Do Not Use 50-Cal Ammo As A Hammer!

[Jumping Frog]

I've seen previous pictures, Mythbusters, etc. showing ordinary ammo getting cooked off before. It is usually relatively harmless. Like it is in so many other ways, the .50 BMG round is not ordinary ammo.

Memo from DOD in Afghanistan posted 10-May-2010:

WHILE MOUNTING THE M2 MACHINE GUN ONTO THE TURRET SYSTEM OF HIS MATV DURING PRE-COMBAT CHECKS, THIS SOLDIER EXPERIENCED DIFFICULTY INSERTING THE LOCKING PIN ON THE MOD 93 MACHINE GUN MOUNT. THE SOLDIER THEN ATTEMPTED TO FORCE THE LOCKING PIN INTO PLACE WITH A ROCK. AFTER THIS FAILED, HE THEN SECURED A LOOSE .50 CAL ROUND, USING IT TO HAMMER AT THE LOCKING PIN, ATTEMPTING TO FORCE THE LOCKING PIN INTO PLACE. AFTER SEVERAL HITS WITH THE .50 CAL ROUND, THE PRIMER ACTIVATED, SETTING THE ROUND OFF IN THE SOLDIER’S HAND. THE INJURIES SUFFERED TO HIS RIGHT HAND, MIDDLE, RING AND PINKIE FINGERS ON HIS RIGHT HAND ARE SHOWN BELOW TO THE RIGHT.

WARNING!!!
DO NOT OPEN THIS IMAGE
IF YOU HAVE
A WEAK STOMACH
OR DO NOT WISH
TO SEE THE WOUND!
VERY HORRIFYING AND GRAPHIC IMAGE!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/32419486/M2-Machine-Gun-Safety-Message-10-02

It is a real shame that this soldier will have a lifetime's consequence from one stupid act. But that is also a safety reminder to all of us that firearms and ammunition are dangerous.

I hope this post is OK with TOS, and the warnings for the image are sufficient.

 

[meytind]

Damn, I'll be surprised if they can save even part of the last two fingers.

 

[John Wayne]

Do they not teach soldiers in the military how modern cartridge arms work? I am not being sarcastic, I really don't know the answer.

I could see how a training program could easily take the position of "you don't need to know how it works to know how to use it" and have this kind of thing happen--whereas if the soldier had been taught that primers were pressure-sensitive explosives, he might not have used it as a hammer.

I can personally vouch that in some instances you might be able to use a heavy object for a hammer, but I would never try it with a live round. (I used a 105mm artillery shell case to hammer a nail into a wall, but it contained no projectile, priming compound, or propellent.)

 

[Robert]

Already posted, yesterday by 1858.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=533012

 

[Justin]

Duplicate.