shooting accidents

[deejay]

Talking about accidents and stupidity; it isn’t always that way.

Only last week we were shooting at the club and the club Sec had a bullet rebound back from the butts. No-way should this happen due to the steel backing plate being at 45°. It came back and hit him on the arm with considerable force and when the backing plate was checked we found a build-up of lead just being the target. All the targets were starting to get this build-up and it was decided to have a day removing it.

As for stupidity; a few years ago, when I shot for the City of Birmingham, we had a team member not turn up to shoot his cards. One of the ladies offered to shoot it for him (as she wasn’t shooting in that competition) and went down to shoot. Just as she was about to get the first shot off, the lad opened the door and walked in, so she was told to leave it. She had already chambered the round and therefore opened the bolt to eject it……..but it didn’t.

 

She went back to the club house with the live round still in the chamber and made a cup of tea before putting the gun away. As with all the many other times she had done this, she took the rifle, placed the muzzle on her foot, closed the bolt……………and pulled the trigger.

The result was absolutely horrendous and it was months before she was able to get back to normal.

We also found ourselves under close scrutiny from the police about range safety and had to really tighten up on things. The lady in question also had to undergo a safety course (someone made up a routine for her to go through when she had finished shooting) before she could shoot on the range again.

The thing was, she could just as easily killed someone in the club.

G.M.

Thats scary ,ok so i have made mistakes non as bad as that though,i can never check a gun enough,once when not in use for while ,before it goes in case ,and before it goes in cabinet,and also when i take it out of cabinet .

Edited August 16, 2008 by mtbarrel

[Mungler]

Butt on ground, barrels pointing at sky propped against quad bike, gun loaded (ready in hide to go, gun put down whilst adjustments made to face veil) and then picked up by the barrels - dried rape "brushed" trigger, gun goes bang.

 

Big scratch on gun and person I was with left with ringing ears for the next day or and brown trousers.

 

I watched it all happen in slow motion.

 

Big scracth on friends gun so he won't forget next time.

[chrispti]

Some years ago I managed to fire a muzzle loading punt gun in my living room. The bang was very loud and the burning wadding set fire to the curtains. The charge of shot ruined the carpet before punching a hole through the skirting board and the wall behind it.

 

The recoil sent the gun back about ten feet and smashed through the closed french windows. By the grace of god, no one was injured.

 

I pulled off a cap on a muzzle loader that I`d have sworn was empty. Evidently it was`nt. The bloke I was showing it to was impressed by its penetrative qualities and bought it there and then. When he had stopped shaking. Still makes my blood run cold when I think about what might have happened.

 

Nick.

I read something about this in a shooting magazine a few (quite a few) years ago.

Wasn’t you was it?

G.M.

 

I think the magazine article is framed and hanging on his dining room wall (or was )

[mudpatten]

Graham,

 

Guilty as charged. Chrispti was actually upstairs in bed and managed to sleep right through it. Mind you, he was only eight at the time.

 

Nick.

[bjlfishing]

ive seen a couple a bloke in our local vermin club took hi semi auto out of his slip in a pub car park where we were meeting put the gun over his shoulder and it fired into mid air his fault for leaving gun loaded . A family friend shot himself by accident in the head at very close range with a ounce and a half off aaa he shot his first barrel at a fox in the midlle of a wood hitting the fox but not killing it it ran over the brow of a hill the bloke set off to run after it and got his shoe caught in the briars and fell as he fell his gun somehow managed to fire the second barrel blowing of the left side of his face he managed to crawl half a mile back to the nearest road where the farmer found him he lived but went facial reconstructive surgey for 2 years after wards and still has pellets in his brain and his head is no where near what he used to look like but he still goes shooting . another bloke i know shot off his toes with his gun stood talking resting his gun on his boot and pulled the trigger pretty stupid hes till shoots aswell

[Zapp]

When my Dad was in the RAF (1950s), there was a Sergeant who used to shoot pigeons and rabbits on his station. One day dad went into the guardroom to find this guys shotgun on the counter.

 

Dad decided to pick the gun up and have a look at it. As he did this the sergeant came in and said "Watch out, thats loaded".

