No more steel targets

[Sigarms]

Anyone have this happen to you?

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[WantedWolf]

Never, but it reminds me of one of the stories and instructer told me of a barbecue as a target for a 12gauge, open top the shot slung back and hit the guy in the gut. funny part apparently he shook it off and tried again with the same result at least these guys decided to shut it down.

 

[RonMar]

I have shot a lot of steel targets over the years, but never rigidely affixed ones. I hav never seen anything like this personally. The targets I have shot at have always been low mass and mounted to absorb the energy of the impact by swinging or falling over when struck. It is like the difference between throwing a tennis ball at a brick wall, and throwing it at a blanket hanging from a cloths line.

I have shot at several ranges with rigidely affixed bullet trap plates which are designed to bounce the projectiles, but in a controlled fashion into a common catch area and not back at the shooter, or anywhere else.

There are a lot of things not shown in this video, like the exact nature of the target and impact area/backstop. I don't think a single bounce 180 degree ricochet is really possible IE: bringing the projectile mass to a complete stop then directly reversinging, and accelerating it back along it's original path. You heard him hit the metal target. It would be my guess that the projectile deflected off at some angle and struck something else in the target area for a second bounce that sent the now very distorted projectile(you can hear the warbling sound of it flying thru the air in the video) back at the shooter. Suffice it to say that they were not using a safe target and backstop(exposed rock probably produce this result), and were just plain lucky... Cool video though.

 

[foggy1111]

I have shot a lot of steel targets over the years, but never rigidely affixed ones. I hav never seen anything like this personally. The targets I have shot at have always been low mass and mounted to absorb the energy of the impact by swinging or falling over when struck. It is like the difference between throwing a tennis ball at a brick wall, and throwing it at a blanket hanging from a cloths line.

I have shot at several ranges with rigidely affixed bullet trap plates which are designed to bounce the projectiles, but in a controlled fashion into a common catch area and not back at the shooter, or anywhere else.

There are a lot of things not shown in this video, like the exact nature of the target and impact area/backstop. I don't think a single bounce 180 degree ricochet is really possible IE: bringing the projectile mass to a complete stop then directly reversinging, and accelerating it back along it's original path. You heard him hit the metal target. It would be my guess that the projectile deflected off at some angle and struck something else in the target area for a second bounce that sent the now very distorted projectile(you can hear the warbling sound of it flying thru the air in the video) back at the shooter. Suffice it to say that they were not using a safe target and backstop(exposed rock probably produce this result), and were just plain lucky... Cool video though.

Along these same lines....Some years ago I had a large "bullet trap" fabricated from some heavy gauge metal to use with 22 ammo and pellets and placed it in our shop. The design was supposed to be similar to others I saw in our armory in years past. We tested it with pellets and evidently the geometry was bad as we got pellet fragments cast back at us....evidently from a double ricochet from the "trap" We immediately "retired" the design as it could not be trusted. Sometimes the best laid plans don't work out. I dont like shooting at steel anymore either.

 

[studor]

I regularly shoot a "gong" of half inch steel for checking zero on rifles at 300 plus yards. I also shoot silhouettes and steel flip targets and I have never seen or heard a ricochet. I have seen this video before and wondered how they did it. Like Ronmar, I always make sure they can swing or fall over and have lots of backstop.
Certainly would need a change of underwear after that!

 

[texasjohn]

As a youngster of maybe 12 I was hunting with a .22 and found some target just in front of a rock bluff about 30 feet away... took the shot and saw the bullet come back thru the weeds...cutting a path just inches away from my leg. That one experience taught me to not shoot at an immobile, impenetrable object up close.

 

[czechsonofagun]

I remember shooting .38 wad cutters with the target on a piece of conveyer belt. Bullets were coming back to us about 30 yards, without real power, but they flew close enough. It was freezing too, and I think that help the rubber to bounce those slugs back so far.

 

[CurlyDave]

I wonder what kind of round he was shooting? And what the target looked like.

I just plain don't think that lead has enough elasticity to come back like that from a flat target. It would take at least two bounces, maybe more.

If he was shooting armor piercing or even solid copper bullets, he might get that kind of a bounce, but every time I have hit a flat steel target head on with a lead bullet it just splatters.

Watch that movie again and notice the time from the shot to the clink of hitting the target and then the duration of the warbling noise. The ratio of those two times tells you the ratio of velocity between the shot from the rifle and ricochet. The ricochet is clearly a lot slower than the shot, and might not even be fast enough to produce serious injury.

 

[Barton]

This "talk" of ricochets reminds me of the time, many years ago, when I was pulling butts. Every now and then we would hear a ricochet and one day I found a good size hunk of a fragment. I waited until we heard another ricochet and threw the fragment that I had found, hard in the middle of one of my buddies' back who was pulling butts next to me. I immediately turn sideways but could still see his reaction. He spun around and glared at me then looked down and saw the fragment. He started hollering, "I've been hit! I've been hit!" Another buddy pulled the back of his shirt up and told him there wasn't any blood but he had a nice little welt.

Well, at first, he was complaining about the whole deal, but it wasn't long before his tone changed. He started showing everyone the fragment that hit him and even sounded a bit proud. I never did tell him any different. I would not be a bit surprised if he still had that souvenir and retold the story, now and then, how he got hit by a ricochet while pulling butts.

I hope he's not reading this forum.

 

[tallyho8]

Watching the dust patterns, it looks like the bullet hit the ground right before the target, ricocheted up into the target, then ricocheted down into the ground a short distance in front of the shooter, then ricocheted up into him.