Bullets comming back? or Who got shot?

[Crawlin]

I was at my local indoor range Friday shooting a local IDPA match when the guy standing a few feet away got hit in the leg with something. He looked down to find a fully flat FMJ bullet that has flown back from the back stop and hit him in the leg. It did no damage and didn’t even break the jeans but it was amazingly hot so we know it was just fired.

I've been shooting at this range for about 5+ years and have never heard of this happening but after reading the most embarrassing moments thread, I saw this happens every now and then. My question is how often does this happen? By no means am I "freaking out" it just got me to thinking how much this happens. Are there any studies on it?

And just so you know, it is a properly built range, with a backstop at the correct angle and so on...

Edit: I spel gud

 

[shotgunkevin]

quote: the gun standing a few feet away got hit in the leg with something. He looked down to find a fully flat FMJ bullet that has flown back from the back stop and hit him in the leg.
An attempted parenticide!!

At the indoor range I used to go to, the firing line was peppered with jacket shreds. I was probably struck by a piece 20% of the time, I'd guess. No injuries.

My shooting buddy once was shooting at a rusty golf club (NEVER DO THIS!!) with his Stg58 and several pieces of club or bullet sprayed him. He was probably 8 or 10 yards away, not wearing eye protection (ALWAYS WEAR EYES!) He dumped the gun on the dirt & covered his face - I thought he was blind. He had several bloody scratches, the worst was in his lower eyelid!

I suppose it's kind of common for jackets & fragments to come back from steel bullet traps. Plan accordingly.

 

[BobTheTomato]

A good reason to wear eye protection......

 

[Deanimator]

Our club range never has this problem. We use a captive rubber pellet system. The rubber just swallows the bullets up.

I once got a big hunk of bullet jacket stuck in the back of my hand while shooting on a range with a metal backstop.

 

[griz]

Shooting steel plates or bowling pins will get you some bounce back. But other than those, I would think a good backstop would contain anything that hit it.

 

[Onmilo]

I had a round nose 158 grain .38 slug bounce back off a steel reaction target and just miss my head.
This has only happened once in over twenty years of shooting at these kinds of targets.

I have never heard of a bullet coming back and inflicting a mortal wound though I have heard a tale of a bullet coming back and taking a mans eye out.
Heck of a reason to ALWAYS wear your safety glasses when doing anything that could be potentially hazardous to your vision.

 

[Fat_46]

I shot myself right between the eyes, high up on the bridge of my nose at the first CAS match I ever shot. Bounceback from a 250gr rnfp .45 Colt. Just barely broke the skin, but got my attention in a hurry. I now have larger, wing style safety glasses and a great story!

 

[usp_fan]

I have a piece of jacket in my face from bounce back. My buddy was shooting a home made rack of swinging plates with 9mm JHP. A piece of the jacket wizzed back and hit my face as I was turned, reloading a magazine. I brushed the blood away and figured I'd just got nicked. About a year latter, I had some imaging done as part of a medical test and they were suprized to see a small piece of metal in my face. When they asked, I had to think--then I said "that must be from when I got shot". The looks were priceless.

--usp_fan

 

[Waitone]

The outdoor range I used to frequent had a 30 yard minimum shooting metal plates. Reason was the wooden wall adjacent to the plates was peppered with lead frizbees all the way back to 30 yards.

 

[deadin]

Any "angle plate" backstop is subject to a small "dent" or distortion, especially when hit by a high velocity FMJ. Once there is a dent, there is a vertical surface that can send a subsequent bullet (if it hits just right) back towards the line instead of down towards the floor. This is why many indoor ranges restrict handloads, magnums and FMJ's.
Pins are infamous for sending bullets off in unintended directions. Reactive targets are just that, reactive. If there is any non-penetrable surface at a 90 degree (plus or minus) angle to the bullet path, the chance for bounce back exists.

Dean

 

[lucky_fool]

I was hit in the chest once by a .45 that ricocheted at the local indoor range. Hit about as hard as if somebody had thrown it at me. It didn't really hurt but it sure was a surprise.

 

[.38 Special]

At the the ten yard falling plate stage of a Bianchi-style match, the guy next to me was trying out some JHPs. confused: )

Short version: I got hit by about half of those damnable things. None broke the skin (all of them hit me on my shirt and pants) but it didn't do much for my concentration.

I've never been hit by lead bullets no matter how close I've been to the steel. There's a lesson in there somewhere...

 

[mbdolfin]

i was shooting in the middle lane of a indoor range a couple years ago and i saw a guy a few lanes to left of me laying on the floor holding his neck. he got hit from a bullet bouncing off the back stop because a couple of guys all the way to my right were crossfiring. the guy was fine and there was no blood, but there was a nice size hole in his neck and all around the bullet hole his skin was bright, bright red. anyway the cops and ambulance came and that ended my shooting session. so the moral of the story!!!!! MAKE SURE YOU SHOOT STRAIGHT AND DON'T CROSSFIRE!

 

[phoglund]

I've been hit more than once by .22 bounceback. I was young and foolish then. I'm old and foolish now but not foolish enough to shoot .22 at something it's not able to penetrate!