 

In what can only be described as "one of those moments", Dad said "Dont talk b ollox", rather than opening it and having a look, he pointed it at the ground and blew a sizeable hole in the floorboards. Luckily for him, the sergeant realised he would be in as much brown stuff as my Dad for leaving the loaded gun lying around, so hastily arranged for the counter to be moved forward by a foot to cover the hole. As far as Dad knows the hole was still there when the station was closed down!

 

ZB

[mr smith]

Talking about accidents and stupidity; it isn’t always that way.

Only last week we were shooting at the club and the club Sec had a bullet rebound back from the butts. No-way should this happen due to the steel backing plate being at 45°. It came back and hit him on the arm with considerable force and when the backing plate was checked we found a build-up of lead just being the target. All the targets were starting to get this build-up and it was decided to have a day removing it.

 

G.M.

 

 

There's a small gunshop/range i visit when over in orlando,they have a similar backstop design.I usually have a blast with the pistols when i go,first time i went a couple of years ago i could feel very small fragments coming back from the backstop and hitting my legs(wearing shorts) but no higher.Well this year back to pop away again this time they were giving out jacketed ammo as well as the usual lead bulleted ammo,anyway spent a nice hour banging away again noticed the bits still coming back from the backstop,never spotted til i got back to my hotel a small cut on my lower shin with a line of dried blood down to my trainer,must have been enjoying myself to much.

[ferretman]

i have neva had a problem toutch wood

[deejay]

i have neva had a problem toutch wood

lucky man ferretman

[Dunkield]

I know I have linked this article before, but it still takes some beating

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article231608.ece

[Evilv]

The thing I'm taking away from all these horror stories is that the man who mocks all these people as fools and thinks himself 'safe', is lining himself up to be the next person to do something unthinkably stupid.

 

There is not a man among us who could not, given the right distraction, or 'off day' hangover, make the possibly fatal error of momentarily forgetting safety routines.

 

Somebody a long way back went into a diatribe about how stupid and irresponsible 'these people' are who made mistakes. I'm not as cocky as him. I know I could make a mistake, and that is why I check, and check, and re-check, all the time thinking that a fatal mistake is just one inattentive step away.

Edited August 18, 2008 by Evilv

[Graham M]

The thing I'm taking away from all these horror stories is that the man who mocks all these people as fools and thinks himself 'safe', is lining himself up to be the next person to do something unthinkably stupid.

 

There is not a man among us who could not, given the right distraction, or 'off day' hangover, make the possibly fatal error of momentarily forgetting safety routines.

 

Somebody a long way back went into a diatribe about how stupid and irresponsible 'these people' are who made mistakes. I'm not as cocky as him. I know I could make a mistake, and that is why I check, and check, and re-check, all the time thinking that a fatal mistake is just one inattentive step away.

Anyone who never made a mistake never made anything

 

 

 

 

Or tells lies.

G.M.

[1fishbomb]

once helping beat on a friends rough shoot everyone knew each other and the usual drill, i was ahead of the guns behind holy bushes and over grown corner of the field tapping the fence in the hope to keep the birds on our permission, same place where every body stands when its their turn to do the job, but this time their was a guest who was purposely put out on the far edge of the walking guns so everyone could keep an eye on him, well their were plenty of shots ringing out but i could not see the guns for the bushes, when i heard another shot but this one sounded different to the rest?? so for some reason i ducked,

thank ****, leaves fell around me the silly **** shot sraight through the bushes, well a couple of the lads saw what happened and their had to be a bit of a re think on new guns even when given all the relevent safety procedures!!

[deejay]

The thing I'm taking away from all these horror stories is that the man who mocks all these people as fools and thinks himself 'safe', is lining himself up to be the next person to do something unthinkably stupid.

 

There is not a man among us who could not, given the right distraction, or 'off day' hangover, make the possibly fatal error of momentarily forgetting safety routines.

 

Somebody a long way back went into a diatribe about how stupid and irresponsible 'these people' are who made mistakes. I'm not as cocky as him. I know I could make a mistake, and that is why I check, and check, and re-check, all the time thinking that a fatal mistake is just one inattentive step away.

 

 

The thing I'm taking away from all these horror stories is that the man who mocks all these people as fools and thinks himself 'safe', is lining himself up to be the next person to do something unthinkably stupid.

