How far

[blankfirer]

A couple of weeeks ago was up in scotch dropped a nice roe were it ran into a little copse .i was doing the gralloch literally about 10 mins after the shot in the small wood when a lady walked literally straight through the field were the deer was stood and shot .my question his how far would the bullet travel after exiting the animal 

[HW95J]

Backstop? 

[haynes]

What kind of bullet? What did it hit on the way through? What caliber? And what about the backstop?

[walshie]

The bullet would only go as far as the safely pre-considered backstop. 

[Old farrier]

To be honest you should have asked this question 

before you took the shot 

sorry if I seem critical 

of 

[Walker570]

More of the above....  you should not need to ask that question, you should KNOW where your bullet would likely go.

[blankfirer]

Its just a question everytime i ask myself everytime i pull the trigger was a safe backstop. But what if .thats the question

[Walker570]

Pretty simple answer really...you let it walk and don't shoot, period.

[wymberley]

There used to be, might still be, a piece in an RAF magazine that encouraged aircrew to write about their mistakes without getting it in the neck so that others might not make the same ones. Not a bad idea.

Fair question, but there's no definitive answer as there's too many variables. All you can do is as you say (albeit a tad belatedly) have your backstop in place to offset any potential problem.

[Stonepark]

A bullet exiting a carcase will be tumbling and subsonic, so probably 200 to 300 yards potentially (musket range) at 1000fps but more likely 50 to 100 yards (large ball bearing shot from catapult velocities of 300fps)

[old'un]

Have never done any stalking for deer with high powered rifles only fox and rabbits with a .22lr, so this is more a question for those who do use this type of rifle.

Is it not possible for the bullet to go off in all sorts of directions on exit?

No matter how good your back stop is, the bullet could be deflected on exit and run uphill of your back stop?

[blankfirer]

Exactly old un 

9 hours ago, old'un said:

Have never done any stalking for deer with high powered rifles only fox and rabbits with a .22lr, so this is more a question for those who do use this type of rifle.

Is it not possible for the bullet to go off in all sorts of directions on exit?

No matter how good your back stop is, the bullet could be deflected on exit and run uphill of your back stop?

Exactly old un thats why i ask not that has ever happened to me but i have heard of bullets acting like a pinball machine and coming out at weird angle just wantt every base covered as they say

 

[JDog]

Not quite as important as having a backstop, but did you ask the Lady what she was doing there? Presumably she was not on a footpath?

[blankfirer]

I thought you had right to roam up there

[tomquin]

11 hours ago, blankfirer said:

I thought you had right to roam up there

A lot of people think they have the right to roam. What they actually have is the right to responsible access. There is a big difference. 

[silver pigeon69]

1 hour ago, tomquin said:

A lot of people think they have the right to roam. What they actually have is the right to responsible access. There is a big difference. 

Hi Tomquin, what are the rules and what is the difference between the two pls? Are these different in Scotland to England?

Thanks

 

[tomquin]

1 hour ago, silver pigeon69 said:

Hi Tomquin, what are the rules and what is the difference between the two pls? Are these different in Scotland to England?

Thanks

 

Google the outdoor access code. It's very informative.

I am a member of a shooting syndicate on a local estate that is well used by walkers mountain bikers horse riders bird watchers. This is not a problem usually. On shoot days we put signs up explaining to people what is going on and the dangers involved. Most people choose to ignore these signs because they think they have the right to roam but they don't when we are on a shoot day which we pay a lot of money to the estate to lease the land. The responsible thing to do would be oh look there is shooting going on here today we will go somewhere else.  We have had cyclists and dog walkers come through drives totally oblivious of what is going on and believing that they are in the right. 

[JDog]

At the risk of being shot down in flames I would venture to suggest that Blankfirer should have done more homework before his trip to 'Scotch' regarding public access.

[old'un]

13 minutes ago, JDog said:

At the risk of being shot down in flames I would venture to suggest that Blankfirer should have done more homework before his trip to 'Scotch' regarding public access.

And what good would that do when you have idiots walking wherever they like?

