Very Weird...Need Help

4

45Gunner

New member
Last night I was at a gun range shooting my .45 ACP. When I fired the last round I was instantaneously hit in the stomach with a force that almost took me off my feet (at 6'2" and 240 lbs. - not an easy task). At first I thought I had a KaBoom but after close examination of the pistol, there was no damage and no missing pieces. I then thought that possibly I got hit with a ricochet, but after examining the fragment (pictured), I thought that it could not be a possibility. I was shooting .45 ACP ball ammo, factory new. Indeed, I have a black and blue mark on my belly where I got hit. Can anyone tell me what they think is a explanation for this?

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The explaination is pretty simple---you got hit by a ricochette. Indoor or outdoor range? Distance to targets? Steel targets or soft with deflective bullet catches? Other shooters on the line? Could have been worse, no doubt. But I would have brought it up to the rangemaster immediately. If you have rounds bouncing back at you, something on that range is seriously out of whack.
 
It seems that every time I got to the local public indoor range some knucklehead pegs the metal target carrier and I get hit by a chunk of lead similar to yours. They sting and burn at the same time - it's an odd sensation. I can't imagine what it feels like to be shot.
 
If you have rounds bouncing back at you, something on that range is seriously out of whack.
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:D

I shot a steel target match last night for the first time.

Lots of lead comes backwards at those. Usually you can see them and they're only moving about 100-150fps, and you can dodge the low ones. I did get popped by a couple though.

Usually doesn't happen at a paper-oriented range with a backstop, though.
 
The explaination is pretty simple---you got hit by a ricochette.
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+1

A couple of months ago, I let a friend shoot my 44 redhawk at our indoor range. The recoil caused him to shoot really high and the bullet hit the very top of the backstop. The round came back 5 lanes to our left... luckily it didn't hit anyone, but some time was spent figuring out what happened before firing resumed.
 
I thought that it could not be a possibility. I was shooting .45 ACP ball ammo, factory new.
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Ball ammo has a light copper jacket around a soft swaged lead core. If you hit a glancing shot off a steel object, it will rip the jacket and cut the core.

That looks like lead core.
 
This particular range has a lane length of only 50', one of the shortest I have ever shot at. The targets were paper and the backstop looked pretty much like the normal metal kind. My shot was dead-on center mass, the point being is I did not hit the metal carrier. There were 18 lanes at this range and perhaps there were 12 shooters with one being to my left and one to my right. If this were a ricochet from another shooter, it is an incredible coincidence that it happened a millisecond after I fired. If the ricochet were from my gun, it would have had to come back through my paper target, which it did not.

With the incredible force that I was hit with, I actually thought I had been shot and was looking for the telltale evidence of blood pouring out.

Tried the magnet trick as suggested by Peejman. No magnetic properties.

And can you even imagine getting hit in the face with this...probably would break a nose or give one a pretty deep gash on the lip or cheek. Eye protection is a must as this is the proof of why we wear it.
 
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The recoil caused him to shoot really high
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Me thinks his flinch caused him to shoot high.

To the OP If you shoot handguns long enough, you will get hit with ricochets. Especially if you shoot at steel. Especially if you shoot with other people. Especially if... (insert variable here)

Wear your protective gear and shoot straight. Make sure others do the same.
 
Was it one of the old-school backstops with angled steel plate over a bank of sawdust / sand / whatever?

If so, that backstop needs to be maintained. They can develop pockets of lead that will send stuff back at you. The projectile bounces down off the steel, hits the dense pocket of lead in the backstop, and bounces right back at you. Not a lot of fun.

But backsplash can always happen. I caught one with my face one time during a match. Carved a little chunk of meat out of my cheek and had me leaking at a pretty good rate. Not a huge deal, though. Everyone went at the backstop with rakes and various tools to stir up the pockets, I stuck a wad of paper towels to my face with that cloth first aid tape, got an alibi, and reshot the stage.

It happens. Sucks, but that's the way it goes.:)
 
If this were a ricochet from another shooter, it is an incredible coincidence that it happened a millisecond after I fired.
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Yes, but still the most likely explanation

If the ricochet were from my gun, it would have had to come back through my paper target, which it did not.
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Maybe, maybe not I have not seen you range but it is very common for a ricochet to arc back, and not come straight back.

And can you even imagine getting hit in the face with this...probably would break a nose or give one a pretty deep gash on the lip or cheek.
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Or a nice gash in the forehead from .30-06 off of a steel plate. Not that I would know... I am just saying you know...
 
Worked at an indoor range, and yes, those old style angled bullet traps are not that great. We scraped them as often as possible, and still have bounceback. One lady went to the hospital after her bounceback laid her scalp open. The new owners punted tat old thing into the outer darkness, and put in a shredded tire backstop - no bounce back at all.
 
I really, really, REALLY don't think it's that hard to believe or imagine that you happened to get hit by a frag at the same time you were pulling the trigger yourself... if there were 12 other shooters there?

It doesn't seem hard to believe... it would be harder to believe if most shots weren't simultaneous.

I also don't think you can rule out your own shot, there's simply no way to know the path that frag took from where ever it began to end in your gut. I don't think a lack of extra holes on your target is enough evidence here.

I've certainly been fragged... my buddy fragged himself with MY carry gun shortly after I got it! :eek:
 
Also have seen the old style angled steel backstops that had dents in them from being shot with high caliber weapon. The dent can create an angle thats can deflect a projectile straight back at you. My brother was shooting my 38 airweight loaded with jacketed ball ammo into some railroad ties a friend of his had stacked as a backstop. Brother shot and immediately grabbed hit throat.:eek: Bullet ricocheted back after hitting part of a spike that was about an inch under the surface. The whelp was impressive. He was kinda hoarse for a couple days. I gave him the pistol on the grounds he was never allowed to shoot it again:D. He made a neck chain out of the slug.
 
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If the ricochet were from my gun, it would have had to come back through my paper target, which it did not.
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Ricochets can do crazy things. It could have bounced off a wall or the floor on the way back to you and missed your target.

Glad you weren't badly injured but it's a hazard of shooting at hard objects--sometimes pieces come back.

I shot Double Naught Spy last time he graciously allowed me to visit his range. A fragment of one of my rounds came back from a steel target and embedded itself deeply in his thumb. I offered to dig it out with my pocket knife but he didn't seem to be overwhelmed by my demonstration of concern... :D
 
Boy I tell ya...shooting at one of those double swinging metal targets last weekend at the 25yd line, I hit the smaller top one with my TC lead 9mm bullet and I heard what sounded like rain on the tin roof of the firing line. Hmm. Maybe it was my imagination.

I shot it again with the carbine, and I realized the bullet was backsplashing at an upward angle, raining down on the roof! Fired at the lower target the rest of the time.
 
Richochet

When we were kids, my brother was shooting a Winchester 94 and I was shooting my Marlin 336C, both in 30-30. My bro shot at a pile of rubber tires and I got hit with the slug in the belly button area. It stung but did not draw blood. We were about 50 feet from the tires.

Ever see this?......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ABGIJwiGBc

PS-Forgive my mis-spelling in the sub title. (Mamma-mia!!!)
 
Check yourselve good when struck by bullet fragments they are slow and sharp and can sometimes penetrate the skin with slight sting and no blood without you realizing.
 
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