 

There is not a man among us who could not, given the right distraction, or 'off day' hangover, make the possibly fatal error of momentarily forgetting safety routines.

 

Somebody a long way back went into a diatribe about how stupid and irresponsible 'these people' are who made mistakes. I'm not as cocky as him. I know I could make a mistake, and that is why I check, and check, and re-check, all the time thinking that a fatal mistake is just one inattentive step away.

Anyone who never made a mistake never made anything

 

 

 

 

Or tells lies.

G.M.

[Imperfection]

I think the only hiccup i've had was when i was a teenager and decided to (stupidly) shoot at a vinyl Marley floor tile in my parents garden from an obscene 10ft away.It ricochet'd and hit me just under my right eye with such force i had a black lump for couple weeks,but made me realise how close i came to loosing an eye.

 

A bloke i used to work with years ago told me about when he did national service and was on guard duty at an army camp somewhere after WW2.In the dead of night,he could make out several silhouttes comming towards him so he shouted "stop-who goes there?".He repeated this twice more,cocked his Stengun and fired into the air above their heads,but it jammed.He threw it down onto ground so he could reach for his service revolver,but it unjammed with the force and emptied its entire magazine into a nissan hut.When i looked on the net with how the Sten was constructed-his story does seem credible! The people walking towards him by the way were *issed up soldiers who could barely walk let alone string a sentence.

 

I've just read through this entire thread though and it is good to highlight others mistakes if it can help.

 

ps.The punt gun and getting plinked on the todger were the best!

[Wildshot]

My mate is in a police Armed response unit up in the smoke. They had been out doing "something" with guns nad were back in the office being lectured by the armourer about using their handguns when the armourer managed to fire his pistol through his hand and into a desk. Don't know how they wrote that one up.

Also when doing a display to dignitaries about entering a building while descending from ropes, things went wrong. First man was supposed to rappel down and shoot out the window but he dropped the cartridges. Second man didn't realise and rapeled down throwing thunder flashes into the room........but as the window was still there they bounced back. They exploded in front of the dignitaries leaving them deafened and shocked.

 

Really gives you faith in the competence of the Law.

[benbaikal]

my shooting partner was out doing a bit of rabbiting with is four ten when walking back to the farm he stumbled dropped the gun went to catch it by the top of the barrel he is one finger less on one hand and lost the tops of two others plus some tips.when iasked him about the bolt and safety he said it was all on. i have been lucky. my father in law as been shooting forty years and teached me safety issues with guns ie missfires/jammed autos etc.ps i was not there when the accident happened or i might not be writing this .

[Macnab]

The thing I'm taking away from all these horror stories is that the man who mocks all these people as fools and thinks himself 'safe', is lining himself up to be the next person to do something unthinkably stupid.

 

There is not a man among us who could not, given the right distraction, or 'off day' hangover, make the possibly fatal error of momentarily forgetting safety routines.

 

Somebody a long way back went into a diatribe about how stupid and irresponsible 'these people' are who made mistakes. I'm not as cocky as him. I know I could make a mistake, and that is why I check, and check, and re-check, all the time thinking that a fatal mistake is just one inattentive step away.

 

Extremely wise words. So check, check and check again, never take anything for granted and never assume. Otherwise, bit like riding a motorbike, you may end up paying the price for someone else's stupidity.

 

And without opening another can of worms, make sure you are properly insured!

 

M

[wannabefisher]

3 spring to mind for me - noen of which happened in this country

 

in order of increasing stupidity,

 

1) At my sisters house in the US, was shooting her .38 Special revolver. She was sitting on the porch having breakfast. I shot at a piece of wood on the ground, pointing about 45 degrees away from the house. A split second later there was a *ting* sound from the porch. A few seconds more "Why is there a bullt next to my foot" she asks? Turns out the bullet had hit the floor, bounced almost back the way it came from, hit a wooden upright on the porch (leaving a dent) and then hit a metal bin. the line between the wooden post and the bin had my sisters head in the way, so it must have been very close... From the mark on the wood I don't think the bulet was going very fast so probably wouldn't have done too much damage. Still glad I didn't find out though

 

