Almost Got Shot Today

[ldabe]

SnowRidge,
It is a scary thing to have lead flying your way (I know first hand as a former Law enforcement officer),
but please think carefully about the "rethinking the licensing part".
In my opinion no American who has not violated his "right" to keep and bear should not have to do anything, much less getting a permit to carry!
Too many laws on the books as it is, and too many trying to take weapons away completely.
Also, if the officer investigating the stray bullets did not find who did it, IMHO he did not do his job and should go get a job he can handle.

 

[SpringHollow]

About 10 years ago, my friend's neighbor and his 10 year old son were shooting pistols (357 magnums) at a tin can in a creek. The son fell down and the father said that wasn't funny. Then he looked over and his son was dead from a ricochet that opened up his head. Very tragic.

I shoot a 22 at targets backed up by a steep hill to prevent any stray shots from hitting any trespassers (nearest neighbor is quite far away). My friend that he told me that sad story after I showed him a clip of someone shooting a high powered rifle at a metal plate and having the bullet come back and graze his head. Because of rocks on the hill, I am now thinking I will put some sand filled tires behind the targets.

Ken

 

[Skyco]

You might want to rethink the tires. Tires have been known to bounce bullets back in some cases.

 

[wjoerob]

Some idiots don't know how powerful that rifle is, especially if they're newbies or under the influence. Near here, people were sitting in their living room when a round popped through their wall. They hadn't heard any shots --turned out some guy had tried out his new rifle a mile over from them! He didn't know how far it could travel. Sounds like your local morons are more the irresponsible type.

 

[SpringHollow]

You might want to rethink the tires. Tires have been known to bounce bullets back in some cases.

I was wondering if steel belts in the tires would cause a problem. What do you recommend using?

Thanks,

Ken

 

[LMTC]

I built a small backstop, primarily for handgun, years ago, and have never seen any evidence of ricochet or skip (and there are enough pines around that any volume of skip would become evident). I started with a wall of tires, shaped like a very open "C", with the opening facing the firing line. Probably 20' wide, about 5' high in tires. Stacked them one layer at a time, each layer overlapping the seams in the previous (like bricks), and filling them with sand to keep them in place. Once they were high enough I built a dirt berm over them. At the time I got all the old tires I wanted for free from a local tire dealer. There is probably at least a foot of dirt in every direction over the tires. IF a bullet should go over the top, it will hit a rise on my property in another 150'....a rise that extends probably 20' above this berm.

I have had deputies come out at times in the past, and I always ask them why they responded to a call with no allegation of illegal activity (it's always been "someone reported that someone was shooting", never an allegation of impact on someone else's property). With that said, I had a dog shot on my own property, likely by a neighbor kid who later shot another kid while messing around. I would want any shooting that impacted on another's property investigated aggressively.

We had shot come down on our porch years ago. I identified the source and went to the house....a teen was shooting clays out back and apparently swung way too far following one. The father was irate with me, insisting the shot could not have reached our house (app. 220 yards). I asked him if he wanted to stand where his son had been and let me shoot at him from my porch with a shotgun. Eventually a calmer neighbor intervened (days later) and got him to agree to an experiment....and that day he learned that with the proper trajectory and wind shot can carry 200+ yards in the air quite easily.

 

[WTA]

I'm not so sure gun safety courses are the answer. You have to have some amount of common sense before you would be able to retain what is taught in a safety course. Common sense is something parents are either too lazy or too stupid to teach much of these days. Not in everyones case but in a great many of them. When I got shot it was by a kid in the Army from New York city so that kinda proves it for me. That city boy had no business carrying a weapon no matter how much training he had. He had no common sense and that is something that needs to be taught early on by your parents. Boot camp can't take a idiot and turn them into a thinking person. They may be able to turn them into an order following drone but if he went in with no brains he goes out with no brains. Many of you that were in the service can probably relate.

I think more gun dealers just need to be hard cases like me. If someone looks suspicious, stupid, under the influence or can't speak English when they are trying to buy a gun from me, then I file 13 the paperwork and send them on their way empty handed. Even with all the laws on the books just about anyone can go to one of the big chain stores and get a gun though. Those people working for minimum wage behind the counter don't care who they sell one to. To me the gun dealers are the first line of defense against stupid people getting guns. I really could care less about losing money on a sale. I've probably turned down and reported more potential buyers to the police than I have actually sold weapons to but as long as I don't have to worry about them accidentally slinging bullets in someones direction I feel good about it.
Thankfully most of my clients are military or police. I don't advertise to civilians locally. The ones that do find me are by word of mouth and not very many.

My driveway is exactly 320 yards long and shot from some shells can travel that far. Last year during dove season one of my neighbors peppered me and my garage door with a stray shot. He was using some remington 3 inch magnum number 6 shot against doves.
That was the first stupid thing he did.

I told him to get rid of those shells and use the right ammo or never come back again. He did without an argument. I also told him never to shoot toward my house or any field where my animals are. I was pretty mad but kindof understood where a moron might not think a shotgun can travel that far. He knows better now and thankfully unless a pellet hits you in the eye or something it shouldn't do any real damage at that distance.

 

[RonMar]

I was wondering if steel belts in the tires would cause a problem. What do you recommend using?

Thanks,

Ken

Either build a steel bullet trap(controlled ricochet) or a sifted sand bank(rocks removed) or a bank covered with sand bags. Sand is about the best thing to stop a bullet, especially high power rifle rounds. The bullet trap has the advantage of leaving the lead in one location for easy recovery and recycling. They are not typically that good for high power rifle cartridges as they will erode and distort the first reflective surface of the trap. They are great for pistols and are used in most indoor ranges. If you shoot a lot, and are trapping and recycling your lead, no one is going to declare your shooting range a hazmat site.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I know that people are killed pretty regularly by stray 22 rounds. Just fall down dead out of the blue. There must be a lot of stray rounds flying around. I was at the gun shop today and they told me that the kill range of a 22 long rifle is a mile and a half. heck they said a 22 short is deadly at 3/4 of a mile. Just imagine how far 223 flies? It sure wouldn't be a bad idea if people would take a NRA gun safety course before they start shooting.

Chris

Maybe if they hit you in the eye. A 22LR will barely go thru one side of a metal trash can at 300yds. Shooting is very much a game of chance. A small unpredictable ricochet can find a place that lets the bullet go until it drops a mile or more away. To call all of these accidents irresponsible shooting is abusive thinking in most cases.
larry

 

[SPIKER]

Maybe if they hit you in the eye. A 22LR will barely go thru one side of a metal trash can at 300yds. Shooting is very much a game of chance. A small unpredictable ricochet can find a place that lets the bullet go until it drops a mile or more away. To call all of these accidents irresponsible shooting is abusive thinking in most cases.
larry

actually a 22 lr can be very deadly at 300 yards or more, using a good gun is key to long range accuracy. nice bolt action gun can drop wood chucks at 300+ yards ask me how I know even ask anyone in military 1000+ yards or more than in deadly range with any significant gun .223 up. also with the new hrm.17mm rounds are much worse than 22 when it comes to distance they can travel if shot incorrectly. something lots of kids are using now for plinking and in areas where homes are with in shouting distance...

yes I've seen long shots TONS of them and been on safe end of many of those shots and also seen the dumb idiots that seem to be driving some place in the same direction I'm going that probably have high powered weapons that are not qualified to own them let alone have property or location where using them is safe. I've also patched 3 holes in our old roof from 30-06 (or similar rounds size) found one round lodged into the roof others were lost in insulation that I only knew was there due to rain leaking in!

mark m