Has this ever happened to you before? Copper jacket to the forehead.

[Speedway]

Jacket material can will come back, especially if you are shooting at bad steel with it. If the range's bullet trap sucks, it could have come back from the trap, too.

-Mike

I will steer clear from that lane from now on. The backstop has a bunch of pock marks in it.

 

[Chris]

Splatter is why Riverside restricts velocity indoors.

Glasses with side protection (wrap around) and a ballcap or some other hat that can cover the forehead/top of glasses is always a good idea. This is one reason I love this hat:

Not only does it provide that head/eyeglass cover, but the inside headband is adjustable so I can wear it comfortably OVER my earmuffs and keep everything nice and dry when it's pouring out.

 

[See2]

bfm and I were at a range in Harvard shooting plates, and I caught a jacket fragment to my off-hand forearm. Felt like someone hit me with a pipe, and it was only a glancing shot!

 

[Chrisg67]

shooting in lunenburg i shot my first shot into the backstop and felt something hit me hard in the chest. i holstered my gun and looked down to find a jacketed bullet partially intact in front of me. wasnt mine, much larger than .40 bullet.... but i was surprised that it came straight back at me.

 

[piman]

I have had a 9mm jacket fly back and land safely in my shirt pocket. No injury but when I found it I was paranoid - didn't have a LTC then and remembered my Basic Pistol instructor telling the class that being found with even the jacket was an offence in MA!!

It was in MFL off a Glock. In my very limited experience I have found off the 9mm guns at MFL that I have used (Glock, Beretta and Sig), the Glock seems to have the most wayward ejection of jackets.

 

[drgrant]

I have had a 9mm jacket fly back and land safely in my shirt pocket. No injury but when I found it I was paranoid - didn't have a LTC then and remembered my Basic Pistol instructor telling the class that being found with even the jacket was an offence in MA!!

It was in MFL off a Glock. In my very limited experience I have found off the 9mm guns at MFL that I have used (Glock, Beretta and Sig), the Glock seems to have the most wayward ejection of jackets.

You must be talking about a piece of ejected brass... not a "bullet jacket." The others in this thread are talking about bullet splash events- where the bullet hits something hard, and in the process of that, parts of it (or the whole thing!) come back at the firing line. Different ballgame. Getting hit with your own brass is a pretty non-rare event, especially at indoor shooting ranges where it often bounces off the lane dividers.

-Mike

 

[Supermoto]

Not to the forehead, but I caught a 30.06 jacket to the nads, when shooting WW2 armor piercing at a 1" steel plate set at about 30-40 yards.

It's exactly this kind of behavior that causes dangerous steel. I hope this was your own target and not the ranges. Steel target are fine to shoot close if the a perfectly smooth and angle correctly, but when some douchebag thinks its cool to see if his rifle round will penetrate, he puts everyone else in danger when they shoot it.

 

[Spanz]

Have him check the play in the cylinder. Revolvers with high pressure loads put a lot of force on the cylinder when they are fired--especially if they are older or worn out. If there is some slop, that pressure can rotate the cylinder partially, and the bullet does not enter the center of the barrel, but instead enters it a little off-center. As it enters the barrel, a small shard of the copper jacket can peal off, and then travel backward...hitting someone who is standing to the side and behind of the shooter (or your own hand if it is too far forward!). It does not come out of the barrel end, but instead comes out from the small gap between the cylinder and the barrel start.

So behind and to one side is a bad place to be standing. Hardcast lead bullets do not seem to peal off like that.

I saw a guy get hit like that once, I think it was a S&W 44 mag too, and one in pretty good shape as I recall. It was on a range with only wood target holder/paper targets, so it was definately not bounceback from a metal target.l

 

[KBCraig]

It's coming up on four years since my wife blogged about this:

http://so.verycontrary.com/2006/04/03/i-need-this-like-i-need-a-hole-in-the-head--oh-wait.aspx

It's her old blog, ignore the spam.

 

[ptanks56]

Yup, as we shoot Steel Challenge matches we get spray back, Eyes and Ears, that is the montra. Never had any cut or penetrate skin, but I bet it will happen if I keep shooting steel
Tank

 

[JimGnitecki]

it's not REAL likely, but I've ehard of lead or jacket fragments coming out the side of a revolver, via the gap between the cylinder and barrel, if the gap is on the large side of the acceptable manufacturing range, or if the cylinder is not quite correctly timed relative to the barrel.

I actually had one Italian-made cowboy action revolver (a Schofield replica) that exhibited this. A gunsmith was able to correct it.

Jim G

 

[Marcus5aurelius]

it's not REAL likely, but I've ehard of lead or jacket fragments coming out the side of a revolver, via the gap between the cylinder and barrel, if the gap is on the large side of the acceptable manufacturing range, or if the cylinder is not quite correctly timed relative to the barrel.

I actually had one Italian-made cowboy action revolver (a Schofield replica) that exhibited this. A gunsmith was able to correct it.

Jim G

I used to get fragged every single time I went to the range and shot the revolvers, it was very rare that I would come off the range without at least some blood. I would be sprayed by black specks that would embed themselves right under the skin. The fix for me was to stop shooting only one or two rounds, but to fill the entire cylinder even if it was with spent casings so nothing can make its way back through.

It wasn't a big deal, just was a PITA to have to reopen them to get the specks out, I still have a few that I couldn't get under there

BTW, 1000 posts

 

[Lt5211]

I was shooting at an outdoor range near Springfield several years back when another shooter took a piece of jacket to the lower lip. It stayed there for the ride to the hospital, but he and 4 or 5 stitches were back at the range the next day. The backstop had a few stones in it at the time, some up to the size of a football.

 

[dwarven1]

It's coming up on four years since my wife blogged about this:

http://so.verycontrary.com/2006/04/03/i-need-this-like-i-need-a-hole-in-the-head--oh-wait.aspx

Pookie and I went to the shooting range yesterday to try out the new .38 Special he gifted me with the other day (please get all redneck southerner jokes out of the way now, please.).

She calls you Pookie?

I like her writing style - she's a hoot.

 

[Ray-500]

Yup, as we shoot Steel Challenge matches we get spray back, Eyes and Ears, that is the montra. Never had any cut or penetrate skin, but I bet it will happen if I keep shooting steel
Tank

Anyone that shoots plates knows this happens. It is expected. As stated......."Eyes and Ears" and don't let the occasional "sting" throw you off.

 

[60 buckscash]

I was at my first IDPA classifier at WPR and was waiting for my turn to shoot and felt a thump on my stomach 3 inches right of my belly button and then felt something fall on my shoe. It was a horribly deformed round but still intact. I went and stood behind someone for a little bit.

 

[Coyote Whiskey]

You must be talking about a piece of ejected brass... not a "bullet jacket." The others in this thread are talking about bullet splash events- where the bullet hits something hard, and in the process of that, parts of it (or the whole thing!) come back at the firing line. Different ballgame. Getting hit with your own brass is a pretty non-rare event, especially at indoor shooting ranges where it often bounces off the lane dividers.

-Mike

But when it happens it can be fun to see (about 1:14)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWO-EzoIbSs&feature=related