Went to the range yesterday with most of the arsenal. While shooting only for the second time my new Remington R1 I was struck in the stomach by a ricochet.
At first I thought it was mine as it hit right as I took a shot. A little later while shooting the MP Sport I was struck again.
I knew it wasn't mine as I was in between shots. I knew the guy next to me was shooting something a lot louder than me but didn't pay much attention. I could see his muzzle flash from my lane and sparks down range. This is a 25 yard indoor range. Come to find out it was a 475 Tremor. I didn't even know what it was till I googled it. Bad ***, and kinda scary.


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Wow, that is scary. I don't get what might cause the ricochet. Theoretically the bullet is traveling perpendicular to the backstop. With a 90 degree angle of impact I wonder how it did ricochet. I would understand if the bullet was striking at less than a 90 degree angle. Can someone inform me of what I am missing?

Unfortunately that round may exceed the safe use limits for your range. Many indoor ranges at 25 yards limit which calibers/loads can be used due to such problems. My recollection is that those are 400+gr bullets at nearly 2000fps which in in the 3500ft/lbs range.

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Who watches the watchers?

What is the backstop material? I'm not familiar with indoor ranges.

Way to much power for indoor ranges at that distance. Once had a 230 grain .45acp bounce back at me from a backstop of mesquite logs,we found a better backstop!

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

I would've told him to stop shooting and reported it to whoever owns or manages that indoor range.

Whether it's an indoor or outdoor public range, I'm up before the sun, ready to go, so I can arrive right at opening time. When it comes to public ranges my experience has been, in general, the later the hour gets, the higher the Adam-Henry index climbs.

One of those and I'm out the door . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I belong to a public indoor range and ALWAYS look to my left & right to see who is in the lane next to me. I notice some people lack trigger finger discipline, especially when shooting a semi auto to lock back. They tend to reload w/a finger still on the trigger and when I see this I back out of my lane when they reload. It's not technically unsafe according to the range rules but it makes me very nervous.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

happens a bunch at our USPSA matches, while not deadly if you aren't wearing eye protection you could get hurt.

Man I would have gotten the heck out of the shooting area and reported it to the desk. Twice you got hit! I would have been gone after the first one let alone screaming mad the second one.
I don't like public ranges. Especially when the range doesn't have at least a screen separating the shooters. I hate it when I am pelted by casings from the shooter next to me. I am not paying to get pelted.

That kind of ricochet, assuming a steel backstop at 45 degrees from plumb, could have been caused by the bullet first striking the ground or concrete floor, then hitting the backstop and sending it back to the shooter. Ricochets are often from bullet splatter and I was once hit in the shoulder hard enough to draw a bit of blood but a full-bullet ricochet is capable of inflicting a fatal injury.

Indoor range backstops are angled away at about 45 degrees. In theory, the round strikes the back stop, travels up perpendicular to the steel and then rattles around in a catch structure before falling down to the bins at the base of the backstop. If the round misses the catch structure, it's coming back. This happens with rounds that are higher in velocity and mass than is recommended for that particular construction and distance. If it hits the floor first, it will travel perpendicular to the floor and then hit the backstop to travel up to the catch. In theory, a round hitting the floor is less dangerous because that strike slows it down and heads it straight to the backstop. Last indoor federal range I was on was brand new, and used chopped up tires covered with layer of thick rubber in a bin with a 45 degree angle and a catch structure above. You had to use copper ammo, and every so often they drove a Bobcat in to bucketload the fill out and replace it. Cleanest range I was ever on . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

After the second one I did step back until the guy next to me was done and gone. I did report it to the owner of the range. I'm not sure what if anything they said to him. I really like this range, it's close to home and they are usually pretty strict. In fact as a regular they never check my ammo but they said someone used green tip 5.56 and damaged the rail on that lane so they are checking all AR ammo. Why they didn't catch the 475 I don't know unless they were ok with it being used.


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I've heard at least two friends speak of getting hit with jacket or lead fragments when using a non-dirt backstop. One was struck in the stomach and another in the cheek; wounds were very minor. Both used handguns, though I don't recall the distance. I'm certainly not an expert, but this sounds like a potentially dangerous practice. Seems it would be even more dangerous using a high velocity cartridge rather than a handgun round.

