OT-Bullets bouncing off animal's head

[getitdone1]

It seems nearly impossible that a bullet from a high-powered rifle would bounce off of the head of an animal. The only way I can explain it is the angle of contact must have been much like that when a bullet bounces off of water. Too, it's been found that even the big, heavy bullets do poorly shooting through brush and here we see deflection of bullet by twigs offering less resistance than, for instance, a bear's skull.

After doing a more thorough job of reading about bear hunter judge Folta I found that he had a bullet bounce off of the head of a bear. He thought the bear was dead from a brain shot but when he came back the bear was gone. The bear had been knocked unconscioius. I think he was using a Garand 30-06 at this time but not sure.

I've mentioned bullets bouncing off of an animals head before. The other instance was when a guy shooting a 375 H&H had his bullet bounce off the head of a bear-- Grizzly or brown, and the bear turned and left the scene.

Wonder if some of you have experienced this?

Now.....when you go bear hunting, a bear charges but the angle of it's head is not quite right--do go ahead and take the shot.

270

[Washita]

Not me personally, but a friend had a .270 bullet do that back in about 1960. I saw the hide, and it was by far the biggest black bear rug I've ever seen. He was hunting muleys in some heavy fallen timber in Utah when the bear rose up directly in front of him, possibly having been woken from early hibernation. He shot the bear in the forehead at point blank range, the bullet glanced off exactly as you described, and the bear just shook his head from side to side. For the next shot, he placed the muzzle directly against the temple & the bullet went thru-and-thru, dropping the animal on the spot.

Sadly, that shot broke up the skull too badly to get an accurate measurement. The taxidermist said it was so big it could've well been a new Boone & Crockett record. Until then, my friend had never heard of B&C so he hadn't taken any precautions to avoid damaging the skull while dragging the carcass out to the road. He told me they tried to weigh the bear when they got to town, but the scale pegged out at over 650 lbs. Having seen the rug, I sure wouldn't dispute it. The thing was as big as a grizzly.

[wecsoger]

I imagine theoretically possible but for the occupant of said skull, it can't be a good time.

In another life when I wore the funny hat, they taught us that if we had to shoot at anyone through a car windshield to aim lower because the bullet will deflect up.

Now in a related topic, while I'm not inclined to shoot her, I think my daughter's head must be as tough as some of the animals cited. (grin)

[Ironwood]

I had a similar thing happen on a doe Axis deer. I hit her pretty much square on. Knocked most of the right side of her skull out but didn't penetrate the brain. She went right down and was dead by the time we walked up to her. I was shooting a model 77 Ruger in 7MM Remington magnum with a hand loaded 160 grain bullet! The distance was only about 30 yards. I'm not a head shooter. I only did that at my brothers insistence. It was his Axis deer so I did as he asked.

[Canuck Bob]

Wow, a 22 short will pierce a big steers head just fine. Of course under ideal position and range conditions.

I've heard of it but never met anyone who had the experience until now. It makes sense that some critters can have an unusually thick skull and the angle of impact create a skidding action. Hope nobody tries the theory on my skull!!

A bear skull front on is a small target, could some reports be actual glancing touch shots that were really misses anyway? I've always thought any centerfire up close is going through the skull. Its the desperation shot if your undergunned in griz country for me.

[gcs]

While this isn't about glancing bullets off a noggin, I do know of several instances of 38 special wadcutters unable to penetrate a coons skull at live trap range.

One died from the concussion, and one woke up in a little while...upset.

Sometimes weird stuff happens.

[Ben_Rumson]

A friend got hit from straight ahead in the upper arm with 30-06 ball out of a Garand from about eight feet away in an accidental discharge incident in a guard station... The bullet after hitting and shattering the bone turned almost 90 degrees, exited and made a shallow wound across his chest and nicked his other arm and was never recovered...He lost the arm.

[pokey]

Now in a related topic, while I'm not inclined to shoot her, I think my daughter's head must be as tough as some of the animals cited. (grin)

that's funny right there.

and sadly, i know what you mean[17 y/o son].

[cas]

I tried to give a buck the coup de grâce with 3-4 rounds of .38 S&W from one of my Webley's. Fired from ranges of a few feet to a few inches behind the head, none of them got inside the skull.

(after seeing that wasn't working the rest went lower into the spine.)

[86er]

I've seen a 25 ACP bounce off a humans forehead and I've seen a 357 Mag handgun being used to finish a mortally wounded deer with a head shot that entered the head and came back out to hit the shooter.

[kimwcook]

Bullets can do some weird things whether it be a 22 LR or a 460 Weatherby.

[madman4570]

Now.....when you go bear hunting, a bear charges but the angle of it's head is not quite right--do go ahead and take the shot.

270

Never had something like that happen.
If a bear charges(not a bluff) at a distance i consider beyond no point of return, I will absolutely take whatever shot i can with whatever gun I have and shoot as many rds as possible until its not a threat. So,yes I would take the shot.

what I will say happened to my friend while bear hunting 6 years ago was he shot a medium sized black bear in Canada at 30yds with a .44Mag S&W 6" 629
He was using 180gr SPs and 1st shot hit just right behind front leg where he thought the heart to be.The bear immediately attacked the tree in which his stand was and flew up it as he emptied his remaining 5 shots at the bear.he actually had marks on his right shin where the bear clawed him.
He said he was positive at least the bear was hit 3 times?
He never found the bear and was so upset with that gun (he sold it to me )
I said if he was using some 300 grainers probably things would have been different.

[kimwcook]

Never had something like that happen.
If a bear charges(not a bluff) at a distance i consider beyond no point of return, I will absolutely take whatever shot i can with whatever gun I have and shoot as many rds as possible until its not a threat. So,yes I would take the shot.

Same here and when I ran out of bullets I'd be pulling my big knife off my belt. I don't trapse around the woods with just a small blade. I always have at least a 7" blade on me too. Sometimes bigger.

[Old Ironsights]

Now.....when you go bear hunting, a bear charges but the angle of it's head is not quite right--do go ahead and take the shot.

270

Never had something like that happen.
If a bear charges(not a bluff) at a distance i consider beyond no point of return, I will absolutely take whatever shot i can with whatever gun I have and shoot as many rds as possible until its not a threat. So,yes I would take the shot.

what I will say happened to my friend while bear hunting 6 years ago was he shot a medium sized black bear in Canada at 30yds with a .44Mag S&W 6" 629
He was using 180gr SPs and 1st shot hit just right behind front leg where he thought the heart to be.The bear immediately attacked the tree in which his stand was and flew up it as he emptied his remaining 5 shots at the bear.he actually had marks on his right shin where the bear clawed him.
He said he was positive at least the bear was hit 3 times?
He never found the bear and was so upset with that gun (he sold it to me )
I said if he was using some 300 grainers probably things would have been different.

My experience in AK and the advice I got there was... don't try to kill a charging bear. Try to break its collar bone. It's a much bigger target and much more fragile than its skull.

Break the collar bone and it face-plants, UNABLE to stand on its front legs. After than a coup de grâce is easy...