# Embarassing Ricochet Stories



## All Buns Glazing

I was walking around the back yard, tipsy, picking up 9.5mm steel balls and shooting them into my catchbox... Yeah, I know....

So, I picked one up and the angle into my catchbox was too acute to shoot into it, and there's been a steel camping drinking mug in an alcove behind my catchbox. When I first started shooting, I missed it a couple of times and stopped shooting at it as behind is a very loud metal fence.

Well, today, Cooper's Sparkling Ale egging me on, I thought I'd take a shot. CLANG! Hit it, no problems, knocked it over the fence into my driveway. Excellent. Wait, what's that? It looks like a 9.5mm steel ball coming back towards me. THUNK.

Hit my in the frigging head. About 2 inches back from my forehead. Nice sized lump!

Ok, I know this has happened to pretty much everyone, let's hear it.








Where it bit me.


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## jayw81

No I don't have ANY embarrasing stories at all... And I've NEVER had a ricochet (LMAO yeah thats all lies.. but I aint tellin!!)

Jay


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## newconvert

i dont have a clue mr. buns














made my day you did!


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## bullseyeben!

Second to last shot got me nostril !


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## bbshooter

I shot at a piece of plastic on a post near my pickup. The plastic was at a slight angle and the shot deflected to hit the front windshield. I now have a nice circular spot in the middle of the windshield to remind me not to do that again.


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## All Buns Glazing

LOL Ben, caught on tape! I had one land back in my ammo box the other day. Bounced back and the 9.5 steel ball landed in, and hard a party with the 8mm steel balls. Smart ass thing. I honestly feel we shouldn't shoot without the camera rolling - too many funny things happen when grown-ups play with toys.


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## newconvert

you are right about that!


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## Henry the Hermit

This is exactly why I rarely shoot steel, and then only when testing. I've taken a .25 cal steel ball in the left lens of my shooting glasses.


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## Imperial

as far as slingshot related ricochets go, i dont have any embarrassing ones . as a little kid i did have a bb ricochet back from my lil daisy rifle and hit me square in between the eyes . my fault for shooting at a can of spray paint about no more than 15 feet away .


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## rem50

the only thing I did once was I quickly aimed at a plastic top on my electric fence ( I don't know why) and the problem was that I hit it and broke it! It was a great shot but a bummer to fix! Ha!


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## treefork




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## Jim Williams

I was trying to shoot a pickle fork shooter by the side of my house a few months ago, I tried twisting the pouch and completely missed my catch box, the resulting ricochet went about 15m and smashed my workshop window. If it had been a cm lower it would have hit wood, a meter to the right and it would have been my neighbors car windscreen eek. I don't shoot there any more


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## NaturalFork

One time I was shooting .177 bbs and i made my pouch WAY to small and it came back and went right in my mouth down my throat. I ate a bb.


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## newconvert

NaturalFork said:


> One time I was shooting .177 bbs and i made my pouch WAY to small and it came back and went right in my mouth down my throat. I ate a bb.


yummy!


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## All Buns Glazing

NaturalFork said:


> One time I was shooting .177 bbs and i made my pouch WAY to small and it came back and went right in my mouth down my throat. I ate a bb.


Ha ha ha ha! I think we have a winner!


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## Rayshot

NaturalFork said:


> One time I was shooting .177 bbs and i made my pouch WAY to small and it came back and went right in my mouth down my throat. I ate a bb.


hilarious!! I am still laughing.

If it was a copper bb, did it turn yer turd green?


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## Rayshot

It is true even if one is alone we can be embarrassed in solitude. The embarrassment comes because I already gave the advice (from experience) found near the end of this story, to others.

I live nearby some county parks that have multiple ball parks and abut swamp, river and wooded areas. Because the ballfields are right next to the swamp and river ("creek" in the south) I find all different kinds of recreational balls in the woods, river and swamp. In one swampish area that is beside the walkway that leads to the ball field is a soft ball about 33 ft away (tournament experience) sitting in a water pool of the swamp. You would think that a soft ball sitting in water when hit with 3/8 ammo wouldn't rebound to bad because the water would help absorb some energy. Don't shoot at a softball sitting in water! Ammo comes back.

