Wow - must see - 50 caliber ricochet

[hammersley]

YouTube - Guy hit in head with . 50 caliber ricochet

 

[jwilliams3]

Guys lucky he didnt get killed.

 

[MLimpert]

A quote from one of my favorite movies of all time seems appropriate... "You'll shoot your eye out"



He's seriously lucky!

 

[Cummins Pilot]

I laughed so hard, all the guys at work laughed hard. The shooter said it best though, "uh were not doing that again". Ya think?!?!

 

[fest3er]

I want to know how that round came *back*. I just can't fathom it.

 

[Alan Reagan]

If it was iron or steel plate like they said, the plate won't absorb the energy and it can go in any direction. We shoot 7. 62 rounds at sea and I've seen the tracer rounds ricochet off the water at a 90 degree angle and still travel several hundred yards.

 

[fest3er]

At high velocity, water is much more solid than liquid, so I can see low-angle bullets bouncing off it.

An obtuse angle (> 90 degrees) ricochet off a steel plate I can understand. An acute angle (< 90 degrees) ricochet is hard to picture for a lead (or even depleted uranium) round. A lead bullet should splatter, and a D. U. bullet should punch through.

Hmmm. A steel bullet could be a different story. If the plate was angled just right (perhaps nearly perpendicular to the barrel) and the tip of the round slides sideways as it hits the plate so that the round hits the plate sideways, it might be possible for the round to return in the direction of the shooter. I suppose it's even possible for the bullet to dimple the plate such that the bullet 'follows' the dimple and returns.

It'd be a lot safer to use the 50 cal. to split firewood. Just think. You'd get your wife's firewood put up for the winter, and you'd get quality target practice in, whilst expending about half the effort.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

This was posted here before. IMO it's far more likely that a piece of what they were shooting at came back at them than a bullet traveling at 3,000+ fps making a 180 degree turn. A ricochet going 90 degrees is FAR more plausible than one going 180 degrees.

 

[Alan Reagan]

At high velocity, water is much more solid than liquid, so I can see low-angle bullets bouncing off it.

We skip them off the surface with no problem. It's the one's that hit the waves that scare the heck out of me. They will turn straight up or to the right or left.



The singing sound the . 50 cal round made coming back sounded like it was spinning. In other words, it was clearly heard before it hit the ground and then the shooter. Having been in a live fire situation, I don't remember ever hearing one coming at me like that.

 

[jwilliams3]

This was posted here before. IMO it's far more likely that a piece of what they were shooting at came back at them than a bullet traveling at 3,000+ fps making a 180 degree turn. A ricochet going 90 degrees is FAR more plausible than one going 180 degrees.

Steve,

We did a lot of shooting in the desert in California when I was a kid... .

we did have some come back at us when shooting at not so safe objects!:-laf



Most buzzed when they came back by over our heads (not that close though!)

 

[JFlagg]

My money is also on it being a piece of debris coming back. If they were shooting at a piece of steel, it could have had a piece fracture and come back, more likely than the actual round. Either way, 1 in a billion chance.

 

[Moose]

From the originating website... . Navigation (scroll down to 6-27-07 BOOM Headshot)



"Willie, the father of Tina, who made the sandbag rests fires a . 50BMG, an Armalite AR-50 and it ricochets off of a steel plate that it should have easily penetrated. The bullet comes straight back and hits him in the head. You can see it hit the dirt about 15 feet in front on him before it clobbers him. Luckily he was uninjured. He's a bit sore today, but otherwise fine. Lucky lucky *******. He has been advised to buy lottery tickets while he still has so much luck. I don't know about the timing, but you can hear the hit on the steel plate. Time that till the impact on Willie's head... how fast is that 750 grain slug traveling? The range is 100 yards. Amazing. "





Moose

 

[OO]

I built a dueling tree out of 1" thick mild steel and can tell you that it sends pieces of the bullet right back at you. I fired 4 shots of . 223 and my shooting buddy got hit in the leg. Just a small bruise. He then fired off some . 308 and the ricochet went between us and hit his truck leaving a 3" bullseye.

Mild steel targets are a bad idea Used cutting edges or AR400 work muck better. They shatter the bullet.