Is this even possible??

[shooter115]

Question for the group. Has anyone here ever done any research or seen a study on how far a ricochet 9mm bullet could potentially travel?

Here's the scoop, they built a new church about 420 yards away from the end of our range. Not directly down range but at about about a 45º angle and across a highway. Today I got word that it was reported to the Sheriffs department that they found a 9mm bullet in the church parking lot and it's speculation that it came from our range. From what I was told the bullet found appeared to be in pretty good condition with a dent on one side. Our berms are 30-50' tall around the range, and I'm pretty sure if a round left our range via ND and directly hit a concrete parking lot, it would be more than just dented. The only other possibility for it to have come from our range would be a ricochet off say a falling popper. What do you folks think......if the stars all aligned, do you think it's even possible that a 9mm bullet could strike a falling popper at just the right angle, clear a 30' berm and have the energy to travel over 400 yards to land softly in a church parking lot?

Now nobody is getting too upidy about it, and the sheriff here is very pro-gun and has actually shot at a few of our matches and the church is a VERY conservative christian group, so I don't think they are out to get us. I just don't like our range getting scapegoated for something that seems highly unlikely to me

[Scratch]

I'm not sure about distances, but I have a small range on my property and we shoot into a pretty large dirt berm that I'm sure has some docks in there somewhere. We also shoot steel here.

I have found on more than one occasion, a bullet either 9mm, .40 or .45 that has rifle grooves, but looks either perfectly fine, or slightly dented on the side, on the front or whatever... But in very good shape.

The ones I find are at the target line, behind the target line, even at the shooting line sometimes or anywhere in between. Kind of scary to see obviously shot bullets at your feet.

Hopefully others will chime in.

[20mm]

Just because they find a bullet in a parking lot doesn't mean it traveled there under it's own power. A 9mm bullet is capable of going over 2500 yards, you can subtract some distance for ricochet. 400 yards is easily obtainable.

[benny]

We have had people North of our rifle bay call the cops and say they found bullets in their gutters and on their yards. Even had a city employee say he found a bullet in the city lawn, but when the cops investigated they found the bullets appeared to have been dug out of a dirt bank or were rolled around in dirt before they were brought in to the office.

So it could be some one who just doesn't like the range so they said it cam from their.

Benny

[xd ED]

[Grayskies]

O.O! Wonder what kind of energy the round had at impact?

[OldmanFCSA]

DAMM, now I need to trade my 50BMG target rifles for a 9mm revolver.

Talk about a lucky shot!!!


Ammo sure would be less expensive = think I have about 2000 rounds of 147 grain XTP's loaded right now.

[Rip Van Winkle]

The question you're club's board and membership should be asking is not if the bullet came from you're range, because the answer is yes. The question which should be addressed is could it have come from you're range and how can you prevent it from happening in the future.

[Squib Joe]

There have been cases where range neighbors have produced cartridges they claim hit their home. Complete. Cartridges.

[Scratch]

There have been cases where range neighbors have produced cartridges they claim hit their home. Complete. Cartridges.

That's possible you know... I saw it on the internet once....

[Mauser98]

Ahhhh......that explains why rifle brass is hard to come by. I should start mining the berm for brass, I hear I can reload that stuff.

[Scratch]

Ahhhh......that explains why rifle brass is hard to come by. I should start mining the berm for brass, I hear I can reload that stuff.

You can, but have to pull the powder and bullet first.

[photogpat]

If a neighbor finds a bullet (not a cartridge) on their property...they can and will get you stopped from shooting on your land...either by the .gov directly, or because it'll cost you too much to fight it in court.

You must take precautions...a good place to start is the NRA's Range Source Book. http://range.nra.org/sourcebook.aspx

Hate to say it but this day and age - you have nearly no other alternatives beyond buying a mile or two of property around your range.

[shooter115]

Well I was able to get some pictures of the found bullet........um how old do you guys figure this bullet is, I'm guessing this thing has been sitting outside for at least 2 years. The church was built this summer and the parking lot this was found on was paved just a couple months ago.

I'm thinking this either came out of a tire tread, some kids pocket......or somebody has an agenda.

[photogpat]

Looks like rifling marks -- so its a fired round rather than a pulled one or a plain bullet. It is physically possible that a fired round from a 9mm can ricochet and still have enough energy to travel over 400yds.

Its still appears bright copper colored rather than dull faded -- so its "fresh" or at least "fresher".

I'm not a forensics expert - but looks like they have a fired bullet.

At this point I think you probably should stop posting publicly about this and consult someone. Justa sayin'