For that matter too, don't shoot at any* air filled* ball. I did that too, and blushed after the ammo went wizzing past me from rebound. Why is it, shooting at a lost ball in a river so enticing? Perhaps the saying; "Old enough to know better, to young to care", still applies to me. Maybe it should say, "too stupid to care"?


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## Imperial

@ rayshot- softballs are made to "jump" off a softball bat . majority are made of a polyurethane core . by any chance did it feel like it came back at you at twice the speed you shot it ?


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## valkerie

I made my first catch box last week....it wasn't finished but I thought what the heck i'll try a shot....the back of it was covered in thin foam to deaden any noise.....first shot bang in the center and then quicker than I could react I saw the 12mm lead coming back with a fair bit of speed and WHACK right on the shin bone! Quite funny afterwards but not when it happened!


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## rem50

NaturalFork said:


> One time I was shooting .177 bbs and i made my pouch WAY to small and it came back and went right in my mouth down my throat. I ate a bb.


that is funny!


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## rem50

valkerie said:


> I made my first catch box last week....it wasn't finished but I thought what the heck i'll try a shot....the back of it was covered in thin foam to deaden any noise.....first shot bang in the center and then quicker than I could react I saw the 12mm lead coming back with a fair bit of speed and WHACK right on the shin bone! Quite funny afterwards but not when it happened!


ok, yours was good too!


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## Kipken

I hung a beer can in my catch box and was shooting it with 3/8 steel, I was tearing it up so I thought I'd see if I could hit the top rim.. I did and evidentally the steel ball went straight up, I loaded another shot and aimed and the previous shot came down and hit my arm...shocked the **** out of me...hahahaha
Kip


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## harson

to cut a long story short i had a shot of a bow a long time ago and after missing the target by miles the arrow took a deflection of the side of a garage and stuck right into the back of my friends head who was walking bye at the time ,resulting in him half dead ,his very angry mum ,cops medics ,and no more bow,s.


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## All Buns Glazing

Dude, that's ... not really embarrassing, more... hardcore!
What do you mean "half dead"?
And p.s. that post, with your signature tag... classic


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## harson

All Buns Glazing said:


> Dude, that's ... not really embarrassing, more... hardcore!
> What do you mean "half dead"?
> And p.s. that post, with your signature tag... classic


Well there was a big arrow sticking out his head ,more blood than i have ever seen and a week in hospital,its ok we are still friends ,sh!t happens !,oh yeh and he shot me a few years later with an air rifle .


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## Sheila

Guess I have a story too. The day I got my P51, I loaded up a shiny new 3/8" steel ammo into it to take my first ever shot from it, hit the Pepsi bottle I had hanging from the top of my catchbox, which promptly rebounded at me just as fast as it left the slingshot! (Or it seemed it anyways) Before I could do a good Matrix-y move to get out of the way, it hit me right over my left eye towards the inner corner. Of course I immediately began to think of A Christmas Story, complete with hearing "you'll shoot your eye out kid" going through my head. 







Luckily no neighbors were around to witness that, but my pomeranian had a good laugh! And yes, I now wear the cute little pink safety goggles every time I shoot.


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## tomshot123

I have fired a 9.5 at a can, it missed and hit a tree resulting in it skimming his Face with a 2 inch line across his face XD 
Also, another friend was sitting high up a tree while I was spinning my sling with a pinecone as ammo, it fell out of the pouch and got him in the face! 
Again the friend that I skimmed got hit in the face with a pinecone in a sling aswell... Not very happy friends :L


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## Acedoc

was shooting at a solid and old timber post which was part of a barn gate with a .22 long rifle. distance around 15yds so i thought it would not ricochet but it did and hit me square in my right shoulder ! was lucky it was not my eye.


