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Hi guys ... lately I've got back into shooting my .22 on bunnies and sometimes you get ricochets. How far do you reckon they travel? I'm asking from a safety point of view ie what do you think the maximum might be assuming two scenarios with a low trajectory?
1 - in a grassy paddock?
2 - on a gravel road?
Thoughts or comments?
Not sure however a lot of the energy is spent on the initial impact
Always interesting to see the deflection of tracer rounds - talking .308
Pretty much impossible to predict, waaay to many variables.
Are you concerned with them coming back or skipping and heading off in some random direction ?
I cant remember ever having issues with 22, but mostly shoot subs, or copper washed, so the projectile is really soft.
Only things I've ever had come back is high-velocity pistol and rifle rounds (jacketed stuff), mostly on steel or rocks.
Yep have had ricochets from .22 but never caused me any worry.
I was talking to a guy who shot a rabbit on his block in Nth Canty with a .22. The bullet ricocheted, went through his neighbours garage door and stopped in the door jam of the door into the house.
No that was the second shot!:thumbsup:
Not a .22, but the other day my son was having a shot at a dirt heap @ about 20m with the 44. He must have hit a rock as I saw the projectile go straight up in the air and landed on the ground 10 feet in front of us - we put the gun away after that :wtfsmilie:
Boomerang bullets!
There is no real way of knowing as each ricochet will differ. It is certainly the fact that .22 is predisposed to ricochet though
Yep, one of the reasons I've gone to a 17 HMRQuote:
Originally Posted by Rushy
I have had rounds come back up the range and between the shooting bays and hit the wall behind us when pistol shooting. Had a 9mm round hit me in the leg at a 3gun shoot, it hit me so softly that if i hadnt bothered to look down and see what it was then i wouldnt have seen it fall into the grass. I just work on the assumption that if you can hear it whizzing then its not coming straight at you, its when you dont hear anything after a shot that it can be scary for a few seconds.
I've used 22 in a largely gravel area before and had a few ricochets so stopped using it there straight away, can definitely hear them pinging off and god knows how far or direction they go in so to me it's not worth the risk..Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunzrrr
Watched a pure lead BP 44 come back off steel gongs a month or so ago, went high off to the left of us and about half way back, wasn't going fast, not enough powder!
This was a result of a shotgun ricochet
Attachment 20295
basically it can ricochet as far as the rifle can throw it but no further, from there back to you, the connecting with the ground isnt going to increase the bullets speed it will only take away velosity and depending on the surface it connects with will depend on the distance it travels
if it is a low shot and it glances along the surface of a puddle or lake for example a subsonic 22 could easily travel 150m
off dirt it is anyones guess, grass ect who knows
set up a test next to a lake on a calm day, you will soon see the splash on the water where the bullet hits
That is just an insurance claim, must have been scratched or leaking!!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dundee
The guy firing that 50cal who loses his ear muffs may not agree:ORLY:Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill999
might not agree with what part?
Ahh yes, this gent:Quote:
Originally Posted by Maca49
http://youtu.be/0ABGIJwiGBc
Now that is interesting................Quote:
Originally Posted by Rushy
Ricocheting off bits..............not projectiles
Hating Pooks, as we all do, I noticed one, 10 metres away from a car port, so I sneaked up on it and upon sighting it with the scope attached to 22 , found the line of trajectory 12 inches above the roof of a car parked in the carport. Looks good, thinks the idiot boy and pulls trigger.
Bang.................followed by the sound of a shattered car window falling in many pieces onto the ground.
Closer investigation found that a nylon 5 mm rope supporting an awning now had one of it's three twines severed and there appeared to be an impact on the window.
No sign whatsoever of a bullet "departure" hole so I can only conclude that a portion of the nylon cord hit the window with sufficient impact to cause it to shatter.
Bugger.
Barefoot was zeroing a .22 down the back of my farm a couple of months back and there were several rounds that went whiz ing of into the distance after ricocheting
Yes, we packed that away rather quickly and moved onto something bigger.
I do seem to have had more ricochets with the last batch of cci subs (not hollow points) than anything else I've used.
I dont think its that you get more ricochets with subs, its simply that you hear them.
One would never admit to deliberately trying to skim 22lr across a body of water but I hear they don't go that far;)
Range carryed after impact would depend on many things but most effect would be angle IE a shallow glancing bounce has potential to travel almost as far as a normal shot aimed at the angle of departure of the ricochet.
If you can hear it it is probably a whole lot less dangerous than the ones you cant hear(;)) because it is tumbling threw the air and will slow down relatively rapidly.
None of this is scientific, just logical and commonsense as is not shooting at a bunny on flat ground with a house in the distance.:)
The most ricochetts I've had is with 7.62x39 FMJs. Heard of a guy getting killed by a bullet refracting around buffalo horns, not sure if it's an urban legend but seams feasable.
Rule 5: Check your firing zone.
It's commonsense. If you think there's a chance of a dangerous/unpredictable ricochet, don't shoot.
With that addage you should never shoot a gun at anything. Period. There is always a chance of a riccochet.
Thanks for the comments ... to clarify - I'm talking about the projectile continuing on, away from me. I don't normally worry about it as usually 1500+m away from the farmhouses but the other day I shot a property and had a ricochet and there was a farm shed about 300-400 meters up the valley. I wondered if it would go that far off a gravel road ... safe to assume YES.
Out of interest - I did some research and found a guy who did some purely theoretical "worst case" models based on BC's which I have paraphrased below.
Ricochets with a fractionally munted .22 projectile = 1,900 yards max & lethal to 800 yards
Ricochets with a partially munted .22 projectile = 1,400 yards max & lethal to 550 yards
Ricochets with a reasonably munted .22 projectile = 700 yards max & lethal to 280 yards (this seems a plausible absolute worst case?)
Also on the same forum was a comment that 45 degrees of deflection has been experienced on a range.
I don't have a gravel road beside a big lake ... but that would be an interesting test.
No question is silly,very interesting thread.:) Of other ricochets.
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't one of the main reasons that rimfire rifles aren't allowed on DOC land is due to their tendency to ricochet?
I believe the reason that used to be stated was the use of .22 and shotguns to poach native birds.
Yep.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barefoot
IMO When using high power 22, ricochets were only heard when hitting a hard flat surface, however after being a dedicated subsonic and suppressor convert for twenty years ricochets are more common than thought. I would say that more than 50% of shots bounce. Even when hitting rabbits heads, a bounce is heard. With suppressors damping the reports there appears to be a greater evidence of heard ricochets. Fortunately I hunt in an unpopulated area otherwise this could be a problem.
Anyone else have similar views ?
I just remembered that there is a warning on the .22 LR Winchester subsonic box.
It states "Dangerous within 2.5 km (1.5 miles.)"
I imagine that to be the maximum reach as this would have been selected by their Lawyers to cover their fat corporate arses.
Currently, the British Army is very obsessed with a similar problem................Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunzrrr
Army suspends live fire on Salisbury Plain after stray shell fired over Wiltshire villages - Telegraph
Time to re-institute the Home Guard me thinks.
