Steel target safety

[JohnKSa]

Still having problems here w/ the aero probability of a thin sliver as described making a 150-ft trip directly back to point of origin.

1. It seems far more likely than a bullet fragment traveling through the rifle receiver without leaving a hole and hitting the shooter on the the opposite side as the ejection port. I would say that's completely impossible, as opposed to just very unlikely.

2. It's possible that what actually came back at the shooter was larger than just a sliver of lead, but the sliver is all that stuck in the shooter's cheek.

3. If the target is cratered, it can throw material back at the shooter from surprisingly long ranges. Searching the web did turn up an incident or two of people who have had issues with bounceback with rimfires at 50 yards.

Found an interesting caveat on a steel target seller's website. They stated that none of their targets are rated for "subsonic rimfire ammo". I'd never thought about that, but I guess they're saying that if the bullet isn't moving fast enough, it may not fragment sufficiently on impact with the target to be safe .

 

[FrankenMauser]

Well, the last two posts are just wrong.The chamber opening is on the right side of the rifle. The piece of lead hit him on the left side of his face after the round was fired.

I've seen it happen quite a few times with .22 LR and a few with jacketed bullets - far more times than a 50 yard return of a particle with substantial aerodynamic drag.

And when I've experienced it or seen it happen to other people, it has always been a curved and oddly-shaped piece of lead (or jacket).

I have a video that I shot last year, in which I caught close-up slow-motion of an Out Of Battery (OOB) discharge in an AR-22.
When the OOB ruptured the case, a twisted and slightly curved piece of it (about 1/16", tapering up to 1/8", by about 3/16" long) flew out of the gap between the bolt and chamber, up, back, and around the upper receiver, and hit me just below the left lens of my glasses. It drew a little blood and got caught in my mustache.

Two years ago, a friend of mine was standing about 7 feet to the right and behind another friend that was shooting a Calico M900 (9mm carbine version). Top-feed, bottom-eject. Something "popped" in the Calico and the friend standing behind grabbed his face.
Long story short, the case ruptured and a rather small fragment of the case web managed to twist and fly its way not just up, back, and over to him, but around his safety glasses and into his right eye.
He is now blind in his right eye, even after multiple surgeries to try to save the nerve.


JohnKSa does make a good point. The fragment that your friend caught could have been a larger object that only left behind the sliver. I have caught many bits of ricochet debris in my life, and many of them left no debris or only small fragments where they contacted me.

Found an interesting caveat on a steel target seller's website. They stated that none of their targets are rated for "subsonic rimfire ammo". I'd never thought about that, but I guess they're saying that if the bullet isn't moving fast enough, it may not fragment sufficiently on impact with the target to be safe .

I bought a rather expensive "rimfire" target set that was highly recommended.
Rated for "all rimfire rounds - rifle and handgun".
No, I did not go stupid and start smacking them with .41 Swiss RF or .44 Henry. That is not where this story goes.

During a practice session with my son and our .22 LR match rifles, I pulled out my Marlin 882SS in .22 WMR and fired a magazine or two.
As we were packing up later, I noticed that my KYL targets were bent, and a few of the hanging targets were cratered and bent.

I sent an email to the manufacturer, asking if they were actually rated for "ALL rimfire" cartridges, including .22 WMR, and possibly .17 HMR and .17 WSM, not just .22 LR.
His response was, roughly, "Those are hunting cartridges. Nobody shoots targets with those! My targets are for .22 rimfire only!"
After a few more emails back and forth, he still could not understand that ".22 rimfire" and "all rimfire" is not the same as ".22 LR target ammunition only".

 

[GGALLIN1776]

Whilst I'm unsure of all types of firearms, for rifle calibers (both intermediate & full sized) you should be atleast 100 yards back from the steel.

You can do some anti-spall coating with a generous helping of either rubberized vehicle undercoating, roofing tar or flex-seal...however the audible ringing will be reduced. Do one coat in the midday sun, let it dry & apply a few more coats until you're happy with the results.

There's no guarantee that will do the trick so you may want to switch to a "self healing" target or the safest option of paper/board with a healthy backstop of compacted dirt & tires.

It goes without saying, but eye protection is a must as annoying as it seems. I've had enough nasty ophthalmic injuries & subsequent injections in my eyeballs (those are agonizing) to convince me that either glasses or goggles are on or I'm not partaking.