My Department stopped using the indoor range when a .357 slug came back to the firing line and hit me.wow haven't seen that from an indoor range before, usually the walls are banked to trap the bullets.
I was at a shooting range in Fort Wayne, several years ago, (no names mentioned...H&H) when a lady using the far left-hand shooting lane (there's 5 to a bay) was struck in the mouth by a ricochet'd .45 round, cutting her lip. We got everyone to shut down their shooting and looked around...come to find out, both 'outside' lanes had 45-degree angled coverings for the steel beam uprights that hold the ceiling up. The guy on the right-side outside shooting lane was the only guy there shooting a .45 at the time. The nearest we could figure was that his bullet struck the 45-degree angled part, deflecting it 90-degrees to the left, across the entire 5 lane bay, hitting the other 45-degree angled part, which caused the bullet to make another 90-degree turn, which brought it straight back to the opposite outside shooting lane, striking her in the mouth. I sounds crazy, but I was in the lane next to the lady who was struck and heard her cry out. I saw her cut lip and saw the slug myself. I don't know if she got any stitches, but it sure bled pretty good.
Since then I have refused to shoot in an outside lane at that particular indoor shooting range. I've been to several different indoor shooting ranges and I have yet to see another with the 45-degree angled portions along any sides in a shooting bay.
I would probably chalk that one up to an engineering design flaw, except that if one is hitting their target with every round, there's no way a bullet would strike either angled portion along side the bay walls and ricochet back like that.
The range wasn't in Hammond, was it?
I was there and the wall caught on fire. As much as Thomas is a great guy, I couldn't help but laugh watching him run for a fire extinguisherI was at a shooting range in Fort Wayne, several years ago, (no names mentioned...H&H) when a lady using the far left-hand shooting lane (there's 5 to a bay) was struck in the mouth by a ricochet'd .45 round, cutting her lip. We got everyone to shut down their shooting and looked around...come to find out, both 'outside' lanes had 45-degree angled coverings for the steel beam uprights that hold the ceiling up. The guy on the right-side outside shooting lane was the only guy there shooting a .45 at the time. The nearest we could figure was that his bullet struck the 45-degree angled part, deflecting it 90-degrees to the left, across the entire 5 lane bay, hitting the other 45-degree angled part, which caused the bullet to make another 90-degree turn, which brought it straight back to the opposite outside shooting lane, striking her in the mouth. I sounds crazy, but I was in the lane next to the lady who was struck and heard her cry out. I saw her cut lip and saw the slug myself. I don't know if she got any stitches, but it sure bled pretty good.
Since then I have refused to shoot in an outside lane at that particular indoor shooting range. I've been to several different indoor shooting ranges and I have yet to see another with the 45-degree angled portions along any sides in a shooting bay.
I would probably chalk that one up to an engineering design flaw, except that if one is hitting their target with every round, there's no way a bullet would strike either angled portion along side the bay walls and ricochet back like that.