Range Report Distance of a ricochet ????

[Jim the Plumber]

If one would guess, or maybe know from experience, how far would you say a magnum caliber rifle would ricochet a say 300 grain bullet leaving the muzzle at 2900fps, hitting the ground around 1000 yards out, on fairly level ground?
Thanks
Jim the Plumber

 

[Maxpower]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Not even CLOSE to being an expert but there are SOOO many variables to consider in giving stats.... bullet type, soil composition and water content, angle of the ground to the axis of the bullet, damage to the bullet shape and stability upon impact and ricochet.... just to think of a few. How about "farther than you would ever want!"?

 

[300sniper]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

37.28 feet.

 

[onesureshot]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Interesting topic. Like the other reply, there are so many variables it would be hard to say. When I was at Fort Sill, OK many moons ago, we were shooting a M-60 at some old armor and had a tracer ricochet and I swear to god it left the state. It glanced off the top and started a nice slow arc up and away and it seemed like it went forever. Now I know the burn time of a tracer is pretty short all things considered, but everybody on the line commented on the stray round.

When I read the thread title, my first reaction was ala Ron White's act about how far the airplane will take them, all the way to the scene of the crash. Distance a ricochet will travel? All the way to where it lands

 

[9H_Cracka]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Fire a 30-06 or 762 tracer round at dusk from 700 yds on the same range - this will approximate your trajectory and you'll be able to watch where the projectile goes.

I got a pretty good idea what you are getting at and applaud you for trying to figure this out. Some of the "range" pics people post up here from the mid-west scare the living shit out of me. No backstops, firing long distances, with houses and farms scattered about the countryside down range.

 

[Chiller]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

One of the primary reason that with firearms safety

<span style="font-size: 17pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">“Be absolutely sure of your target, and what is behind it.”</span></span>

In the caliber/size you are discussing it would not seem unreasonable to know what is behind the target for a mile….

 

[Niles Coyote]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Ask JBM here

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmdist-5.0.cgi

It will be within this range.

 

[ubet]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Gotta be honest here, if you are considering shooting somewhere, and are worried about the ricochet hitting a structure, someone or what have you, then you probably shouldnt be shooting there! Just my 2 cents.

PS, if you are just curious though, didnt mean to shit on your thread.

 

[Short-bus]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Like other posters have said, there are a ton of factors, but I would imagine that after the bullet hits something hard enough to drastically alter it's original path that it's going to lose all gyroscopic stability and become a tumbling mess. Once that happens, it's going to lose velocity very quickly. Couple that with the velocity loss from the impact. Either way, it's always a good idea to leave at least 1 mile between what your shooting, and what you don't want to accidently hit, of course that applies mostly for shooting at targets that are already distant.

When I was in the Army as an RTO I was walking with the PL as he was observing a live fire exercise of basic infantry movement drills, and a SAW gunner was firing bursts at a target no more than 50-75m away and a tracer round hit the berm in front of the target, hit the target and bounced back and landed a couple of feet next to the shooter. It was the most bizarre thing I have seen.

Branden

 

[gixxerpilot750]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Bullets do some weird things. I've personally seen 22 bullets fired at steel come directly back at the shooter on at least two occasions.

 

[Jim the Plumber]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Niles Coyote</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Ask JBM here

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmdist-5.0.cgi

It will be within this range. </div></div>
OK, didn't know he had that option. Thank you!
Punched in a few #'s and of the few I've tried so far the 300 grain MK punted out at 3000fps, is the distance king with a fuz over 4 miles, not accounting for any ricocheting.
With that as a worse case, and the nearest "thing I don't want to put a bullet hole in" is beyond 5 miles I should be fine.
It does make me scratch my head when I see pictures of shooting ranges or rather, places people shoot, with houses and such down range with in a mile of their target. YIKES!
Jim

 

[MitchAlsup]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

There is a web video where a guy fires a 50 BMG at a target (maybe) 300 yards away and gets a nasty gash when a ricochet came back and bonked him on the side of the head.

 

[300sniper]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MitchAlsup</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There is a web video where a guy fires a 50 BMG at a target (maybe) 300 yards away and gets a nasty gash when a ricochet came back and bonked him on the side of the head. </div></div>

i'm not believing that authenticity of that video at all. i also don't even think it is a 50bmg they are shooting. i could be wrong though, it has happened before.

