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Hello!

I'm a newer shooter and just got my first pistol. Looking to do some outdoor shooting here soon.

I was wondering how safe it is to shoot a target that's on/in front of gravel? Anyone have experiences with ricochets when hitting gravel?

Thanks!
 
How coarse are you talking?
Some finer gravels (something akin to what is used in asphault) I've shot towards and haven't seen a problem. Loose gravel has some give to it, so ricochets are less likely
certainly a possibility though
 
Hard rocks that WON'T break/move are the problem. When gravel breaks/moves it's absorbing/dissipating that forward energy.

Edit:
I do not endorse shooting into rocks, rock piles or the like. I even have a problem shooting hanging steel plates of which I own. I am not a lawyer but I have been a safety officer in past jobs and the above is not legal or safety advice as one should always follow personal safety measures because we are number one for our own safety.
 
Last Edited:
Always wear eye protection. Always.

Also, if your concerned about ricochete, you might fire at your target into the backstop at a slight angle, rather than straight on. That's how I normally fire at plates now. Just a slight angle though. Still get splatter, but haven't been cut with a fragment in long while...hope I didn't jynx us...
 
One thing you learn when shooting with silencers is that rifle and pistol rounds ricochet off grave better than you think they would. Pop..bazing...
 
The gentleman at ARPC who used to run the Trap shooting and the Work Bond, he caught a ricochet in the knee from a resetting steel pistol target. He was retired LEO, don't know if he's still there, but he refused to shoot at those things ever after.

I've had many ricochets from gravel. And it sounds just like an old cartoon.

I guess we can call the ricochet an "occupational hazard".
 
I personally don't shoot into gravel or rocks in general. Shooting at steel plates offers enough risk from ricochet although I can't think of ever having one come back at me. I did, however, take a ricochet in the stomach from a guy shooting next to me at an indoor range with hand loaded .44 magnum rounds.
 
Thanks for all the input.

I've never been there, but want to go to the 36 pit off of 224. I heard it was lots of gravel so I didn't know. Anyone been up there?
 
Shooting into gravel .... you rolls the dice, you takes your chances. You never know if there are some larger solid pieces mixed in there. Even shooting into a dirt berm, sometimes there are large rocks in there. Guess it all comes down too you have to be careful at all times. I like Camelfilter's idea of shooting at an angle, that would probably help.
 
Not always safe for the targets. When qualifying Expert in Basic Rifle Marksmanship I (smartypants kid that I was and still am) I figured out to shoot low so as to graze the berms in front of the pop up targets and kick up some rocks that would hit the target as well as (or instead of?) the 5.56 FMJ. Out to 800 meters that green cut out bad guy went down...whether felled by lead or rocks, who can say? Got 39 out of 40 at BRM that way and highest score in both my company and the whole training battalion. Sneaky bastard. They should have made me a General...the fools! :D
 
I think the best is a soft background, seen bullets do weird stuff.
When I think of shooting at gravel, we have to think that seem ok when everything goes right.
However when things go wrong you may wished to have had a soft background.
Also the bullet may not come back in gravel, but the gravel might depending whats under it when hit.
To eliminate those variables =soft background.
 
I think you take a chance what ever you do in life. It's your job to do it safe and have the awareness to watch those around you as well.

Nothing worse than taking one because of stupid next to you. If you question it don't do it or make it safe before you do it. My job is to go home at the end of the day to take care of my family.
 
I personally don't shoot into gravel or rocks in general. Shooting at steel plates offers enough risk from ricochet although I can't think of ever having one come back at me. I did, however, take a ricochet in the stomach from a guy shooting next to me at an indoor range with hand loaded .44 magnum rounds.

I have had a chunk hit me in the leg a couple times at the indoor range. Both times if was such a light hit I did not know what it was that hit me until I looked down to see it. Both times it was part of the jacket of a bullet. Makes me sure to have my eye's covered from the time I walk in to the time I walk out though. Rock quarries would worry me but never shot at one. Do love old gravel pits like up on the big mountain. They are left from when they built the roads up there and make a great place to shoot.
 

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