nutso bullet behavior

[mdeland]

We had our monthly clang and bang match today and after getting the targets set were sighting in and warming up. I got out the 43 Spanish carbine and was taking a whack at the 50 meter swinging chicken for sighters. The range master said hey Mike wait up and I'll look over your shoulder to see where the bullet strikes if you miss, not yet having a spotting scope set up. He was behind me about 3 feet and looking over my shoulder which only left a maximum of perhaps half his body exposed. I shot and heard the buzz of a ricocheting bullet and heard him say he had been hit. I thought he was just kidding as I was almost entirely shielding him from the target I was shooting at but we pulled up his shirt and sure enough he was bleeding a bit on his right pectoral inside of where the stock butt rests in firing position. The bullet weights 400 grains and I'd say a chunk about 80-90 grains hit him. We found it on the ground later and he kept it as a souvenir.
That bullet had broken up on a steel swinging target 50 meters down range and came back on a curve and smacked into his chest. It didn't miss my head set by much as I heard it buzz when it went by but figured at the moment I heard it that the buzz was coming from down range. I guess the chances of it ever happening again like that would be on the order of being hit by a meteorite but non the less it did happen.
I've been shooting this game now for about 20 years and have never seen anything like it happen before.

[Woody]

Is your swinger cratered by previous high velocity hits? I've seen 180 degree bullet splash come off heavily cratered steel. There is one U-Tube video from a couple of years ago showing a .50 Browning taking the hearing protection off the shooter. Scary.

Woody

[Longshot1]

I was calling a match at Raton one year and had a bullet come back from the chicken line and hit me in the arm. I was up in the tower about 20 feet up. A few daYS LATER HALF MY ARM AND SHOULDER were black. Marty

[40-65rl]

Marty,
Think they installed plexiglass after that. I remember the incident.
Got hit at Smithmoor spotting .22 chickens in 2019, just a small frag but it came from either the chickens or pigs.
Know some folks don't like the glasses but I'd rather have my eye than worry about how the glasses look.
Dick

[mdeland]

The irony was that Sommerset ( the guy that got hit) is a retired LEO and never got hurt on the job then gets clobbered by his friend at a shooting event. We of course all wear ear and eye protection but as it bloodied him through his shirt I'm quite certain had it struck either of us between the eyes or on the cheek we may have needed some stitches.
I'll never hear the end of it from the guys I'm sure! I can hear it now ( hey buddy, don't stand next to Mike when the range is hot if you know whats good for yah)!
The worst part for me means probably no more cookies from his wife that usually makes up a batch for all the shooters at these events!

[VBull]

We used to shoot at an old sand quarry that had a small river passing through it. I was setting up a target and found an old cast iron skillet next to the river. We hung the skillet in a tree with a piece of rope and started shooting at it with .22rf offhand about 80 yards away. Was fun hitting it and getting it to spin. After a few hits, I heard it ring and immediately heard the bullet go right past my ear. That was the end of shooting at that skillet. We tossed it into the river.

[VBull]

We used to shoot at an old sand quarry that had a small river passing through it. I was setting up a target and found an old cast iron skillet next to the river. We hung the skillet in a tree with a piece of rope and started shooting at it with .22rf offhand about 80 yards away. Was fun hitting it and getting it to spin. After a few hits, I heard it ring and immediately heard the bullet go right past my ear. That was the end of shooting at that skillet. We tossed it into the river.

[mdeland]

The swinger has some re-bar welded onto it's back for the chain hangers and I think the bullet hit the edge of one of these and that is what broke up the bullet and then turned it back at the line.My guess is that the slow velocity of the load also contributed to the accident . Had it been faster it would have probably broken up more and not been an issue.
I've had .22's come back at me as well shooting at tree knots and such but this is a first for me shooting at steel silhouette targets. No issues with the standing targets though nor any more with the swinger when turned to the smooth side. That was a good lesson to remember on the swinger.

[mdeland]

On the one hand I get after the guys about using full power heavy bullet loads for the chickens because it busts up the targets , especially when cold which I have to weld up but then again if it keeps from getting hit with the rebounds it's a small price to pay. Its the swingers that seem to be causing the trouble and I think covering the re-bar hangers with a plate will probably solve the problem.
Some of the full power .45 cal loads will drive the chickens back in the snow so far we have to dig to find them and then the feet start breaking off over time from metal fatigue.
The 216 grain bullet seems to have little trouble dumping the rams although I do need to chronograph it. The best load so far with this bullet is 11 grains of H-110 and a small rifle Remington primer. This is a very large pistol bullet and is hard to find load data for in the manuals but it sure shines in the rifle. My guess from shooting it out to 200 meters ram line is it's going 12-1300 fps.
I sure like the low recoil and clean bore shooting. The gas check is really doing it's job in the .357.
The 43 Spanish load shoots just as lead free with a plain base bullet and no wad or filler.
Pitted bores do not necessarily lead up nor are they necessarily inaccurate!

[Glen Ring]

I was training New Hires from several departments. In the NE corner of the range the recruits were shooting steel and pointing Northeast. We were walking to the Northwest Corner of the range and were going to be shooting true northwest...about 150 yards from the NE group.

I heard the shot and clang from one of the NE officers and then the sound of a ricocheting bullet.

There was a young man one step in front of me and the bullet impacted perfectly on the crown of his head , lifting scalp...he buckled.

I thought he has been killed but in just a second or two he jumped up wondering who shot him.
Bullets do strange things.

[Kurt]

I was watching the cowboy shooters once and a dime hit me in the chest standing well behind the line.
I just let them have their fun and I go farther down the road to the HP line and shoot

[SFogler]

These stories are another reason to shoot at 1000 yards.

When I was a kid my dad would shoot his .45 ACP cast bullets into thick wood backings so he could pick up the bullets on the other side and mold them again. Once he found some real thick oak wood and put the target on that. It must have been southern white oak like Old Ironside was made from. He shot and the bullet bounced straight back right to our toes. So much for oak backstops. He got a bullet trap after that.

[38-72]

These stories are another reason to shoot at 1000 yards.

I'm not so sure even the 1000 yard matches are totally safe. I was pulling targets in the pits our 1000 yard match. I was sitting down on a bench with my back against the pit wall when the next shot hit short and impacted the burm above the pit wall, (got the dirt shower) and a very heavy thump to my right leg just above the knee. When I looked down, to see what the hell happened, I saw a 45 caliber lead bullet laying about 3 ft from me. When I picked it up, it was still very hot to the touch. I'm glad it hit my leg and not the top of head. It hard hats for me.

[John Bly]

Many years ago my brother and I found a piece of an old oak plank about 2" thick and about 18" wide x 5-6 ft long. We set it up as a backstop for 38 special wadcutters at about 20 yards. Those wadcutters bounced off that thing and came zipping back at us. It was a back stop with a short life.