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## Berkshire bred

harson said:


> Dude, that's ... not really embarrassing, more... hardcore!
> What do you mean "half dead"?
> And p.s. that post, with your signature tag... classic


Well there was a big arrow sticking out his head ,more blood than i have ever seen and a week in hospital,its ok we are still friends ,sh!t happens !,oh yeh and he shot me a few years later with an air rifle .
[/quote]

well that sounds just about fair


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## tradspirit

Haven't told many but here goes...to be safe, many years ao, I was shooting my longbow bow from my driveway into my garage at a McKenzie deer target set up at the back end of the garage in front of another garage door that I had installed to allow easy access of vehicles into the back yard. One of my arrows glanced off of the back of the Mckenzie, went through the small pane window in the back garage door and disappeared. It actually punctured the glass like a bb and did not shatter the pane. Unfortunately we are on a hill that puts my back yard over my rear neighbor's property by about 40 feet in elevation. I say unfortunately because my neighbor had his 32 foot cabin cruiser in his driveway on blocks during the winter. As we had a wall of pretty thick trees and brush about 50 feet from the back of the garage on the hill overlooking the boat, I was certain that we'd find the arrow stuck in the thick brances and brush...no luck! I then had a mild coronary thinking that the arrow had bounced off the deer, gone through the window and tree line and was stuck in the side of this guy's money pit parked in his driveway. My son and I got our binoculars and low crawled to the edge of the woods and scanned every inch of the boat and could not spot any sign of my flourescent yellow fletching. At that point we went back and searched the intervening wood line again and found nothing... so my son took a walk down the street and later found my arrow about 200 yds from our house stuck in another person's front lawn. I could not believe that the arrow made it so far down the hill after all of the deflections and things in its path. Needless to say I no longer shoot without a proper backstop and in fact now shoot with my McKenzie against the back of my house so that the only damage that can be caused by an erratic shot is a hole in my shingled wall. This may be a funny story but in retrospect, I was real lucky that no one was injured and that no property damage resulted from the ricochet. Moral: Aim small and miss small, but always have a proper backstop and know that there is nothing on the other side of your target that can be unintentionally hit. I have since become an instructor for our state's archery safety program and emphasize these facts to my students.


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## Semper Rogue

Let's see. I was 10 and my sisters were raising a bunch of baby chickens which naturally attracted every cat in the area. I was fairly vigiliant and whacked a few cats, enough for them to know that it hurt to come visit.

At any rate, there was huge tomcat that would watch the chicks from under my Dad's truck. Probably knowing that I would never shoot in that direction but it annoyed me. Especially when I caught it giving me insolent looks.

So.. with 10 year old pride at stake. I found some BB's and figured that I could make that shot and so at midday I snuck into range and said cat was busy hunched up, eyes closed and probably dreaming of baby chicks. I think I was maybe 15 feet away and let fly. I can still see the BB, sunlight glinting off of it then smack! I missed and shot too high. Cat heard the slap of my band but couldn't tell where the shot came from and before I could reload I heard a crushing ripping sound. Glass breaking!

My neighbors, had just the other night purchased a lime green Monte Carlo, brand new with then hi-tech dark tinted window. Probably an urban pimp ride but to us country folk it was quality machinery. My BB shot went high and ricocheted off the concrete driveway, straight through the dividing shrubbery and nailed the passengers side window almost perfectly centered. Great shot. The crushing sound was the safety glass slowly coming apart and grew in volume as the rest of the glass followed. Ugh.

LOL. I stayed in my shadow perched as the family came boiling out of the house. As the shrubs I shot through blocked any view of my house they focused on the sky as the source of whatever hit the window. So after maybe 30 minutes they trudged back inside and I could tell they were angered over the misfortune and I was not about to confess. Elated that I "got away" with it I celebrated with a potshot at the tomcat and scored. I should feel bad but not really, the boys in that family were bullies so I was okay with it.


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## philibone

Was firing 3/8 steel and it back fired into my chest... Everyone else found it funny.


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## NoobShooter

Great thread... Wished it were still alive with more stories in it...


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## Bob at Draco

In my continuing search for the perfect, indestructable target to hang in front of my back stop, I came uon a rubber plug that was 3" in diameter. It was very tough so I thought it would be perfect. I drilled a hole through one edge and just had it hung when a buddy stopped by. He got out his SS, I got mine and we decided to give it a test. Standing side by side at about 15 yards we shot at about the same time, both hitting it. Bpth marbles came right back at us. I ducked, turning to the right. Tom ducked, turning to the left. We hit and knocked each other down, both landing in a sitting position. We looked at each other thinking how stupid it was for two 60 year old men to be knocking each other into the dirt. The plug came down right then.


