I think I got hit by a ricochet

[WILDCATT]

balls bounce

when you throw a ball against a hard object it bounces back.so does abullet
let that be a leason to you.dont shoot at steel plate close to you.------------------------------------------------

 

[PistolPete]

For those of you that care here are the photos of when I got hit last year. It wasn't too fun... lol

Under Armpit:

This is from yesterday: I def. think the fingernail is coming off. The photos don't do it any justice. haha

I def. think the finger is broken. Look how swollen it is compared to the finger on my right hand.

Enjoy,
Pete

 

[Admin]

Looks good Pete. Good training. I know you rubbed some dirt on it and carried on.

 

[TY43215]

For those of you that care here are the photos of when I got hit last year. It wasn't too fun... lol

I def. think the finger is broken. Look how swollen it is compared to the finger on my right hand.

Enjoy,
Pete

Girly hands suck it up Pete I get those little ouchies every day. You will be fine. Have you wife kiss it to make it better !!!!!!!!!

As for steel, the sports have minimum distances for a reason so make sure you are at a safe distance.

Shooting Steel Challenge in NH a few years ago, a bullet came back off a plate and went into the arm of the RO. It severed part of the bicep and did a lot of damage. The RO was taken to the local hospital and treated but ended up losing some function in his arm. At his age it will not be noticed too much which is why the Docs opted not to repair.

This is a dangerous hobby people, make sure you carry first aid gear with you. The least you should have is a roll of Cling, a Kotex maxi pad, some tape, and a piece of saran wrap. Then learn what to do with it. I have a full trauma kit in my car. I just hope that if and when I get hurt someone is there that can use my kit on ME.

 

[fubar]

Our club shoots at 40 feet. Splashback is normal. I've seen full ( deformed) slugs bounce back as well. The trick is to figure out a load that'll splatter on the steel , but not bounce off , while keeping speed down to manageable recoil.

Doesn't always happen , but safety glasses DO always happen.

 

[matt1956]

wow, timing is everything...

Shooting Sunday with my 9MM at Ames R&P at the steel.

Working on reloading drills, and sure enough, while shooting the closest steel, felt it hit. After I released the mag and cleared the chamber, i looked down and found a decent sized chunk of metal twisted up in my t-shirt.

a bit larger then a bb and left a mark about the size of one in my chest.

just another reminder of safety glasses

plus, it adds to the fun

 

[z0mbi]

I got hit by what I assume was a piece of the jacket from someone elses rifle at MRA on sat. No big deal, no marks or anything. I was standing behind the line watching my buddy shoot when one of the guys down the line accidentally hit the target holder with his rifle and something whacked me on the left side of the chest. It felt equivalent to getting hit with an airsoft pellet. I walked over and told the guy he had just shot me. hehe.

 

[drgrant]

IMO while distance is important so is the condition of the steel and the angles at which the plates or whatnot are to the ground. If you hit a plate that is tilted over too far, or you hit it rapidly, the chances of bullet splash seem to increase dramatically.

Having the plates be HARD is a big deal; I noticed that when they upgraded the racks used at Westminster's plate shoots, the amount of splashback incidents seemed to go WAY down. The plates are thick enough so they don't get pocked, even slightly. There's also a shield in front of the rack that is equally as beefy, too.

If one has to deal with crappy plates unjacketed bullets seem to be less dangerous, as they just disintegrate and you'll just get bits of lead coming back... while it's annoying, the chunks seem to be small enough to not cause serious problems as long as you have good eye pro.

-Mike

 

[drgrant]

Shooting Steel Challenge in NH a few years ago, a bullet came back off a plate and went into the arm of the RO. It severed part of the bicep and did a lot of damage. The RO was taken to the local hospital and treated but ended up losing some function in his arm. At his age it will not be noticed too much which is why the Docs opted not to repair.

Wow! Did they find out why it happened? Where was the RO in relation
to where the plates were?

-Mike

 

[TY43215]

Wow! Did they find out why it happened? Where was the RO in relation
to where the plates were?

-Mike

It was caused by lower than acceptable power factor ammo. It would bounce rather than die on the steel. Steel Challenge has top and bottom levels for safety. The steel was in good shape and still is. It was reloader/shooter that caused the problem trying to game it with lower recoil.