 

[TimResin]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

are you talking about the two videos on youtube one where the idiot shoots a steel plate at less than a 100 yards and the other where the guy gets his headset blow off?

 

[i_Adam_i18]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0ABGIJwiGBc"></param> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0ABGIJwiGBc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UujfnEa5jLY"></param> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UujfnEa5jLY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>

Check out this A-hole. Firearm safety FAIL

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3cqAffzjUrU"></param> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3cqAffzjUrU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>

 

[jesseanderson2]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

I seen the .50 ricochet video before and that guy was lucky, if its real. It looked real to me but I'm no expert.

 

[problemchild]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

I got a 308 slug stuck in my leg from 100yd richo.

 

[dontstrokeme]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

We had a shoot out here and it must have been one of Tribe's 175SMK out of a 5R 308Win, but it hit the hanger and stayed in the hanger....it is very thin steel about 1/32" thich and was originally used as a lawnmower shipping crate....this is at 1111 yards and we don't know if it was a dirrect hit or a bounce but it stopped in the steel.

Had a pic but can't find it yet.

 

[Tigerbikes]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Niles Coyote</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Ask JBM here
http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmdist-5.0.cgi
It will be within this range. </div></div>

I just ran this on a 750 A-MAX load at 2,700 fps... flight time of <span style="font-weight: bold">42 seconds</span> and maximum distance of <span style="font-weight: bold">8,530 yards</span>.

<span style="font-weight: bold">That is 4.8 miles!</span>

 

[High Binder]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

I've shot some .308 tracers that after a ricochet, continued to fly for quite a way and were still heading off to the horizon when they burned out... so I'm going to go with: FAR!

 

[264win]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

dont know if the ricochet vid is real , but did witness my dad getting hit with splashback form shooting a steel truck rotor @ 100yds with a 243 . note; not a good idea

 

[Rovieairto]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Something that might comfort some of you:

I have yet to see a projectile hit anything (leaves, twigs, blades of grass, a sheet of cardboard, etc.) that did not immediately begin to tumble, even the mighty .50BMG.
When firing tracers you really get the impression that maybe half the rounds fired into a backstop are skipping and continuing on.
Tracers don't appear to be tumbling after skipping but the sound they make proves otherwise.
Essentially when a bullet contacts something it tumbles and becomes a limited flight projectile similar to say buckshot.
I would guess that these projectiles (of typical weights) are still very dangerous within 500 yards and a real concern to 1000.
The nice thing about this is that the bullet is usually in an arc dissipating it's energy well above the ground.
Houses a mile away should be very safe if all your rounds impact something significant.

Try shooting a cardboard target with witness paper a few yards behind it.
The keyholing in the witness paper will prove this.

 

[spaniel]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

I've been present when a 300WM shot at a slight downward angle, impacting a plowed field with no visible stones 150 yds from the muzzle, sent two ricochets ( 200 smk) over the head of someone 1.5 miles away.

I don't buy the guaranteed tumbling thing for a second. I was new to centerfire at the time, it opened my eyes and I've never shot anywhere but the wide open spaces of the West without a backstop.

 

[dontstrokeme]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Here is the 308Win 175SMK at 1111 yards.

 

[LongShot94]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

I fired a mag of tracers into a sand backstop a couple weeks ago and had one go straight up and another come almost straight back at me. Bullets can do crazy things.

 

[Brain]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

It might be more information than you care to digest, but a good resource for this topic is HERE

SDZ's attempt to account for all possibilities. Common small arms SDZ's are in Appendix B beginning on pg. 169 (179 according to the pdf viewer if you don't want to scroll).

 

[Wind50cal]

Re: Distance of a ricochet ????

Couple issues.

Bullets fired level at steel or other hard objects do seem to always come right back to where they were shot from! My knuckle still hurts from a puny 9mm from a subgun "back attack"!

Second...50 cal. Well we shot them at my farm at 1000 into the middle of a Knob. After watching a tracer go out of the apron for another 1000 before it disappeared from sight(For all I know, it is still flying!)I shut the range down and have ceased firing until I have built a more adequate backstop! 1/10th of a pound flying around God knows where at 1000fps is not healthy for man nor beast!

On a positive note...Sand is one of the best bullet stopping devices available. Drill holes and attach a stack of tires together, fill with sand, and shoot away. A stack of tractor tires filled w/sand will contain a 50 BMG.

Good thread! Thanks