tamworth

it was a ricochet to the left thigh, right smack dab in the middle of the front. about a foot away from really affecting my next child... My dad and I were in an indoor range, with a depth of range of about fifty feet. He was shooting .44 special, I think about 260 to 270 grain. I was to his left, shooting my sig for SD practice, when while I was inserting a fresh mag, WHAP! I've paintballed extensively, and if this were a paintball, I would say it was going at at least 500 fps. It HURT! it slapped my thigh and bounced back down range about five feet (I went and got the ugly piece of mangled lead to show others why to wear eye protection). Since it wasn't a paintball but was a solid piece of metal, I'm assuming it wasn't going quite so fast. This was yesterday and this morning I've got a welt the size of a fifty cent piece on my leg, and it also drew blood on impact, scraped about a fingernail's size worth of skin off.

The first thing I was thinking was OH MY GOSH WHAT IF THAT WAS MY NUTS?! But later that night I was also thinking what would it have done if it had hit me in the mouth if I were smiling, what if it would have hit me in the side of the neck...

So I was wondering if you all have any stories of experience or advice... What's the worst ricochet you've caught?

cmidkiff

Sounds like a bad one.

I've been caught in the belly with a .45 that bounced off of a rock. Stung a bit, and left a welt. I've caught some splash from FMJ's that were enough to break the skin, just a little bit of jacket that managed to penetrate mainly from being sharp, rather than from velocity.

Watched a guy next to me get hit in the chest with a vane from a large compensator on a .50BMG target rifle... We were innocently having a conversation well behind the line, guy lit one off, and the compensator let go. 2"x3"x1/4" piece of metal hit him hard enough to draw blood, right in the middle of his chest.

Ear and eye protection is _not_ optional!

__________________
Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. It's worth it.

bmcgilvray

SIXTO

I caught one in my hand, darn near causing me to loose my little finger. I was shooting at the time, if I had not been in a shooting position, it would have caught me in the neck, quite possibly killing me.
The repair required a few surgeries, one immediate and the other four years later, and a lot of pain. I do have a neat XRay of the bullet lodged in my hand, its framed and hanging up on my office wall.
The cause was determined to be a poorly maintained backstop, and we were shooting CQB stuff much to close to the malfunctioning backstop.

that was just the worst one... I've been hit by splatter several times.

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Wake Up! The zombie invasion has begun years ago.

Ranger

I took a bunch of core spatter from a .40 off a steel plate to the shin. It didn't hurt, but it certainly grabbed my full attention.

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When in doubt, just ask yourself, "What would Theodore Roosevelt do?"

Every society is 3 missed meals away from anarchy.

packinnova

Glad you're ok... At least it was a ricochet that didn't bury. I had a similar experience with a .22 but it wasn't a ricochet. Lets just say 2" to the left and I'd have lost the ability to have children. The thought of that near miss was worse that getting hit where I did.

I have picked up a ricochet or two here at there at various ranges though. The last one was from someone in the lane next to me that dinged the overhead target holder with a 9mm at 7rds out and it came back and nailed me in the upper arm. Just a small cut and a big nasty bruise.

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tamworth

Wow, well it seems as eye-opening this was for me, there are many lessons I can learn from your experiences. Bmcgilvray, I'm impressed by your ability to avoid going into shock! I can just see someone standing in front of their truck's mirror picking pieces of bullet out of their head, saying to their buddy "Nah, it'll be fine..." Hehehe. Well the lesson I've learned is that I need to not let it bother me and just do my stuff, not letting the possibility of being taken down by a ricochet take my attention from my self training, or just keep a keen eye out so I can dodge the suckers (jk)! I do train, after all, in preparation for the possibility of needing to use it, when I may well be being shot at... so if I train in similar circumstances....... thanks for your replies

miklcolt45

Reminds me of the scene in Bastogne (I think) in Band of Brothers:

One of the men of Easy is going through the list of who has been wounded and where...

"Now, Sgt Lipton there got shot in the n-ts.
How are those n-ts, Sarge?"

"They're fine, (insert character name-can't recall).
Thanks for asking."

__________________
Mike

In God we trust. Everyone else,
keep your hands where I can see them.

4my son

Does a nail from a nail gun count, rebuilding pallets at one of my old jobs, had a nail bounce of the edge of a pallet and go right into the meaty part of my left hand on the palm side of my thumb. 2-1/2" nail sunk in all but 3/4" sticking out. I walked up to the production manager and asked if he could get someone to take me to the hospital, I dind't really want the shop guys to try and fix this one. He almost passed out when he say the nail head sticking out of my hand.

The hospital had to take a bunch of x-rays to determine if it hit any bones. finally they got my hand under one of the coolest machines, it was live, I watched the x-ray as it happened, the Dr said to bend it the way, now more, a little more, (I'm thinking any more, it will break off and you can position it how you want) Finlay he yelled "hold it right there" he reached over and snapped a picture looking right down the nail edgeways, it looked like a dot, it was right up next to the thumb bone but not in any of them, they pumped my hand full of pain stuff, (hadn't had anything up till now, it's been probably 2 hours to this point) pulled it out. Then he pumped the hole full of betadine of something like that and kept squeezing it out.

Funny thing, it never really hurt, and didn't bleed. Everyone wanted to see it before I actually got a ride to the hospital. I'm bummed cause I never got a copy of the x-ray either.

__________________
"fundamental principle of American law that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen." [Warren v. District of Columbia,(D.C. Ct. of Ap., 1981)]
If I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand

SIXTO

Sorry, nail guns don't count IMO.
I've been shot by a framing nailer, I was nailing drywall backers on top of a high angle wall, and nailed my middle finger to the top plate. It went clear through the bone in my middle finger, blew the finger nail right off... 16d nails do a lot of damage, especially with the resin they coat the nails with. It makes them stick better in lumber, and bone too. It hurt like hell, but is was no comparison to a bullet.

__________________
In a land of sheep, even a toothless wolf is king.

Wake Up! The zombie invasion has begun years ago.