Anybody ever shoot themself ?

[rich v]

So how about it come on and fess up... anyone ever shoot themself with a milsurp [what was it ] because of ignorance of the function of the weapon or otherwise?...just a flesh wound no big deal eh!

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[limpetmine]

Nope. Haven't shot anyone else, either!
Sounds like you might have a story for us!

[jmoore]

Not me, but an innocent bystander caught a piece of bullet jacket whilst I was attempting to clear a Frommer stop. (Barely broke the skin.) Bullet went straight down and disintigrated on the concrete floor about 2-3" from my feet. "New" weapon. Major errors on my part?- Did not remove the magazine, but merely looked inside the ejection port and didn't see anything- not even the mag, which I thought was in my pocket. (Small grip, so hand covered the bottom.) Let the slide go, but felt no tactile sign of a round loading. But rather than handing it off to the next fellow, who would have checked it again, I attempted to ease the hammer down by holding onto it whilst pulling the trigger. Nope! Hammer wouldn't go. Mystified, I tried it several more times, Holding the hammer back whilst pulling the trigger to the rear. Finally, frustrated that it wouldn't lower slowly, i just pulled the trigger whilst pointing it in a reasonably safe direction. (It was an uncontrolled area, and people were milling about- most with guns.)

Don't rememeber the noise so much as the dark orange muzzle blast. Made folk stop! Later, one fellow shows me a scratch on his belly- didn't penetrate the skin.

Discovered later that the mag was wrong- too short by a little- being an FN mag, and wasn't the one for the pistol. Never fed reliably again! Don't know where it came from, BTW.

Also discovered that the pistol's disconnector works unlike all others of which I'm familiar. The act of pulling the trigger past a certain point, just beyond the the sear release, trips the sear and re-engages it.

SO, ALWAYS remove the mag (even if there isn't supposed to be one) FIRST, before continuing a clearance drill.

Thirty years ago or so and STILL fresh in the mind. Oddly, this was a period of 2-3 years where almost every gun guy I knew had some incident with a firearm, including an NRA instructor.

[browningautorifle]

I was hit with a ricochet on a private range, a .38 spl. Upper leg and it wasn.t bad. Best part...I was all alone and fourty miles from home. All other hits and misses were military so they don't count. I know the .38 spl wasn't a milsurp but it WAS ex police.

[jmoore]

Oh, yeah! Thanks for the remind, browningautorifle! Similar scenaio, but different (Not alone, for one). .38 Special bullet came back and hit me in the leg after bouncing off the tread of an old tire. Hurt, but no broken skin as it was cold, and the garments were thick. Apparently .38s won't shoot through steel belted tread, but will usually puncture the side wall. Also a long ago event. Plumb forget about that one.

[xa-coupe]

me three ... as a 16 year old watching my dad shoot a service match of some sort ... got to the steel plate and whack, hit hard on the shin. Blood everywhere ... well, it trickled a little ... Still got a little scar. 38Sp lead.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

My dad's old hunting buddy peppered me pretty good with bird shot when I was about 10 years old. I'd been hunting with my dad for years by that age and I was exactly where I was supposed to be behind them a bit. They flushed a covey of quail to his friend's left side and I'll never forget him swinging around in his excitement and his shotgun going off straight at me. I dove down instinctively I guess trying to duck and most of the shot that hit me was absorbed by my coat and hat but I caught a couple that broke the skin in my hand and right ear.

We were in Oklahoma and it was really cold so it didn't even hurt that much, but by the time my dad was holding his handkerchief to my ear, it caught up to me and I remember I started sobbing so bad I couldn't stop. Bad time for all. I never told my mom what happened. I think it was a given to not discuss it with her, but my dad didn't tell me not to say anything. Earl never hunted with us again.

Lets be careful out there.

(Thanks for the memories Rich!)
~ Harlan

[DaveN]

Was his buddy Dick Chenney?

[Badger]

[rich v]

Years ago i was shooting cast along with a group of guy's at our gunclub, we all shoot milsurps mainly 03A3,mausers,enfields. One fella from our circle had ALOT of surplus military powder from Israel which he was selling for $2 bucks per lb [ no loading data or nothing to compare it to as far as burning rate ] NOT FOR ME ... anyway some of these old guy's, and i'm a graybeard myself, but these fellas were pushing 80 and they were major cheap, bought up all that powder and he had 80lb of it, with the intention of working up cast bullet loads in their milsurps. Art was one of those fellas and would c clamp a lee reloading press and have his outer stuff to make up loads and shoot right there at the bench; He was shooting a SMITH-CORONA 03A3 and i was two benches down from him when that rifle let go and what a horrible sight to behold, top of receiver completely blown off, stock shattered at wrist area among other destruction; his nose where it meets your face was sliced up a good inch [and he had a heck of a hoonker too ] blood everywhere,powder burns imbedded into his face and right hand. we took him to a local hospital for treatment he got stitches and cleaned up the powder burns.anyway major lesson learned CHEAP isn't the way to go when it comes to buying reloading componants that no-one knows what the stuff is. NICE SMITH-CORONA DESTROYED -do to being cheap, and believe me he and a few other guy's there are cheap but man they sure have some fine milsurps tucked away but hopefully they learned a lesson but i doub't it.