3/4 mile Ricochet ?

[bashaw]

I was shooting at 2 Nutria yesterday in one of my fields with 6mm Rem. On a compass I was shooting 330 degrees nothing that direction for at least 5 miles, I missed 1, within seconds my brother text me and he said my bullet hit his shop, His shop is at 360 degrees. I was shocked his shop is 3/4 of a mile from where I squeezed the trigger 30 degrees off of where I was aiming elevated 15' higher than the nutria down by the creek 250 yd shot, I have no reason to doubt my brother, is this ricochet possible?

 

[Bullthrower338]

1320 yard distance of the ricochet is possible and the angle of impact would somewhat determine path the bullet would travel. Shallow angle water strike or rock could project the bullet at enough angle to reach 3/4 mile. Not sure how much energy would be remaining at the end of its trajectory. I would be interested to know what type of bullet was it SP, mono metal bullet or FMJ?

 

[bashaw]

87gr Hornady V-Max

 

[Altitude sickness]

It’s hard to believe a Vmax would ricochet period. Let alone 3/4 of a mile.

I think your brother is messing with you. Maybe he doesn’t want you shooting in his general direction and is messing with you.

 

[pilar]

3,000 meters depending on the elevation and angle of fire. Anything downrange within that distance is technically at risk from falling projectiles or maximum ballistic reach.
Surface Danger Zone (SDZ) range safety calculations dictate a danger fan extending out to maximum range with a lateral spread (often a 20-degree total arc or wider)
So I guess it’s possible?
I watched a training video where a jihad speed boat filled with explosives was being shot at in a harbor full of LPG tankers , it’s pretty interesting how ricocheting bullets off water reacts.

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

The whole idea behind the v-max (and that group of frangible projectiles )was to explosively disassemble to stop the chances of this happening , as above stated, it’s very unlikely to be your projectile, but not impossible. I would want to see the remains of it first.
Several years ago one of my daughters friends had the police turn up saying that the neighbour had called claiming that a bullet had broken a window of their shed and as there had been a few shots fired earlier it must’ve been them, the bullet would have had to travel backwards and over a small hill through trees, after a little bit of actual investigation it as found that dumb neighbour had been mowing the day before and must have flicked a rock up
Gumpy

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I too find it hard to believe a V max would ricochet, but don’t think it’s impossible. I’ve heard 7.62 nato ricochet every shot just like the sound effects in a western movie. I stopped shooting at that hillside.

 

[bashaw]

I agree, theNutria were in the field so thw Vmax should’ve came apart if it hit the soil

 

[bashaw]

It’s hard to believe a Vmax would ricochet period. Let alone 3/4 of a mile.

I think your brother is messing with you. Maybe he doesn’t want you shooting in his general direction and is messing with you.

I’ve heard plenty of ricochets over the years usually slower rounds

 

[sgt_zim]

I'm not seeing it. Bullets tend to ricochet at a very shallow angle, and at 3/4 of a mile, couldn't possibly have reached that distance.

Any bullet would've decelerated to roughly mach 1 on contact. Without being bounced at an extreme angle, no way it would've reached 1200-1300 yards - at that speed, I'd expect a deflection angle of no less than 45º in order to reach that far. Bullets do not deflect at that angle.

Bullets deflect at shallow angles and then generally travel horizontally to the surface they struck at no more than a few inches difference, like skipping a rock off of water, and it doesn't matter what angle they were at when they struck.

What's the drop on that vmax at 1000 yards on a 100 yard zero? Now calculate it on a flat ricochet for a broken bullet. Your bullet came to rest within 100 yards of where it hit earth/water.

 

[Tex .416]

Impact angles of less than 21 degrees are when ricochets become much more likely. Going from memory from the NRA range manual, which I studied quite a number of years ago.

 

[Altitude sickness]

I don’t think a Vmax would hold up to bouncing off dirt. Let alone anything solid. They frag very easily

 

[Newboomer]

I agree, theNutria were in the field so thw Vmax should’ve came apart if it hit the soil

I had one interesting ricochet shooting 22lr when I was a kid. We used to plink at old D cell batteries. We'd set them on a boulder 100 yards out in the field and shoot at them from the road. The rock had a sloping side and and sometimes a bullet would glance off. One of my shots ricocheted left, hit a branch on an apple tree about 100 feet away, ricocheted left again, came back toward me, hit a limb on a maple tree beside me and landed 3 feet to my left. Talk about a Davy Crockett shot. That was a little unnerving. Of all the shooting we did there over the years that was the only time anything like that happened.

 

[M70375!]

go get the bullet and post a pic of it and measure it to see if it your caliber

 

[Gomer]

It’s completely possible. If you ever shoot tracers, you’d be horrified by what bullets do after impacting a “safe” berm at a range. The small arms impact area at JBLM is roughly 4200 meters behind the farthest berm.

 

[matt85]

Nope, too far and unlikely a v-max would even hold together. You are being messed with.

 

[Bullthrower338]

87 gr V-max, no way! They are made to blow apart and I have recovered pieces out of soft dirt on prairie dog mounds. Well built SP, Mono or FMJ is very possible but not a dedicated varmint bullet.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Agreed Tracers can definitely ricochet. But they are FMJ and are a whole different animal than a frangible

 

[Flbt]

Idk I would not think that bullet would do that.

But in the world of guns strange thing do happen.

There was a shooting/ hunting accident that I know of that should not have happened but it did.
A uncle shot his nephew.
165 gr corlock 30-06 945 yds away
The bullet went through a oak sapling and hit the boy in the eye.
The boy left his stand
The uncle missed a deer it got up as he was getting out of his stand.
So shot ground level.
When the investigation was over.
The land sloped down 32 feet that how the bullet was eye level at 945 yds
It made it through the tree. They said if it would have hit any where else it would not have killed him.

What’s the chance of some one leaving there stand
And a guy getting down from one jumping a buck up.
Missing there a good chance of that
Being on a 32 foot slope
Going through a tree
Hit in the eye?

Simply put shit can happen

 

[coyote wacker]

Just about anything is possible with a bullet ricochet !

At My Gun Club a person claimed a bullet hit there house 1.4 miles away. Couldn't even find the bullet that hit the house. There are cameras that record at the range all shooters nothing could be found on the recordings. The Club shut down the range and changed the range from 200 yards to 100 yards and raised the berm 15'. Several months later it was found out the shot didn't come from the Club, but a shooter much closer. It was a ricochet at a crazy odd angle !