# Regular shooters/military folk/hunters: ricochet sound? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830 "2018-12-09T01:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/21 "2018-12-09T22:25:10Z")
> [@BobBitchin](#): > > I’ve heard the movie type ricochet. > > It was a .22 rifle bounced off an icy lake at low angle. Me too. I was at Scout camp, and several of us who already knew how to shoot (my grandfather taught me) were passing our time trying to shoot each other’s clothespins off our targets (if you shot your clothespins off, you got ejected, so we were trying to shoot each other’s off), and I missed, hit a rock, and Bzing! Straight up movie ricochet sound. Of course, they shut down the firing line and read us the riot act immediately. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/22 "2018-12-10T00:23:48Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > It’s a sound you don’t want to hear IRL. [This guy](https://youtu.be/0ABGIJwiGBc?t=15) is very lucky to be alive. I knew exactly which video that link went to! ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/23 "2018-12-10T01:08:20Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I knew exactly which video that link went to! [This one?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/24 "2018-12-10T14:07:20Z")
Shot an air gun (BB) at a pile of rocks and got a ricochet that came back toward me, nice loud squeal with plenty of doppler effect as it came by. A hazard for my teenaged self (no eye protection), and also for domestic tranquility; I was relieved that none of the porch windows behind me got hit. ---
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/25 "2018-12-10T17:15:10Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > We shoot lots of steel at our ranges. It’s always either hanging on chains, angled in such a way as any splatter goes down into the ground, or small enough that it will be easily knocked down. > > That said, accidents still occur. I was hit in the nose by a fragment of bullet jacket that bounced back from 30 feet and made a small cut. > > No ricochet noise though. One time I was shooting some low-velocity lead at competition. A bullet from my gun hit the target, jumped almost straight backwards and struck a bystander. It left a little bruise on his skin. He picked up the squashed bullet and handed it to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/26 "2018-12-10T17:20:48Z")
I’m not really either, but I clearly remember observing someone firing an M240 for the first time and absolutely lighting up the general vicinity of a target. (As in, the target may have been hit a time or two, at a considerable expense in terms of ammunition. The term “pray and spray” doesn’t quite do justice – maybe, “I’m going to go stand way back here, far behind you” is more appropriate.) I heard that ricochet sound a few times during that particular show, and others laughed about it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/27 "2018-12-10T17:24:52Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > I’ve heard the (movie-style) ricochet sound many times, mostly shooting high-powered airguns. I heard the ricochet sound firing an airgun, and felt the pellet hit me at pretty much the same time I heard the ricochet. No injury, but scared the crap out of me. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/28 "2018-12-11T16:15:49Z")
Depends on the round and what it bounces off of. Or maybe more to where you are in relationship to the event; are you hearing the hit or the noise of the round after the hit? I have heard everything from the classic movie noise to something more closely related to the “pffft” noise Hollywood uses to denote a “silenced” round. ---
**Author:** ![Fundisi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Fundisi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fundisi)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830/29 "2018-12-12T13:50:11Z")
I’ve heard ricochets a number of times - 7.62 nato rifles mostly. The sound varies from a buzz, to a high pitched whistle/scream to the typical western loud and nasty ricochet sound. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-shooters-military-folk-hunters-ricochet-sound/825830.md?page=1)