Battle Wounds

I was shooting a 1911 / .45 at an indoor range when a piece my own brass bounced off the ceiling came back at me and stuck between the frame of my shooting glasses and my temple ... hurt like hell. It left a red mark for a week, and I still have a small scar from it and that was many years ago.

And the last time I was at the range, just a couple of weeks ago, a piece of .22 brass from my buddy's pistol flew a good twenty feet down the line and went down the back of my shirt and stuck under my collar and burned like a bee sting. That hurt for a day or two even with a little burn cream applied.

I posted the story over in the "shotgun" thread about my grandpa spraying my uncle with a 12ga when I was a kid.... the rabbit got away.

I can't really complain too much with the many thousands of rounds and many competitions I've shot in, I've never been really hurt or seen anyone else get hurt seriously. But once while shooting in an NRA Silhouette match a small piece of bullet splatter came back from the 25yrd "chickens" and hit the guy standing right beside me. It hit him just under his glasses and cut him like a razor blade. Not really serious but kinda scary anyway. Never go near an active firing line without good shooting glasses on ...ever. ...

I've had a few encounters with hot brass.

The worst I had was one.day shooting a .45ACP. I was at my favorite indoor range. I had a light jacket on because it was cold outside, and I just kept it on.

A spent .45ACP case bounced off the partition and down the back of my neck. I did what I was conditioned to do, I very quickly placed the gun on the table while using my support hand to grab the back of my collar and pull it away from my neck. So the case would fall freely passed my back and to the floor.

Only....I just grabbed the jacket collar. The shirt collar stayed in place.... and so did the .45ACP case.

"Do you smell bacon?"

"Oh, SH**!!!"

For a while, it stung when I showered. 😄

Part of the experience. 😉
Thank God, I've never experienced a serious injury.

GunCrazedRedneck said:

My dad shot me in the upper bicep/shoulder area. Taught me a lesson about making sure a gun is clear before handing it over to someone. Nice 1.5" scar to remember it by.

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My stupid father almost killed or crippled me when I was probably about 5 or 6 years old.
He was wiping down a .22LR rifle in the living room of the house we rented at the time. He was sitting on the sofa while doing it. The sofa was set against a wall that had the doorway leading into the kitchen area. I walked past the muzzle (hey, I was an ignorant child) to go to the kitchen right as he was pulling the trigger on the "empty" gun. He hadn't cleared the chamber.

The round passed right in front of my upper abdomen or lower thoracic cavity.
Probably missed me by no more than one or two inches.
Imagine what would have happened if that round had cut laterally through that zone of my body, left-to-right? I probably wouldn't have made it to the hospital, which was on the far side of the next city over.

If the house has not been remodeled, there is still a .22LR bullet in one of the living room's baseboards.

Over 25 years ago I was at an indoor range when I was hit below my left eye with a fractured round that ricocheted off an angle iron holding up a target. It drew blood and when I went to the RSO and management, I was told it happened there all the time. I stopped using that range after that day. Thankfully, I was wearing eye protection and still do this very day.

Two weekends ago, my son and I were at an indoor range in his town trying out some recent purchases. While I was shooting, two lanes down from us an individual unholstered his pistol and shot it directly into the ground about a foot from where he was standing. The range safety officer as well as other range employees who witnessed it immediately rushed the guy. He was escorted out......

Frankly, I did not know what the commotion was about until my son later told me what had happened. While I have always been on alert at ranges, incidences can happen so fast and you may not even know it. Going forward I am going to look at the shooters before I start unpacking at the lane to see if I can discover any non-safe practices being exhibited. Granted, that's the job of the RSO but obviously, that person cannot see everything...

No more battle wounds....