Ouch.....

[seven08]

I am lined up on an English sparrow minutes ago. 30-35 degree upward angle near the top of my dead ash tree. Distance is 30 yards. Center punched the bird, hear whizzing pellet, then get hit in my left forearm by .22 pellet while gun still raised. Pellet drops at my feet. Pellet center hits inch thick dead branch. Lightning quick ricochet. Karma?

 

[thumper]

That's my pellet. I was shooting at the same bird from 200 yards away in the opposite direction with a pump up Crosman with open sights. You must have just missed.

 

[ChrisUSA]

One time I was shooting a pellet pistol at a free standing 2"x2"x4" tall wood block and the pellet hit the wall to my right,... (then) to the wall right behind me,.. and (then) bounced off the kitchen stove and (then) landed in the middle of the kitchen floor. So yes,... pellets WILL ricochet under the right conditions!

 

[Arrowhead1951]

seven08,

You are very lucky, thumper was on scene to get that awful bird. 

I had a not so bright idea one day....a couple of crows bring me golf balls and drop them in my water trough??? Why and where do they get them, I don't know?? I have eleven now and I thought I will use them for targets to impress my friends. I shot and hit several and was feeling pretty manly. I told my son"here hold my beer and I will shoot some more"....Loaded my 22 cal Gamo Urban and aimed carefully, pulled the trigger and hit my target ball and whiz bang boom the pellet just grazed my right ear. I was at 30 yrds and never guessed something like that could happen.

Moral of my story, collect golf balls and shoot crows instead.

arrowhead1951

 

[Pneumatic-Addict]

Shot an old metal post on a country road one time with a .45, and the post returned that slug like a Rafael Nadal forehand. Hit me right in the chest. Foot higher and it could have taken an eye out.

 

[seven08]

I have a few from the past, too. I'll just go with this one. In the mid 60's my uncle gives me his beat up Jap Type 38 Arisaka 6.5mm rifle. It took me weeks to save enough to buy one box of Norma 6.5 Jap ammo. We had a steel drum lid nailed to an oak tree at 50 yards. The rifle had a badly corroded bore and would keyhole every shot. It made big rips, not holes in the lid. We passed the rifle between me, Dad and Uncle for some shots at the lid. My turn again when that tree spit that sideways hitting bullet back at us at high speed. Passed between me and Uncle about shoulder high. Dad says no more, let me keep the bolt. He went to the shop and cut it into pieces on his band saw. Took me a year to save for a new Winchester M70 in .30-06. That was in '67. 

 

[DanielL]

This is why one should always wear eye protection! I have been hit by ricochets a number of times.

 

[steve123]

12 gauge slug around 600 grains came back from 25y and hit the frame of my glasses dead center above the bridg of my nose! It still hurt and felt like someone used a framing hammer. 

Not sure if it knocked sense into, or out of me, lol.

 

[elh0102]

As the old saying goes, you can't be too careful. I've shot hundreds of thousands of personally reloaded cartridge ammo, never a problem other than a few duds from missing exactly when the powder bottle ran out.

Then one day, shooting a .45 pistol with factory ammo, the pistol blew up! It came apart in my hands, and luckily, my glasses stopped a couple pieces of shrapnel. It was an obvious overload. My only injury was a fracture in my thumb. I told the ammo maker I would take no action if they replaced the pistol, a deal they were all over! I didn't know at the time that my thumb was broken, but the medical bill was nominal.

As recounted above, even soft lead can bounce around. I try to be sure of my backstop, but we all make mistakes. Safety eyeglasses are a must.

 

[Drumsnguns]

I work in a hospital and a kid came in deceased from a ricocheting .45 pistol slug. He shot at a spinner target and the slug came back, struck him in the chest and went right through the heart. He was just too close but in the big picture, watch out for returning lead especially with high powered heavy air rifle slugs.

 

[Matt247365]

One time where we were kids my brothers and I were plinking at different items in a junk pile.

Summer time. Shorts and t-shirts. Daisy lever action BB guns.

Brother caught a ricochet right in the nipple.

Didn't bleed or anything but doubled him over for about 5 mins. Then of course we all laughed.

Wish we were all young again...

 

[Springrrrr]

Don't shoot pellets at golf balls even though they are tempting. You don't know what a ricochet is until you do.

 

[harrymoreland]

"karma?" would have put it through that closed eye.

 

[flatlander]

I third the no golf balls as targets. First time I heard the ricochet Coming, hit wall beside me. Second time never heard the pellet coming hit me in the cheek.