Ricochet
A bullet deflecting off a hard or angled surface and continuing on an unpredictable path, a serious range-safety concern.
A ricochet occurs when a bullet strikes a hard or shallow-angled surface and, instead of stopping, glances off and continues traveling along a new and often unpredictable line. Water, rock, frozen ground, and improperly faced steel targets are common culprits, and a deflected bullet can retain dangerous energy well past the point of impact. Because the redirected path is hard to predict, ricochets are a genuine safety problem that good range design works hard to eliminate.
Shooting steel mitigates the risk by hanging plates that angle slightly downward so fragments and spatter are driven into the ground rather than back toward the firing line. Frangible projectiles that break apart on impact further reduce the chance of a coherent bullet bouncing away. Understanding the terminal ballistics of how a bullet behaves when penetration does not occur is central to setting up a safe range.