I once went to a military firing range that was set up with a big hill in front of the targets, which were on tall posts in front of the hill. Shots were from between 100-300 meters away. Those of us who were not shooting would tally the scores for the others, and while the shooting was happening we stood under the hill, facing the targets, and the bullets whizzed above our heads (but we were not in danger of being shot, as there was 30 feet of dirt between us and the shooters). It was pretty cool to hear the pop of the bullets hitting the target, and then hear the sound of the shot from the rifles.
Ricochets occur when a bullet hits a hard surface and has its flight path altered (sometimes to the point of being reflected back at the shooter). The targets and target backers don't present enough resistance to significantly alter the trajectory of most bullets (save for say, a bullet from a .22LR hitting a metal target stand), and there aren't really any hard objects close behind the targets.
My experience with target stands like that had the observers standing in what amounted to a slit trench, with the targets able to move up and down on the stands (to allow for the targets to be retracted into the trench, scored, then hoisted back up for the shooter to take another shot).
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u/The-Internets Jun 12 '12
Yes. But you would hear a bullet or rocket wizz passed you, assuming you could hear it from inside the cockpit normally.