Blast from the Past — Video Shows Ricochet Danger
This an older video from the YouTube archives but we expect many readers have still not seen it yet. It definitely teaches an important lesson — never underestimate the destructive power of rifle-launched projectiles. What appears a “safe distance” from steel may actually be well within the danger zone.
In this video a rather ignorant (yet lucky) fellow demonstrates what NOT to do with a large-caliber rifle (a 50 BMG apparently). He shoots at a steel target about 70 yards away and a bullet fragment comes back directly at him. He was lucky enough that the ricochet just smacked his left ear muff. Another inch to the right and he could have lost his eye… or worse.
If you have ever done much action pistol shooting at close range on steel targets, you’ll know about the hazards of ricochets and bullet splashback. That’s why you should only shoot low-velocity rounds with soft lead or frangible bullets when shooting at relatively close range.
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Tags: bullet, Danger, Ricochet, Splashback
This is a good example of why a person like this should not own guns.
Here is the story behind the video, from the guy who video’d it.
“6-27-07: BOOM HEADSHOT! This is amazing. 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 bastard. 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. ”
That was taken directly from his blog. Just in case anyone was curious
I believe the video is staged and a fraud based on the sound alone. The shooter could have flipped his headgear off with his left hand as seen in the pictures. Especially considering the angle of the sand impact it would seem impossible to angle back to his position after coming all the way back downrange. I’ve seen this video played and it was claimed that the ricochet came back a full 1000 yards. Time to target and back makes the soundtrack unbelievable to me.
Editor: Nonsense. Read the previous comment! The target was at 100 yards. Watch the video, you can see where the richochet kicks the dust.
Afaik, the design of the steel plate also mitigates ricochet as well. He was probably shooting at a steel not rated for .50BMG.
Based on the story, the plate “should have been easily penetrated”. That is the problem, never shoot at a steel target that isn’t AR500,of sufficient thickness to resist deformation. If the target is hard, and doesn’t deform, you will not get a ricochet.
I have shot 50BMG on 3/8 AR500 at 500 yards, and the plate was not damaged or deformed.