Ever hurt yourself or have any close calls while shooting?

[bthomas]

I was shooting at clay pigeons siting on the ground against my backstop with a 22lr. I caught a ricochet on the top of my head at my hair line. It broke the skin and scared the **** out of me. So now I know to keep targets off the ground. I did see the rock, bout the size of a potato. It was a flat as could be level with the ground.

 

[GoNavy]

wasn't a close call but it defiantly was unsettling. at an indoor range in ohio with my brother and my wife came along. i want to state that my wife knows and follows gun safety just had a little bit of a brain fart.

she decided to wear a low cut shirt and as you probably can guess a round bounced off the wall and down her shirt. as she tried to dig it out of her bra, she turned around still holding the gun with her finger on the trigger, pointing it directly at my chest. my brother very calmly says her name and looks at the gun. when she realizes what she was doing, she turns around, puts down the gun, goes to the bathroom, and throws up.

she didnt touch a gun for 6 months after that.

 

[Small's]

I had a 380 that was passed down from my grandfather. Im guessing somewhere along the line someone had tried to do some work on it and needless to say the return spring on the trigger broke and i had the gun in my hand while walking and it went off and hit me just above the ankle and just about came out the other side of my foot. You could see the bump where the bullet was sitting. I didnt even know it had hit me for about 10 seconds. My foot was kind of tingling so i sat down and started looking at my leg thinking that the round just splattered on the ground or hit a rock that jumoed up and smacked me in the leg. That was until i took off my shoe and had a small red hole in my sock.

 

[92ThoStro]

Well I have only owned firearms a few years, so I was never acquainted with what parts are needed, and how they go together. I just knew basic cleaning, from handling and shooting them before. I purchased a break action H&R 16 gauge off of Armlist. The gun seemed alright, and locked up tight. The guy said it fired, and he had used it last hunting season (from time of purchase, not last as in a few months ago )
I took it home, loaded it up, and BOOM
The shell blew back into the extractor space, causing the barrel to fly off the gun, and the stock to crack.
After much research, the conclusion was....
The gun was fired without a shell extractor!
The guy will not answer his phone, or emails, his ad was removed right after he sold it to me. And he lives too far away, by the time I drove over there, I wouldn't have even be angry anymore.

No injuries, just powder sprayed all over my face.
Lucky it wasn't a slug or buckshot.
I don't know if I am allowed to post contact info on a bad seller in a post, but I do have his email and his home address. Looks like the feedback threads are for INGO to INGO sales only.

 

[Two-Tornadoes]

When I was a very young person, 12-14 years old. My Dad and a couple of uncles had come back from rabbit hunting. My Dad proceeded to unload a 12ga. shotgun in the house, because it was rainy and cold outside, always a bad idea. As he was cycling the pump action his hand touched the trigger, the gun was pointing in a safe direction, at the floor. He blew a hole in the floor just missing my Moms home canned goods in the cellar below the kitchen. My grandpa was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and through the coffee all over the kitchen, scared the coffee out of him. Because of that reason I am extremely aware of anyone that is handling a gun in a less than safe manner. I am also extremely aware of how I handle a gun. It only takes one mistake.

 

[sliptap]

I had a 380 that was passed down from my grandfather. Im guessing somewhere along the line someone had tried to do some work on it and needless to say the return spring on the trigger broke and i had the gun in my hand while walking and it went off and hit me just above the ankle and just about came out the other side of my foot. You could see the bump where the bullet was sitting. I didnt even know it had hit me for about 10 seconds. My foot was kind of tingling so i sat down and started looking at my leg thinking that the round just splattered on the ground or hit a rock that jumoed up and smacked me in the leg. That was until i took off my shoe and had a small red hole in my sock.

This just made me cringe, lol. Although producing the hole sounds awful, I can't imagine just looking down and seeing one.

When I was younger (12/13?), I was shooting my father's older 1911. The gun sometimes ejects brass up instead of to the right. Long story short, a piece of hot brass got lodged between my safety glasses and eyebrow. I was able to keep the gun safe with my right hand and throw off the glasses with my left.

It was a hard (but good) lesson of why we teach safety until it becomes instinctive. Had I not kept the gun pointed in the right direction, I (or I guess my father or some innocent bystander) could've had a hole in them too.

 

[Maximinus Thrax]

Was having some fun plinking away with a .22 AR when one of the casing bounced off of the barrier next to me and went down my shirt. I too had to do the muzzle control pee pee dance as I fought to untuck my shirt and get it out.

 

[browning84]

I was at a range when i was younger and my father and I walked out to check our target and a guy showed up on our way out and he started unloading his handgun in our direction.. What an idiot... i think he had the worst case of tunnel vision.

 

[jakeep]

Does Garand thumb count . I did have an Uncle when I was young shoot into a piece of steel and it Ricochet and hit him. He wasn't very smart at times! It wasn't real bad but was a trip to hospital for stitches. I'm glad I didn't learn my gun safety from him.

 

[You'll shoot your eye out]

At one time I had a home made basement shooting range. My backstop was a loosely stacked wall of oak wood blocks. I was trying out some .22 snake shot loads when the first shot bounced right off the wood and every pellet made at least 6 laps around the basement before they slowed down. I had them in my shirt, down my pants and in my pockets before I knew what was happening! Wow, mamma! I was amazed how many tiny little pellets one .22 shell will hold.

