Hit with ricochet today at the firing range

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@jack -- cheers, much appreciated. I agree with your points. I will vote with my wallet and won't be back to this range.
 
Rapid fire isn't permitted at the indoor range I use in the winter, or at the outdoor range I have a membership with. Two seconds between shots is the rule at both ranges. Even with the two second rule I manage to get tagged by copper jackets, or bullet fragments pretty frequently at the indoor range. Most I attribute to the round hitting the steel target retainer. I always wear glasses, a ball cap and Levi jacket when shooting for that very reason. Judging from the holes in the shooting bench, lane partitions, the pock marked ceiling, floor and side walls I would say cowboy is a polite term for some of the shooters. If the range is occupied by a large number of folks wearing their trousers down around their ankles and their hats on sideways I usually wait for the crowd to clear out. Their pistol craft, or lack thereof, tends to make me nervous at times. JMHO
 
I quit going to indoor ranges years ago. Too much toxic smoke, people of "unknown ethics", etc. The real iceing on the cake was when some gangbangers came in and started shooting holding their 9's sideways.
 
What does "rapid fire" have to do with bouncebacks?

Commercial indoor ranges adjust to the lowest common denominator and play it as safe as they can. Doesn't mean I can't safely crank out sub quarter second splits in IDPA mode.
 
Welcome to the club. I got hit in the chest with a .45 ricochet at an indoor range. It didn't cause any injury, but certainly scared me pretty good.

I talked to the Range Master. He told me it happens pretty frequently :eek: because of the backstop they had.

I never went to that range again.
 
Hello friends and neighbors // Glad it was not worse.

Yep eyes, ears and good judgement at the range.
I go in the morning if possible, just me and the local LEOs.
There are signs saying no rapid fire but it happens. I use the farthest lane to the right, it seems more people sweep others with the muzzle to their left.

Saturdays are the worse,the last time I went on a Sat. the guy in the next lane leaned over my shoulder, smelling like he had a beer in there with him, and asked to shoot my snubbie. While I as shooting! Somehow I had just run out of ammo :rolleyes:and hit the road. (not normal for this range two guys were sharing a lane and I think his sober buddy signed in)

Where I go there are two, 6 lane ranges in one building and once range #1 gets down to 2 open lanes I try to get them to open range #2.

The local indoor range is much closer than the outdoor range and perfect if you have it to yourself.
 
I have not been hit, yet, by a ricochet , but I did hit a guy with one of my ricochets. I was shooting steel silhouettes (outdoor range) when i saw the guy about 15 to 20 yards away recoil and his girlfriend started checking out his head. I checked with him and he was fine, i left quickly though. It scared the crap out of me.
 
if i walk into an indoor range and see a bunch of wannabes who probably aren't the most responsible shooters, i usually would just leave
 
I caught one once at an indoor range, just barely broke skin on my forearm. Did scare me pretty solidly, but nothing serious. It was a couple years ago, but i do not remember anyone shooting stupidly or throwing rapid fire. Glad it was not in my eyes for sure. I honestly think it was a fluke really, but that made me always remember my shooting glasses.
 
I won't go to a range that DOESN'T permit rapid fire. How else are you able to practice double taps, Mozambiques and any other pistol fire drill that develops skill in real world situations?
 
I used to shoot at a club where the end of the indoor range was bins of cut up tires. They might have been good at one time, but the bullets were never cleaned out. There was so much metal in there, having bullets come flying back out at you was not unusual, either what you fired into the backstop or bullets that got flung back at you from being hit by your bullets.
 
Vonderek said:
I won't go to a range that DOESN'T permit rapid fire. How else are you able to practice double taps, Mozambiques and any other pistol fire drill that develops skill in real world situations?
Click to expand...

Vonderek, I'm with you on that. My indoor range doesn't allow full auto weapons but does allow rapid fire of handguns or rifles that shoot a pistol cartridge.

I eventually found that simply putting carefully placed holes in paper eventually gets old and really isn't going to help you much in a self defense situation. This was especially true for me since I wanted to develop skills that would be useful if I ever had to actually protect myself or my family.

Yes, paper punching is necessary drill to learn the fundamentals and developing muscle memory. And I literally shot thousands of rounds punching paper and drilling on the shooting basics.

But I knew I had to ramp my skill level up if I was ever going to feel confident in a self defense situation. So I did and now I do. The reward for my efforts is pretty nice ... a truly comfortable confidence that I never expected I would feel when I first started moving past paper punching. Sort of a quiet confidence in knowing that this weapon I carry can, if required, be deployed with devastating effect.

Putting 7 rounds in a five inch circle at seven yards in under five seconds ... you just ain't gonna get there if you don't push yourself at a range that will accommodate your practice.
 
I had a similar experience, but the ricochet I was hit by, was my own. Shooting plinkers at the local range, one didn't go down (must have been rusted up or something). 2 bullet fragments in the calf. Sceered the jeebers out of the friends who were with me :)
 
Good thread! I had no idea ricochets were so common. I've learned a lot.
 
One indoor range I go to allows full auto weapons, has no range master at the line, and lots of foreigners with little or no gun handling experience. The lane dividers, ceilings, benches and walls (including the wall BEHIND the firing line) are riddled with bullet holes.

If you ever want an exercise in situational awareness, go there on a busy Saturday afternoon! Just getting from the door to your lane will make your hairs stand on end. You'll be scoping the room like you just walked into a biker bar.
 
OP, by your own words, you don't know where the ricochet came from. If you think it came directly from the floor, http://www.physics.unc.edu/about/labs/physics_101(20).php

I'm wondering how the other shooter's speed or style of shooting comes into play.
Define "real target", because not everyone goes to a range hoping to make one ragged hole at a careful relaxed pace.

Even on a well designed range, with shots landing in the intended backstop, you can get ricochets. Most of the time it comes back in the form of jacketing. You may have gotten a "thump" instead of a paper cut. Bad luck for you that day. Don't go blaming the other shooters on the line without looking at the range conditions themselves.
 
9mm+,

If the range in question is the one I think it is. Then yes, it is pretty much just left up to the guys in the cashiers booth watching. I haven't been there in a long while since it looks like the range could use a real good cleaning.There are all manners of strikes and holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling. There are better places to be than that one. Have you been by the local county range? Much better disciple and real RSO's too!
 
I believe its caused more by the conditiion or neglect of the range itself than the rapid fire. When the collection boxes at the bottom of the bullet traps are overflowing, bullets will be skipped back in the direction they came from because they have no place else to go. You did the right thing by leaving. I hope you complained to them at least before you left.
 
At least you didn't walk out with something under your skin.

Last week my friend's tricked-up 400CorBon 1911 he just received the barrel for had a canted compensator (he didn't know until now). On his last shot I felt a sharp sting on my right arm... what do I see, bleeding. Crap, I got a copper shrapnel in my right arm just where the bicep and forearm join, and it wasn't under the surface when I tried to take it out, it's in for good.
The day after I found a 2mm long-2mm wide copper shave that found it's way IN my left t-shirt arm.

He returned the barrel for repair. Poor guy, he had just waited 3 months for the unique barrel.
 
wow reading this post is the exact reason i avoid one range.the one i go to is more money a hour but no jerks there.
 
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