Ricochets....:oops:

[Namman]

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If your Ricochet bullet collides with a member of the public, none of the arguments put forward on this discussion would provide a defence.

if you are not certain over where bullet will end up do not squeeze that trigger.

No one can be certain where a bullet will end up even on a rifle range , hence unless the range is enclosed like in a tunnel there is always a danger area.
When we used to use the military range at Severn Tunnel we posted sentries in two bunkers on the sea wall. At low tide there was always a huge area in width and depth on the mudflats , pockmarked from bullets hitting the sand and ricochetting over.
That was all calibres from .22 to .577

 

[liongeorge]

With regards to 22lr ricochets I have found that using the CCI segmenting rounds very good. No more ricochets and very accurate. Only down side you get the occasional supersonic round.

 

[gixer1]

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If your Ricochet bullet collides with a member of the public, none of the arguments put forward on this discussion would provide a defence.

if you are not certain over where bullet will end up do not squeeze that trigger.

so if that’s the case and we have shown without a doubt that bullets ricochet in various directions, and can travel a mile + how do you clear all things for a 1 mile radius?

I understand what you are saying but you will never take all risk out 100%.

 

[25 Sharps]

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If your Ricochet bullet collides with a member of the public, none of the arguments put forward on this discussion would provide a defence.

if you are not certain over where bullet will end up do not squeeze that trigger.

No one can be certain where a bullet will end up which is why frangible bullets are a good idea for a lot of shooting

 

[308tikka]

For range use this is a non-topic. The bullets get caught in the sand. Ricochets simply don‘t exist.

Untrue. Ive been in the butts and heard the ricochets. It will depend on how often the butts are deleaded and kept in good repair, especially when some targets are in heavy use and the catch area behind is saturated.

 

[MW73]

There is a wee video of a chap firing a .50 cal which comes back at him and takes his ear defenders off.
I am not IT savvy enough to post it on SD - perhaps someone else will be kind enough to do so.

Whilst on the subject (forgive the repost).
I once had a patient who had been shot in the chest - the bullet came to rest at the back of one of his heels.

 

[Heym SR20]

so if that’s the case and we have shown without a doubt that bullets ricochet in various directions, and can travel a mile + how do you clear all things for a 1 mile radius?

I understand what you are saying but you will never take all risk out 100%.

No you will never take out the risk, but shooting where you don’t have a good backstop and a good understanding of what is behind is just stupid. So:

shooting at rabbits with a 22rf with a stony field In a time of drought to my view is a big no.

shooting a deer downhill from say a highseat with a grassy field behind after lots of rain is much less of a risk.

 

[25 Sharps]

No you will never take out the risk, but shooting where you don’t have a good backstop and a good understanding of what is behind is just stupid. So:

shooting at rabbits with a 22rf with a stony field In a time of drought to my view is a big no.

shooting a deer downhill from say a highseat with a grassy field behind after lots of rain is much less of a risk.

What about a deer in the same field In a time time of drought with a copper bullet?

Not sure whether a grassy field offers any advantage over a non grassy one other than making it harder to see the stones underneath

 

[75]

shooting at rabbits with a 22rf with a stony field In a time of drought to my view is a big no.

shooting a deer downhill from say a highseat with a grassy field behind after lots of rain is much less of a risk.

No one is suggesting that you shoot without a backstop or ping rimmies into a flat, flinty field in a drought. The point being made by several folk on the thread is that even your wet, grassy field from a high seat can produce ricochets. Rare, but it’s possible. It’s all about minimising the risk, but you can never eliminate it altogether.

 

[gixer1]

No you will never take out the risk, but shooting where you don’t have a good backstop and a good understanding of what is behind is just stupid. So:

shooting at rabbits with a 22rf with a stony field In a time of drought to my view is a big no.

shooting a deer downhill from say a highseat with a grassy field behind after lots of rain is much less of a risk.

A round could go into a deer and out in an obscure direction, so the risk is still there. And to know what is behind you need to know for potentially a mile or two as that’s how far the round could go.

 

[Overlay]

I’ve just got a .17 Mach 2. 20 grn ballistic tip
As a rabbiting rifle it has proved a nice piece of kit travelling at 2.1 FPS - HMR speed zeroed at 80 yds its Now my go to rabbiting rifle

in a safe environment including a fantastic backstop, I’ve tried to get it to richochet On different materials and it just hasn’t happened even with a sheet paper background

on concrete - goes to dust as it does on tarmac, flint, brick walls, the round disintegrates on surface, but still a excellent rabbiting round

pleased I got it, that’s no reason not to have a safe backstop, but it has safer qualities than a lot of 22 rounds

 

[25 Sharps]

I’ve just got a .17 Mach 2. 20 grn ballistic tip
As a rabbiting rifle it has proved a nice piece of kit travelling at 2.1 FPS - HMR speed zeroed at 80 yds its Now my go to rabbiting rifle

in a safe environment including a fantastic backstop, I’ve tried to get it to richochet On different materials and it just hasn’t happened even with a sheet paper background

on concrete - goes to dust as it does on tarmac, flint, brick walls, the round disintegrates on surface, but still a excellent rabbiting round

pleased I got it, that’s no reason not to have a safe backstop, but it has safer qualities than a lot of 22 rounds

Didn’t know they did 20 gr ballistic tips?

