Say Anything Blog

Hmmm, why didn’t they show the side of his head?  And the whistle effect seemed fake.

What was he shooting at?  A rock?  I thik if you were hit in the head with a 50 cal. bullet ricochet or not, you wouldn’t be walking around much sfterward.

You don’t have to be a moron to be a liberal Democrat but it sure helps.

Something came back. You can see it strike the ground just in front of the bench. And it most likely hit the shell of his hearing protector, not his head. Lucky idiot.

I have seen a lot of strange things at ranges and in the field. Shooting at ironplate targets with to light a rd can get a direct line ricochet. Seen .50 rds snap back from armor targets half the distance to the firing line. That is why TRADOC regs stipulate that metal targets, tanks, APCs, artillery pieces, be a minimum 300 meters from the firing line. And firing positions along the line must be 5 meters elevated above the position of the target.

At least that was the reg in mid ‘80s.

Safety first, kids! Till the fire flies both ways, then safety is in the crapper.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

If the round were an unjacketed ball type round and they were shooting an iron target it’s very possible that it bounced back at him. Jacketed rounds generally won’t because they smash apart on impact.

I’ve seen .45 and 9mm ball rounds bounce off of iron plate targets. With the incredible velocity of a .50 cal, teah, it could happen.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed

Or a steel core rd. It would strip the jacket, the core could well come back. I think one of them says “no more iron”, it is a bit garbled.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

Something definently came back, I don’t think they could have or would have faked that.  I’ve heard that whistle sound from ricochets a few times, it’s real sounding.

What a lucky guy.

I think Rob hates me… I mean, just look at the pic he took of me!

Someone definitely says “no more iron.” I took that to mean no more iron targets.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Too right, Spaghetti! Nothing quite so soul freezing as that high, wavering scream. Especially when there are multiples and you do not know the source of fire. Elevated pucker-factor for certain.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

I have never, ever shot at metal targets and refuse to for that reason.  Just no reason to take the risk.

We shoot at paper targets with a nice soft hill as a backdrop.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

We do a shoot and run training exercise that involves iron targets but they’re on hinged swivels and fall over backwards when hit. Even then rounds sometimes bounce off of them. If an iron target (which I’m pretty sure they were referring to when they mentioned iron) were fixed and didn’t fall over I think the round has a pretty good chance of bouncing. If, like I said above, it’s a ball (non-jacketed) round.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed

Iron targets are OK, as long as they swivel freely.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

Rob, we shoot .22s at spinner targets made of steel, and on 2 of the long ranges I shoot at there are iron target, one has spinning round targets, the other has 2 foot x 2 foot hangers. Never had any problems. Shooting at rigid fixed metal targets is the BAD idea. And shooting vehicles with motors still in them is a less than stellar idea, also.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

This could all be prevented by shooting at animals. Flesh doesn’t lend itself to ricochet. Get some caged bunny rabbits, let them free, and make it a sport.