on a tank is called a “muzzle brake” and it greatly reduces felt recoil. Also available on many smaller guns.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_brake

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by pixl97 on Monday May 05, 2025 @09:47AM (#43895085)

I mean it's pretty easy to hide the flash. Said flash is just burning powder after it leaves the barrel. So if you have an expansion chamber after the barrel it will be contained. Silencers do this secondarily with the first order effect of reducing the noise. An empty silencer (no baffles) will still hide the majority if not all the flash.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by lazide on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:04AM (#43895282)

Also, flash hiders are quite effective.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by actionfromafar on Monday May 05, 2025 @09:46AM (#43895076)

It's not very noticeable in daylight from a distance in the first place, plus you would shoot from inside a room which would all but completely hide it.

(The whole idea seems a bit crazy too, there are a thousand things which can go wrong with a rocket, so let's look for snipers.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by mingus88 on Monday May 05, 2025 @09:59AM (#43895214)

This is the first time I’ve heard of this incident and I’m not ashamed to admit that with everything we now know about Musk, it seems totally plausible that he would have internally squashed any other theories.

He has convinced his shareholders that FSD will ship by the end of every year for the past decade, so why wouldn’t he believe he could convince the FBI that the only way his super fueling process could have gone wrong is via an action movie sniper plot?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by AnimalMuppet on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:05AM (#43895293)

I think you're going a bit too far. The article doesn't say that he internally squashed any other theories. Their investigation successfully found the real issue.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by lenerdenator on Monday May 05, 2025 @09:58AM (#43895212)

> (The whole idea seems a bit crazy too, there are a thousand things which can go wrong with a rocket, so let's look for snipers.)

If I didn't know any better, I'd say some guy who both roasted his brain with drugs and spends a lot of time in the company of a person who was sniped at is in charge of the company.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by dandelany on Tuesday May 06, 2025 @01:11AM (#43901995)

…you realize this happened nine years ago, right?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by anton-c on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:03AM (#43895266)

I mean a competitor shooting from their own property is just comical corporate sabotage too considering we're dealing with rocket scientists here.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by tekla on Monday May 05, 2025 @10:42AM (#43895659)

There are a thousand things that can go wrong when the Rocket is doing things.

It exploding while just sitting there doing nothing narrows the possibilities 99.9%.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by actionfromafar on Monday May 05, 2025 @11:01AM (#43895854)

Things happen while sitting, fuelling etc. But this rocket was in the air when it exploded IIRC.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:SpaceX pushed "sniper" theory with the feds far more than... by tekla on Monday May 05, 2025 @11:07AM (#43895908)

What? Amos-6 blew up on the launch pad. The article headline picture shows it on the pad.

[ Parent | on HN ]