The splatter from the repeated rimfire hits makes a unique and predictable pattern on the grass, does it not? This is the cumulative effect of several hundred rounds of .22LR on a 4" steel popper (courtesy of MGM Targets, thanks guys!). This is why we place our steel targets a good distance away from the action, as well as being careful when using steel-jacketed ammo - a JHP at 7 yards stands a very real chance of ricocheting back at the shooter. At 25 yards, not so much.
It does look like I'll be replacing my board every couple thousand rounds, though...
That is all.
7 comments:
Several hundred rounds? Wow. I figured it'd take several thousand rounds to chew that far into the plywoood.
I was going to suggest just mounting the target at the front edge of the board, but like the doctor told the guy who picked up a rare STD in the Far East, "Oh, no need for surgery. In a few week that'll fall off by itself."
That's also why there's fault lines and minimum distances for steel challenge and USPSA. IIRC 25 feet is the minimum. Even then you can still end up getting hit by the jacket.
We had one yahoo at Boomershoot this year who thought it would be cool to shoot at some steel targets with his AK from 20-25 yards. Yeah, the ROs promptly started yelling at him to stop because it was ricocheting bad given it was pretty beat up steel to begin with.
By the end of the two days of the clinic a pretty nice trench is forming in front of the steel targets.
Dave,
The board has seen far more than 200 rounds - that's easily over a thousand right there.
The ground had several hundred - from just that one session...
Barron,
Yeah, I took a 7.62X39mm jacket to the lower abdominal area (1" below my right...) from some chucklehead shooting jacketed ammo at steel plates on the 25 yard range...
An indoor range south of Denver used to put on bowling pin matches, maybe they still do. There were a few stars in the chicken wire glass behind the line, where the bounceback got through the line of paying customers.
MM is correct, they are MINIMUM distances for a reason!
I appreciate what turned out to be a reminder about ricochets and flying fragments. If I were John Kerry, I would have qualified for the Purple Heart. I fired .22 at a steel spinner rated for center-fire pistol and learned, again, that angle of incidence = angle of reflection. In other words, the little .22 bullet came straight back at me and hit me in the chest. Hard.
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http://www.neatorama.com/2012/05/31/cutting-grass-with-a-rifle/
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