[madison10]

There are morons shooting sniper rifles in the game area near us. Land is mostly flat, few rises here and there. Wonder how far those bullets go...

[going hot]

Depends mostly on the elevation hold and ricochet off the ground.

If shooting fairly low, the bullet ought to hit the ground closer. If it is still in flight for one second while holding higher, it may be 2500-3000 ft away when it first hits the ground.

If it then bounces off, it can travel further, repeating, until it runs out of velocity.

Obviously no backstop will work if accidental discharge at a elevated angle or simply having the sights set too high to begin with

Mostly shoot as if your Son, daughter or best friend is standing somewhere downrange, and take steps to prevent your rounds from reaching them by having adequate barriers in between.

[libstripper]

If it's a .308, you're looking at a lethal range of about 3 miles. A .308 has pretty much the same performance as a lot of rounds used in WW I. Machine gunners quickly learned they could do a lot of damage to people they couldn't even see. All they had to do was use their weapons as barrage weapons by aiming them toward enemy lines at an elevation that allowed the bullets to fly as far as possible. That way soldiers who were even a mile or two behind trench lines would get hit and often killed or injured .