Minimum safe distance to shoot a gong

[Schwing]

I know it doesn't happen often but I think people underestimate how much energy can be retained in a ricocheting bullet. A few years back, my local public range used steel target stands made out of angle iron. If you were looking down range at your stand, the tip of the V was pointing directly at you. The range has been open since between 1916-1918 and had never had an incident before this.

A guy in lane 7 decided to screw with his buddy in lane 10 so he started shooting at his target with his .308. I don't know how far out lane 10's stand was but the minimum has always been 15 yards or more. He managed to hit the target stand just at the right angle and his bullet came back and hit the guy in lane 8. It almost killed him and he spent several hours in surgery having the bullet taken out of his liver. It did wonders for the insurance rates and now we have to use wood stands at anything less than 50 yards and NO steel targets less than 50 as well.

It was a freak accident that I would have never thought possible. It also punctuated to me to keep those steel targets angled down.

 

[jmorris]

So are you gonna tell us which ones are which?

Accurate pistols? Lots of good choices and optics help a lot, an 8" diameter plate can be hit with boring repeatability at 300 yds with an XP-100 from the bench and a 2" plate is a challenge at 10 yards with say an NAA mini revolver.

I have a factory Ruger Mark II that with ammo it likes, will shoot 3.5" 10 shot groups at 100yds with a leupold 1.5x scope on it, rested. I consider the same size group at 25 yards with the factory sights, standing, a good group though.

 

[joneb]

Wow, how scary.

How far was he from the target?

I'm not sure, I would guess about a 100 yards.

 

[joneb]

I could not tell what he was shooting at or why it came back.

From the video "no more shootin iron".
Swinging targets would be safer.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Accurate pistols? Lots of good choices and optics help a lot, an 8" diameter plate can be hit with boring repeatability at 300 yds with an XP-100 from the bench and a 2" plate is a challenge at 10 yards with say an NAA mini revolver.

I have a factory Ruger Mark II that with ammo it likes, will shoot 3.5" 10 shot groups at 100yds with a leupold 1.5x scope on it, rested. I consider the same size group at 25 yards with the factory sights, standing, a good group though.

Thanks.

 

[243winxb]

National Training Center info.

Old thread, but ....... USE OF BULLET TRAPS AND STEEL TARGETS - http://energy.gov/ea/downloads/use-bullet-traps-and-steel-targets-june-4-2012

Steel targets that have one dimple or crater must be regarded as a hazard.
Targets that contain dimples larger than 1/16-inch deep should be removed
from use or may only be used according to section 2.a.(3)(b). They can be
repaired by using the proper techniques.

 

[fouled bore]

Old thread, but ....... USE OF BULLET TRAPS AND STEEL TARGETS - http://energy.gov/ea/downloads/use-bullet-traps-and-steel-targets-june-4-2012

The PDF link on the website has a lot of good info. Thanks for posting.

 

[jaowens76]

We had a set of poppers at our local range made of what I believe was mild steel. I had just tweaked a High Standard 1911 to what I considered ideal and thought I would run the rack. Pistol shot brilliantly,but on the 4th round I thought I had been gut shot.
At roughly 10m, when I shot the first 3 targets they were at a slight angle to me the fourth however was straight on. The bullet came back and smacked me right in my belly. I was a bit scared to look down, but felt no blood. Pulled up my shirt and there was a nice fat welt about an inch from my navel. 230gr WWB at a couple hundred fps kinda smarts.

 

[Tom488]

I could not tell what he was shooting at or why it came back.

If I remember correctly, they were shooting .50BMG at a big chunk of mild steel 100 yards away. The plate was angled to one side, to deflect any ricochets. However, the steel was pretty well cratered from previous shots, and the shot in the video caught one of those craters just right, such that the steel core of the M33 ball round came tumbling back, fast enough to sound like an angry hornet, and probably doing 500fps or more.

The shooter wound up with a pretty messed-up jaw, requiring surgery afterwards. And, of course, a new set of ear muffs.