.22 ricochet (close call)

[okie archer]

My wife and I gave our 13 year old son a Ruger 10/22 for Christmas this year. He has really been enjoying shooting it. I won't let him take it out of the case without asking me, and he definitely cannot go shooting without my supervision. I have drilled safety into his head since he was young. He has his Hunter education certificate also. So safety is definitely at the forefront of our outdoor activities.
This morning he asked could we go shooting for a bit. I set up a few targets including water bottles and tin cans. After shooting standing up for a bit he wanted to lie down prone on the ground. The targets were setting on dirt ground which I felt was plenty safe, the background was also safe as well. He was doing fine shooting his targets when he hit a bit low and hit the dirt in front of the target sending it ricocheting back toward us. Everyone knows what the zinging sound of a 22 bullet sounds like. I saw the dirt was hit when he shot and immediately heard the whizzing of the bullet coming back our way and it struck the ground right next to my son who was lying prone on the ground. I was standing directly behind him watching him shoot. I didn't say anything and on his own he said dad what was that? So that let me know that I wasn't the only one that heard it. We both heard the projectile strike the ground next to him. It shook both of us up for a bit.
I'm thankful that things weren't a lot worse as it could have easily been. Just wanted to send this reminder to everyone on this New Year's Eve day to continue gun safety. I still don't know how a 22 projectile ricocheted off of dirt sending it back toward our direction.

 

[Birdbander]

Good to hear nobody was injured.
If you've never seen it look up the video 50 cal ricochet to ear muff.

 

[recon6036]

I’m glad he was ok. I took a ricochet frag to the left thigh at the firearms range. I was instructing and had the other Officers shooting at metal popper plates 12 yards away when I caught one.
That lesson plan went in the shredder soon after. Good thing my junk was hanging right that day

 

[Redmt]

Ricochet is nothing to take lightly, either are deflected bullets. I took an easy shot at a ground squirrel that was probably 20' off to the side of wife's 2 week old new car. I rested off the side of my back hoe tire for an easy peasy 50yd shot. I missed! No way did I miss that shot. A couple seconds later I see her car dripping fluid. I figured that I bought a radiator but was lucky that it went just below the fog light, through a couple plastic layers and cracked the windshield washer bottle. I had just skimmed the bulge in the tractor tire.

 

[BuzzH]

A long time ago a friend and I were shooting .22's standing about 10 feet apart. We were shooting empty 12 gauge hulls at maybe 20 yards. I caught a ricochet in my shin, shot from buddies rifle. About half the bullet and it buried flush with my skin. Took a pocket knife and dug it out of my shin. Barely even drew blood.

 

[Redmt]

Barely even drew blood.

Your a lucky guy.

 

[gouch]

A long time ago a friend and I were shooting .22's standing about 10 feet apart. We were shooting empty 12 gauge hulls at maybe 20 yards. I caught a ricochet in my shin, shot from buddies rifle. About half the bullet and it buried flush with my skin. Took a pocket knife and dug it out of my shin. Barely even drew blood.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine, only he was shooting at pennies set up in a dirt bank. The bullet didn't embed in his skin, but it left a nice bruise.

 

[MTLabrador]

A long time ago a friend and I were shooting .22's standing about 10 feet apart. We were shooting empty 12 gauge hulls at maybe 20 yards. I caught a ricochet in my shin, shot from buddies rifle. About half the bullet and it buried flush with my skin. Took a pocket knife and dug it out of my shin. Barely even drew blood.

I caught a piece of .223 jacket from shooting steel a little too close once. Dug it out and no worse for wear. That one drew blood though.

 

[44hunter45]

I’ve had some whizz past my head but never been hit. I helicopter MissT about eye and ear protection.

I got a corkscrew of lead in my hand from a badly timed Iver Johnson 22 LR revolver once. No fun digging that out

 

[mountain monster]

Years ago my neighbor and his wife were standing in our driveway talking with us and I heard the zing. I heard a solid smack and his wife grabbed her butt and started tearing up.
They went in our house along with my wife to check , and said perfect circle of black and blue instantly. No broken skin. I found the flattened 22 lead in driveway where they were standing.

 

[Nick87]

Definitely makes you wonder we have a pretty good backstop here but we are flat as a pancake i dont think a .22lr will make it ti the neighbors but ive definitely heard a few of those zingers before. Makes you wonder. Glad nobody got hurt.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Definitely makes you wonder we have a pretty good backstop here but we are flat as a pancake i dont think a .22lr will make it ti the neighbors but ive definitely heard a few of those zingers before. Makes you wonder. Glad nobody got hurt.

Definitely have a good backstop.

Man firing gun in yard shoots, kills neighbor sitting blocks away, authorities say

An Oklahoma man has been charged with manslaughter after authorities say he fatally shot his neighbor during target practice with a gun he’d purchased for himself as a Christmas gift.

www.kltv.com

Since it was a 45 in this sad story, I immediately thought of a 200 gr 45 bullet from my 1911 ricocheting off a 25 yard target and landing right beside me.

 

[Addicting]

Lost my young cousin to a 22. He shot thru the target. It then hit a bathtub in a trash pile being used for a backstop.

The bullet hit him square in the heart. They rushed him to the hospital where he lived for a couple hours. Died on the table as they were unable to stop the blood loss.

 

[Nick87]

Definitely have a good backstop.

Man firing gun in yard shoots, kills neighbor sitting blocks away, authorities say

An Oklahoma man has been charged with manslaughter after authorities say he fatally shot his neighbor during target practice with a gun he’d purchased for himself as a Christmas gift.

www.kltv.com

Since it was a 45 in this sad story, I immediately thought of a 200 gr 45 bullet from my 1911 ricocheting off a 25 yard target and landing right beside me.

Nearest neighbor is almost 1/2 mile but yah I'd like to build a backstop with railroad ties just because. Can't be too careful these days.

 

[LuketheDog]

Back in the teenager years we got ahold of my buddy's dad's .44mag and were shooting it at an empty 55gal oil drum. The rounds were obviously zipping right through it until I shot and had a big puff of dirt hit only a few feet to our side, while the barrel was rocking in the dirt. We couldn't figure how it would ricochet off that thin steel, and it was hundreds of yards of grass and a hillside behind the barrel, no danger there. When we had a look at the barrel we found that the bullet had barely penetrated the side of the drum and had been caught perfectly by the curvature of the steel. There was perfect spiral dent that went around the inside twice, with a line of lead etched into the rust, and then it had hit a soft spot and exited again back toward us. One of the craziest firearms-related things I've ever seen...coulda been bad though!

 

[JV842]

Don’t know the particulars but I had to work on n transport a guy that caught a 9mm ricochet in the throat at a very “high end indoor shooting range”
The staff had the guy outside of the club on our arrival. He wasn’t spurting blood but it was a good enough flow that we got whole blood on board n didn’t wait around for the story….he made it

 

[gburk]

My sons friend made (ho-made) a 22 short single shot pistol and we took turns trying it out on a log pile at about 15 yards. Yep, my turn came and the ricochet shot myself right in the junk. No permanent damage to report

 

[nontyp]

I thought it would be cool to shoot a hole through a coin with my .22 when i was like 15.

Taped a quarter to a railroad tie and then shot from 10-15 yards. Ricochet nearly hit me. Scared the livin shit out of me. Never tried that again. Put a nice dent in the coin.