RO was behind the shooter and to his left with a timer. I believe the stage was "Smoke & Hope"

 

[lemonlime571]

That does it for me..... I'm wearing a hard hat and coveralls at the range!

 

[CRSIII]

That does it for me..... I'm wearing a hard hat and coveralls at the range!

Go Stewie!

 

[drew]

This forum here is one of the reasons why they make frangible ammunition.... reguardless to how expensive it is, then again, how expensive would loosing an eye or hitting a major artery be????

 

[drgrant]

This forum here is one of the reasons why they make frangible ammunition.... reguardless to how expensive it is, then again, how expensive would loosing an eye or hitting a major artery be????

Frangible ammo is absurdly expensive to shoot on a regular basis. There are some companies that make frangible bullets for reloading, but even that is expensive. We're not talking like 10 or 20 percent here either, usually its quite a bit worse than that. It's also hard to find, and discounts are rare. (Most gun stores don't sell it, and its almost always a special order kind of product. )

The vast majority of these kinds of injuries are not that bad. You can mitigate most of the risks by taking a few precautions, which many folks have outlined here. Not to mention that overall, these injuries are patently rare, despite all the accounts here. (A good example is a plate shoot I attend on a regular basis- the last three times the shoot was held, I didn't hear one person complain of bullet splash. Another club I use that used more marginal steel plate racks, some people got hit with tiny fragments, but there were no injuries, even across the whole season. )

If one wants to mitigate all the risks, then stop shooting. People have had guns blow up in their hands with factory ammo shooting at paper. There is always some element of risk when using a firearm. Thankfully if the major safety rules are obeyed these risks can be mitigated to what most would consider an acceptable level.

I'd rather be shooting FMJ rounds at good steel all day at 25 feet than driving, risk wise. IMO it's important to put things into perspective WRT risk.

-Mike

 

[M1911]

It can happen when pin shooting as well. A couple years back, a buddy of mine got hit at a pin shoot. He was 25 yards from the pins, and was hit hard enough with a 230 gr bullet to raise quite a welt on his chest.

 

[drgrant]

It can happen when pin shooting as well. A couple years back, a buddy of mine got hit at a pin shoot. He was 25 yards from the pins, and was hit hard enough with a 230 gr bullet to raise quite a welt on his chest.

We had a guy get hit in the groin at a wood pin shoot once... funny thing was he was sitting at a picnic table and a slug came back from one of the pins and nailed him in the nads. He was not a happy camper but did not require any medical attention, as far as we know. Aside from wood, though, I've only ever seen slugs come back a handful of times. Most of the time they don't even make it back to the firing line.


-Mike

 

[PistolPete]

I'm not sure how true this is but I was told the reason they don't allow 9mm or smaller for bowling pins is that some dude was shooting and his 9mm and it hit a bullet hit one stuck in the pin and his bullet came and took out one of his nuts. Who knows if it's just an old wives tale but that could ruin your day for sure....

 

[M1911]

PistolPete:

In the incident that I spoke about, it was a 230gr 45 ACP. If it had hit the person in the face, teeth, or groin, it would not have been good. And the victim was about 25 yards from the pins.

So don't think using 45 ACP will save you from bounce-back while shooting pins or plates.

 

[drgrant]

Here's a pic of the stuff I was shooting at when I got hit by that .45 ACP one. This isn't the exact plate- the "offending" block was a similar one, but I eventually blew that block to smithereens with a .308 rifle.

The two JHPs stuck in it are .40 S+W Speer Gold dot 165 grainers. They actually did mushroom quite a bit.

The pockmark below and to the right is from a 230 gr JHP, IIRC, I think it was a Golden Sabre. Theres a similar hit below it and to the right.

The little hole above the first pockmark is a 7.62 x 39 exit wound of sorts, if you hit it at the right angle, it would just drill right through it.

The "blackish" holes to the bottom and the right are from 7mm-30 Waters, AKA "730 Waters". The bullets must've been JSPs or something like that, a lot of lead was shed off on its way through.

The pile of crap to the left is a few different hits from 730 waters, 7.62 x 39, and something else maybe.

It is too bad the other block didn't survive. The other block had some fairly interesting damage, including a hit from a .35 Remington. That round might be old, but it's no joke.

-Mike

 

[drew]

You can always practice with FMJ for ammo and paper or plywood.... save frangible for shoots....