[Jeff Higgins]

As a very active match shooter, I have had literally tens of thousands of rifle rounds fly over my head over the years. For those of you who don't shoot rifle matches, let me briefly explain. There is a crew manning the targets down range. We are just out of sight below the targets, behind a berm and a concrete wall. The targets are raised up to shoot at and lowered to score them, sliding on vertical rails. The bull is about three to four feet over your head when you are in the "pits". A low miss will clear your head by less than a foot at times. I've heard just about every caliber commonly used in match shooting; mainly .223, .308, .45-70, and .50 BMG. I would defy anyone to tell which is which by the disturbance they make as they pass. At ranges such that they are still flying at supersonic velocities, they all make a rather sharp crack as they fly by. It's darn near as loud as the report from the muzzle as a matter of fact. None will hurt you in any way unless they actually hit you. These are just myths when some one says a round is so powerful that a close miss will hurt you. Hell, I've missed prarie dogs by less that the hair on their chinny-chin-chins, and they stand there unharmed. This is with the .223, .220 Swift, 7mm Remington Mag, .30-06, and the mighty .50 BMG. The next one usually does more harm...