Ricochet from a .308???????

deerstalker.308

Well-Known Member
I was out this morning after a fallow, and as luck would have it, I bagged not one, but three in about 20 seconds one after the other! Result.
However, on the third shot, a high neck front on the deer went down on the spot as you would expect, but what I didn't expect was the round to ricochet and ping off somewhere over the top of me and into the wood behind:eek:

i have never experienced a .308 doing that, and hope I don't again! It was feral 150 grain soft nose that I use all the time. Initially I thought the round must have exited the neck and hit a stone in the field......nope, no exit wound at all, just a small entry wound and that was all.

​anyone else ever had this happen, certainly made me stop and think for a second!
 
The more you shoot the more funny things happen. I've seen 6.5 & 308 bounce off shoulders. Not off a neck yet though.
edi
 
I've never heard of that happening from a neck shot but bullets do funny things sometimes so it doesn't surprise me
 
It was prob some anti shooting at you with a rimmy lol:rofl:
In all seriousness I've never seen it happen but have seen .308 power shock ricochet as I use 180gr all the time in my blaser and have had them do some weird things but always after or in the process of killing whatever they hit I find them great.
 
Can you even be sure that the bullet didn't fail and break up before reaching the target and what bounced back was a fragment after striking the deer? the bottom line is you will never know but it shows how there is always a risk to the shooter even when all circumstances and conditions are good.

When I applied for sect 5 authorisation it was the risk of ricochet at close range when dispatching a wounded deer that featured highly in the submission I made to the police which I feel is a real risk. You don't expect that risk to come from a shot taken at normal stalking distances though...
 
Expanding ammunition fired at centrefire velocity's are not prone to ricocheting, but it can and does happen.
.22 LR must be the worst culprit for ricochets.
 
If you have an entry and no exit it sounds strange that a bullet would enter, do its job, fragment then exit via the same hole and travel back along almost its same trajectory? Not saying it didn't as very strange things happen but it would be interesting to see what's inside when skinned?
Please let us know.
I found a full 150 grain federal .308 round (deformed) in the neck of a red stag when skinning. It had entered and not exited.
Wingy
 
I was out this morning after a fallow, and as luck would have it, I bagged not one, but three in about 20 seconds one after the other! Result.
However, on the third shot, a high neck front on the deer went down on the spot as you would expect, but what I didn't expect was the round to ricochet and ping off somewhere over the top of me and into the wood behind:eek:

i have never experienced a .308 doing that, and hope I don't again! It was feral 150 grain soft nose that I use all the time. Initially I thought the round must have exited the neck and hit a stone in the field......nope, no exit wound at all, just a small entry wound and that was all.

​anyone else ever had this happen, certainly made me stop and think for a second!

All rounds can ricochet!
Take a 7.62 (308) tracer round (which I've fired many of) they bounce all over the place even though they are or become a 'hollow point' albeit not from the same end as a soft point/expanding bullet but will still deform and be less likely to ricochet than say a FMJ which you may expect to ricochet. Additionally I would never like to determine or assume where a ricocheting round will go . . . especially as having been hit on a couple of occasions in the forehead and the chest from 'returning rounds' I fired on a CQB range!
​Just a thought.
 
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If you have an entry and no exit it sounds strange that a bullet would enter, do its job, fragment then exit via the same hole and travel back along almost its same trajectory? Not saying it didn't as very strange things happen but it would be interesting to see what's inside when skinned?
Please let us know.
I found a full 150 grain federal .308 round (deformed) in the neck of a red stag when skinning. It had entered and not exited.
Wingy
For that to happen the bullet would have had to come to a complete stop for a millisecond and then set off again in the opposite direction.... The only way that could happen with a soft bullet is if it was catapulted back along the same trajectory by a length of sinue after expending all of it's energy inside the carcass.
 
I shot a roe doe in the neck with a .308, side on and the bullet exited on its back just above the tail. That means the bullet turned 90 degrees.

The bullet had travelled down its spine and then shot up through its back leaving a hole about 9 inches across.

The same day I shot another roe doe in the neck and this nearly blew off its front leg, massive damage. I took the ammo back to the dealers and he said it was down to the bullet not reaching its velocity or something crap. I don't buy factory ammo any more.
 
For that to happen the bullet would have had to come to a complete stop for a millisecond and then set off again in the opposite direction.... The only way that could happen with a soft bullet is if it was catapulted back along the same trajectory by a length of sinue after expending all of it's energy inside the carcass.

Yes and that's why I thought it strange!
The OP said there was an entry wound, no exit wound (so I assume any ricochet must have come back the same way it went in) then the OP said he heard the bullet or fragment of pass close by (so although not the exact trajectory it must have been close)
It would be nice to skin and examine around the wound area to learn what happened
Wingy
 
Thinking aloud here...

i have seen the copper jackets of pistol bullets return the 25+ yards from the target. Often the fragments are small but I've witnessed people cut in the face with them. I can't make the physics work in my head for a whole bullet to come back out the hole it went in, certainly not with a neck shot at reasonable range. However I can just about imagine a situation where some of the jacket might break off during expansion and make a return trip. Even that is a long shot but it will be interesting to see what you find when you open it up.
 
It did seem od when the OP told me this morning. Of course it could be a fragment returning through a different hole that was not detectable because it was only caused by a small fragment? Think they went straight to gamedealer so unlikely to be able to do anything but speculate.
 
I shot a stag once in a regen close to the fence line with a 270 - definate ricochet off the fence after the bullet went straight through.
 
I have had two strange one happen over the year with center fire.

Had a .270 ricochet when zeroing, put the willies rigth up me. And shot a fox with 22.250 hit him low in chest and exit though its back. When looking carcass found the bullet had tracked all the way around it rib cage and smashing spine column. Still leaving it alive needing second shot. Heard of it before but thought it all too far-fetched. Until it happened to me.
 
I have written this post before on here but yes i have had two experiences with bullets not exiting as they should. I shot a Fallow with 150grn bullet out of 30-06 with the crosshairs on the engine room it droped on the spot and when i got to the carcass there was a huge hole through the top of its back. I thought no wonder they are called Dama Dama as i thought dam i had somehow pulled the shot but during the grallach i observed that the entry hole was as placed, the heart cut in half but bruising arround the ribbs so the bullet had followed the ribs and exited on a mission to the moon. The second was a Roe deer engine room again shot with .243 100grn bullet but entry and exit holes were both on the same side so the bullet was on it's way back to me. The gralloch revealed heart lungs and liver all mashed up. So yes bullets do funny things.

Jimbo :eek:
 
Fact is any bullet no matter what calibre, weight or type or velocity will ricochet, under the right (wrong) conditions
 
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