 

[Overlay]

Bloody hell I’ll have to go and Check & look now


its CCI 17 grn poly tip. Not 20 grn Blonde moment but with a head full of grey hair.

ive been up since 04;00 hrs we’ll that’s my excuse anyway.

 

[NP435]

I was out last season, sitting in a seat overlooking a field in a valley with a woodland margin with the 243. About 70 yards away a group of fallow appear all moving in the same direction, making their way across the field right to left. All were broadside and I selected a doe near the back of the group and completely clear I pulled the trigger on a heart/lung shot. She dropped like a stone but strangely another doe that had been 10 yards following behind in the line started spinning round frantically finally falling to the floor. Slightly confused I got down from the seat immediately to investigate finding the second animal wheezing heavily. I dispatched with a headshot.

On inspection in the larder, the first shot had been spot on, entering behind the front leg, wiping out the vitals, but then richocetting off the opposite leg and exiting at 75 degrees carrying enough energy to wind the second animal frontal some distance behind.

The shot was as safe as houses, but opened my eyes to what strange things can happen regardless of what calibre is in your hands.

Sir you proved my point! projectiles do not always do as expected, I have done two for one shot's on prairie dogs when the skull and jacket fragments kill the one right next to the one shot. Depending on any method of calculation to determine where a ricochet will go and what will occur as I stated above is pure crap. I am well pleased to read this post as it makes two valid points.

 

[Whitester]

So it appears that a bullet can ricochet and rise above the point at which it was shot at, on even ground. So I got that wrong but it is rare and even rarer is the occurrence that a bullet will fly off in Such an obscure Angle as to clear a decent back stop. I think my safety is pretty good and haven’t got in any trouble through accidents in all the years I’ve been shooting . I also don’t get many , if any ricochets which is largely to do with the ground I suppose. So I guess to answer the original question. It doesn’t matter if we switch from lead bullets , the safety precautions should still be the same.

what is disappointing though is the hostility that you get from some members on this forum. Instead of being constructive you like to point out fault and rip the **** out of people. It’s a very sad attitude and one that will ultimately do our sport harm. Anyway you crack on I won’t post again / visit this forum .

 

[Stalker62]

what is disappointing though is the hostility that you get from some members on this forum. Instead of being constructive you like to point out fault and rip the **** out of people. It’s a very sad attitude and one that will ultimately do our sport harm. Anyway you crack on I won’t post again / visit this forum .

I write in the hopeless expectation that you will read this.
You posted something that was fundamentally wrong. Nothing new in that - people do it all of the time - I am probably doing it right now.
Most people will correct and advise as appropriate. We all get to learn.

Some will tease, some will be unkind, that is the nature of humanity.
If you cannot recognise the difference and deal with it then perhaps do as you have suggested; but the world is no different and you cannot avoid it - even in real life.

I for one, am sorry you feel so slighted - when people leave in these circumstances no one wins.

 

[VSS]

what is disappointing though is the hostility that you get from some members on this forum. Instead of being constructive you like to point out fault and rip the **** out of people. It’s a very sad attitude and one that will ultimately do our sport harm. Anyway you crack on I won’t post again / visit this forum .

I don't think that there was any hostility in this thread, and no ridicule of the OP (which is something that hacks me off when the topic is genuine). Just a lot of combined knowledge and practical experience being brought to bear on an interesting subject and the ironing out of some misconceptions.
Everyone makes mistakes at times. Me more than most.

 

[Dunwaters]

Bullets ricochet, and there's feck all you can do about it.
With a ricochet the slug has probably deformed and lefty a big chunk of energy in whatever it hit, it has also likely lost its aerodynamic shape and started to tumble, that's the whine you hear.
So they don't tend to go far or do much harm on arrival in .22 rimfire . I've never had a ricochet with full bore that didn't involve a FMJ , and only one of those.

 

[glasshalffull]

All this has reminded me of a morning on the hill in Perthshire. Stalking into a group of hinds after a long crawl set up for a shot on a yeld well below the skyline with plenty of heather covered hill behind, she was broadside on at 150yrds out. Engine room textbook shot target dropped as did another hind in the puckle which on inspection was shot in the head. We reckoned the bullet had ricocheted off a hidden rock on exiting the yeld and took out the second hind. First and last time something like that happened to me and I've shot a right few over the years.
I also remember reading about an incident in the US where a hunter killed another hunter when a bullet exited a deer struck a tree bounced off at an angle and hit the guy in the head. Freak accident conclusion, but doubt if that hunter ever lifted up a rifle again?
Sure everything you do could have consequences

 

[Klenchblaize]

So they don't tend to go far or do much harm on arrival in .22 rimfire

I’m speechless.

K