Glad you're ok.

On a somewhat related topic, if you haven't seen the video of the guy getting his hearing protection knocked off by a 50 BMG ricochet you should check it out. Ricochets are scary stuff.

My club had a beat up backstop at the inside 50 ft range. It frequently returned fire. I had a frag from a lead wadcutter come back off a bowling pin outside and stick to my forehead.


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It doesn't always matter what the back stop is made of. Last time I was at the range an older biker looking fellow and his lady walk in and before you knew it the ceiling tiles were raining down. I figured it was the lady and that she was unfamiliar with guns or something. Nope, it was the guy blasting away and wondering why nothing was hitting the target. He couldn't figure what was going on. I was on my way out and let staff know.

I would think he would have noticed the debris from each round hitting the ceiling but I guess not.

Small bullet fragment from a .22lr (three of us all had .22s) hit me in the chest at an indoor range. Felt a sting (barely broke the skin). Funny, but the first thing I thought of when I felt the sting is that the older guy with us probably had an attack or something and shot me by mistake. But no, he was fine. Just a fluke back splash. Shoot enough and over the years you'll likely see a bit of everything that's not supposed to happen.

Well either way I had a great day at the range, shot the Sport ll, the M&P 9 Shield, the SD9VE and the new 1911. And I got hit twice by a 475 Tremor and lived to tell the tail. Just two red marks on the skin and one brown mark in the drawers. Kinda makes ya feel alive! All and all a good day.


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My local range went with the shredded tires a few months ago. Another benefit is a general reduction in the sound level on the range. Increased safety and decreased sound are a great combination.

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Who watches the watchers?

On the shredded tires, if they don't clean them out often enough you can get splatter back from them as the bullet material builds up.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Getting fragged in an indoor range is UNACCEPTABLE!! You should insist the rangemaster get the guy out! I have been on an indoor with a Desert Eagle 50AE and it is nasty....the blast throws the paper junk and unburnt powder downrange like a wave. I have been fragged by a DE 44Magnum shooting bowling pins indoors. Never went back. I went to a brand new indoor range last winter and the guy next to me was shooting a very short barrel AR. The blast and concussion was nasty!

I avoid indoor ranges if at all possible. I don't have much hearing left.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

This for me^^^^^. On the occasion that I go to one of the two ranges I'm a member of (one is private), I'm usually the first one there, right when they open.

Steel 45* angled backstop plates sometimes get small dimples in them from rounds that excede what the plate can withstand on impact and not deform the surface. Those dimpled impressions set up a verticle impact area,,small, but more than enough to return some or all of another bullet that hits it just right.

I used to belong to an indoor Bulleye league. The range was 'lead bullet handgun only' and no magnum rounds. .22rf rifle allowed.
Of course some just had to use FMJ and other jacketed/hi-vel rounds.
The plates would get damaged.
I bounced a 38WC off my forehead and one off my cheek during a shoot, they came straight back. Good thing Dutchmen have hard heads.

They'd weld the plates up once a season and grind the spots flat again.
They did upgrade the steel plates later I understand. But some would still damage them with HV FMJ , AP or cf rifle which they were never rated for..

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A Country Boy Can Survive

Pock marks on the back stop as well as steel plate give lots of splatter! I have a 1/3 scale, 1/4" thick steel man with a 1/2" deep, 1 inch wide dent in him from my best friend's 50 caliber muzzle loader! 45-70 lead has pock marked my 3/8" AR 500 plates at 50 yards, close to the edges. Soft bullets doesn't mean low transfer of energy!

Ivan

Sadly this is all too common an occurrence. I shot at a range near me a few times, and one one particular visit, I was hit twice in the shins by ricochets, as was another shooter a few ports down. Now, I'm not the greatest shot, but I can honestly tell you that every round I shot was on paper, and none struck the floor, target carrier, etc. After the second strike, I took the pieces of lead out to the range desk, and chatted with the owner about what happened, and was met with complacency. He said it happens all the time, but no one had been seriously hurt, and that the backstop needed to be replaced, but they were struggling to afford it, and couldn't get building permits from the town, etc...

