Ricochet from a loose stone in the berm: 22LR at 25 yards

[Odd Job]

I had an interesting ricochet today. I was firing my R55 at 25 yards from the bench, at a target pegged to a frame at 25 yards. Ammunition was RWS Target Rifle, target was just a paper card pegged with wood pegs to a corrugated plastic backing. Here's the range with the frame removed, and the impact point of the rounds arrowed:

It was all going well, I was firing a 500 round brick and was down to the last 100 rounds. After the last round in one magazine there was a 3 second pause then I heard what I thought was a stone landing on the tin roof. I've had this happen twice before and I always thought it was kids throwing pebbles from the adjoining field (there is a football pitch alongside).
However on this occasion the "stone" rolled down the roof and fell to the ground in front of the firing line. I picked it up and it was a deformed .22, still warm from being fired. The round matches the ammo I was using. This is it:

When I went down to the berm I saw a loose stone in there. The round must have hit the stone, deflected up into the breeze blocks, then bounced a high arc back down the 25 yard range to the tin roof. Here's a view from the berm back to the firing point:

So I lifted the camera up and photographed the roof and found two other rounds that couldn't roll down because of their shape:

Quite an eye-opener, I wouldn't have thought the rounds could ricochet back that far from a brick wall, although it is obvious these impacted the wall from an angle. None of my rounds hit the wall directly, so these have skated off loose stones.

Seems they need to sift that berm a bit better...

 

[Robert]

I've always been amazed at how far a ricochet will go. And with some force too.

 

[imashooter]

Is this pic an illusion or is the masonry wall the only thing behind targets made of assorted materials. Surely not.

 

[LoonWulf]

Yeah looks like a good angle to cause bounce backs like that. It would suck to get wacked in the eye, but other than that its not likely to cause significant harm.

One of the reasons i dont shoot at rocks on or before the berms here, is that they are kinda shallow and its not hard to bounce one over....where we shoot is actually hunting area and i recently got a scare from people walking back behind the berms.

Tires arnt great targets either.

 

[Odd Job]

Is this pic an illusion or is the masonry wall the only thing behind targets made of assorted materials. Surely not.

No, the rounds go into a sand berm at the foot of the masonry. To shoot the wall you would have to be negligent or be a novice with a very badly-adjusted sight/optic.

 

[Odd Job]

It would suck to get wacked in the eye, but other than that its not likely to cause significant harm.

I suspect the angle upon return is too steep to get a shooter at the firing line but if it made it over the tin roof it could chip a car windshield or ding someone on the head. I don't think it has a lot of energy left, but a hit on tin sounds loud!

 

[H&R Glock]

I've been hit bit a ricocheted 22 fired from my revolver at a green wood trunk at 10 yards. It stung and was still very hot when it hit me in the thigh. Had it been high velocity, as from a rifle, it probably would have penetrated the wood and stayed there. The pistol's short barrel and leaky gas system had obviously slowed down the round to a point that it bounced back instead of entering the target.

 

[Odd Job]

Tires arnt great targets either.

I agree when it comes to air rifle pellets, since I managed to shoot myself in the stomach once when I was a teenager with a .177 springer BSA.
I was shooting at a tire suspended from a chain about 20 yards away when a pellet ricocheted back into my stomach. Left a small welt but nothing serious. But that was my last shot at a suspended tire with an air rifle.

As far as 9mm pistols and shotguns loaded with buckshot go, I took a weekend tactical course in SA in a shoot-house made entirely from tires. We had ears and eye protection of course, since we were shooting at close range. But none of the six shooters (including me) had any kind of ricochet back from those tires. But they weren't suspended, they were stacked flat.

In a practical shotgun competition here in London, one course of fire involved a tire that starts vertical and must be kicked first then shot on the top to get it rolling past a second start line. Only after that can you advance to take out the poppers. That was with birdshot, which I thought would cause major ricochets but in fact did not:

Here I am giving that tire ten rounds of 12g:

 

[imashooter]

In my backyard handgun range I have joined assorted railroad ties, 6x6s, and 4x4s. All screwed to one another. The top timbers have a length of 5/8" threaded stock throught them, passing through the chain link through about a two foot section of a 2/4. Wingnut on the end of the rod keeps the whole mess nice and vertical. Two rows approximately 5ft high with about a 10" space between the stacks front to back. I use old carpet pieces suspended out a few inches to which I spray glue my targets. This particular example has a large Pepsi sign (slick waterproof cardboard - like material suspended from center hook). Suspended carpet works very well preventing returns. Deep woods behind target area with the pasture (long guns) and pond to the right (out of pic). Very red but effective.

 

[Odd Job]

Nice one, I could shoot there all day!

 

[LoonWulf]

Ive bounced .22, and .380 rounds off tires, tho im pretty sure the .380s were skipping off the curve.

 

[redneck2]

I knew a guy that got a .25 auto. Decided to shoot up an old tote storage container that was cracked. Shot it a couple times. No holes, thought he missed. Next shot ricocheted back and hit his leg. The round wouldn't even penetrate the tote.

