SpudFiles

well this is something i just had to tell about..

i was going to fire my hybrid today and loaded it with the 170g steel dart and sighted at a 1" steel plate - point blank.
loaded with a really thick disk and fired.

BOOM, and then i heared a CRACK and a whisteling noise from the dart flying up into the air and smack - hit the roof.

nothing much more to say other than that i am not shooting more darts at this shooting range.

whatcha think?

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Thats some nasty damage to the shed roof you've got there

the damage is to the wall, it was thrown in the air after hitting the wall and then landing on the roof. i am going to look if i can find the dart again when i am alone.

pretty nerve wrecking to discover a huge crack in the house when it was on the same wall as the people was inside of.. (i am so glad that they listened to music)

I think too many people don't use traps to catch ricochets.

I've had plastic, steel and lead bounce off targets that were too hard for penetration. I fire at point blank targets through a "tunnel" of fibre matting covered with brick that will guarantee to kill off the energy of anything that bounces back.

As long as it doesn't fly back at 180* of course but that's a slim enough chance to not worry about.

I started doing that after a lead slug weighing about 20g took off into the air and buried itself in the grass a second or so later. Not too far from me.

I wouldn't have expected it to richochet from a normal impact, are you sure that your sabot supported the dart well enough for it to leave the barrel flying straight?

well the case of this gun, it blast away about 4" of the ground on firing.. would have to be one heluva trap.
i did fire one shot that i filmed without a barrel (forgot to put it on) and it made a huge hole infront of the muzzle and the dart was blown through the barrel when it was not even close to the muzzle of the "union"

Edit:
@ jack: it was really tight wad of cloth around it and it was really hard to push in the breech with my fingers, so i think it hit straight...

i think it hit and bend itself against the house and then the rest followed..

i have two freeze frames with the dart in flight against the house

JSR- That's what I'm thinking. I think that something (maybe the target) wasn't level or maybe slightly tilted, so it just bounced off, as apposed to penetrating.....

What were you using as a sabot though?

the gun is in a upp hill and the target was in a straight position. should have got up instead of to the side

look at my edit jack. (the replies is pouring in )

I don't think cloth would be up to it and I'm pretty sure that the dart left the barrel at an angle, which is what caused it to ricochet.

If I may make a suggestion, try making a dart with wide fins like this (though all metal is best in your case ) to stabilise it in the barrel, either that or fit a set of narrow fits towards the middle of the dart as well.

Just a guess here, but judging from the impact area, I think your dart just bent on impact.

Needs to be HARD.

my fins did just barely fit the barrel, i could not have any wadding on the fins since there where no space for it.

but i am not firing on steel in a while as you may unerstand

i will use my darts to shoot on wood with a metal plate in the middle so there is no way it can ricochet

Nice damage Anyway, I cant wait until I get my next rifle ready

this should not be inspiration, rather the opposite