Never had this happen before

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Appalachiannative

Appalachiannative

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The Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains NC
So I have been using a rotten tree stump for backstop on my home range to catch lead And it's about had it. so I went into the woods and got a chunk of wood some previous owner cut down years ago. it ain't too rotten and looked pretty hard but must be harder than i thought because when I set a beer can Infront of it and shot the can with my cap and ball the can went flying towards me then landed at my feet with the half crushed lead ball inside of it. Picked up the can and felt something rolling around inside of it. Turned the can up and the hot piece of lead fell into my hand... Reckon I'll put a softer piece of wood infront of this one
 
W.E.G. said:
I've had some scary experiences with pistol bullets bouncing back after hitting stumps
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Really? I haven't shot any center fire ammo at the stump. I bet jacketed rounds from a 9mm or something could bounce off with enough juice left to hurt you. This soft lead ball couldn't penetrate the can a second time apparently lol
 
Yeah watch what you shoot at. I remember going to a friends old farm property with a old abandon house they used as a hunting camp. We were shooting .22s outside and he decided to shoot at a bird on the cast vent pipe sticking out of the roof. I did too and heard a Wizzzzzz and saw the bullet come back very close to my head. A different time I was at a public shooting grounds where a lot of stuff was dumped there and shot up. There was a old cast iron tub on it's side. We stupidly set our cans in it because they were easy to see against the white. Couple shots in Zinggggggg came a bullet between us. We were teen agers both times. I survived and never took chances after that. Thing I regret about my friends hunting camp was his grandfather had a big garden there. We went up to the 2nd floor to shoot down through a window at the tomatoes and eggplants as targets blowing them up with hollow points. His gramps was PISSED and I don't blame him. He told us no more target shooting there but hunting was ok. He would count the vegetables before we went. Never got a chance to apologize to him face to face.. Just through his grandson. I wish I did. Just a little thing that sticks in the back of my mind when I think about it..
 
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Appalachiannative said:
and shot the can with my cap and ball the can went flying towards me then landed at my feet with the half crushed lead ball inside of it.
Click to expand...
Balls bounce!
I, too, learned this fact upon my third or fourth firing of my first muzzle loading pistol. An old computer case was my return spring. A slightly flattened ball rolled to my feet from a triangular shaped divot in the otherwise unmolested computer.

I also learned 85 grains of powder instead of twenty lessens the chances of this phenomenon.;)


Mark_Mark said:
Nothing makes a better backstop and bullet catch then a big pile of DRY SAND. Get the shovel out, a case of iced down bottled water and go to town. Or use a backhoe…
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My sand gets delivered in a truck.
Mostly because I don’t want the hole!:D
 
Demi-human said:
Balls bounce!
I, too, learned this fact upon my third or fourth firing of my first muzzle loading pistol. An old computer case was my return spring. A slightly flattened ball rolled to my feet from a triangular shaped divot in the otherwise unmolested computer.

I also learned 85 grains of powder instead of twenty lessens the chances of this phenomenon.;)



My sand gets delivered in a truck.
Mostly because I don’t want the hole!:D
Click to expand...
Don’t tell me your one if those upper crust guys with a private range! probably in their backyard with a fridge and a grill too. I’m just jealous!!! one day!
 
Demi-human said:
Balls bounce!
I, too, learned this fact upon my third or fourth firing of my first muzzle loading pistol. An old computer case was my return spring. A slightly flattened ball rolled to my feet from a triangular shaped divot in the otherwise unmolested computer.

I also learned 85 grains of powder instead of twenty lessens the chances of this phenomenon.;)



My sand gets delivered in a truck.
Mostly because I don’t want the hole!:D
Click to expand...
The balls from my pistol bounced. The ones from my flintlock rifle on the other hand hit the wood and got stuck or bounced hard and went god only knows where. Found about 10 chunks of lead up and down the range.
 
Scooter22 said:
Yeah watch what you shoot at. I remember going to a friends old farm property with a old abandon house they used as a hunting camp. We were shooting .22s outside and he decided to shoot at a bird on the cast vent pipe sticking out of the roof. I did too and heard a Wizzzzzz and saw the bullet come back very close to my head. A different time I was at a public shooting grounds where a lot of stuff was dumped there and shot up. There was a old cast iron tub on it's side. We stupidly set our cans in it because they were easy to see against the white. Couple shots in Zinggggggg came a bullet between us. We were teen agers both times. I survived and never took chances after that. Thing I regret about my friends hunting camp was his grandfather had a big garden there. We went up to the 2nd floor and used the tomatoes and eggplants as targets blowing them up with hollow points. His gramps was PISSED and I don't blame him. He told us no more target shooting there but hunting was ok. He would count the vegetables before we went. Never got a chance to apologize to him face to face.. Just through his grandson. I wish I did. Just a little thing that sticks in the back of my mind.
Click to expand...
Man that brings back memories for me. Around here there is an abandoned hunting club. Everyone called it the beagle club. I used to set up targets in the basement of the old club house then kick the door (that was already busted off the hinges and I just propped it up) then go threw the room (it was a living room with a small kitchen) blasting one target at a time with my .357. we shot everything we got (my brother in law and I) up there for years then it got sold and the fence/ no trespassing signs went up. Everyone in that whole area used the place as a gun range by day and party central by night. This was during my early 20's of course
 