 

[LarryC]

Fired 15 year old ammunition from a friends Glock-19 a year ago and a round exploded in the chamber. Almost took my thumb off. Avoid old ammo.

I have shot literately thousands of rounds of "old ammo", never had any dangerous incidents. Do have a few (rare) FTF with good primer hits in certain lots. Some old shotgun rounds won't fire. Understandable as the cartridge is not "sealed". Don't use the old ammo for defense rounds so no big deal. I have used ammo that is more than 70 years old without ANY issues. I have picked up some ammo that has been improperly stored and has corrosion on the brass. I just sort out the "bad" and have used it without incident.

 

[Shadow8088]

Was at Blythe's in Valpo for the first time with a friend of mine. Also my first time firing a handgun. Fired a few rounds from my .357, which felt like getting smacked in the hand with a hammer each time I pulled the trigger. Switched over to my SA v-10 ultra compact. Emptied her about twice, and was racking the third mag and had a double feed. No biggie, i dropped the mag, and was standing there holding the slide open and trying to clear the last round when BANG... really painful impact on the left side of my chest. Felt like one hell of a bee sting. Looked down, saw some blood on my shirt. Don't know if it was from a round (there was one other guy shooting that day) or perhaps a target holder, but there was about a half inch chunk of jagged steel sticking out of my chest. Now, when we first got there, there was an ambulance just leaving. Didn't think anything of it. I walked out to the guy behind the counter and told him what happened. He saw the chunk of steel, and the blood on my shirt, I bled like a stuck pig on that one, and turned ghost white. Turned out, about 20mins before we got there, a guy took a ricochet up his arm. I was fine, I wasn't mad at anyone, and I've been back since, but it definitely freaked out my wife when I got home with a hole in my shirt/chest and a pretty big blood stain.

 

[PapaScout]

Closest I've ever had was shooting at an indoor range. Had a spent shell casing ricochete off the wall, land on top of my safety glasses, and burn my forehead.

 

[bthomas]

I was at a range when i was younger and my father and I walked out to check our target and a guy showed up on our way out and he started unloading his handgun in our direction.. What an idiot... i think he had the worst case of tunnel vision.

I work with an idiot, and that is an understatement but his first time to a range he just took off walking down range to put up a target while everyone was still shooting. You want to talk about mentally ill, he has shown me his pistol on his hip at work. Knowing he would lose his job if the right person found out. I have also recently seen a facebook picture of him posing with an AR, with his finger on the trigger.

 

[jb1911]

I've been bitten by a slide or three.

 

[jgreiner]

Just curious, looking for things to avoid, lol. Any close calls (or, uh, actual, calls) while shooting/handling firearms? Share your stories please!

I've been burned by flying brass.

 

[Adrian8]

7-8 yrs ago KnobCreek machingegun shoot I was on the line about 5-6 ft away from a women shooting a MG42 on a antiaircraft tripod with about a 6ft long belt

After several moments of shooting she just held the trigger down and was rocken the world of a waterheater when the swivel pin broke and the weapon fell to the right and she continued to hold the trigger and just sprayed the line

And it was like the movies shot-zipping noise and a thud
when it hit the ground, about 6" in front of my left foot throwing dirt up into my face

They took the gun and mount away and quickly replaced it with another and went on liked nothing happened.

I'M ALIVE was all I could think,once I got all the dirt off my face and out of my mouth

I think this same thing happened with some sort of heavy tripod mounted gun that fell on a young girl at Knob Creek at the shoot and killed her.

 

[woody24]

The only thing thats caused a little pain while shooting at the range, was the brass landing inside the bend of my arm. It bounced off the lane divider, and landed on my arm, not just bounced off my arm. Left a red mark. It was HOT.

So if your at a public range, be aware of yours and other peoples brass. It stings.

 

[RabbleRouser]

When I was a very young person, 12-14 years old. My Dad and a couple of uncles had come back from rabbit hunting. My Dad proceeded to unload a 12ga. shotgun in the house, because it was rainy and cold outside, always a bad idea. As he was cycling the pump action his hand touched the trigger, the gun was pointing in a safe direction, at the floor. He blew a hole in the floor just missing my Moms home canned goods in the cellar below the kitchen. My grandpa was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and through the coffee all over the kitchen, scared the coffee out of him. Because of that reason I am extremely aware of anyone that is handling a gun in a less than safe manner. I am also extremely aware of how I handle a gun. It only takes one mistake.

they were hunting rabbits with deer slugs?

 

[92ThoStro]

I have shot literately thousands of rounds of "old ammo", never had any dangerous incidents. Do have a few (rare) FTF with good primer hits in certain lots. Some old shotgun rounds won't fire. Understandable as the cartridge is not "sealed". Don't use the old ammo for defense rounds so no big deal. I have used ammo that is more than 70 years old without ANY issues. I have picked up some ammo that has been improperly stored and has corrosion on the brass. I just sort out the "bad" and have used it without incident.

I have been firing some 70's ammo out of my revolver. The only problem that I have, is they stick in the cylinder, and I have to poke them out with a tool. Some of them were a little corroded, just had to clean em off with bore solvent and a copper brush, and then oil them. Some after being oiled looked brand new, those don't stick. No problems shooting them though.