I know I will take a beating on this for my stupidity, but I wanted to ask for feedback anyway.
Earlier this week my nephew, son and I were shooting my AR at two 8" diameter steel targets that were 3/8" thick. The targets were hanging from hooks at a distance of about 55 yards and 2 1/2' off the ground. We were shooting Remington UMC .223 55gr FMJ ammo.
During our shooting, we had something ricochet back at us and hit me in the arm after about 100 rounds. I was observing at the time and standing about 3' behind and 5' to the left of the shooter. When I was hit it felt like a small piece of metal and didn't hurt that badly since it caught me on the back of my forearm on the bone close to my elbow. Regardless, we stopped shooting and changed to paper.
I purposely bought the steel targets for handgun shooting, but we set them up to try with the AR. I thought that since they were hanging, there was no chance of a ricochet. I am wondering if the targets were either not rated for AR's or if they were too heavy to properly deflect and allow the bullet to ricochet directly down rather than "straight" back - maybe when hit at the top (?). The targets were definitely beat up badly by the AR, but I still didn't think I would have an issue.
I'm looking for any feedback other than confirming my ignorance. Thanks.