At our indoor shooting range, there were several times that we had pieces of bullets ricochet back enough to cut shooters.

 

[jmr40]

I've seen many, been hit in the leg from a 357 mag that came back I saw it coming, it felt like someone threw a small rock at me and was too hot to pick up for a few seconds. I still think the block wall had something to do with it. Bullets often ricochet multiple times. I'm thinking it hit the ground, then the wall, the metal roof and then to the ground. I don't see how a bullet can only deflect once and come back in the same direction it was fired. They aren't like rubber balls.

I once observed an AD with a 45 ACP straight up into the ceiling of a home. Expecting to have to repair a hole in the roof we went up on top of the house and found no holes. After getting up in the attic we found 3 places where the bullet deflected off rafters and floor joists. The bullet was finally found laying on the sheet rock ceiling over a room on the opposite end of the house.

 

[Odd Job]

I'm thinking it hit the ground, then the wall, the metal roof and then to the ground.

Yep, that's what I think happened. Well, I think it hit a loose stone then the wall then the tin roof.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

Had an interesting ricochet two Springs ago at my friends range. It was not the bullet that came back at us, but the target! We had a few "evil" golf balls and the last one was shot appx. 10 yards from the one shooting .44 Rem. Mag. The ball was on the ground and flew straight back about six feet high, thirty some feet behind the firing line, luckily missing us all. We laughed about our luck but I do not think anyone has used golf balls for plinkin' since!

 

[z7]

A broken brick, one where the holes becomes a half moon shape, will zing a 22lr round right back at you with dangerous speed. I recommend not shooting bricks with a 22lr, the first few shots break them in half and if you get the half moon shape, a bullet can ride the arch and return to sender. Not sure how fast, i heard it pass by with an audible "zing" loud enough i stopped shooting immediately

 

[Bfh_auto]

I knew a guy that got a .25 auto. Decided to shoot up an old tote storage container that was cracked. Shot it a couple times. No holes, thought he missed. Next shot ricocheted back and hit his leg. The round wouldn't even penetrate the tote.

At our indoor shooting range, there were several times that we had pieces of bullets ricochet back enough to cut shooters.

I had a similar experience with one. It is kind of funny that a gun can't penetrate a 5 gallon bucket at 25 yards

 

[bearman49709]

Friend had a stack of tires we shot at. Over the years people used .22 lr, .25apc, .380 apc,9mm, .38 spc, .357 mag, .45 apc and .44 mag without any problems.
One day my wife was shooting my .357 mag, I was standing 2'-3' to her side and slightly behind her when I felt something hit my flannel shirt I looked down and there was a .357 bullet on the ground, I picked it up and it was still hot so we knew it was from my gun.
Needless to say we never shot at any tires again.

 

[Varminterror]

I've brought a 25yrd ricochet from a t post back into my thigh. The slug was deformed, a 40grn 22LR solid, but I can't say whether that happened more on the t post or in my thigh. It had enough juice left to penetrate 2.5-3" of my muscle off center on my thigh.

 

[joneb]

 

[someguy2800]

I shoot steel plates with a 22 pistol quite often at 10-20 yards and I get hit by little chunks of lead shards all the time. Sometimes they will stick to my shirt. I started wearing glasses after the first few times.

When I was about 12 me and the neighbor used to go hunting for gophers and birds with a 10/22 in the country around our place. We noticed the familiar "zwing" sound of a bullet ricocheting just like the movies when we shot at a gopher crossing the gravel road we were walking on. After that we sat there on the road shooting at the gravel and listening to the bullets zwing and zwang off into the distance bouncing off the gravel. Of course we were at least a mile from the nearest anything out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[bassjam]

I couldn't even begin to recall all the times I've had bullets ricochet back at me. I've been hit in the cheek, stomach, and thigh more than once with a .22 coming straight back at me. Those typically sting a little. I once had a .38 slug pop me on top the skull, that one hurt the most even though it was “only” gravity pulling it down at that point. When people shoot with me at my range, my rule is you ALWAYS are wearing eye protection, even when somebody else is shooting. The only person who’s ever tried to argue with me about that was my wife (go figure), and as luck would have it a .22 came back and hit her shin later that day. Now she knows why even observers have to wear glasses!

I will say, it happens a lot more when shooting steel at distances closer than 20 yards. I’ve still had rocks kick bullets back at me, but steel plates are the worst, even when they are angled down.

 

[easy]

Seems to me as you backstop needs a couple tons more sand.

 

[jmorris]

the first few shots break them in half and if you get the half moon shape, a bullet can ride the arch and return to sender.

I see folks using plastic drums for visual barriers for targets and they get shot quite often. I have heard the high pitch whine of a bullet that entered but instead of exiting just spins around in circles for many seconds before slowing and falling to the bottom.

Makes me cringe every time because sooner or later one will make a hole going in and make a 180 exiting an existing hole without slowing down as much as someone back at the firing line would like.

May be lightning bolt kind of odds but that doesn't mean it won't happen, just a matter of when.