Ricochets.....

Chopperdog

Riflemen, I need some help please......

I shoot .22lr for bunnies and some plinking. I am very safety conscious re-backstop etc, yet hate hearing that pitiiiiiiiing of a ricochet.

For live quarry I use Remington hyper speeds hollow point jacketed.(good performer).

For practice I am looking for a round that is least likely to ricochet under conditions I shoot in, which are as follow :-
If one was shooting 1/2" thick steel silhouette style targets mounted in a steel bracket what is the best bullet combination to use to avoid zingers.

eg. subsonic, hollowpoint, solids, standards...etc.

My backstop is safe but this is negated by ricochets.

Would appreciate any advice lads....

jaycee

Ricochets are always likely to happen when shooting at steel targets,
Solid point rounds will practically go everywhere off these, but it will happen to a greater or lesser degree with any round.

If you are restricted in the size of your backstop , or worried about where
the rounds end up I'd give it a miss.

pauln

If you make up a swinging target that is hinged at the top so that the target hangs down from this I find that the rounds hit the target and then get deflected down into the dirt and bury themselves there.

Subsonic hollow points would probably have the least energy leaving the target in a ricochet as they would have less energy to start with as they are subsonics and they would loose energy as they deform on the target and be less stable in flight after. But I wouldn't use that as an excuse to be careless it's just a thought.

woody

I agree Hollowpoints deform on impact much quicker and have less chance of ricochet.


I have seen a fair few in my time for example being on an army firing range in the butts (where targets are raised) and 7.62MM Rounds bouncing around above you and sometimes in the butts themselves and nothing but an old 1970's flak jacket and a helmet to wear, although I have seen less with 5.56MM rounds.