Needless to say, I stopped going to that range, and instead frequent an indoor facility that has a backstop supposedly rated to stop 50 BMG at 25 yards, one of only a few ranges of its kind. Though it's a bit further away, but totally worth the drive, and the piece of mind.

People shoot INSIDE of buildings? Must be some fancy big city thing. I heard of people getting in cars and driving to a place to shoot their guns too but I think that was outside. I just walk out the front door and start blasting steel plates.

I built a backstop our of hard oak lumber filled with sand. I had a bullet come back at me and hit me in the shin. It was hard enough that it broke the skin. It was shocked!

I modified the backstop and put a layer of 2x12 pine boards in front of the oak and never had any more problems.

Hard packed dirt will bounce bullets back with force! The only safe backstop I used had 1 inch armored plate steel angled 45 degrees to bounce bullets down into a sand trap. The steel armored plate came from a production line at our ordnance plant.

I don't know that there is any fool proof back stop or way to 100% prevent ricochets from happening except not to shoot. And that ain't gonna happen. I shoot at indoor and outdoor ranges and the risk it there no matter what, but that won't keep me from going.


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Bullets can literally bounce back straight. I've been hit by one of my own bullets and there's a video of a guy shooting at steel plates that the bullet comes back and splits his earmuffs right off his head.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I am not a fan of indoor ranges, but I have used them in the past.

Way back when I was in a junior rifle club, we used the local Army Reserve's 8 lane 50 foot indoor range, without problems. It was steel plate deflecting into a sand "pit". In college, it was pretty much the same type setup, but I think that it was either 10 or twelve lanes. In the 1990s, I belonged to an indoor club that had a double, 8 lane 25 yard setup, but it was restricted to 22 rifles and handguns (max of 44 Magnum).

Now, there are three or 4 indoor ranges that have sprouted in the past few years. At the local Bass Pro (which opened about 2 years ago), you are shooting into chevron shaped bullet traps, with no caliber restrictions stated, at the grand distance of about 15 yards ... don't know if they are allowed to be open to the public yet. Another indoor range opened about an hour away, and they have 3 ranges of 8 lanes or so a piece, with chevron shaped bullet traps at 15 yards, and I was told that they were rated to handle the 338 Lapua. A third one recently opened about half an hour away, which I have yet to visit, but I have few expectations. The common theme seems to be shorter distances!

ETA: I just learned that the indoor range at the local Bass Pro will not be opening. Honestly, I was rather surprised to hear that they planned to open an indoor range in the heart of Atlantic City!

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Judge control not gun control!

If i was the shooter that held the gun that was sending bullets back to my fellow shooter,
I would like to know that, so i can stop shooting and fix the situation.
If no one let me know, then i would assume that everything is ok.

I once had a 27-2 that spit bullet fragment to the sides,
but i didn't know that until some one told me to stop shooting.
Had a chance to take it to a "smith" for fixing.

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Jamie wants big boom

Good point.


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Not really a ricochet. It is backsplatter. You were hit by rebounding fragments of the bullet after it disintegrated. Backsplatter is very common when shooting JHP or lead bullets at a steel target.

... the reason that I am so lucky to have a range at home. I just don't trust the general public with firearms. I picked up a nice and healthy distrust of the average population with firearms.
The fact is that at a fair number of public ranges I have been to I have smelled alcohol coming from some folks and if there's anything I don't trust more than drinking and automobiles, it's drinking and firearms. I mean it's one thing to be a deer camp with the fellas and knocking back a few beers or whatever over dinner at night, but these folks are coming to public ranges after having had quote/unquote "a few beers". Who the heck knows how many that is? I think the OP was lucky to escape without serious injury. NO, I'm not saying whoever was shooting that monster had been drinking, I'm just saying that kind of thing happens. Nope, I'll stick to shooting at my range.
Safe shooting to ya'll~

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Tertia Optio