Rimfire rifle shooting at the range: Question

[OMCHamlin]

Folks, I'd like your opinions on an incident that happened to me a couple weekends ago. I was at our local club's outdoor 100 yd range, zeroing my new .22 lr T/C Contender Carbine at 50 yds. To be specific, our range is set up as follows: At 100 yds we have a 10 ft berm, and a covered bench at the firing line for rifles. This bench is also equipped with a rack of tires that we are required to shoot through which acts as a noise baffle. As I said, I'm zeroing my 22 in at 50 yds, shooting at a target stapled to a 2' x 3' cardboard box set on the ground. I've been shooting for 10-15 minutes and passing the time with my shooting buddies when the newly elected club vice president comes over and explains to me and my buddies how dangerous this is as the rounds could ricochet off of the ground and careen over the berm, killing someone up to a mile & a quarter away. The ground between the bench and the 100 yd berm was soft mud with no standing water or ice. I think he was over reacting grossly but I stopped shooting. Also, there is in excess of 4-500 yds of dense woods behind the berm. I'd like your opinions on the safety factor in this if any of you would care to share them with me. If I'm wrong, tell me, I'd like to think of myself as an experienced and safe shooter, but not one that's too old to learn something new, if needed.

 

[Infidel]

At the two clubs where I'm a member, you Must arrange your targets so that the rounds impact the berm, and not the ground between the firing line and the berm. That is unconditional, and a violation gets you kicked out.

The bullets impacting the ground at that shallow angle can easily ricochet over the berm, and carry for quite a long way, much more than 400-500 yards. A round over the berm is a good way for a club to get shut down.

Compliance is easy, not complying is dangerous.

 

[P95Carry]

It is true, that a ''bouncer'' could indeed travel quite some ways. I have known other clubs enforce this.

I doubt in 999 cases outa 1000 it would be any problem but there IS the possibility that bullet could hit at an acute angle - lose very little energy and still careen on for a long ways. IMO it is a wise precaution tho - heaven knows, many of us have done just this.

What the range operators want tho - they have to get - better safe than sorry etc.

 

[hps1]

OMC:

explains to me and my buddies how dangerous this is as the rounds could ricochet off of the ground and careen over the berm, killing someone up to a mile & a quarter away. The ground between the bench and the 100 yd berm was soft mud with no standing water or ice. I think he was over reacting grossly but I stopped shooting.

Afraid I would have to agree with your club vice pres. that anytime a bullet strikes a horizontal surface, it can, and probably will ricochet off of that surface and .22 rimfires are notorious for ricochets. A 10' berm at 100 yards is not all that high and some of these ricochets will probably go over the backstop.

I was high power rifle director for our club for many years and, as a club officer would have been named in any lawsuit had one been filed against the club. Have had the above conversation with quite a few club members over the years. Most of the members were not aware of the danger of bullets striking the flat surface but once it was politely pointed out were happy to comply, as you did. Our backstop berm is 200 yards downrange but it is 35' high and all target frames are positioned so that the bullets strike the vertical surface of the backstop.

You did the right thing by stopping shooting even though you had your doubts. While the wooded area might offer some additional protection, you did not state who controlled this property. If someone could wander into the wooded area while the range is hot, it affords little or no protection.

IMHO it is far better to err on the safe side than to be involved in a firearms accident. Once the trigger is pulled, the shot cannot be called back, so better safe than sorry.

Regards,
hps

 

[JohnKSa]

Rounds hitting ground before berm are bad. Range owners nightmare.

 

[OMCHamlin]

OK, I've learned something new (or relearned something that I had long forgotten). I had always heard "never shoot at standing water or any other hard surface". I believed because it was soft ground it posed no risk.
Thank you!
Chris

 

[PowderBurn]

I'm thinking that if berm is 10 ft at 100 yards and you bounce one at 50, bullet shouldn't rise higher than you the distance from the muzzle to the ground when you pulled the trigger. If bullet impacts ground at less than 50 yards, it could climb higher than the muzzle; the closer to the muzzle it impacts ground, the higher it would climb.

Of course, there are so many other factors at play that determine the exact course the bullet will take that this becomes an exercise in chaos theory.

That's why it's best to heed the warning of the VP.

 

[George S.]

Does your range have requirements for target holders? You might work with the safety committee to see how target frame holders can be placed 50yds out and make some holders that will set the targets high enough so that ricochets should not occur. I would think that a 4' holder should work for a 10' high berm at 100yds.

At my range, there are 2x6 boards dug in at ground level and spaced about 2" apart to form a slot. There are wooden target holder frames with feet that slide into the slot formed by the 2x6. Cardboard is typically staples to the frame and the targets taped to the cardboard. We have these 2x6 frame holders at 25, 50, 100 and 200 yds.

Our berm is however a 40' high bank the entire width of the firing line (100')that was dug out of a hillside so there is not a lot of danger of rounds going up and over although there is dense trees above the top of the bank that extends for over 600yds before any homes.

 

[hps1]

You might work with the safety committee to see how target frame holders can be placed 50yds out and make some holders that will set the targets high enough so that ricochets should not occur.

Excellent suggestion.

Since our backstop was 200 yards from the firing line, we had to place .22RF targets something like 6-7' above the ground @ 50 yards in order to insure bullets hit vertical surface of the berm, especially for standard velocity target ammo. We were in the process of building a 100 yard smallbore range at the time and since that has been completed, all handgun and smallbore shooting is now done on the 100 yd. range with target height in the 4-5' range.

Another problem that should be considered is that a rimfire bullet penetrating the wooden target frame quite often exits the wood at an entirely different angle than the line of fire and can easily miss the backstop. We used a 4x8 piece of cellotex (sp?) on our frames so that targets can be placed away from the target frame; this lessens the chance of a bullet striking the frame and being deflected (and makes target frames last longer, as well. ) In a perfedt world, the backstop should be immediately behing the target, but if not possible, then the target should be placed so that bullets will strike the backstop, not the flat.

Regards,
hps

 

[Jim Watson]

My range has just recently put up tall target frames at 25 and 50 yards so .22s (and inaccurate centerfires and muzzle loaders) can be shot straight into the 100 yard berm. We were seeing long gashes in the turf where people were setting targets in the middle of the field or just throwing junk out on the ground.

It is a risk and you can engineer your way around it.

You don't need the liability and none of us need the bad publicity if you should happen to glance one off a hard spot and wing a passer-by.