.22 rimfire ricochet concerns

[ironfoot]

My local club has silhouette shoots on a weeknight during the summer. There is a shotgun range parallel and  forward of the silhouette shooters. The shotgun shooters stand about even with the 40 meter targets, and about 35 yards to the side. The shotgun shooters claim that they have heard ricochets from our silhouette rifles come uncomfortably close. The last thing we need is for somebody to get hit with a bullet fired during our silhouette shoots. Next summer we will probably need to have the shotgun range closed during the silhouette shoots. That will solve one problem, but there is also a road parallel to where we shoot silhouette. The road is about 1/4 mile away. What distances should we worry about for silhouette shooting ricochets? Our stands are made of 2x4 lumber, covered with rubber, so they should not be a ricouchete concern. I assume the ricochetes occur if a target is not hit square, but at an angle instead.

[SilhouetteShooter]

Ironfoot, anything is possible when shooting metal targets.

We had problems at two local ranges in the past, at one of them the shotgun range was just like yours about even with the chicken line and to one side separated by a tall dirt burm.  The other one was just over the hill at least two hundred yards away directly in front of the smallbore silhouette range.  

In neither case were the shotgun shooters in danger of being wounded by us.  What they heard in one case were the bullet’s fragments hitting the tall palm’s trees that were on the side of the trap range.  And in the other one they were just concerned about people shooting below them, so they limited the use of that particular range to shooting .22 RF ammo and scheduled their shotgun matches and practices around ours.

The best thing is not to be in front of the firing line unless boxes are built to contain the bullets and their fragments.  I have seen several of them used at ranges where the concern of the bullets leaving the range was there, some of them were built out of heavy sheet metal, others with lumber or even old tires.

If you ever noticed the smaller than a dime lead slivers just in front of the metal targets?  Well that is all that is left from when the .22 bullets hit the targets square, the rest of the bullets splatter 360 degrees and if someone is standing on the side they are going to hear and maybe feel the fragments if they are too close.  Another thing is the noise .22 bullets make when they ricochet of target’s edges, rocks, and stands.
There is nothing more unsettling than hearing the bullets scream by when they ricochet if you are in front of the firing line.

[K2]

You are right in being concerned.  It is up to those in charge to make sure bullets and fragments do not leave the range property.  For your .22 match three sided boxes (top extending to the berm and two sides) will work to contain the fragments.  You should probably address the issue in your clubs S.O.P.'s and meet with the shotgun shooters to work out a solution.  Left undone this could lead to club problems between groups and insurance issues since it has been brought to your attention.  This is not an issue for just silhouette nor those who shoot steel.  Ricochets can happen for many reasons including rocks in the dirt etc. way in front of the backstops.  I have shot for years on a range that has gravel instead of dirt for ground cover and ricochets are commonly heard from bullets that land short of the berms.  Nothing is perfect but you should eliminate known hazards as they become known.  Good luck and focus on solutions!

My local club has silhouette shoots on a weeknight during the summer. There is a shotgun range parallel and  forward of the silhouette shooters. The shotgun shooters stand about even with the 40 meter targets, and about 35 yards to the side. The shotgun shooters claim that they have heard ricochets from our silhouette rifles come uncomfortably close. The last thing we need is for somebody to get hit with a bullet fired during our silhouette shoots. Next summer we will probably need to have the shotgun range closed during the silhouette shoots. That will solve one problem, but there is also a road parallel to where we shoot silhouette. The road is about 1/4 mile away. What distances should we worry about for silhouette shooting ricochets? Our stands are made of 2x4 lumber, covered with rubber, so they should not be a ricouchete concern. I assume the ricochetes occur if a target is not hit square, but at an angle instead.

[bob259]

You should, at minimum, have a berm between these two ranges.  Not sure of your land lay out but with two different sports shooting and one 40 yards ahead of the other, with no berm is a recipe for disaster.  The only safe solution, if money is tight (like all clubs) and you can't change the layout, is to shoot alternate nights on the two ranges.  The last thing any of us need is an 'avoidable' shooting accident at one of our clubs