A man attending a machine gun shoot at the Southington Offroad Park (SOR) in Garrettsville, Ohio was hit by one of the largest ricochets imaginable. The event featured almost every firearm under the sun including semi-auto, full-auto, and anti-vehicle weapons.
Kevin Smith (no, not the director) stood 200-300 yards away from the targets when he felt a sudden and excruciating pain in his ankle. A .950 JDJ ricochet had torn through his boot and shattered his ankle bone.
For those who don’t know, the .950 JDJ is one of the largest rifle cartridges sold in America. The 24.1 mm diameter bullet weighs a staggaring 3,600 grains, that’s over half a pound.
The round had ricocheted off the concave rock wall used as a backstop. Sadly, he was not allowed to keep the bullet. His friends described what happened next in a post on Kevin’s recovery/support fundraiser,
While standing there in pain, trying to figure out what was going on, a member of the event staff came over, took the projectile and told Kevin he was not allowed to have it. Kevin was in too much pain to argue with or chase after the person and was at that point, focused on getting to the hospital for medical treatment.
Take a look at the offending ricochet and along with the fall out in the gallery below.
The swelling and bruising look pretty nasty, but all things considered he’s lucky the ricochet struck an extremity. He’ll require crutches and possibly a cast for the next few weeks, which will leave this self-employed painter out of work. As the new owner of a small business, Kevin is in between insurance providers and asking for help. So far $237 of the requested $5,000 has been raised in the 3 days since his injury.
There was no video footage of Kevin’s injury, but we can show you what a .950 looks like in action.