I had a bullet bounce off a block of synthetic timber being used as a knockdown target, they were out of bowling pins and would not use steel on the indoor range.
Gashed my middle finger just under the trigger guard.
 
gobsauce said:
Pay my ticket, a cold six pack and a medium rare steak and I'll dig that for you.
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No digging required. I went out this morning and looked around and found about a dozen squished pieces of lead all up and down the range. I think I probably fired 36 shots yesterday so I'll find the rest later hopefully
 
I've had bullets come back at me after shooting (smokeless) at tires and (I'll deny I said this) railroad tracks.

The tracks with CF rounds; the recurved cross section turns the bullet or its fragments right around and back to you. APs sometimes get stuck in the track, and I suppose the jacket fragments come back, but I my friend didn't notice the effect until a jacketed lead round threw everything back and was pretty obvious. This happened to a youthful friend of mine, of course, not me, but his reports are accurate.

The tires, with .22s, and I didn't realize it was happening until one clipped a little branchlet off near me. <whew!>

I don't recall any problems with shooting (smokeless) at wood, but maybe I'm just dumb lucky so far.

Terry, 230RN
 
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A buddy of mine had an outdoor range built at the same time as he was building his house. They used as fill dirt the soil from excavating the basement as the backstop for the new range. For some reason there was a lot of stones in the dirt, enough to cause a number of rounds to ricochet off the rocks and come back to the firing line. Decided to go with stacking bags of sand to go in front of the backstop and this helped cut down on the ricochets.
 
Appalachiannative said:
I think I probably fired 36 shots yesterday so I'll find the rest later hopefully
Click to expand...
The silver lining turns out to be easy to salvage lead!:thumbup: So long as it’s not out of your shins…:D


Mark_Mark said:
Don’t tell me your one if those upper crust guys with a private range! probably in their backyard with a fridge and a grill too. I’m just jealous!!! one day!
Click to expand...
Ha! I definitely can’t tell you that! Hopefully one day for me too.:)
As an elite carpenter I have installed more than one very nice range. Oh but to be able to use them. I just can’t trade an arm, nor a leg, for membership. :confused:

(Though, one of the neighbors has a range, rather close as I hear. I’m trying to find a way to introduce myself…;))
 
230RN said:
I've had bullets come back at me after shooting (smokeless) at tires and (I'll deny I said this) railroad tracks.

The tracks with CF rounds; the recurved cross section turns the bullet or its fragments right around and back to you. APs sometimes get stuck in the track, and I suppose the jacket fragments come back, but I my friend didn't notice the effect until a jacketed lead round threw everything back and was pretty obvious. This happened to a youthful friend of mine, of course, not me, but his reports are accurate.

The tires, with .22s, and I didn't realize it was happening until one clipped a little branchlet off near me. <whew!>

I don't recall any problems with shooting (smokeless) at wood, but maybe I'm just dumb lucky so far.

Terry, 230RN
Click to expand...
I've shot old rotten stumps with everything I got and never had this happen... This one ain't rotten. I've shot big truck tires with jacketed hollow point .357 mag and found the inside of the tire full of fragments of copper jacket and lead
 
Stumps are always complicated, as the grain twists around following all the root paths (which makes the "burl" which can make beautiful woodwork). The stump may also have grown around various "inclusions" like stones, so, even if punky-rotten in the middle, may be a hard, reflective surface in there.

That punkiness can be deceptive, too, as the rounds might just whiz on right through.

Which is yet another reason why dirt is probably the best backstop.
 
The wife wanted to live closer to the city, so property to shoot is off the table for now.

In the event I had property, I'd definitely be shooting into a berm. Found a nice club to shoot at nearby and that's how I've always seen it done at outdoor ranges. We're not even allowed to shoot at those rubber self-healing targets. I've been hit by lead over a berm before from someone wailing away with 5.56 within 20 yards. I generally won't shoot steel closer than 10 with pistol cartridges and 100 with rifle - 200 if it's going over 3,000 fps.
 
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