Henry Rifle Forums

Yesterday was a decent day weather wise. Slightly breezy at times but had some still periods mixed in. My wife had her 452 Trainer again and I had my very accurate American 452. This rifle has a Leupold gloss finish M-8 six power that is crystal clear. The 6X Leupold's are a favorite of mine and never get sold. Hope none of them ever need to be sent back and I get stuck with a Freedom model in exchange. The KYL spinner has been idle for over a year so I loaded it in my truck to have something besides empty shot shells to shoot. My wife hates punching 22 caliber bullet holes in paper with her rifles and much prefers to shoot reaction targets. I can't blame her as the paper targets are kind of boring at times. After a few warm up rounds at shot shells we switched to the KYL spinner. I took the first spinner off that was 2" and replaced it with the 1 1/2" for the first target then went down the line to 1 1/4"--- 1"---3/4"---1/2"--- then followed with two 1/4" and the final one is now 1/8". Much more interesting now to shoot. We never thought we would have much of a chance at the 1/8" at 50 yds but it hasn't been that tough to hit the 1/8" 50% of the time and maybe more on still air days especially with the 540 Remington's with 12X scopes. We paint the spinners either white or silver to make them show up against the dirt back ground of the old coal dirt back stop. Now to the part I don't like. Members who shoot steel pay attention to this. When shooting steel(even at 50 yds) the bullet can come back to where it was fired from and it is only an instant from hitting the spinner(mostly the bigger spinners on the KYL) before it is there. Yesterday one came back and struck the 4X4 post right beside my face where I stand up to shoot from. Also later another came back when my wife shot and landed on the roof over hang right above her head and rolled off onto the ground into the grass. This is not the first time spinners have sent bullets back. Seems to happen more often with the big spinners on the KYL as they are a little harder to spin as quick as a hit on the lighter ones. Last year my friend had one come back that I had fired and hit him in the shoulder and left a very small mark through his tee shirt. He couldn't believe how fast it hit him after it hit the spinner. That was right at 55 yds. I don't want to scare any members but I don't want anyone to lose an eye. The closer you shoot spinners could possibly increase the odds of getting hit. I can't say for sure because I shoot 50+ yards at the spinners. Use caution and good shooting glasses and be safe with shooting steel. Take care. bandit1250

So glad to see you back shooting, again, and sharing it with posts. Just like old times, bandit.

Yeah, we've had discussions about ricochets with steel targets while you've been gone. It's been my experience that the steel has to be perfectly flat to reduce the odds of a ricochet. Even pits and hollows left from bullet hits are enough to cause a ricochet. I've also found that hits right on the very edge of the steel spinner, where only a portion of the bullet makes contact with the spinner can cause ricochets. For me, this has been more frequent with the small, lighter weight spinners. The heavy spinners seem to do a better job of planting bullets in the dirt.

Anyway, good to have you back. Hubby and I will be heading out soon to shoot some fine bolt guns we've picked up over the winter, namely a couple of Anschutz 22s and one Walther KKJ in 22 Hornet. Stay tuned.

Good eye protection is a must when shooting steel. Great report.

Great report Bandit and excellent reminder to all about ricochets. I hang all my steel at an angle so it deflects the bullet into the ground. Shooting 7 Targets has kits to hang there targets this way. Wearing good eye protection like Gene mentioned is also a must.