>>28421941
As long as you don't set up anything that CAN make a bullet ricochet back at you, it won't.
But there are many stories of it happening.

>>28421941

extremely unlikely to occur, more often than not bullets will penetrate or simply smash into metal objects

As long as you're standing a safe distance away from where you're shooting and not putting the wrong rounds into too hard of steel, you'll be fine. Steel targets are rated out for caliber sizes typically.

If firing into a berm or backstop of earth, make sure to remove any rocks or hard debris. Any outdoor range will already have done this

It can happen.

Don't shoot at rocks.
Don't shoot at things super close to you.
Wear safety glasses
Don't be an idiot.

>>28421953

I intend to use it for self defense, so its not like it will be my choice.

>>28421971

So say if im like 5 feet away from a padlock and I shoot at it, it could most likely ricochet back and hit me right? So movies are bullshit.

OP, in order for the whole bullet to "bounce" and come back in your direction, it would have to be an elaborate setup of a rube-goldberg device to ricochet at calculated angles and a series of tubes like the old west shooting galleries had.

Now, for a portion of the bullet to come back in your direction is another matter. you would have to shoot in an enclosed space, very close to a hard target "such as hard steel" with hard targets providing the possibility of shrapnel to come in your general direction.

think of it like a water gun; if you were standing in a field shooting at nothing, the water isn't likely to bounce off the rock 20 feet away. But if you're standing in your closet with your super-soaker, you might get some splashes back on yourself. Why you're in a closet with a super soaker is beyond me but whatever gets you hard.

>>28421988
>So say if im like 5 feet away from a padlock and I shoot at it, it could most likely ricochet back and hit me right? So movies are bullshit.
No. Ricochets are not incredibly common, especially not ricochets that come back at you. Most bullets are designed to pancake or fragment upon impact anyways.
But if you think it's not a good idea to shoot a padlock at 5 feet, don't shoot a fucking padlock at 5 feet (which you shouldn't do anyways Jamal, it won't open it). Don't look for retarded things to do as a way of justifying your unease.

>>28421988
You might get hit with some bits of bullet yeah.

But it's going to impart a vast majority of its energy into the lock and splattering the bullet everywhere. The pieces that ricochet back are going to be going significantly slower than out of a barrel.

But yeah, don't shoot padlocks. Shooting one won't open it most of the time anyway just fuck it up. You want a lock off? Bolt cutters.

>>28422013
>it would have to be an elaborate setup of a rube-goldberg device to ricochet at calculated angles and a series of tubes like the old west shooting galleries had.

That or a very high-power round striking hard steel at an oblique angle; there's a well known video of a .50BMG round bouncing at a range and coming right back to the benched shooter.

If you obey the rule of "know what is in front of and behind your target" you'll be fine, I doubt OP is shooting .50 or anything that huge anyways

I've been shooting all sorts of guns at all sorts of shit for all sorts of years. The only time I was hit with a ricochet was shooting a tailgate with super light bird shot from 20 feet. This was after shooting the tailgate from 10 feet, which penetrated at that range. One little baby nick on my arm about the seriousness of a cat scratch without the risk of fever.

>>28422044
>>28422044
The one where it knocks his earpro off?

Yeah, he prob wouldn't have been gibbed but it would have ruined his day.

>>28422070
>Yeah, he prob wouldn't have been gibbed but it would have ruined his day.
You could hear the whizz on the return so it was subsonic, but I do think that would have still cracked his skull. Would not have been a good day

>>28421941
>I'm traumatized

No. No you are not.

I wouldn't worry about ricochet, just see:

>>28421982

I once shot a TV at about 50 feet and it exploded sending a shard of glass that hit me right under the eye. An inch higher I'd be looking like a pirate right now. Always wear eye protection and don't shoot shit that blows up. Ricochets idk.

Was shooting at the range a couple weeks ago. Shooting the wife's snub nose 38 special. Had just the copper jacket come back and hit me in the leg. So yea it happens. But not very often

Almost never, The bullet will have deformed and lost a lot of its volocity after hitting something. That being said you should still not shoot anything that a bullet could ricochet off of, and be sure of what lies beyond you target.