Ricochets / Bounce Backs

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Mike H

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Saw a guy shooting a Glock .40 S&W at my local range the other day, and watched as an FMJ came back from the target rack and hit a car parked to the rear of the firing line (outdoor range). Result, badly dented body panel, bullet didn't have the energy to penetrate but would sure have woken one of us up had it hit us. I joked with him later that it was the Glock's fault, if it can't manage a KB then it asks the bullet to turn around and get ya ! He took it in good part, but we were both s**t scared for the next few rounds. Does anyone have experience of ricochets or bounce backs of a similar nature either at the range or elsewhere ?

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Mike H
 
Mike:

I gave up counting the number of times I've been struck by pieces of jacket off my own rounds while shooting steel, or someone else's while watching after/before my turn to shoot.

Usually in the form of pieces of jacket, maybe with some lead attached. Bottomline, it makes you aware of why you wear shooting glasses. BTW, I didn't see it, but one shooter at the IDPA Nationals supposedly had his face cut slightly by a piece of jacket/lead that came back off steel. I've never had an entire round come back at me.

IIRC, you're never, ever supposed to put steel plates/poppers closer than 10 yards from the shooter...could be more than that.

Mike
 
Over the years, I've seen several people get hit with both pieces of jacket and whole bullets that bounced off targets/target frames etc down range. Some have caused slight injuries and others did nothing but scare the s*** out of the person hit. I have been hit with the stuff several tines without injury. The worse injury I have suffered at a range was from a 7.62*51 case the hit me beween the eyes case mouth first. There is a funny "smile" scar there now.

FMJ's bounce badly off bowling pins if the pin is not hit squarely.

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"



[This message has been edited by Jim V (edited October 23, 1999).]
 
Back when I was a kid, I once shot myself in the arm with a .45 ACP while shooting in an old Granite quary (Duhhhhh). One in a million kinda thing... the round bounced off of one rock, then a second and came back at me. Just a nasty welt, but I learned about ten very important things that day!
 
Guess we were shooting a little to close to the steel in Az a few weeks ago. I caught a FMJ in the thigh while I was shooting. Came straight back at me. Then a bit later, I caught a small piece of jacket under my left ear while I was working as SO and timing a shooter's run. But a little cut there that bleed for a bit but no real dammage. Like was mentioned, ALWAYS wear your eye protection.

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Bubba
IDPA# A04739
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It is long been a principal of ours that one is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully. - Jeff Cooper



[This message has been edited by Bubba (edited October 23, 1999).]
 
During a combat pistol course drill we were firing while moving... qiute clpse to the targets and WHACK, I got hit VERY hard in the thigh with a 45acp round. Scared the hell out of me... gave me a BIG welt.

Ben
 
The IPSC/USPSA rule of engaging steel no closer than 10 yards is a good rule and should be remembered. I have seen many people at the range with out safty glasses, and this splash back is just one of many reasons why good eye protection should be worn at all time when at a gun range.
 
Mike, I've been hit by about everything you can put downrange- lead, shotgun pellets, copper jackets. A shooter standing next to me at a GSSF match was hit by a jacket-looked like a small ninja star- that ricocheted from the next berm over, penetrated his thigh to the bone- ambulance, hospital, etc. We had another shooter get hit by a .45 that must have gone straight up off a rock, hit him on the top of his head, put him on his knees. Lots of blood, no serious injury.
 
Ditching school one day with the .22, I zeroed in on an old tire about 125 yards away. It was lying flat, and I must have caught it just below the centerline of the tread. Ziinnnnngggg whirrrrrr about 10 feet over my head.

Based on a few years of later experience, I estimate the velocity at between 500 and 600 fps.

I took no further shots at that tire.

The steel stories above prompt my recommendation--use the plastic shoot-through targets inside 15 yards. Heck, the NRA a few years back moved the chickens for .22 RF pistol silhouette back to 40 meters from their previous distance of 25 meters.

