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Full Day Out With The Rifles


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There was just something I wanted to add. I know Elliot is safety conscious and not everyone might agree with me on this, but there are a couple of things in the video which I felt could be improved as "minor safety observations".

 

Firstly to be very positive, Elliot shoots on a farm with a lot of land which makes it infinitely safer and I know he's one of the most safety conscious people I know . However, a couple of suggested "bewares":

 

1. Shooting at targets against walls and metal frames poses the risk of ricochet. Although the distance to public land may be sufficient, the cattle are potentially at risk. Generally, it's safer to use a soft background and refrain from shooting where there's a risk from a wall or steel frame. To put some perspective on this, I was once on a Pheasant shoot where the guy next to me got a pellet lodged in his upper lip after the pellet ricocheted off a wall some 40 yards away from him and probably another 40 yards away from the gun. The angle between the two was probably 45 degrees so he was well out of the line of fire and the shooter was standing directly to his left some 40 or so yards away. Just goes to show the danger. With a bullet, it could have been fatal. I also nearly got shot by a ricochet from a .22LR myself - someone who shouldn't have been shooting in my direction even though I was well out of the line of fire combined with a ricochet off a stone in a path. Never under estimate the risk of ricochet!

 

2. Similar point, in the 1st video there's a point where Elliot is encouraged by his companion to take a shot at a pigeon with a cow just to the left by a few feet (he didn't take it). Personally, I view the encouragement to take this shot as an unnecessary risk. One unexpected gust of wing between the shooter and target and the bullet could easily be blown off target. There's a possibility the cow was upwind, but it's worth mentioning that ground features can cause wind to swirl so you can't necessarily assume any deviation will be down wind.

 

3. They were shooting over the top of cows in the field. This to me poses another small risk,eg what if the round doesn't perform properly ie it's been underfilled in the factory or some of the powders got damp? In that case the bullet may be a flyer and drop more rapidly than expected. With potential animals (or worse but not in this case, people) in the line of fire, that could result in something getting injured or property getting damaged. It's dangerous to just make the assumption the bullet will perform as expected (look at HMR!). To my mind there should be nothing in the line of fire when taking a shot.

 

Like I say, this isn't a go at Elliot. Just some observations from some who's safety concious.

 

Great days shooting otherwise and a great video. Keep posting!

Edited by Alsone
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Thanks chaps, it was a great day out. Cheers for the comments Alsone, I know they were made with the best of intentions.

 

The V-Max bullets that I shooting in the centrefire clip are incredibly frangible, in fact I've yet to hear or see one richochet in hundreds of rounds. That being said, caution should always be taken and ensuring suitable backstops is of course paramount. Rest assured, all risks were considered and mitigated by the shooter and at no point were any people, or livestock, in any danger.

 

In terms of wind drift, this is miminal with a 223 and 243 and it would have to be a ruddy hurricane for it to come anywhere close to the livestock. It's a different beast altogether than the rimfire rounds. That being said, you'll also note the precise adjustments being made to the scope turrets so that wind was taken into consideration. This was absolutely necessary to dial into those small targets at long range :)

Edited by Elliott
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