Ever see the bullet fired from your rifle?

[Michigan Joe]

When I was in basic training, rifle practice was a half day event. Because we did not have enough guys to fill up both morning and afternoon sessions, if you wanted to, you could shoot both sessions. As I could not tolerate the coal stoves in the warm up tent, (I was in basic in the winter, Fort Leonard Wood), I shot two complete sessions each day of training.

After a while, there were times I could see the 7.62 NATO round (reloads), travel down range to the targets that were far out. We used to shoot a lot of rounds. I recall several times where we had to get rid of the ammo , so I shot one clip after the other (with my three clips taped together), until the barrel turn red. 

So, is it fairly common to see the bullets going down range like that? 

By the way, I did not use ear plugs back in the army, and now constantly hear what sounds like the sounds of a summer night in the woods, crickets and such. Wear your ear protection!

[imschur]

whats the deal with the stoves, smokey?

[Michigan Joe]

It was bitter cold at times, so they had canvas tents with Franklin aka potbelly stoves that they fed with coal. The tents were hot inside and had a really bad smell. A lot of smoke inside tent. The guys probably kept throwing in too much coal.  So, I just stayed outside and shot and shot and shot. 

[bdavison]

Its fairly common at long ranges. Back when i was shooting a lot of long range stuff at targets 600+ yards, mostly what i would see is the round cutting through the mirage. Id see this swirl as the round passed through, looking something like those bullet trails from the movie "matrix". It usually only happened on really hot days, or when there was a lot of moisture in the air. You usually dont see the round itself unless you are shooting something big like .338 at over 800 yds.

[asmurff]

I assume my Nerf rifle doesn't count  :grin:

[lmao_37]

All i ever see when i fire my mosin is a huge dust cloud where they have hit but this is a close range.

[Microgunner]

I've seen other peoples rounds go down range many times depending on temperature and humidity but seeing my own rounds is difficult due to recoil.

[asmurff]

I've seen M2 .50s in the air while watching for a side postion.