This guy is shooting a 50 caliber rifle. The bullet hits the target then comes back just about as straight as it possibly could have. It's not gross or anything, but the next video after it will auto play and there is no way to be sure what it might be.

__________________
I'm not evil.
An evil person would do the things I think up.

Heh, interesting. Well, there's reasons why you don't normally use iron/metal targets when shooting anything powerfull. Guess he figured that out.

On our last day at the range, the range next to us had a NRA competetive shooting tourney going on. It was interesting, NRA gun nuts next to a class of cops. Really, we were pretty indifferent towards them (they had some mad skills, it was pretty cool), but a lot of them didn't seem to like us (go figure). Anyway, they were shooting metal targets, and rounds were regularly rebounding up and over the earth barrier inbetween and landing on us. Nothing too dangerous (as long as you had your eye protection to keep flecks out of your eyes), but there was something unnerving about hearing a few shots, then having hot chunks of bullet fragments land on your arms or down your shirt.

__________________
I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

'Cause you guys are first against the wall when the revolution comes?

__________________
In Fallout 3, 'happiness' is a warm junkyard dog and a loaded gun. It's mostly the loaded gun.
- Moose's one-line review.

"your going to regret that one. You are now a colonoscope...
- Chrissy, corrupting PraedSt's wish.

Seems that way, although it seems like a one-way rivalry to me, as most cops I know are also gun nuts and are themselves members. Like I said, go figure :P

__________________
I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

My father was a police officer.

Really embarassing momemt for my brother-in-law. Besides being Canadian.

Ex-army officer, local gun safety instructer, and scout leader.

Out hunting alone and sees an abandoned junked car in a field. Decides to ignore every safety rule he's ever heard of or taught and sees if he can shoot the lock off the trunk from a "safe distance" away. Well you all know where this is going. The ricochet hit him about two inchs below the belly button. Too bad he was hunting elk. 30.06 rounds are so unforgiving. He said that was the longest hike he ever took, getting back to his car. Had to abandon his weapon and kit to make it. (Which he was able to recover) He says he probably still would have died had not another group of hunters been at the parking area. The round was pretty spent and though it pierced his abdomen, he was spared a perforated intestine. (And he got a ticket for shooting the car)

__________________
Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

In the video (I don't have sound atm), does the bullet hit the target, return, hit the ground in front of him and then up towards his ear protection?

Anyway, metal targets dont seem too smart to me. As for the guy shooting the car: it might have been safer if he didn't attempt to do so from a perpendicular path . And I hope he checked whether the car was REALLY abandoned first. Thankfully he survived, but I try to imagine if people would ever find out what happened if he was found dead. I think they would, because I assume they can identify a ricochet bullet from one that directly hits the belly. Especially that calibre .

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

In the video (I don't have sound atm), does the bullet hit the target, return, hit the ground in front of him and then up towards his ear protection

Bingo, but not just "towards his ear protection". It caught him in the side of the head, just infront of the ear protection.

As for the guy shooting the car: it might have been safer if he didn't attempt to do so from a perpendicular path
He may not have been firing at a perpendicular angle to the lock (or he may have been). Once the metal/object is impacted by the bullet, all sorts of deformation physics kick in, and the bullet doesn't always ricochet at a mirrored angle like you'd imagine.

__________________
I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

Do ya' think that, perhaps your attitude (NRA gun nuts) towards them could have been a factor?

I have a couple of flat lead discs that were once bullets, that have struck me in the chest while at the shooting range. They weren't my rounds, I used jacketed bullets, better for the barrel. They were also too small to have been .45 acp's.

David.

Do ya' think that, perhaps your attitude (NRA gun nuts) towards them could have been a factor? So you mean, maybe they didn't like us taunting them with the whole "We're gunna take your guns away!" thing?

J/K of course. Naw. I think it had a lot less to do with who they were and who we were, and more to do with the whole "macho" thing (e.g., competetive shooters next to us in training).

__________________
I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

The odds are 100% that something bad will happen to at least one of the people doing a particularly stupid thing and that it will be recorded and put on the Internet.

__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

I used to participate in fun shoots called Bowling Pin shoots. This was pretty much what it sounded like. 5 regulation bowling pins are set 1 foot back from the front edge of a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood at 7.5 yards. First shooter to get all 5 pins off of the table wins. Normally a handgun is used, but there is an unlimited division as well. This allows shotguns and submachine guns.

One night I was the timer on an unlimited match. Normally, people will use 00 buckshot. This guy was new and used #7 bird shot. This is not a big pellet, so there is very little momentum behind it. It hit the hard plastic casing of the pin and bounced all over the indoor range we were using. I got hit in the chin with a pellet, and no one was really sure if it stuck or not.

Another time, a guy had a .45 auto with special "pin killer" bullets. These looked like a 9mm bullet with a lip around the edge that had a 90 degree angle to it. The thinking was that even if the bullet hit the side of the pin, it would have enough grip to knock it off anyway. If you don't hit the sweet spot in the center, they just spin around and fall over. Having one just fall over on the table was usually really bad. His fourth shot hit the 4th pin, then he started to duck to his left. He fired and hit his 5th one as he fell to the floor. The range master rushed over to him and found he was okay but a little dazed. A bullet had hit a pin, stuck in the side and was then thrown back at him as it came out of the pin. He saw it coming and tried to duck out of the way, but it caught him on the double thick area of his baseball cap, right above the bill. He was fine, but it did raise a pretty big knot on his forehead.


As for the video, does it seem to anyone else that the interval between the shot, the sound from the target and the impact with the shooter was really short? Like way too short to be shooting at something with a 50? It should be possible to figure out the velocity the bullet had when it hit him, shouldn't it? You know, if you passed algebra 1 before the second try?

__________________
I'm not evil.
An evil person would do the things I think up.

It's hard to say how much velocity it lost on the rebound (did it stay intact or was it a fragment) and when it hit the ground, but using average muzzle velo. for a fifty round, I'm sure someone here can come up with a decent guesstimate.

__________________
I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.