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Spindle VS. 7mm. RSAUM at 1000 yards

Caliche Pit

Silver $$ Contributor
While in the pits at Oak Ridge this past Sunday, something nearly unbelievable occurred that I am compelled to share with fellow competitive shooters. An F-Class shooter that I know very well had a spindle strike on his target, and when it happened I do remember it being unusually loud. I was at the other end, almost, of the pit with fellow sling shooters. The bullet was a 180 Berger and was found still burning hot at his feet after the impact (he immediately picked it up, ouch). No part of the spindle was to be found, but the target needed severe repair, having a vertical rip upwards from the impact to near the edge of the black, along with the splatter effect normally associated with a bullet hitting a plastic spindle. The bullet was presented to the shooter after we left the pit, with just the slightest flattening on the tip. On my end of the pit, during firing, a prone shooter who happens to be the current Wimbledon Cup Champion was also shooting an RSAUM and the impact of his shots in the berm had been a topic of our discussion as they were arriving with much authority and moving quite a bit of earth upon arrival. My query is how can a spindle stuck in cardboard stop the flying high b.c. freight train which is the RSAUM? It happened, I just can't wrap my head around how it happened.
 
He was shooting Obama's new "enemy friendly" bullets ;)

Thomas was shooting 162s in the 284 this weekend. John Chubb's 218gr 300wm rounds hit harder than any round I have ever heard. Like trashcan full of concrete falling from space.
 
I was spotting for him and what was amazing was they were his first two shots if I remember correctly. We knew immediately he hit his spotter because we heard it very loudly on the line!

Ken
 
Not that it'd make much difference, but were the spindles wood or plastic? It's been awhile since I pulled targets & spotters with the old wood spindles, but there are at least a couple of kinds of plastic ones. The plastics that are the same shape as the old wood spindles are hard & brittle, while the plastics that look sorta like some kind of sex toy are softer & not brittle at all.
 
I can not answer your question with certainty but will say that I have seen some strange things in the pits over the years. I have difficulty convincing some shooters to wear eye protection at all times in the pits and this is an excellent example of why it is important. Another thing that I have seen happen is the stops for the carriers get out of adjustment from time to time for various reasons and allow the metal portion of the carriers to get high enough for a bullet impact. An impact on the metal carrier is much more impressive than an impact on a spindle.
 
Thanks Chris, We were told Thomas had his RSAUM with him, but that doesn't mean he was shooting it, I suppose. Plastic spindle, for sure. Mine was hot glued to the disc, but can't say if the one struck was or not.
 
flatlander,

What does a sex toy look like?

donal123,

thanks for the info.
 
Reminds me of the cue ball effect. Where a squarely struck pool ball will takeoff and the cue ball stops dead. Spindle must have been hit dead center! Incredible odds.
 
Wearing glasses & a ball cap with bill don't necessarily mean you're bullet-proof - I was leaning back against the pit wall, conversing with the neighboring target puller about gunsmithing when the shooter on my point fired his 1st shot from 500yds during a leg match. The impact made a nasty splintering crack, and I got hit all over by both wood & bullet fragments. Seems my shooter had forgotten to put on his 500yd elevation dope, and must've put on way too much right wind, as his 308 bullet had just caught the lower left edge of the target frame (2x4) of the target to the right of his target. I had caught fragments & splinters in my left wrist, throat, & right eye. Spent a very uncomfortable 7hrs driving home, due to irritation in the right eye, which was still just as bad the next morning when I woke up.

Soon as the nearest eye surgeon's office opened, I called & got an emergency appointment, during which he pulled a sliver of lead out of the eye. He put it in a contact lens case & gave it to me as a souvenir. Crazy crap happens - especially during leg matches - the target frame that was hit was the hospital target. I must admit, it's been a little harder to relax in the pits since that happened about 10yrs ago.
 
... this bullet fell at the feet of the trget puller, meaning it stopped immediately? Every bullet I have seen stopping immediately or nearly so on a hard object is severely deformed. Consider the high speed videos of a bullet disentigrating into glass or steel. The Que ball effect is not possible when the ratio of speed to hardness is out of whack. Visualize bumper cars at 3 mph versus 100 mph.

The bullet hit the berm sideways from its defection and bounced back to the feet of the target puller, hot. Hitting dirt sideways won’t destroy the bullet. Hypotheses, yes. But I have been smacked in the face by just such a returning bullet, and the hypotheses is consistent with physics.

Even newspaper or phone books will do more damage to the point of the bullet than is described, above.
 
davidjoe said:
... this bullet fell at the feet of the trget puller, meaning it stopped immediately? Every bullet I have seen stopping immediately or nearly so on a hard object is severely deformed. Consider the high speed videos of a bullet disentigrating into glass or steel. The Que ball effect is not possible when the ratio of speed to hardness is out of whack. Visualize bumper cars at 3 mph versus 100 mph.

The bullet hit the berm sideways from its defection and bounced back to the feet of the target puller, hot. Hitting dirt sideways won’t destroy the bullet. Hypotheses, yes. But I have been smacked in the face by just such a returning bullet, and the hypotheses is consistent with physics.

Even newspaper or phone books will do more damage to the point of the bullet than is described, above.
Click to expand...

Almost makes a case for electronic targets.
 
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