Managing Ricochet Risk (defensive shooting)

[atlctyslkr]

There have been alot of senarios on here lately about parking lots and other sorts of things. I haven't seen too many responses that take into account a miss. What if you don't hit your target? You are susceptible to the law of unintended consequences. In a close quarters situation (say parking garage made of concrete walls and colums) this is a real world possiblity. In a situation where a ricochet is probable in the event of a miss I would definitely choose my cover wisely before firing.

(I apologize this isn't in as nice a format as our usual senario we consider on here).

[mete]

If you miss a lot the BG will probably kill you so you won't have to worry about 'unintended consequences' !! Training and lots of practice !!

[Dwight55]

Ahhhhh, . . . yessssss, . . . just sauntered back into the old concrete pillared parking garage, . . . been shopping at the mall, . . . one arm full of stuff, . . . on my way to the Buick.

Two bg's approach, . . . one with a knife, . . . aluminum ball bat accompanies the little one, . . . time to act.

Now we don't want to offend anyone by a ricochet hitting them or their motor vehicle (you know, . . . being responsible for "unintended consequences"), . . so let's figure this out.

Place non shooting hand's forefinger to the temple area of your head, . . . look up toward the ceiling with a dumb look on your face, . . . and duhhhhhh, . . . do I hide behind the blue Rodeo that offers wonderful fields of fire but has a high probability of ricochet if I miss, . . . or the yellow Hummer with only limited fields of fire, . . . but no opportunity for ricochet (all misses would land in the four tiered geranium flower bed conveniently planted by the local junior NRA group to absorb ricochets).

Decisions, . . . decisions, . . . what a quandary, . . . how to decide

And then, . . . like a "Ford Better Idea" the light bulb comes on: Just stand your ground and shoot the low life turkeys, . . . ricochets be, . . . well, . . . whatever.

May God bless,
Dwight

[atlctyslkr]

Where's Doug when you need him! (probably at the range)

[Double Naught Spy]

There have been alot of senarios on here lately about parking lots and other sorts of things. I haven't seen too many responses that take into account a miss. What if you don't hit your target? You are susceptible to the law of unintended consequences. In a close quarters situation (say parking garage made of concrete walls and colums) this is a real world possiblity. In a situation where a ricochet is probable in the event of a miss I would definitely choose my cover wisely before firing.

Try searching again. There are many threads that discuss missed shots and the potential to
Generally speaking ricochets from misses are not all that likely to do any real harm to to the shooter. On hitting something hard like concrete, your slugs should be shattering/splatting unless you have some freak show that is able to capture the slug, while turning it around to return in the direction of the shooter, such as ringing the interior of a barrel.

For shots hitting a hard object straight on, very little of the slug may be returned to the shooter, but not much. Most of the splatter will be to the sides, top, and bottom and will be small.

Seeking cover is a fine idea, but keep in mind that the one thing returned splatter can damage seriously will be your eyes and your eyes aren't going to be protected by the cover as they will have to be outside the cover to see where you are shooting, to aim. Of course, good glasses could mitigate this risk.

If you miss a lot the BG will probably kill you so you won't have to worry about 'unintended consequences' !! Training and lots of practice !!

No, probably not. A determined bad guy might use the moment to attempt to cause harm, but if he doesn't have a gun himself, he isn't very likely to charge the shooter who had already demonstrated a willingness to shoot.

[Para Bellum]

..so, there always is a risk that the force you use in a justified case is being diverted to an innocent target. There's only two things you can do:

1. train well and shoot well. Take your time for aiming. Placement is what saves you.
2. use ammo with a low ricochet and overpenetration potential such as EFMJ, EMB or hollowpoints.

[Anthony2]

I see where he's coming from...a friend of the family was a cop and as fate would have it was involved in a shoot-out with some thugs...In line with department policy, he had to accurately account for the couple of shots that didn't find there intended targets......talk about correct shot placement pressure! sheesh.......