Safety First!

newcoyotehunter

New member
Had a close friend of mine shooting his custom built gun for the first time last night. Something went wrong and he now may never see again for the rest of his life. Was life flighted to a regional hospital late last night but not looking good.... Just wanted to post something asking for prayers but also reminding you all to always keep safety in the front of your minds. We all shoot a lot and I think it sometimes becomes easy to get even mildly complacent while shooting/building.
 
Thoughts go out to your friend. It's never good to see a fellow shooter injured. Safety is critical. I have shot competitively for many, many years and we always wear eye and ear protection. Having had an AR detonate on me, I know the benefits of wearing my protective equipment. You just never know...it only takes once.
 
Prayers sent.

Update us if/when you can on specifics... I have built who knows how many AR's and have reloaded countless rounds in the past 30 years w/o incident BUT have had students in my classes have a gun come apart so I'm always interested in the facts and details.
 
Not certain of the cause by any means but believe it may have been a hangfire. He had just finished building this gun which was a 50 Cal and this was his first shot with it. Pulled the trigger, clicked, he started tinkering with it, took his shaded glasses off to see better then it went off with the bolt open. Not certain of the cause as it was a gun he had built from many parts and pieces but just one guess as to what happened. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers.
 
Comfort tends to breed complacency. The first AR that I had go BOOM happened while I was testing a new load. I had fired 10 rounds to verify zero with my regular hunting ammunition. Then I switched to the new load. The first round went 3 inches high and had a very crisp recoil. I didn't think too much of it and decided to shoot a group to see if the first round was an anomaly and the second round exploded, destroying the gun. To this day we still don't know why the detonation occurred. I had my glasses on at the time and I am glad I did as my face was covered in soot. The only injury I suffered was that my trigger finger was numb probably due to the gas slamming it into the trigger guard.

Everytime I shoot a new rifle that we build there is that apprehension about whether it's going to go bang or boom. You can check out the gun from top to bottm and sometimes Mr. Murphy still finds a way.

Any updates on your friends condition? Still keeping positive thoughts for him.
 
He is home now, currently no movement in his right arm but they believe he will regain control of it as muscles heal. They left several pieces of shrapnel in him. Can currently see a very very blurry image out of one eye and nothing out of the other. Doctors are hopeful his sight in the one will improve as stitches/swelling go away.
 
Originally Posted By: newcoyotehunterHe is home now, currently no movement in his right arm but they believe he will regain control of it as muscles heal. They left several pieces of shrapnel in him. Can currently see a very very blurry image out of one eye and nothing out of the other. Doctors are hopeful his sight in the one will improve as stitches/swelling go away.

WOW, what a bummer. I hope that he continues to improve.
 
Sorry to hear about your friend's misfortune. Wearing eye protection is so critical with shooting sports. Testing a new load in a known-good rifle is still a gamble. Can't check safety enough times.

Prayers to your friend and hoping for a speedy and obstacle free recovery.
 
Thoughts and prayers to your friend. I had a one grenade on me while shooting and blew the mag out the bottom right into my lap and smoked the upper. Pretty scary situation and made sure my manhood was still intact. Then started cussing. Hope he gets better each day.
 
So sorry to hear that your friend was hurt.

I have been shooting guns for nearly 40 years and had never worn safety glasses even once. But a few weeks back the "accurate shooter" forum had an article on safety glasses. Using some information that they showed, I went on Amazon and ordered a pair. Not the most expensive but some of the cheaper ones that had pretty good ratings. I think I paid about 45$ for them.

So this weekend we had a big shoot at a buddies house with about 20 guys there, and I knew we would be shooting a lot of steel targets so I made sure I had them with me.

One of the guys offered to let me shoot one of his 1911's and of course I accepted. About 4 rounds into the mag, a case ruptured and all of a sudden crap hit me in the face and my hand started stinging like mad. A few seconds later I felt blood running down my face and nose, I had been hit in 4 places with debris and had 3 "pock" marks across the right lens of my brand new shooting glasses.

BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT. WILL NEVER PULL A TRIGGER WITHOUT THEM AGAIN. (except of course in self defense)

If your shooting a firearm, please please go get a pair and spend a little bit of money, don't go for the cheap crap at --- mart. God may not protect all fools, as long as he did this one.
 
I was lucky once too. $hit happens.
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Originally Posted By: Bruised Smokin Barrel, appropriate handle, Any idea what caused the problem?

Laser bore sighter that I used to help set up my Chrony
 
Originally Posted By: biggen0_8So sorry to hear that your friend was hurt.

I have been shooting guns for nearly 40 years and had never worn safety glasses even once. But a few weeks back the "accurate shooter" forum had an article on safety glasses. Using some information that they showed, I went on Amazon and ordered a pair. Not the most expensive but some of the cheaper ones that had pretty good ratings. I think I paid about 45$ for them.

So this weekend we had a big shoot at a buddies house with about 20 guys there, and I knew we would be shooting a lot of steel targets so I made sure I had them with me.

One of the guys offered to let me shoot one of his 1911's and of course I accepted. About 4 rounds into the mag, a case ruptured and all of a sudden crap hit me in the face and my hand started stinging like mad. A few seconds later I felt blood running down my face and nose, I had been hit in 4 places with debris and had 3 "pock" marks across the right lens of my brand new shooting glasses.

BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT. WILL NEVER PULL A TRIGGER WITHOUT THEM AGAIN. (except of course in self defense)

If your shooting a firearm, please please go get a pair and spend a little bit of money, don't go for the cheap crap at --- mart. God may not protect all fools, as long as he did this one.

So true. I saw a competitor in a match take a piece of shrapnel to the hand from another BAY! It cut him BAD! That's why we stress wearing protective equipment anytime someone is on the range.

It only takes one time...
 
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