bullet deflection

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  • 6.5 mm Shoot
    Bloodstained
    • Apr 2016
    • 40

    bullet deflection

    I was shooting the other day to see how my reloads were dong. I was having to shoot over a burn pile. It is a tree that the last storm took half the tree down and hasn't dried enough to burn yet. Because of all the rain I am wondering if it ever will dry out.

    My point is there was some small sticks sticking up. I didn't give them any thought. After shooting two strings I went to check targets because I wasn't seeing where the bullets were hitting. I didn't set up the spotting scope. On one side of the target I had a nice group of about .75". Not great but still not bad. Then on the other side of the target I must of had a 12", I don't know what to call it. It wasn't a group or string. They were just all over the place.

    On the way back up to the bench I was wondering what had happened when I started looking at the burn pile wondering when I would be able to burn it. I noticed some branches that had been sticking up were now laying over. I had hit the little stick up branches( maybe the largest was 3/8"round at most) and they deflected the bullets.

    I have fired a 358 Winchester through a bush to kill a deer and it hit the spot I was aiming at. There was no deflection on that shot. Then that was a 358 200 gr bullet and not a 6.5 123 gr one.

    I am glad it happened when I was just shooting at targets. I was not aware that it would deflect on such small twigs. I will have to keep that in my thoughts when hunting.

    Have any of you had a bullet deflect like that?
    May each day bring you at least one pleasure.
  • kmon
    Chieftain
    • Feb 2015
    • 2095

    #2
    Bigger bullets will deflect usually not as much but will deflect from hitting brush.

    Comment

    • customcutter
      Warrior
      • Dec 2014
      • 452

      #3
      Yep, really no such thing as a "brush buster".

      Comment

      • JASmith
        Chieftain
        • Sep 2014
        • 1620

        #4
        Originally posted by customcutter View Post
        Yep, really no such thing as a "brush buster".
        All too true.

        Hitting even a piece of paper will deform the largest of softnose bullets. Hitting even a small branch will seriously start the bellet's expansion. A grazing impact not only can change the trajectory but can also cause the bullet to tumble.

        While size does matter to some extent, shooting through brush, leaves, or grass is not advised.
        shootersnotes.com

        "To those who have fought and almost died for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know."
        -- Author Unknown

        "If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished!" -- Milton Berle

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        • Drillboss
          Warrior
          • Jan 2015
          • 894

          #5
          Here's a "scientific" analysis of the subject that was posted a few months backs.

          Many of us are hunters and some are combatants. We all know that if a bullet hits a hard object, it can be deflected in a completely different path than the one it was traveling before the hit. A question we want to test today is this: Are some bullets more resistant to being deflected than...


          Lighter bullets seem to have more deflection.

          Comment

          • Vasux86
            Warrior
            • Apr 2015
            • 108

            #6
            Very interesting. I would also surprised by how much the bullet deflected.

            Comment

            • 6.5 mm Shoot
              Bloodstained
              • Apr 2016
              • 40

              #7
              On my range event I was shooting over a brush pile at around 60 yards maybe 55 yards. The target I was shooting at was at 100 yards. The deflection of one shot was high by 4" and to one side by 9" off the bull. Then the other shot was 5" to the other side of the bull and down 3". The other shot was close to the ground off the target and in line with the bull.

              As for when I shot the deer through the bush. The deer was on the other side of the bush from me and the head was just outside of the bush. We will say the bush was a yard thick. So when the bullet hit a branch of the bush it only had to go 2 yards at the most to hit the deer. So the deflection wasn't much. The deer dropped in its tracks. I picked it up from behind the bush. Hunting on my land a lot of shots could be hampered by a branch or leaf.

              What surprised me was how small the branches were that deflected the 123gr 6.5 bullet. The good thing about it is that I know now that I have to have a clean shot on game with the Grendel. No shots through brush or anything for that matter.
              May each day bring you at least one pleasure.

              Comment

              • Drillboss
                Warrior
                • Jan 2015
                • 894

                #8
                It's all a question of the distance of the branch to the target. If we're only talking 2 yards, the .223 rounds in the Box O' Truth test would have still been in the kill zone. At 40 to 45 yards, all of the tested rounds would have had several inches of deflection. In the situation you described, a Grendel round would have probably been just as effective as your .358 round.

                Don't make me actually do the math!!!

                Comment

                • stanc
                  Banned
                  • Apr 2011
                  • 3430

                  #9
                  Originally posted by 6.5 mm Shoot View Post
                  Have any of you had a bullet deflect like that?
                  Yup. Years ago I shot 5.56mm, 7.62mm, 9mm, and .45 ACP FMJ at hardwood dowels. 5/8" diameter, IIRC.

                  All of the bullets deflected, and the fatter the bullet, the greater the deflection (just the opposite of conventional wisdom).

                  Comment

                  • Macht
                    Bloodstained
                    • Mar 2013
                    • 33

                    #10
                    I've even had it happen with tall grass. I was prone, shooting at prairie dogs and couldn't figure out why I was missing. I then realized that my scope cleared the grass but my barrel didn't. I was using 95 gr V-MAXs.

                    Comment

                    • Singleshotsam
                      Bloodstained
                      • Jan 2016
                      • 38

                      #11
                      I missed one of the biggest bucks I have ever got a shot at because I failed to see a wire fence in my scope, the shot was about a hunderd yards, what I was sighted in at, the fence was about 60 yards from me I was useing a 35 rem. , I cut a stay wire in the fence and didn*t touch a hair on the deer. I saw what had happened when I climbed back over the fence.

                      Comment

                      • PredatorDown
                        Warrior
                        • Jun 2014
                        • 239

                        #12
                        I did that once when shooting through my old RCBS chrono for load development. I had a 4'x4' piece of ply with targets stapled to it set out at 100 yards. I worked through all of my loads across the top row of targets without a hitch. But when I moved to the next row down, I suddenly couldn't see where I was impacting. I walked down to the target, and couldn't tell with all the bullet holes from previous range sessions in the ply (I was completely missing the paper target). I started to get frustrated because I didn't want to waste the rounds I had for development, so I decided I was going to pack up and load some other plinking rounds to re-zero my scope since I was sure something had shifted. When I went to load up my chrono, I noticed some tiny little 1/4 circles in the plastic sky screens. Apparently I was shooting a little lower than I had realized

                        Comment

                        • Double Naught Spy
                          Chieftain
                          • Sep 2013
                          • 2560

                          #13
                          Keep in mind, during hunting, that the bullet may well deflect AFTER going through your target as well...

                          Go to about 3:40 to start watching in this video...


                          Here is a similar Grendel result...
                          Kill a hog. Save the planet.
                          My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange

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