has anyone ever been hit by a bullet ricochet?

[mbdolfin]

i remember when i was 18 i went to the range by myself in the dead middle of winter. i shot my S&W m19 with a 158 grain hollow point into the frozen ground about a foot in front of me. i was curious to see how far it would go into the ground. what a dumb move that was on my part. the bullet hit the ground and bounced back up and skimmed off my shoulder. it didn't hurt or even make a mark on my army jacket but it sure scared the he!! out of me!
has anyone else ever been hit before at the range?

[WinchesterAA]

Yeah.. Out at my deer lease myself and a few friends were shooting. Dunno whose it was, what it was, or how it came back at me, but I took a nice THWAP in the left thigh. No damage, tiny bruise, little confused for a sec. We were in tall grass so I couldn't find whatever it was. I assume it was a ricochet.

[El Tejon]

mb, thanks for letting others remember to be sure of our target and what is behind it, Rule #4.

It's "ricochet" and yes I've been hit several times with pieces of bullets and jackets. Good idea to go shooting with a buddy and always keep something to stop bleeding (Israeli wound bandages or even Kotex) in our range bags.

[scrat]

As a kid while shooting my pellot and bb guns. You learned quikly about ricochet. While growing up shooting centerfire rifles and guns. I was taught never to shoot at something your gun wont go through or get stuck in. Now im sure that ice is a pretty hard surface. From time to time you hear something once in a while at the range. Thats why everyone stands behind the benches. to keep people out of the actual range of fire. After that its up to the shooters. Ie proper shooting, not shooting at the ground or rocks. Shooting directly at targets not at angles. Then using the proper size calibers for what your shooting at.

[CypherNinja]

Twice.

Once with a 5.56 fragment, in the thumb. The other was .380 squib that sailed downrange, bounced off the rubber backstop, and struck me in the calf at something like paintball speed.

Both stung, both were no biggie.

[yesit'sloaded]

I've actually been shot twice with a shotgun at long distance due to beered up retards dove hunting on the property next to ours. Not a pleasant feeling but not all that bad. Only one pellet got stuck in the skin. Felt kinda like sand blown by the wind except harder. Been hit by .38sp jacket fragments at such a low velocity they just kinda bounced off.

[.38 Special]

It's "ricochet"

No, he had it right. A rickashay is one of those carts they use in China, like a human powered taxi. The bullet rickashay is just the new Japanese version; much faster.

HTH!

[siglite]

5.56 must gravitate to the calf. I caught a bounce pulling butts in the corps. Got me in the calf. Stung for a minute. Didn't break skin.

[Sam1911]

A few times. Spend enough time at the range, especially with pistols, and it's likely to eventually happen.

I've been hit in the neck by parts of a 9mm Mak. round that left a dueling tree someone was shooting about 10 yards out and 8 or so stations to my right. I was bench shooting a rifle and the partial slug snaked over my right arm and under my hat/muffs/chin, etc. Ouch.

We also once ran an indoor bowling pin league...briefly... and abandoned all our efforts after only two nights because of all the ricochets and damage to the range. We first tried centerfires and the results were alarming. Lots of 230 gr. slugs rolling back up across the firing line. After ditching that idea we declared that this would be a .22 ONLY pin league. It pretty much got WORSE. Less physical damage to stuff with the smaller slugs but they came back in droves. I caught a slug, in the back of the head, 25 yards straight uprange from the pins. The .45s and .38s would at least come back fairly low and slow. The .22 that hit me was still 6' off the ground and zipping along by the time it got all the way back up to the tables where I was standing.

Neither left me with more than a sore red knot, fortunately.
_Sam

[Harry Paget Flashman]

Had a .45-70 bounce off an engine block from 4" away. There was a lot to explain away when they dug the copper jacket out of my forehead and lead from my jaw. It's amazing how many of us survive our youth.

