16-year-old strikes .45-caliber slug he found in back yard

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

jsalcedo

Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Messages
3,683
Boy plays with bullet, shoots self


16-year-old strikes .45-caliber slug he found in back yard.

Staff report
Posted December 10 2005


Lake Worth · A 16-year-old boy who found a bullet in his back yard on Friday ended up shooting himself, Lake Worth police said.

Jose Delgado played with the .45-caliber bullet shortly before noon at his house in the 1400 block of Tropical Drive in Lake Worth before using a hammer and screwdriver to hit the back of the bullet. The bullet fired and hit him in the abdomen, police said.




An officer kept pressure on Delgado's wound until paramedics arrived and took the boy to Delray Medical Center, where he was treated for his injury and released.

"This kid could have died from this," Sgt. Dan Boland said.

"There's a bunch of vital organs in there."

Police on Friday warned against playing with bullets or guns. Children should tell their parents about the bullet, and parents should call the police to dispose of it.

"It's like lighting a firecracker and throwing it, then going to pick it up when it doesn't go off," Boland said.

"It could blow up in your hands."

Officers didn't find a gun in Delgado's house. No charges will be filed against his parents, police said.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...et10dec10,0,7496754.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
 
I really don't see how a bullet can get much velocity without a barrel.

The kid was probably hit by cartridge case shrapnel if anything.

Anyone have experience with rounds going off outside of a gun?
 
Patently false - without a chamber and barrel to contain the pressure, the bullet would have nowhere to go. I suspect what really happened is that he held the bullet against his stomach, or between his legs, in order to hit the primer with the nail, and so the explosion blew bits of cartridge case into his body.

Now, for Lesson 2, let's get him to try that with a .50 BMG round... :D
 
This story sounds very fishy. I've seen video of cartridges exploding in a fire, the brass will fly about 5 feet, that's it. Unless he got hit in the eye his injuries can't be too severe.
 
Last edited:
It has always been mine understanding that if a cartridge "fires" outside of a chamber, the casing is what moves due to the mass difference. I would assume, depending on the type of cartridge involved, the casing may fragment. I've never done anything to experimentally verify this.
 
Could someone tell me which of my organs aren't vital. I could stand to lose a few pounds and I thought I would start there.

Jubei
 
Jubei said:
Could someone tell me which of my organs aren't vital. I could stand to lose a few pounds and I thought I would start there.

Jubei
Click to expand...

Speen, a kidney,a lung. Several feet of small intestines...

You'd still be pretty much fully functional.

Could say bladder, but that'd be annoying.
 
Pure BS IMO, since modern powder needs extreme pressure to burn fast. Cartridge case would rupture or expand enough to release burn at first sign of pressure. Bullet being heavier than case would remain relatively still and case would fly off, at fairly low velocity with NO penetration capability. I suspect that he was accidentally shot by family gun, or else it is a case of gang bangers stuff. Amazing that the cops seem to believe it.
 
I'm just wondering how hard my local cops would laugh if someone called up the cop shop and asked them to dispose of a single round of ammunition ... the poor LEO who answered the phone would probably look like this*: :confused: :rolleyes: :p :D

pax

*without the color changes.
 
The source is legitimate. I wouldn't call it BS. I think it's more an example of how the police are the experts on ballistics due to their extensive training and special knowledge. Remember the quote: "I am the only one in this room..."

And don't forget, the appendix is an organ you can do without along with tonsils.
 
Couple of theories:

1. No, I don't think anybody shot the kid with a .45. I don't know this, but I just don't think it's likely he'd be "treated and released" if he had a .45 caliber GSW in his abdomen. That sounds like surgery for sure to me!

2. When I read it, without reading the posted comments, I was picturing the kid with the cartridged clamped in a vise or something similar to hold it. It's pretty doubtful that he would be able to use the hammer and the screwdriver and also hold the round down with his hands. Maybe whatever was holding the round was able to contain some pressure. If it was a vice, the bullet may have been pointing straight down. If he were standing to the side of the vise, it might direct brass fragments out between the vise jaws and against his abdomen.

3. If it was a hollowpoint or a semi-wadcutter, he may also have stood the thing on its nose and struck the primer with the screwdriver. Difficult, but not impossible. Maybe forcing it down against the floor or bench or whatever forced the case to rupture and separate when the bullet couldn't move so well.
 
Fired outside of a chamber, a cartridge has very little pressure developed. As noted, the case flies off since the bullet is much heavier.

How about all the wrong terminology in the story? Slug, bullet, but not once is the correct word used.

Maybe the kid clamped the round in a vice and hammered the primer? This might allow the bullet to move forward when fired. Treated and released sounds like a scratch. Who knows what hit him?

Darwin candidate, for sure.
 
Gunpacker said:
Pure BS IMO, since modern powder needs extreme pressure to burn fast. Cartridge case would rupture or expand enough to release burn at first sign of pressure. Bullet being heavier than case would remain relatively still and case would fly off, at fairly low velocity with NO penetration capability. I suspect that he was accidentally shot by family gun, or else it is a case of gang bangers stuff. Amazing that the cops seem to believe it.
Click to expand...

Not true. I worked with a guy who had done a similar thing when he was an adolescent, and I have seen the scar. He had been smacking .22 LR cartridges witha hammer to detonate them. Low and behold, he decided to try it with a .30-06 cartridge. When he crushed it with the hammer, the bullet struck him in the leg and traveld about 5" into his thigh. He went to the ER and the doctors removed the slug with long forceps and treaed the puncture wound.

True, the bullet didn't have much velocity, but 5" of penetration in soft tissue can be life threatening in the right place. If this kid was doing a similar thing witha .45 caliber handgun round, I would bet on 1-2" of penetration. Not life-threatening, but serious.
 
SOunds like our highly educated law enforcement community enlightening us to the real dangers of guns.. oops, ammo.. oops, slugs.
Heck it it wasn't for our local media and law enforcement I would have never guessed an AR7 survival rifle was an assault weapon.
 
Fire report on a fire at a reloading shop?

Fire report on a fire at a reloading shop. I read this somewhere, but I don't remember where. The main problems were flying primers, due to their low mass. The fastest primers were those from crimped in military types. One hit a fireman's face shield, but did not penetrate it.

Does this quote sound familiar to anyone? I may have read it here, but I can't find it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

H
  • Locked
8 year old shoots two
Replies
6
Views
643
Art Eatman
A
N
  • Locked
Rule 3: Know which is the snake and...
2
Replies
30
Views
1K
CB900F
C
D
  • Locked
6-year old shoots Mom (merged thread)
2
Replies
25
Views
1K
Dorian
D
O
  • Locked
18 Year Old Shoots Himself Without a Gun
Replies
1
Views
402
pax
P
sturmruger
  • Locked
3 year old toddler shoots mother in knee
2
Replies
26
Views
1K
MechAg94
M
Back
Top