My head attracts bullets

D

DukeConnor

New member
Apparently my head and face have some sort of ricochet tractor beam.

My son and I have built a number of steel plate set ups. We bring them to the club. Everyone shoots them and has a good time.

No one ever catches lead but me. Got a nice cut on my cheek from a fmj on sunday. I also managed to get hit by a few lead fragments. No one else ever gets hit by them. Every time I go I catch a few.

I find it very perplexing. Maybe it's my big irish head and moon face. I have the feeling I would have been the first guy hit landing at Normandy.
 
Make sure they are angled down.
It's easy to do. Put a bolt through from the front through the plate to the back. Hang the target using the end of the bolt. That will cause it to reflect any ricochets toward the ground.
Similarly, you can hand them to where they are at a slight angle to the left or right, but you'll have to do crowd control.
 
What weapon are you shooting?
And as CalmerThanYou asked, what distance are you shooting at?
If you're getting hit by a ricochet more than once, something isn't right.
 
Soft steel will crater when the bullet hits it and it will ricochet back toward the shooter. Even if it is at the appropriate 10 degree angle (top towards the shooter) a dimple can send the fragments back instead of down. Full metal jackets aggravate this problem because the jacket doesn't disintegrate and can be blown back. The absolute minimum distance from a metal target (AR500 steel) is 7 yards, 21 feet.
 
I'm a bullet magnet, as well.
Many stories. :(

But it doesn't even have to be bullets.

I was once having a very unpleasant day, continually getting peppered with bullet fragments from targets even 200 yards away; when one of my brothers decided it would be a good idea to use 7.62x39mm and .30-30 that was found on the ground, as targets wedged into a large cedar stump.
So, I hid behind my brother's truck, crouching behind two of my brothers, while holding a butt stock in front of my face.

The mangled case from a center-punched x39 flew over the bed of the truck, arced around one of my brothers, passed under the raised arm of the other, and hit me in the right wrist so hard that I lost feeling in my right hand for over 45 minutes. The shredded case body tore my shirt sleeve, took a 3/8" x 1/2" chunk of flesh out, and left a piece of steel hanging.

I still have that case head somewhere...

Ah, here you go:
We recovered the bullet from the stump, as well. I will admit that it was a good shot. Stupid idea, but a good shot. :rolleyes:
The additional piece of case body is what was stuck in my arm.

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Crankylove, member here and one of the brothers I was hiding behind for the above incident, had a much scarier one, though. He once caught a pristine (no ricochet) 123 gr FMJ in the chest, that had been fired by some idiots (luckily some distance away) that didn't think they needed a backstop.
 

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He once caught a pristine (no ricochet) 123 gr FMJ in the chest, that had been fired by some idiots (luckily some distance away) that didn't think they needed a backstop.
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Was out in Utah's west desert doing some target shooting and jack rabbit hunting. Felt a pretty good thump to the chest, reached up with my hand out of reflex and knocked the bullet loose that was caught in the wrinkles of my hoody. Left a decent bruise, but no other damage. I did go have have words with the shooters, which weren't very nice (the words or the shooters) and showed them the already forming bruise (their concern about the incident may been hampered by the beer they were hugging), called the county sheriff, and went home, figuring I'd used up my good luck for the day.
 
I know a young fellow that been shot twice while deer hunting three years separation. Once in the calf by a depleted 243 when walking home from his deer stand for breakfast.

Again while sitting on his 4 wheeler taking to his dad in his Fathers farm yard. That second time the bullet hit the rear metal rack and fragmented. Some of that fragmentation ended up in his short ribs. Upon learning the young man being shot a second time. I advised he stay indoors and take up the game or solitaire.
 
I shoot swinging steel with .22s and have had .22 magnum come back at me. Shoot at 50 yards though.
I have another swinging self haling target that I shoot 9mm and up with. Anything else goes into the hillside.
However I've been considering a couple of round hay bales for backstop. What do you do with it when it starts to rot and so on. Feeding the good part to cattle, I've heard, of them having problems ingesting bullets. Farmers sometimes or did feed their cattle magnets to get junk like post staples and bits of wire but that wouldn't do them any good with bullets.
So shooting targets with the hillside as backstop is the better ider unless one bounces off a bolder of it kills the trees.
 
Have you beat. Been hit (and injured enough to put me on light duty a few weeks) by shrapnel from tank hulls we would shoot at with SMAWs and AT4s at Lejeune. Targets was hit by a SMAW rocket at about 300 yards. I was running the range as the section leader and shrapnel from a hit got me good. Hit me in the boot, cut the top and my foot, and hit with enough force to buckle my ankle.
 
Would be interesting to know if anyone knows of or has invented some kind of lasting anti fragmentation solution to decrease the chances of this kind of thing happening.
 
I got hit once when shooting at an aluminum motorcycle block. 38 target reloads in a 4" barrel at approx 30 yds. I was in the woods and saw this block full of bullet holes so thought I'd try it too. Backed way up and shot. The bullet came back and hit my thumb while still holding up the gun and flipped over my shoulder into the brush behind. It broke the skin and drew blood but nothing else. After that (35 yrs ago) I swore off shooting steel targets at the range and any other metal objects.
 
I saw a girl get clipped pretty hard in the forehead at a club shoot a couple years ago. Took a bit to stop the bleeding.
It definitely reinforces the need for eye protection.
 
Would be interesting to know if anyone knows of or has invented some kind of lasting anti fragmentation solution to decrease the chances of this kind of thing happening.
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Bullet repellent, eh?



I'll try stapling some "No Guns" signs to my head, next time I'm out.
If it works for 'them', it may work for bullets and shrapnel.
 
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