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fluke accident at the range yesterday

**DRB** said:
Your original post insinuates that is is inherinately dangerous to shoot at "any hard flat surface" and you should "never" do it....

That would be incorrect and uniformed.

If what you ment to say is it "could be dangerous or even deadly" if done with damaged steel or improper ammunition / caliber than your absolutely correct.

I wouldn't be suprised by being struck with bullet fragments from steel, but it is very uncommon for someone to need stitches at a distance of 15 yards if they are using good steel and proper caliber ammunition
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He was actually 25 yards away, the shooter was on the 15 yard line. The targets had only been used one time before and only with .45, they didn't look beat up. I actually think the shooter hit the frame and not the spinning part.

His father sewed him up, EMT and they aren't big on going to hospitals.
 
84ta406 said:
Glad hes ok. Went to MFS a couple weeks ago, was on the last lane and caught something on the left side of my face on my cheek bone. Pretty weird with only a wall to the left. Only left a small scratch though
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I took one in the leg there with my 9 one time scared the ever living s*** out of me I like mfs and have been back since but that's always in my head when I go
 
hillman said:
He was actually 25 yards away, the shooter was on the 15 yard line. The targets had only been used one time before and only with .45, they didn't look beat up. I actually think the shooter hit the frame and not the spinning part.

His father sewed him up, EMT and they aren't big on going to hospitals.
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Any info on the target brand? Custom job? Fixed? Portable? Frame have hardened flat surfaces perpendicular to the ground?
 
Chicks dig scars! I was at a range that will go unnamed and some idiot was try to shoot rocks with his SKS. I packed up and left.
 
jkelly1229 said:
I took one in the leg there with my 9 one time scared the ever living s*** out of me I like mfs and have been back since but that's always in my head when I go
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I actually wasnt even shooting. Just got done and was packing up my PPS when something hit me in the cheek. Peeled off a small piece of shrapnel. Ive been back since and it actually didnt even pop in my head again until today. My avatar pic is actually from that day. Had a buddy in lane 16 too so it came from further away. Maybe someone didnt like the .44 MAG I was using.
 
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Met a guy that took a treble hook to the eyeball. Can only imagine a bullet ricochet is way worse.

Skulen iz besd lefd tu teechuz.
 
I shoot a lot of falling steel matches. Generally FMJ ammo is discouraged because the jackets tend to separate, and being very light can maintain quite a bit of velocity (and are pretty sharp to boot).

I've been hit by a 230 GR slug that bounced back from a target frame at about 35'. It was moving slow enough it was like getting hit with a gently tossed small rock. The same amount of energy transferred to a 30 GR copper jacket is no fun if it gets bare skin.
 
**DRB** said:
Your original post insinuates that is is inherinately dangerous to shoot at "any hard flat surface" and you should "never" do it....

That would be incorrect and uniformed.

If what you ment to say is it "could be dangerous or even deadly" if done with damaged steel or improper ammunition / caliber than your absolutely correct.

I wouldn't be suprised by being struck with bullet fragments from steel, but it is very uncommon for someone to need stitches at a distance of 15 yards if they are using good steel and proper caliber ammunition
Click to expand...

The Hunter Ed course is basic. The subtleties of when a hard, flat surface is OK, and not, is not a "basic" concept.

In Basic Pistol the rule on a misfire is to keep the gun pointed in a safe direction for at least 30 seconds, in case it's a hangfire. If you're in an IDPA-type match and you get a click-no-bang, I'm guessing (from what IDPA types have told me, at least) that that's not the way it's done.

There is a difference between Basic information and what you can and cannot do, with an acceptable level of safety, when you have experience.

And as to whether the steel target is safe or not (note all the differing opinions in this thread about "safe" distance), you do have more chance of bounce-back from steel than from paper. [laugh]

I'm not saying don't shoot steel. I don't, but if my kids wanted to at a match at my Club, I'd let them with proper eye protection, because, while kids, they're experienced enough to understand the small risk. And to suck up any ouchie that occurred.

All I'm saying is that having this happen should not come as a complete surprise. And, WRT the hunter part- the problem is that a ricochet means that you have no clue as to whether it's in a "safe" direction, regardless of where you were originally aiming.
 
Artifact said:
At my range they removed all steel, even the 100 yards plate. Paper only, and no, we didn't have any incidents.
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Sounds boring.

I shoot steel with handguns as close as 7 yards. Only once did a 38 hunk of lead come back and hit me in the chest. Very rare and it was only a small piece of lead. It did feel like a hammer hit me though. If I caught it in the face like the OP, it may have needed stitches also. It's always just a piece of lead and not the whole bullet and it won't have enough left from a handgun to harm you except in the eye area.

Make sure the plates aren't pitted and are loose enough or angled properly.
 
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I try to be super alert to make sure everyone has proper eye projection in place before anyone starts shooting. As I tell them, "you get a two eyeball lifetime limit. That is it!"
 
If you think about it, a 230 Gr. jacketed bullet just whipped at you by hand would still smart.
Glad no one was seriously hurt.
 
GaryO said:
Chicks dig scars! I was at a range that will go unnamed and some idiot was try to shoot rocks with his SKS. I packed up and left.
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I've hunted lots ( and when i mean lots, think about ammo being under 150/K) of rocks at 50+ yards when i was younger and dumber, but never had an issue. Bad steel is a whole other problem, though.
 
Last summer, my son and I were the only ones at our range in Maine shooting at steel chickens and pigs out about 25 yards, so it was very quiet. His .22 rifle is suppressed, so we could hear all the ricochets (about one every ten shots) zinging away from the steel targets, including a few that came back over our heads. It reinforced why we wear eye pro as soon as we get out of the truck at the range.
 
Supermoto said:
some times the zinging noise can be rocks getting thrown from the impact of the bullet on the ground
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Yeah, given the target stand, I am wondering if this was a backstop issue? Metal plates angles to send debris into the ground are much better, but I am having a hard time seeing those things doing this. Though I've only ever used those style (spinner) for 22.
 
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Been shooting this guy for close to three years now. Never had one come back at me as far as I know. But I am shooting with the inferior 9mm [wink]

IMG_20150419_152057.jpg
 
That happened to me at a well known firearms school , I was in a one on one and their was intro to firearms class they were shooting an Ak 47 . It hit me in the chest, I walked off the range .
 
Pretty sure that the cheap Blazer .45 is steel core. No longer shooting it at my clubs indoor range because of that very issue.
 
jkelly1229 said:
I took one in the leg there with my 9 one time scared the ever living s*** out of me I like mfs and have been back since but that's always in my head when I go
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Ha, I thought I was the only one! Got me on the forehead while I was there. Felt it through my hat and reached up to see what it was and sure enough a nice sliver of lead. I can honestly say I was overjoyed I had my eyes, ears and a hat. It really reinforced eyes and ears as soon as you are in the area of a range.
 
cekim said:
As others have said, when crap comes back with that much force, there's usually/invariably something wrong in the setup. Too close, wrong angle, bad metal, or too pitted.Glad he's ok
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A jacket doesn't have to come back with much force to cut deep, the bigger pieces that do come back tend to be wicked sharp.
 

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