ricochet damage

[psycix]

I think the dart just bent and ricocheted off due to imperfectons, not due to flight angle.
But besides that, scary experience!

[Killjoy]

Well that was an "oh sh*t" moment.
Despite the fact you could've died, that is one of the coolest failures I've ever seen. And the damage to the target was impressive. Thank god you're ok though.
That made my night, nice work.

[al-xg]

Ooh, I had something similar happen, but at a smaller scale.
An aluminium slug fired traveling at ~270m/s hit its target and flew back 30m, nearly just above me and hit the roof.
It made a scary cool high pitch whizzz sound.

The target was an old oil drum... wich happened to be filled with scrap metal, including a lump of cast iron . The slug went in and straight out again.

Oh I might have already told that story, ahwell it got me all worked up
Good thing I didnt have a Hybrid

[POLAND_SPUD]

that's why I never fire anything point blank and I try to avoid right angles... (sure it does not help penetration but I would rather stay alive)

It's easy to predict where the ammo will go when it bounces off the target - use that to your advantage and have it ricochete where it won't casue any dammage


Of course Despite that I am trying to avoid ricochets whenever possible I've had several near-accidents...

the most recent one happened when I fired a homemade buckshot shell filled with really small nails ... the target was a wooden wall and I was standing about 8 meters from the target (of course I fired it exactly at the right angle - stupid me) when I shot I felt (and heard) that my trousers, as well as everything around me, got hit... I was luck becasue none of them penetrated my trousers but still if they traveled 1 meter higher they could have dammaged my eyes.. when I went to check the target it turned out that not even one nail got stuck into the wooden planks...

[SpudFarm]

Well that was an "oh sh*t" moment.
Despite the fact you could've died, that is one of the coolest failures I've ever seen. And the damage to the target was impressive. Thank god you're ok though.
That made my night, nice work.

and that is exactly how i feel it, i did not see it before i turned the camera off and then it was a "0 sh-it" moment.

i have partly fixed the wall now then, i used perforated steel strap to clamp everything back tougether and then filled the crack with a huge amount of glue, now it is just a hole and a wite strip and i am going to fill the hole and grind it down and then paint it all again

[psycix]

Always setup your target in a slight angle when theres a possible ricochet. Imagine all the possible paths of the projectile and see if it could hit something before firing.
Also, you should fire though something it definitely penetrates, so that when it ricochets, it needs to go through that layer AGAIN and probably wont penetrate again, unless it bounces straight out the exact same way, which is very unlikely if the target is at a small angle.

I guess spudfarm just learned that lesson the hard way.

[SpudFarm]

and it is darn fun to:P i think that is the biggest ricochet damage on the forum

my plate was in an angle, it pointed so the dart should have gone up.

i can see on the plate that the dart did not just bend - it is shattered since there is sevral small scratches and boulds around the groove.

i also picked it from each other to discover that it went through 1/2" of stainless but the hardened steel stopped it.

damage fixed, time for another try

[starman]

Wouldn't hurt to get behind protective shielding of some sort, just like the mythbusters do when shots like this are performed.

Also, golf balls are really bad about ricocheting, being blunt and full of potential energy themselves. I've had a few close calls with those.

Congratulation on still living Spudfarm...

[psycix]

my plate was in an angle, it pointed so the dart should have gone up.

Thats was NOT the best idea if you ask me.
Everything that goes up, also comes down, and you cannot expect how high and how far back it will go. The angle of ricochet and the remaining velocity is not very predicable. Also the wind may displace it from its trajectory as it will be in the air for a relatively long time.
Its better to direct it to the side, only condition is that there may be nothing that you dont want to get hit on that side. After bouncing, the projectile will have less air-time and because of the deformation, slow down, and fall to the ground. Or it just hits something that you dont mind to get hit, like a tree or a rock or something.
The probably even better idea may be to direct it down, instead of up.
It simply ricochets into the ground, digs in, and stops dead.
If it goes really fast, this does make a mess of your ground, and you may need to dig somewhat to recover the remaining pieces of the projectile.

A combination of both would be best:
Downwards, and a bit to the side.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Every good spudder has a "that was *expletives* close!" ricochet story

My scariest was this one, an 8mm steel ball bearing that went clean through my 1/4" thick bedroom window after striking a steel plate, almost level with my head and I have no doubt that it would have been lethal. No more indoor testing for me after that

[SpudFarm]

ok, i start with starman: i was sitting inside another house nearby with a remote behind a stack of old stuff including a big ass steel plate.

psycix: it is really hard to get a plate standing leveled so it will go down (that was my original plan) whan the gun already points upwards in a good angle.

JSR: "EVERYTHING can be fixed with tape"

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Don't forget Araldite and rubber bands

[SpudFarm]

how could i?

[DYI]

I've never had any problems with ricochets, it's been overpenetration that's caused most of my spudding mishaps. That, and people just have to be such pricks about loud noises - I mean, your eardrums are still intact, as are most of your windows... What more could you possibly ask for?

[POLAND_SPUD]

@ DYI the thing is that people don't like loud expolosions if they they don't know what caused them....

people feel stupid when they duck for cover after a loud bang just to see that some kids are playing with firecrackers, now do you get the idea?