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Unusual accident on the range

W

wilb

Full Member
Supporter
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 23, 2006
85
27
White Sulphur Springs, WV
My brother was helping a friend with his new 1911, and he had a malfunction. After explaining how to clear the round, it was ejected onto the gravel surfaced outdoor range.

The .45 ACP reload hit the ground and went off. The brass case was turned into a twisted piece of shrapnel, and lodged in the leg of my brother. It was a serious wound, lots of blood, and he pulled out the shrapnel with a Leatherman tool. An ER doc who shoots with us had a look and patched it up and thought it would need a few stitches.

There have been thousands of malfunctions cleared on that range,I 've never seen or heard of this before. Has anyone else experienced this ?

This was last week, and it has healed up well.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Last year while waiting our turn on an event at a sniper competition in Tulsa a guy got some sharpnel in his leg from the exact same thing. They were taking a shield class in the adjacent range prior to the SWAT competition and were loading up their pistol mags. One round rolled off the table and went off. It sounded like just a primer. We knew they hadn't started shooting and looked over because it happened at the tables. One guy was backing up with his hands up in a "I didn't do it" moment. He took a few stitches from what we were told and another team said they had 2 incidents like that last year at their range.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

What are the odds, it's gotta be one in a million that the primer would hit a rock just right and with just enough force. Crazy.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: High Binder</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What are the odds, it's gotta be one in a million that the primer would hit a rock just right and with just enough force. Crazy. </div></div>

Suicidal rounds looking to go primer-first and take someone with them ...

And here I thought that it was guns that were evil.
eek.gif
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Veer_G</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: High Binder</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What are the odds, it's gotta be one in a million that the primer would hit a rock just right and with just enough force. Crazy. </div></div>

Suicidal rounds looking to go primer-first and take someone with them ...

And here I thought that it was guns that were evil.
eek.gif
</div></div>

I blame the rock, I think we should ban all rocks.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: High Binder</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Veer_G</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: High Binder</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What are the odds, it's gotta be one in a million that the primer would hit a rock just right and with just enough force. Crazy. </div></div>

Suicidal rounds looking to go primer-first and take someone with them ...

And here I thought that it was guns that were evil.
eek.gif
</div></div>

I blame the rock, I think we should ban all rocks. </div></div>

The VPC expert just found you a focus group.

GtkVY.jpg


laugh.gif
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: High Binder</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Veer_G</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: High Binder</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What are the odds, it's gotta be one in a million that the primer would hit a rock just right and with just enough force. Crazy. </div></div>

Suicidal rounds looking to go primer-first and take someone with them ...

And here I thought that it was guns that were evil.
eek.gif
</div></div>

I blame the rock, I think we should ban all rocks. </div></div>

Thats like pulling the top off weeds. If you dont get to the root the problem will just resurface.

BAN PEOPLE. That would clear up 99% of the worlds problems.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

We have had that happen a handful of times out here over the years. Thankfully no one has been injured as a result.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Sort of along the same lines . . .

We were back hauling a bunch of ammo from a fire support base that was being shut down.

The cargo deck was piled with mortar rounds, M-60 belts, grenades, M-16 ammo, .50 BMG rounds, and so on.

Got back to FSB Nancy and landed at the log pad.

Some guys came up and started dumping and sling the stuff off the bird without a care in the world, I came up on the intercom and told my gunner to tell them to be careful with that stuff.

There was a huge pile of stuff on the ground and the, all of a sudden, BOOM!!! One of the .50's had been struck on the primer when they slung the belt onto the pile.

It got very, very quiet for a few seconds.

Suffice it to say that a modicum of care was given to the rest of the off loading procedure.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Lets determine if this was a ND or an AD. And then let's fight like hell about it.
crazy.gif


All kidding aside thanks to the OP for this story. I never would have thought it could happen. I'll be more careful handling my ammo from now on..
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: klf</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

All kidding aside thanks to the OP for this story. I never would have thought it could happen. I'll be more careful handling my ammo from now on.. </div></div>

X2... I always knew it could happen but have never seen or heard of anyone actually having it happen to them. It would appear to be a lot more common than previously believed.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

I once saw a shooter have a hang fire in a 6.5x55, he waited for a while then turned the rifle on it's side and opened the bolt. We saw the round about to fully eject then it went off. He was all right and no damage to the rifle. MM
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

guy i meet had a steel 7.62x39 round roll off his truck dash - into the open cigerette lighter & arc --- BAM!
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pat M</div><div class="ubbcode-body">guy i meet had a steel 7.62x39 round roll off his truck dash - into the open cigerette lighter & arc --- BAM! </div></div>

Sounds too similar to the 'Darwin award' where a guy used a .22 as a fuse and died. I think they disproved it on MythBusters.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Reminds me of taking a shotgun shell and taping a ball bearing on the primer and a streamer on the other end and then throwing it off a roof top onto a hard surface. Never tried it to see if it works. Can't remember where I read about it.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: NorthernBorn</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: klf</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

All kidding aside thanks to the OP for this story. I never would have thought it could happen. I'll be more careful handling my ammo from now on.. </div></div>

X2... I always knew it could happen but have never seen or heard of anyone actually having it happen to them. It would appear to be a lot more common than previously believed. </div></div>

Same here. Always thought about it, but will be even more cautious in the future. Good post, thanks.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

How many time have I done that with a stuck round and on gravel!

