I saw a 22 bullet in flight

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Joined
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missouri
We were shooting today and one of the butts ended up being in just the right place. Tom was shooting my new 4" 22/45 and I saw a silver trace about 1/2 way to the target. Then it happened again and again. We swapped places and he got to see the same trace as I did. The observer had to be right behind the shooter's left shoulder but the bullet was visible 3 of 5 shots.
This is the first time I've seen this in the half century I've been shooting. I've seen the contrail of high velocity bullets and the shot cluster from a shotgun but this is the first 22 lr trace.
We tried other ammo but only the uncoated lead was visible.
 

tinman

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It is all about being positioned correctly with the proper lighting........its really cool when all the stars align. 8)
 

Rick Courtright

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Mobuck said:
We tried other ammo but only the uncoated lead was visible.

Hi,

Pretty cool, huh?

Only time I've seen that was right out of high school, closing in on 50 yrs ago, when a buddy had just bought a new Marlin 39A. We took it and my Nylon 66 up to a high desert spot we'd shot a few times before. It was late summer and late afternoon; we were shooting just about due east in a bit of a hilly area which produced lots of shadows in the background. But we were on a high spot still in the sun and for about 15 minutes all the universe lined up just right and we were able to watch the bullets. Some of them looked like they were almost in slow motion. I remember only that they were plated, probably Remingtons, cuz we shot a lot of them back then and they looked yellow/gold in the sunlight. Then as suddenly as we'd noticed them, we lost 'em again.

I've watched tons of shot charges over the years, but have never seen .22s like that since...

Rick C
 

wwb

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Big and slow makes 'em easy to see - Ranier Ballistics 230 grain plated bullets out of a .45 auto are almost always visible with the sun at your back. A moderately loaded .357 is a once-in-a-while deal, but I've never seen a .22 in flight.
 

Coogs

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Use to have an M1 Thompson. When the conditions were right you could see 5 or more in flight at the same time. Coogs.
 

timnc

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tinman said:
It is all about being positioned correctly with the proper lighting........its really cool when all the stars align. 8)

So true. Used to happen fairly often at our Hunter Pistol Silhouette matches under the right conditions.
 

OldRugerMan

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I used to like to watch the long range black powder sillouette shoots at the range east of Denver when the sun was at my back. They were shooting large bore paper patched bullets and you could see the rainbow trajectories and the bullet hit the ram. :shock:
 

Al James

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Back around 2003-2005 Remington marketed some ammo called Remclean IIRC. If the sun was at your back they were tracer bright during the day. Not quite sure what it was about them but it was cool. We shot quite a few 1000 of that round for that reason. My PC9 was a lot of fun with that load. Pretty fun to see 9mm trajectory out to 3 or 400 yards.
 
Joined
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Delaware
We used to see .45acp all the time when stationed at the range in Coast Guard bootcamp. Pistol bullets are easy, once you've seen em and you know what you're looking for. Rifle rounds are another story.
 
Joined
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I used to have a Webley Mk VI .455 made in 1918 for WWI. You could see those bullets EVERY time you fired it!

If you want to see .22 RF, try Rem "Quiet Green" non-lead ammo. I think it is a non-lead CB cap, more or less.
 

hpman66

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I haven't ever seen any 22LRs in flight. A friend of mine saw some 45acp rounds that I was shooting but I couldn't see them when he shot. About the only time that I have seen some rounds in flight(9mm,40 S&W and 45acp) is when I watch Hickok45 videos and he is shooting at the 80yd. gong target.
 

flash.1

Bearcat
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Nov 1, 2015
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Mobuck said:
We were shooting today and one of the butts ended up being in just the right place. Tom was shooting my new 4" 22/45 and I saw a silver trace about 1/2 way to the target. Then it happened again and again. We swapped places and he got to see the same trace as I did. The observer had to be right behind the shooter's left shoulder but the bullet was visible 3 of 5 shots.
This is the first time I've seen this in the half century I've been shooting. I've seen the contrail of high velocity bullets and the shot cluster from a shotgun but this is the first 22 lr trace.
We tried other ammo but only the uncoated lead was visible.
I shoot a 22 match which goes from 50 meters out to 200 meters with both HV and subsonic ammo. I'm using a Leupold VXIII 8.5x25 scope and I see every shot all the way to the target. It's wild at 200 because the drop is about 4 ft. I shoot Federal 510 @ 100,150, and 200. Federal 711B at 50 and 75. My zero is 100 meters with a Ruger 77/22 Varmint. Had to shim the scope .015" to get out to 200 but can probably reach 300 now.
 

cleardatum

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when i was a kid in the marshland of north san francisco bay, my buddy and i had a spot that was just right for "bullet watching". we could see a long rifle skip off the water every time. iirc, it was a spot in hudeman slough, where the water was very dark, with a backdrop shaded by trees. it was like shooting into a black hole, even with the sun shining straight down on it.
 

Snake45

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I've seen it with .45ACP. When things are just right, they look almost like tracers.
 

trjggerjerk

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Nov 24, 2015
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Big rifle, long range, you should see it thru scope if rifle recoil not too strong (heavy rifle like varminter or other) and you follow through.

I don't usually see the trace at 50 w/.22, but I pretty much see it every time at 100.

Know guys who can tell where they are on target by the height over the target frame at 600+.Trace is very useful to your spotter....

Yeah, it is a really cool phenomenon! Most importantly, seeing it means your follow through is good and you are paying attention....

Enjoy it and use it where you can!
 

tinman

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At 10:45 you will see the 38 caliber projectile got to the right of the black barrel.
Sub sonic ammo, black background and good lighting.......

https://youtu.be/YXc0rm6dzVs
 

5of7

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When I shot hi-power I could always see a .308 Win. bullet on it's way to the target at 600 yds. when I was spotting for the shooter. It is so plain that I could tell the shooter where it hit the target before the target came back up with the spotter disc in it.

What I saw was more of a disturbance in the air rather than the actual bullet.

As to 22s, shooting with a 10 power scope at 100 yds. will show the shooter the bullet every time. 8)
 

Major T

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We used to "coach" the 50 yard shooters by standing behind the shooter with a 7X binocular. Ammo was .38 mid range wad cutters. The spotter did not have to look for holes in the target. He saw every bullet in flight and all the way to the target, and was able to instantly give feedback to the shooter.
Jack
 

5Wire

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I've seen vapor trails on sunny, humid days with the sun at about 9 O'clock to the 12 O'clock downrange direction. Very clear trail.
 
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