Is this real?

[blackops]

Try shooting a little steel and you'll find out it's real enough.

Yes, rounds ricochet. They ricochet especially well off of hard surfaces like steel and sometimes they'll ricochet right back at you.

That's just another reason to wear safety glasses.

I agree that yes the will ricochet and that safety glasses are a must, but safety glasses aren't going to do anything to a 50bmg. How about DONT SHOOT INTO STEEL AT 100 YDS, especially with the biggest round available. He's lucky..very lucky. If you want to shoot into metal shoot AR-500 and at least at 200 yds.

 

[musick]

Yes, rounds ricochet. They ricochet especially well off of hard surfaces like steel and sometimes they'll ricochet right back at you.

Ive had more than 1 round ricochet back towards me while shooting in the desert after hitting a random rock in the side of a mountain. Another time, my friends truck got a nice dent from a ricochet.

Eyes and ears is ALWAYS a good idea.

 

[rondog]

FWIW - many, many years ago, I was shooting a .22 at cans setup in front of an old concrete wall, and my oldest brother was standing behind me watching. A .22 slug came whizzing straight back, right over my head, and thumped my bro square in the chest. Raised a pretty good welt too. He moved over after that. He still talks about it, "remember when?".

 

[model of 1905]

I cannot tell you with certainty either way if the video is real ( I personally believe it is a staged fake). I can tell you with absolute certainty that it was NOT a 600 yard shot. Ain't no way in H E double hockey sticks.

 

[LRaccuracy]

Is this video real? That I can't answer to. Is this possible? There is no doubt in my mind that this can happen. I can imagine all sorts of scenarios where something including a projectile can be returned from kinetic energy. I also know of one death that occurred locally because of a ricochet (44 magnum.)

 

[Nate1778]

I do not question the fact of the ricochet. I know its real and have scene them fly off many a time at the KC machine gun night shoot. My question is pertaining to this video. For the bullet to come back at him, that would mean the bullet would have to come to a complete stop, from close to 3000ft/per second, and without deforming too much or loosing a ton of energy in explosion, turn directly back around and cruise at fairly high rate, from the sound of it, for another 100+ yards, in the same direction whence it came. I understand the steel ball bearing bouncing thing, but Friday night I was casting 00 buckshot from lead and dropping a couple, they don't bounce. Bullet is lead and copper, both of which are not steel and both deform, to do so eats up a ton of energy as we know.

So I get back to my original question, how does a bullet traveling at close to 3000ft/sec not explode on impact like the above posted AK round.

 

[LaserSpot]

Some BMG ammo is solid brass or solid copper:
http://www.50bmgsupply.com/ammo.shtml

At 600 yards, it would only be going ~1700 fps

 

[B yond]

I once took a shot at a THICK solid steel plate with some old surplus steel-core 7.62x54R and it came back at me. Left a big 'ole crater in the front of the plate where it hit and pushed a bunch of steel off to the sides, big bump on the backside of the plate where it almost made it through.

I haven't shot at steel since. The sound of a bullet whizzing by kinda makes you rethink your choice of target.

 

[MutinousDoug]

Take a walk down range sometime and look at those T-1 steel silhouette plates. If they have any time on them they look like the surface of the moon. A cratered plate will spit junk back at you much worse than a flat surface.
50m chickens are dangerous.

 

[shilo]

I shot a ak round at a piece of half inch steel and it ricocheted and hit me in the arm and chest. We had to dig out a piece of the metal jacket out of my arm. Theres still a piece in by my wrist. I was lucky i didnt lose an eye or hit an artery. My wife was pissed!

and the steel was closer than i should have been shooting at.

 

[ChCx2744]

Yea eyes and ears are always a must have when shooting but...if a .50BMG round comes back at your head...well...your SOL. Seriously, you are SOL. It is just your day to go if that happens and it makes contact with a vital organ.

 

[PvtPyle]

This video is real, George Hill was there when it was made. The guys are shooters from the Unita Basin here in Utah. IIRC the muffs are on display in the store Basin Sports.

 

[Detritus]

and the steel was closer than i should have been shooting at.

Frank Glover the owner of The Range In Oxford NC, used to tell a story about seeing the combo of too close steel plates and shotgun slugs result in a .32 cal piece of lead heading UP-range and wounding a shooter badly enough to require a trip to the ER.

 

[SuperNaut]

Is this real?

Yep.

 

[Drail]

Everyone needs to be very careful shooting at steel plates. At our matches we always angled the plates so we knew any ricochets would go off into a field or down into the ground. If a steel plate is not smooth it can be very dangerous. A direct hit on a deep crater will actually turn the bullet inside out and allow it to return straight back to the gun. I didn't hardly believe this until I saw a guy shoot one and the bullet came right back at him and hit him right between the eyes as the gun lifted in recoil. He survived. When the plates become heavily cratered DON'T USE THEM ANYMORE! Make sure everyone in the area has good safety glasses and think about where the ricochet may go. Be careful. I love shooting steel but you cannot be careless or someone can get hurt. In one of Elmer Keith's books he describes hitting a wooden fence post that had a big knot in it. The bullet followed the grain around the knot and came straight back and hit him.