This "catastrophic failure" at the rifle range has got me thinking how bad it would be to ha e something like that happen.

It also has me wondering, What is the worst injury you personally have ever had while at a shooting range or while shooting a firearm?

I don't have much to add other than hot brass on the back of the neck lodged between my skin and my flak jacket.  However I did witness a room clearing exercise where multiple teams were clearing rooms with frag grenades and one of the operators thought is grenade went off and he rushed into the room while his team was stacked behind him. 

The worst injury I ever had at a range was when I was next to a guy firing 12 gauge slugs out of a full choked shotgun.

His first shot ripped out and huge chunks of lead spit out of the barrel at a 90 degree angle, hitting me in the chest (tore my shirt) and arm.

Both pieces that hit me drew blood. I of course assessed the wounds (luckily just flesh wounds) then got mad at the guy.

I asked him what kind of choke he had on the gun and of course he said  "ummm, I don't know".

My friend that was with me checked his gun and told him that it was dangerous to fire his gun like that.

I then informed the RSO who promptly made him stop shooting that shotgun/slug combination.

I once stuck my finger in the hole where the stands go at the 50 yard line and got a splinter.

Only been going off and on for about 4 or 5 years. =Op

After not shooting my SCAR for nearly a year, I was shooting some odd position barricade shooting the charging handle reminded me why not to grip the rifle by the magwell.  I ended up losing the front half of my thumbnail a few day later.  Making the same mistake about a year ago, only shooting like a leftie, I had a piece of brass cookie cutter a semi circle out of my thumb.  Other than those two incidents, Ive only had slide bite and rubbed up elbows from shooting on rough surfaces.  No kabooms, yet.

I had a hot piece of brass land right below my eye, wedged between my eye protection and my face.  It only took me a second or two to put down my handgun, grab my glasses and clear my face, but it was enough to leave a rectangular burn right below my eye.  I still have the scar to this day. 

Eh?  Whad'ja say?  Oh, you mean besides the 10dB hearing loss in my right ear when a buddy of mine and me were jump-shooting ducks.  We were walking along a stream, like four feet apart when he took a shot.  He stopped, I didn't, and his muzzle was right in line with my ear. Blame was evenly distributed in that one.

Other worst was hammer bite from my little Llama .380, sort of a 5/8 scale model of the 1911.  Gun's too small for my hammy lunch-hooks.  (I called that little gun "My W'il Fwend" long before Al Pacino ever said it in that movie.  Carried it everywhere.  Hammer bite only occured when I wasn't paying attention to my grippance and holdage on it.)

Close call (I):  shooting at tires with a .22, a bullet bounced back and clipped a little branchlet off a sapling next to me.  (Don't shoot at tires.)

Close call (II): railroad track.  Bullet went right around the web of the track and whined back at me.  Heard it, don't know where it went. (Don't shoot at railroad tracks.)

(I) and (II): Couldn't call it smart luck, so it must've been dumb luck.

That business of a .308 in a .270 chamber has happened before (not to me).

And besides a slug through a full-choke bore, I've heard, but can't document, that 3" shells in 2 - 3/4" 12 gauge chambers is bad medicine.

Terry, 230RN

 

Brother shot me point blank with a Daisy BB gun into my stomach.

I have caught some shrapnel off the metal targets at a fun shoot before..........or it was a shooting fair, I forget which.

I also caught some shrapnel off some guy's SW 686 4" (357 mag).  I thought I was catching a lot of unburnt powder, but what it turned out to be was the gun was stripping a little crescent of metal off the jacket and throwing it off to the side(s).  Got a little bit of pin hole blood stains on my forearm until I saw a piece of metal in my skin.  I told him he needed to check the timing or the throat on the gun.  He put it away immediately.  I hope he understood what I was telling him.

bruise from cheek-slap from my 18" Mossy shooting slugs.  Was try'n to line up the bead sight cuz was shooting high.

everyone says that you always catch schrapnel at the range, but i've never felt any.

Shooting magnum slugs once with my no stock pistol grip Mossberg..  My hand and wrist got numb for a few seconds after one of the 3shots... Went right back to the low recoil slugs.... My Mosin M44 always gives me shoulder bruises from shooting the 7.62x54r all day... Nothing serious...

Brother shot me point blank with a Daisy BB gun into my stomach.

Hahaha, I too have felt the cruel sting of the brother and a bb gun.

Quote from: ren on July 07, 2011, 11:07:38 AM

Brother shot me point blank with a Daisy BB gun into my stomach.

Hahaha, I too have felt the cruel sting of the brother and a bb gun.

Similar, but I was the shooter when we were young. In a "no tell Dad" agreement neither lost our summer due to breaking the house rules of notification before busting out the air guns.

In 1999, I was the victim of  a birdshot VS gravity incident across the field as we were chalking up doves wholesale. I yelled across the field at him and he responded with another shot....no birds were injured during the retribution, but he was dead on..again.   We felt some pellets, but that was it. He whooped me 23-19 that day.

Deep fried Doves with a Jalapeno wrapped in peppered Bacon dipped in Habanero ranch and some beers. Easy to forgive the days misgivings...

A temporary "third eye" from firing a scoped 450 nitro without a proper grip.  Had three quarters of a circle cut into my forehead by the eyepiece,

bruise from cheek-slap from my 18" Mossy shooting slugs.  Was try'n to line up the bead sight cuz was shooting high.

everyone says that you always catch schrapnel at the range, but i've never felt any.

We were pretty close to the plates...........25 feet maybe. It's just a matter of being at the right range, right plates, right cartridge, right bullet construction.........it happens.  The 686 was something that was of more concern to me.  The guy was completely unaware of the problem and he was shooting with his young son (maybe 10 - 12 years old?).  A pistol that out of spec was just a serious future accident waiting to happen.

"A temporary "third eye" from firing a scoped 450 nitro without a proper grip.  Had three quarters of a circle cut into my forehead by the eyepiece.."

Ohhh, I forgot about that one, it was so long ago.  My first shot with a scoped rifle.  I was like 18 or 19.  Do they still call it "joining the Crescent Club?"

Quote from: OGC on July 08, 2011, 02:26:54 AM

A temporary "third eye" from firing a scoped 450 nitro without a proper grip.  Had three quarters of a circle cut into my forehead by the eyepiece,

Ohhh, I forgot about that one, it was so long ago.  My first shot with a scoped rifle.  I was like 18 or 19.  Do they still call it "joining the Crescent Club?"

I keep hearing of Marines talk about getting "Shiners" when using the RCO for the first time.  *scratches head* we never had the opportunity of using optics on our M16 at the range during my time when qualifying on the rifle range. 

Haha, Id laugh at a grown man who got hit with a RCO because the 5.56 recoil was too intense.

When the M4 Carbines were fielded some Soldiers forgot to extend the stocks and planted their eyes directed up to the rear sight or optic. Eye relief and and stock weld are 2 of 8 "steady hold" factors of classic marksmanship.

staple to my left pointer finger pad.