Comments on: Blast from the Past — Video Shows Ricochet Danger

By: Jerry

Jerry — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 14:53:48 +0000

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.

By: Bob washere

Bob washere — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 07:55:05 +0000

Afaik, the design of the steel plate also mitigates ricochet as well. He was probably shooting at a steel not rated for .50BMG.

By: Kevin Britvec

Kevin Britvec — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 22:03:43 +0000

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.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:55:06 +0000

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

By: Jackson

Jackson — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:39:25 +0000

This is a good example of why a person like this should not own guns.