I have never seen this happen but thought it would be an equal and opposite reaction, both bullet and case flying apart since it was not chambered???
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: vwhugger</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Reminds me of taking a shotgun shell and taping a ball bearing on the primer and a streamer on the other end and then throwing it off a roof top onto a hard surface. Never tried it to see if it works. Can't remember where I read about it. </div></div>

It works. It is amazing I survived my preteen years.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Thanks guys. Now I'm gonna hit the deck every time I see someone drop a live round, lol.

..not that I see that very often.
smile.gif


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: mexican match</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I once saw a shooter have a hang fire in a 6.5x55, he waited for a while then turned the rifle on it's side and opened the bolt. We saw the round about to fully eject then it went off. He was all right and no damage to the rifle. MM </div></div>

This is why I get scared every time I have a weak primer strike. The friggin thing could go off at any time. So after I wait and eject the round, when I have to eventually pick it up and re-chamber it I'm shitting bricks the entire time its in my hands. Just had one the other day as a matter of fact. In a glock no less.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Hmmm RO'd god knows how many IPSC. IDPA and action pistol stages over the years... you guys are making me really nervous... Can
t even count the number of live rounds ejected onto the ground I've stood next to.. And I was watching the gun!!!
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

I stored a bunch of 45 ACP 230 gr ball in a plastic tub. My clumsy ass knocked that tub off the shelf. The room got very loud and smelled like burning gun powder. Brass case stuck in the ceiling right above my head. Could not have missed me by a 1/4" on the way up. I don't store loose ammo any more.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Thanks for this thread, a great safety reminder for all of us.
Hope your friend heals rapidly with no lingering effects.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

thats a freak accident. Typically the cartridge and bullet just separate outside of the barrel without much effect. I'd guess as it was a reload, there was some weakening of the cartridge allowing it to break apart like that into shrapnel
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

This happened at a requal recently...40 round hit the corner of a steel frame in the lane. Its why eye pro is so important.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Eye protection is absolutely critical, I think that is the point to be made. The fragment was no where near lethal, but it surely would have put an eye out. It penetrated about 3/4 inch into bare skin.

He has healed up fine, but it was a nasty wound. I'm going to look for that bloody fragment.

I am surprised how frequently it seems to happen. We've always preferred to let a cleared round from a malfunction hit the ground uncontrolled. Considering the possibility of a hang fire, I guess it is still the best option.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Didn't see it happen, but I know a fella near the Aucilla River, FL who was emptying the chamber on his 45 (probably 20 years ago) with a bent ejector. Aparently caught the primer on the way out & lit the round & he caught the shrapnal in the chest.
He said that he noticed a little blood on his shirt & didn't think much of it. went to change his shirt & blood squirted out.
Lucky Perry, Fl has a small hospital & his wife knows how to drive. Otherwise ol-boy would have been dead.

If that wasn't bad enough luck, a few years later he fell out of a deerstand & broke both ankles & spent the better part of a day crawling out of the north Florida scrub.
Tough SOB.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

I had this happen once at our LE firearms range. A round fell out of a shooters shirt (chest) pocket when he bent over. It landed on the rock surface of the range and discharged causing minor cuts/bleeding to his leg. I was downrange changing targets and that was a terrible sound.

I have seen thousands of rounds intentionally ejected onto the same rock surface before this incident without a problem.

My son was jumping a field fence while returning home from shooting years ago. He has a few loose factory pistol rounds in his front pants pocket and one discharged when he landed. He had a petty nasty and painful, but not serious, wound to his groin area.

They are rate but they happen!
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

One of the things my father told me when I was first learning to shoot was if you pull the trigger and the round doesn't go off, give it about five minutes. The reason for five minutes is that once he had one that didn't go off at the range, didn't cycle the rifle and instead left it on the table pointed down range. Five minutes later it went off, sent the rifle to the ground and scared the heck out of everyone in the range. I never thought it could take hang fires that long to go off.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

We sometimes shoot Steel matches with Dave Sevigny. Last time I shot with him he told us he has seen it several times over the years.
One of the times was when someone tossed a loaded round in to small bag of ammo detonating the round. I would think the chances of that happening are even slimmer than if you dropped it in the gravel.

I personally have never seen it happen and hope I never do!

