Thread: A silly question ... but quite serious really

Hi guys ... lately I've got back into shooting my .22 on bunnies and sometimes you get ricochets. How far do you reckon they travel? I'm asking from a safety point of view ie what do you think the maximum might be assuming two scenarios with a low trajectory?
1 - in a grassy paddock?
2 - on a gravel road?
Thoughts or comments?

Not sure however a lot of the energy is spent on the initial impact

Always interesting to see the deflection of tracer rounds - talking .308

Pretty much impossible to predict, waaay to many variables.

Are you concerned with them coming back or skipping and heading off in some random direction ?

I cant remember ever having issues with 22, but mostly shoot subs, or copper washed, so the projectile is really soft.

Only things I've ever had come back is high-velocity pistol and rifle rounds (jacketed stuff), mostly on steel or rocks.

Yep have had ricochets from .22 but never caused me any worry.

I was talking to a guy who shot a rabbit on his block in Nth Canty with a .22. The bullet ricocheted, went through his neighbours garage door and stopped in the door jam of the door into the house.

No that was the second shot!

Not a .22, but the other day my son was having a shot at a dirt heap @ about 20m with the 44. He must have hit a rock as I saw the projectile go straight up in the air and landed on the ground 10 feet in front of us - we put the gun away after that

Boomerang bullets!

There is no real way of knowing as each ricochet will differ. It is certainly the fact that .22 is predisposed to ricochet though

Originally Posted by Rushy

There is no real way of knowing as each ricochet will differ. It is certainly the fact that .22 is predisposed to ricochet though

Yep, one of the reasons I've gone to a 17 HMR

I have had rounds come back up the range and between the shooting bays and hit the wall behind us when pistol shooting. Had a 9mm round hit me in the leg at a 3gun shoot, it hit me so softly that if i hadnt bothered to look down and see what it was then i wouldnt have seen it fall into the grass. I just work on the assumption that if you can hear it whizzing then its not coming straight at you, its when you dont hear anything after a shot that it can be scary for a few seconds.

Originally Posted by Gunzrrr

Hi guys ... lately I've got back into shooting my .22 on bunnies and sometimes you get ricochets. How far do you reckon they travel? I'm asking from a safety point of view ie what do you think the maximum might be assuming two scenarios with a low trajectory?
1 - in a grassy paddock?
2 - on a gravel road?
Thoughts or comments?

I've used 22 in a largely gravel area before and had a few ricochets so stopped using it there straight away, can definitely hear them pinging off and god knows how far or direction they go in so to me it's not worth the risk..

Watched a pure lead BP 44 come back off steel gongs a month or so ago, went high off to the left of us and about half way back, wasn't going fast, not enough powder!

This was a result of a shotgun ricochet

basically it can ricochet as far as the rifle can throw it but no further, from there back to you, the connecting with the ground isnt going to increase the bullets speed it will only take away velosity and depending on the surface it connects with will depend on the distance it travels
if it is a low shot and it glances along the surface of a puddle or lake for example a subsonic 22 could easily travel 150m

off dirt it is anyones guess, grass ect who knows

set up a test next to a lake on a calm day, you will soon see the splash on the water where the bullet hits