[barbel]

before I pull that trigger, back stop,back stop, back stop, not interested in shooting anything until I have a backstop, don't care what it is, I want too sleep at night, not worth the risk.

[Fisheruk]

You might have a perfect backstop make sure there are no walkers, mountain bikers etc in view,  take the shot and someone appear 10 Minutes later. What’s the problem? It is not uncommon for someone to appear on private land, you just have to assume that they will.

[oowee]

The back stop is not the carcass and a bit of space after. You must assume you can miss. I look for both a safe back stop and good back drop. I would not take a shot towards a house even if the back stop was good. 

Here we had anti's hiding out behind walls close to sets and jumping up when they heard a shot. 

[Jonno243]

On 15 December 2018 at 10:48, old'un said:

Have never done any stalking for deer with high powered rifles only fox and rabbits with a .22lr, so this is more a question for those who do use this type of rifle.

Is it not possible for the bullet to go off in all sorts of directions on exit?

No matter how good your back stop is, the bullet could be deflected on exit and run uphill of your back stop?

A very valid question / point, and one that I hazard is often overlooked. I have always preferred to think in terms of "bullet stop" (safe area in all directions) rather than "back stop" (safe area behind). More often than not the bullet will pass straight through but there is one particular instance that sticks in my mind from 2016.

More by luck than design I chanced on two red stags slap bang on the edge of the most evil clearfell / restocking on one of my permissions. Both were of a size that made me think "If that gets in there, then I'm not getting it back out again!" (as it happens he was 19st 2lbs empty, head off and knuckled) and I therefore elected to anchor with a scapula shot. With rising ground behind him, and just the very slightest hint of him quartering toward me, I lined up on the front edge of his left shoulder and let loose from maybe 60yds. Down he went (luckily his mate disappeared at a rate of knots without presenting a shot!) and over I wandered to do the necessary. No sign of an exit wound on the right side but not really unexpected given his size and my choice of shot placement, however when I opened him up his diaphragm was in tatters and he was swimming in green. I completed the gralloch to discover that the bullet had turned through the shoulder and minced his lungs, travelled the length of him (mincing everything else) and exited through his right haunch just to the right of his rectum...

The permission in question extended to nearly 24,000 acres of nothingness so there was no danger, and I certainly couldn't see the bullet having much energy left when it did exit, but it did serve to highlight to me that one should always be aware of ALL surroundings and where ANY deflected bullet might stop, whether behind or to the side.

[old'un]

32 minutes ago, Jonno243 said:

A very valid question / point, and one that I hazard is often overlooked. I have always preferred to think in terms of "bullet stop" (safe area in all directions) rather than "back stop" (safe area behind). More often than not the bullet will pass straight through but there is one particular instance that sticks in my mind from 2016.

More by luck than design I chanced on two red stags slap bang on the edge of the most evil clearfell / restocking on one of my permissions. Both were of a size that made me think "If that gets in there, then I'm not getting it back out again!" (as it happens he was 19st 2lbs empty, head off and knuckled) and I therefore elected to anchor with a scapula shot. With rising ground behind him, and just the very slightest hint of him quartering toward me, I lined up on the front edge of his left shoulder and let loose from maybe 60yds. Down he went (luckily his mate disappeared at a rate of knots without presenting a shot!) and over I wandered to do the necessary. No sign of an exit wound on the right side but not really unexpected given his size and my choice of shot placement, however when I opened him up his diaphragm was in tatters and he was swimming in green. I completed the gralloch to discover that the bullet had turned through the shoulder and minced his lungs, travelled the length of him (mincing everything else) and exited through his right haunch just to the right of his rectum...

The permission in question extended to nearly 24,000 acres of nothingness so there was no danger, and I certainly couldn't see the bullet having much energy left when it did exit, but it did serve to highlight to me that one should always be aware of ALL surroundings and where ANY deflected bullet might stop, whether behind or to the side.

Thank you for a very explanatory answer, its as I thought and one of the reasons for asking was, I had a .22lr HV bullet exit a fox at around 50 yards and almost do a right angle to the line of fire.