The backstop ricochets prompt this preaching to the choir--no rocks bigger than 1 inch in your backstop!

The target stand bouncebacks prompt--wood or plastic target frames, please, especially at short distances and especially with fast courses of fire or less experienced shooters. If you *must* use steel, assemble them so all surfaces facing the shooter are at a 45° angle.

"L" shaped pieces of steel should never have the leg of the L facing the shooter. That surface will direct splatter back uprange. If you must have a flat surface angle iron, make the leg face downrange.
 
Back when I was about 12 or 13, I was in my backyard shooting bottles with a 22 pistol at about 20 yards. I had a ricochet come back and land IN my mouth. It could not of had much energy but it did sting a bit. I spit out the bullet and told the friend that I was shooting with what happened, to this day he doesn't believe me. Needless to say, it was around that time in my life that I started heeding my farthers advice on wearing safety glasses.
 
I have also stopped counting the times that shrapnel has drawn blood.
I was hit pretty badly once when a student on the line fired his pistol while it was still in the holster.Bullet hit a rock and fragmented. I received a deep cut on the leg. Gave myself first aid, Neosporin and a bandage. This happened on Sunday and I had a doctor's appointment on tuesday, so I toughed it out until then. Bad mistake. By then I had a deep staph infection and almost didn't survive.
So, the next time I caught one, it was a 1/8" X 3/8" piece of .357 jacket that embedded full depth in my arm, I turned the class over to my assistant, drove home and had my wife take me to the ER.
She told them it was a gunshot wound and they all came unglued. I was protesting that it wasn't that serious, but I got the full treatment anyway. They pulled out the piece of jacket, gave me a tetanus shot and an enormous dressing, when a band aid would have been sufficient. And, a bill for $880.00!
They told me that they have a uniform charge for gunshot wounds. My protestations that it was a bounce back, not a direct hit made no difference. Luckily for me, Workman's Comp picked up the tab, but I still feel it is a kind of discrimination.
If you shoot handguns against a steel range stop, keep your tetanus shots up to date, wear eye protection, ear protection (not just ear plugs) and take care of all wounds no matter how small.
 
Not quite a ricochet but similar. Two friends of mine back about junior high were taking shots with a pellet gun at the base of a live shotgun round that they set up on a stump. The round spun around and went off spraying shot into the space between them. Neither one was hit. I think they may have found a little religion that day. - sleepy
 
A friend of mine shot a .22 at a used, disgarded wheel and tire. The bullet must have hit tangent to the inside of the rim, and spun around and enbedded in his jawbone!!!
 
After reading about those .22lr vs. tire stories, I'm thinking that since most tires are steel belted, the .22 round probably couldn't penetrate the tire, particularly at long distances. The tire is also flexible so when the round hits the tire (and doesn't go through) it gets rebound back with a high percentage of the energy that sent it down there.

Those stories sure have made me think twice about shooting tires with a .22.

- Ron V.

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I've been hit by lots of pellets while blasting pepper poppers with the 12ga. Also have had some experience with jacket fragments. The only bullet that's hit me was from shooting a light loaded .38 at a too close steel target. (For SASS) Anyway, one round must've been a bit lighter than the rest because instead of splattering the slug bouncing right back and nailed me in the sternum. It still weighed a full 158 grains, only squashed out like a fat dime! It didn't penetrate my t-shirt, but even so it drew blood and I had a nasty bruise the next day. Wear your safety glasses!!! -Kframe
 
I haven't always been as intelligent as I am now ;). I was shooting once in a friends pasture and we found an old car with the hood up. The wiper fluid container was intact and made a perfect target for a dumb kid with a 12 ga. Needless to say the shot came right back at us (deflected from the raised hood etc.). I got hit several different places including my right hand in the web between my thumb and finger (pretty close to my eye as I was holding the shotgun in the shooting position). My friend got hit several places, worst in the neck. Nothing serious, but we decided afterwards that it was a pretty stupid trick. Safety glasses rule! Wear em! Shake
 
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