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## Charles

Since others have posted rifle ricochet stories, I will tell one. As a young boy living with my grandmother on a remote farm, there were always chores to do. Occasionally it would fall my lot to catch a chicken and slaughter it for the pot. I hated trying to run a chicken down out in the field or trying to lure the chickens into the hen house in the middle of the day so I could follow them into that manure crusted sh!t box and slip and slide in the poop trying to catch a hen. My preferred method was to use the .22 rifle and just shoot the designated victim in the head ... as long as I was buying my own ammo, my grandmother allowed me this indulgence. The only trouble was that after I dispatched a few that way, the rest of the flock got pretty wary of me whenever I was carrying any longish, relatively straight item that vaguely resembled a rifle.

One day Granny pointed to an old hen and told me to kill it for the pot. I headed out to the fence line where the hens were wreaking havoc on the local insect population. Of course they saw me coming and tried to squeeze up into the bush that grew along the fence. I finally got a good bead on the head of dinner-to-be and let fly. Down she went, with the customary flapping about. But just as I shot, a hen standing off to the side gave a lurch and a loud cackle. I picked up the appropriate hen and delivered her back to the kitchen and my waiting grandmother. But I could still hear that other hen out there cackling away. I went out and found her sort of hopping around with one leg flapping weirdly. Yep, after doing the job on the head of one hen, that .22 slug had ricocheted off the trunk of a stout bush and hit the poor old girl squarely in the leg, breaking the bone cleanly. Well, there was nothing for it but to take the victim to Granny and confess. There was no remedy, really, so the second hen was dispatched by wringing its neck, and both birds went into the pot.

After that incident, Granny would never again trust me to shoot a hen, and I was reduced to pursuing them on foot and wringing their necks when the need arose.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## lightgeoduck

HA, I can:t believe I missed this... ABG I never knew a ricochet could mess up someones hair 

LGD


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## Tentacle Toast

You sir, are more fun than a barrel of monkeys....I've GOT to read the thread if you've had anything to do with it...LoL that pic is priceless The worst ricochet I've ever experienced came about when I was about 12ish, & contractors working at the house wnt on break leaving their nailgun out in plain view. I shot at several things, including the cement wall less than 6' away...came back & "nailed" me an inch below my left eye.


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## FWV2

Hey ABG!

I just had two while learning to shoot my PFS! first one took out the lens cover on the turn signal on my harley! 44.00 to replace! second shot was a RTS. to the chest!! still have a nice bruise from the 36cal lead ball!! hahaha!!

Fwv2


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## zip

I spent all of last year practicing 'down the throat' shots at tin cans, at different distances, using a Dankung with 1842 tubes, and rocks in the 1/4 and 3/8 inch size. A rock down the throat of a tin can just makes the can jump around with no richochet's.

Today, I took the Dankung and a half dozen rocks with me on a late afternoon walk. About 50 feet from my house was a purple, plastic, water pitcher that the local dogs had found somewhere and had spent a few minutes chewing on. At about 30 feet from the pitcher I loaded up a rock, pulled back, aimed at the side, and wham...the plastic pitcher jumped back about a foot. On my walk I only made one other shot at a plastic water bottle. Nearing my home I saw the purple pitcher again and decided to make a down the throat shot at about 30 feet. I turned the pitcher the correct direction, walked to my selected spot, loaded up a rock, pulled the pouch, and wham...dead center...only the pitcher didn't jump back, but the rock did...it came straight back at my head and passed over by about 6 inches. This was a near miss and I won't be shooting down the throat at that pitcher again.

Also, shooting rocks into trees at squirrels can be hazardous to your health. I've had a number of near miss richchet's come back out of the tree branches.


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## halbart

Had a marble returning to sender enthusiastically from a concrete post about 15 yards away. I turned away and took the shot on a really 'dense' part of my anatomy - my head! Lol


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