Keith
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

I saw an ejector on a 1911 hit a primer and detonate the round in an open chamber. The round was a reload and apparently not sized quite correctly. The round did not fully chamber and upon immediate action, which took a little force the round came back the primer hit the ejector and boom.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Kinda off topic but when I was in the service we would be sitting around a fire and some knucklehead would flick a 5.56 round into the fire when nobody was looking. The case would fly out one way and the bullet the other. Scared the stuff out of you when it hit you but never really hurt. After a few times the threat was made that if we found who was doing it they would suffer a horrible butt-kicking which solved the problem.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pat M</div><div class="ubbcode-body">guy i meet had a steel 7.62x39 round roll off his truck dash - into the open cigerette lighter & arc --- BAM! </div></div>

Google "farraday cage".
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: shoot4fun</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I stored a bunch of 45 ACP 230 gr ball in a plastic tub. My clumsy ass knocked that tub off the shelf. The room got very loud and smelled like burning gun powder. Brass case stuck in the ceiling right above my head. Could not have missed me by a 1/4" on the way up. I don't store loose ammo any more.
</div></div>

Yikes! There's something I do that I don't think I'm going to anymore!!
eek.gif


I also know someone who dropped a .45Colt handload on the kitchen floor and it touched off - thankfully the only casualty was a patchable hole in the wall. His under-drawers were a toal loss, of course, and I don't think his wife talked to him for half a year - well, that may be a blessing, but I digress...
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Sudden Impact</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Kinda off topic but when I was in the service we would be sitting around a fire and some knucklehead would flick a 5.56 round into the fire when nobody was looking. The case would fly out one way and the bullet the other. Scared the stuff out of you when it hit you but never really hurt. After a few times the threat was made that if we found who was doing it they would suffer a horrible butt-kicking which solved the problem. </div></div>

Same scenario, but an aerosol paint can in place of a live round is fun too.
grin.gif
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Seen a guy a good few years back on the pistol range .

He had an AD with a .45 . Round hit a stone a few feet in front of Him and split it on 2 . One piece went one direction . The other piece of stome hit the poor fucker in the mouth and destroyed the entire top palate of his mouth ...

Definitely not funny but on the other side he never has to worry about biting if he ever has to give some big ugly dude head !
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Seen a guy a good few years back on the pistol range .

He had an AD with a .45 . Round hit a stone a few feet in front of Him and split it on 2 . One piece went one direction . The other piece of stome hit the poor fucker in the mouth and destroyed the entire top palate of his mouth ...

Definitely not funny but on the other side he never has to worry about biting if he ever has to give some big ugly dude head !
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: eddieo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Definitely not funny but on the other side he never has to worry about biting if he ever has to give some big ugly dude head ! </div></div>

Uh, Eddie, you do know that keeping your teeth is what keeps them from trying to turn you into a kneepad Maytag, right?
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Veer_G</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: eddieo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Definitely not funny but on the other side he never has to worry about biting if he ever has to give some big ugly dude head ! </div></div>

Uh, Eddie, you do know that keeping your teeth is what keeps them from trying to turn you into a kneepad Maytag, right? </div></div>

That is why I always leave the room when the wife starts swinging ... Would be too afraid of what else she would have in store for me of I ever really piased her off ... Lol
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

The difference between a misfire and a hang fire is time.

If a round does not go bang, the shooter should continue to point the firearm in a safe direction for 2 minutes to be completely safe but 30 seconds is normally enough.

If the round does not go bang and in the time lapse then it should be safe to eject and then it is considered a misfire.

I would think that most of the rounds that hit a rock were probably hang fires that were ejected too soon. Normally primers aren't that sensitive and they do take some force to set off.
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

Wow.. our SWAT team uses thousands of rounds a month, and there is at least 20 to 30 ejections onto our gravel range. I think I might not do that anymore....
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Decoy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The difference between a misfire and a hang fire is time.

If a round does not go bang, the shooter should continue to point the firearm in a safe direction for 2 minutes to be completely safe but 30 seconds is normally enough.

If the round does not go bang and in the time lapse then it should be safe to eject and then it is considered a misfire.

I would think that most of the rounds that hit a rock were probably hang fires that were ejected too soon. Normally primers aren't that sensitive and they do take some force to set off. </div></div>

Thanks for that very informative explanation ....

Hang fire / misfire / No idea ! Let just leave it at an accidental discharge of a pistol which resulted in him gaining a reputation as giving the best head this side of the Atlantic !
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: InsidetheStorm</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wow.. our SWAT team uses thousands of rounds a month, and there is at least 20 to 30 ejections onto our gravel range. I think I might not do that anymore.... </div></div>

Firearms: inherently dangerous

laugh.gif
 
Re: Unusual accident on the range

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Veer_G</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: InsidetheStorm</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wow.. our SWAT team uses thousands of rounds a month, and there is at least 20 to 30 ejections onto our gravel range. I think I might not do that anymore.... </div></div>

Firearms: inherently dangerous

laugh.gif
</div></div>

Not for us SH badasses!
 
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