2) Also at my sisters house. Had just been given my first air rifle - a $10 mega mega cheapo. Was wandering around shooting things. Decided it would be amusing to shoot a tractor tyre. Luckily I had shot from the hip at the pellet came straight back and hit me in the trigger finger. Ouch! Pretty stupid

 

3) In South Africa - this was and incredibly mind-blowingly stupid thing to have done, so don't scold me, I appreciate it. It also involves a 38 Special revolver. I had been playing with the (unloaded) gun, finding out at what point the hammer fell as you pulled the trigger back. Some time later that day I loaded the gun (can't remember the exact reason, this was quite a few years back). I was then waiting for a friend to arrive, and totally absent mindedly I started to do what I had been doing earlier - i.e. testing the trigger release point. My mind was somewhere else completely as the hammer went up and up and up. I can't really describe the sound of a 38 going off a foot from your ears when you totally aren't expecting it, apart from the fact it was LOUD LOUD LOUD, my ears didn't stop ringing for 20 minutes at least, as I ran around in a panic trying to see if I had shot anyone or anything - which I hadn't. What an idiot.

[Sundodger]

Some years ago I managed to fire a muzzle loading punt gun in my living room. The bang was very loud and the burning wadding set fire to the curtains. The charge of shot ruined the carpet before punching a hole through the skirting board and the wall behind it.

 

The recoil sent the gun back about ten feet and smashed through the closed french windows. By the grace of god, no one was injured.

 

I pulled off a cap on a muzzle loader that I`d have sworn was empty. Evidently it was`nt. The bloke I was showing it to was impressed by its penetrative qualities and bought it there and then. When he had stopped shaking. Still makes my blood run cold when I think about what might have happened.

 

Nick.

 

I was in fits of laughter reading this one.

 

Sundodger

[blacta]

The "airgun" soldiers thing, my aunts husband did....but with bow and arrows, luckily no one ever got hit and i saw his old bow recently and its strong to say the least!!!!!!

 

The only accident i have had was at my grans, she has a really old and cheap 410 with which i often shoot a good few bunnies with when i go down. There is no safety once you have pulled a hammer back but not like the old ones, anyway i walked through the wood with the gun uncocked, and rabbit bolted so i cocked and mounted the gun but it went behind a hedge, i knew it was cocked so i was especially careful, saw another rabbit bolt and a i lifted the gun the thing went off 2 yards in front of me, my finger was nowhere near the trigger but it had obviously snagged on my favorite tatty barbour.

 

i was very stunned and the rabbit got away with its life!!!!!!

[Lloyd90]

Its good for a newbie to shooting to read these, learn some good lessons. I ALWAYS heck my shotty as I take it out the cabinet, before I put it back and before I do anything with it really

[mrthumb]

i have just read all these storys, very interesting, some very careless and stupid things there. which could happen to anyone on a off day.

Edited October 7, 2008 by mrthumb

[jake202]

ok i have a small one, dad got given a ratcatcher we went out with it for a laugh came home and i said to him is it loaded? he said no i dont think so...stood in his room,so he pointed it at the laundry basket and pulled the trigger... bang shot through about 4 t-shirts 2 pairs of knickers and his boxers, the mrs. was not impressed.

 

jake

[farmboy]

I'm lucky enough to have never had anything particularly scary like some of the accidents in this thread happen to me.

 

I did have a nasty fall whilst out shooting about 5 years back though. I was on the boundary of our land stalking some magpies with my (then) new RWS. Since this particular boundary is a pretty steeply banked brook I had lots of cover. I left the gun down at the bottom and climbed up to have a quick look. It was wet and as I turned around I slipped and fell/slid about 8-10 feet. I landed on my left foot in about an inch of water and then went over on in to deeper water and on to my phone which of course didn't work after the soaking. It also gave me a really nasty bruise where the antennae dug in to my gut. My knee, which wasn't in great shape at the time (still ain't now for that matter) really didn't like it and it was a good few minutes before I could put any weight on it. Since the phone was busted, I ended up walking the mile or so home which took me a good two hours. After that it must have took a good month to recover. Not a good thing to go doing in December.

The moral of the story is to let someone know where you are off to, even if you do have a mobile handy.

 

I was very pleased that I left the air rife down by the bank as I'd only had it for just over a month when that happened. It probably wouldn't have been very nice to land on either.

 

gareth