[Owen Sparks]

Twice.
One time I was shooting bowling pins and a 230 grain FMJ .45 flew back and hit me in the lower torso. A second time I was at the city dump and shot an old refrigerator with a .45 and the same thing happened. Both times I saw the bullet coming and was unhurt. It was about like someone had pitched them underhanded. I have on numberous times been hit with fragments when shooting steel (wear your glasses!) but every time it was because the targets were no longer smooth. Abusing steel targets with a rifle that leaves craters and divots will cause a dangerous condition. I don't think I have ever been hit by anything coming off a pristeen smooth steel target.

Where the real danger comes is when bullets skip off a hard flat surface at a minor angle like a bank shot in pool. Water is especially dangerous. Anyone who has ever done a belly flop off the high dive knows that the faster you hit water, the harder it gets.

[SapperMapper]

My sister and I were shooting my BB gun at targets tacked to the woodpile, range, about 15-20 yards. I was around 15, she must have been 12 or 13 years old.
I was standing about 8 yards to her right, and I saw the BB come sailing back from the woodpile and <thwap!> right in the middle of her forehead. It only left a small red welt, but my first thought was,"Oh, crap, Mom is going to kill me."

[kingpin008]

Once. Shooting at an indoor range, the fella next to me was shooting a .44, and decided to be a badass and empty the cylinder as fast as he could. Most of the shots hit paper, but one hit MY target carrier, and came back at us. A fragment hit my forearm just above my wrist and bounced into my face, hitting just under my right eye. Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to sting like hell.

The RO escorted him off of the range about 15 minutes later, when he hit the carrier again, and then punctured a ceiling tile.

[Sistema1927]

If you want to experience splatter, try Cowboy Shooting.

I seem to be a veritable lead magnet.

[parisite]

El Tejon,

I think I'd rather bleed a little bit than be caught with a Kotex in my range bag, thank you.

[tacweapon]

I was shooting 230 grain 45ACP at a bowling pin from about 10 yards and a ricochet came and hit my friend in the chest and gave him and black and blue bruise on his chest.

I was at the range and was shooting my .223 rifle and after I had zeroed my BUIS I just did a mag dump of the remaining mag and caught the casing of a 55 grain hollow point it grazed my left calf and embeded in my right calf. The said thing is I thought that I had checked my backstop and I did not see anything that it would ricochet off of.

[tntwatt]

Had a guy shoot a steel popper target with a 22lr. bounced back and hit my glasses. left a huge scratch right in front of my left eye. I was 15feet behind the firing line.

[bigfoot311]

got hit with a 5.56 fragment in the ribs. left a nasty bruise for a while, but im sure it could have been much worse.

[mbdolfin]

yea, i didn't know how to spell ricochet so i just wung it with rickashay! i knew you guys would know what i meant.

[jrfoxx]

taken some lead splash that was coming back 50 feet or so to the line when I used to shoot .22 rifle competition as a teenager.Didnt hurt or even make a mark, it was just annoying, and made concentrating a little difficult, thats for sure.

[nyggis]

I was shooting at a steel plate with my Tikka .222 Rem at about 90 yds, when I saw a tiny smoke trail coming towards me.. Whack! Hit my forehead and left a small red mark...

And I was worrying about the optics.. 20 years old and stupid...

[Blakenzy]

Yes, quite a few times. You see, the only indoor range I have access to is shot to hell; steel plates bent out of shape (or something along those lines), and often enough bullets escape the trap and bounce back along the floor all the way to the firing line and hit me in the shins. However they arrive with such little force(fortunately) that I barely feel them.

[Owen Sparks]

Lead is very soft and does not bounce back like a steel BB does. They will skip if the angle is sharp enough though. A bullet striking a flat surface will skip off at roughly the same angle it hits. We had a car window broken at a match once and we figured out that the bullet has to have ramped off a pepper popper. What happens is that if you hammer a falling steel target and the last shot hits it as it is almost down, the angle can be sharp enough to skip the bullet over the berm. A 200 grain chunk of lead does not have to be traveling very fast to be dangerous. Be carefull

[230RN]

I think I'd rather bleed a little bit than be caught with a Kotex in my range bag, thank you.

The tampons plug a .45 hole nicely.

[SapperMapper]

That's why our medic used to carry a few in his aid bag. But that's off topic. Kotex don't ricochet.