Doofus at the range this morning...

[Preacherman]

We had a pretty heavy rainstorm yesterday, and as a result, there's a fair amount of mud around in some areas. This includes a local shooting range, where I stopped by early this morning to shoot a bit before the heat and humidity built up too much.

Shortly after I arrived, a guy came in with his girlfriend and several handguns. They seemed to know what they were doing, and put a few rounds downrange with no problem - until he rested his revolver (looked like a K-frame S&W) on the shooting bench. He didn't rest it steadily enough, and when his girlfriend jarred the bench with her hip, the gun fell off the front and onto the ground, muzzle-first.

He picked it up, and without looking inside the barrel, brushed dirt off the exterior and loaded up the cylinder with fresh rounds. A couple of guys nearer to him than I was began to yell warnings about "Check the barrel!", but he simply aimed at the target and pulled the trigger.

You guessed it... mud in the barrel is not conducive to bullet passage through said barrel. The gun blew up in his hand, with the last inch and a half of barrel bulged, the topstrap bent upward, and the cylinder fractured above the chamber that was fired. Very fortunately for him, he suffered no injury (except to his pride), and had only a rather stinging hand to remind him to check for bore obstructions next time.

Turns out he's in trouble, though - that was his girlfriend's favorite revolver, and she was still moaning at him when I left half-an-hour later!

 

[anapex]

I'm surprised they stuck around for half an hour after that happened! I think that would have been enough for me to call it for the day. At least he got lucky and hopefully learned something from it.

 

[Jim K]

"Goldurn it, weren't nuttin' I did, if that durn fool woman had bought a good gun it wouldn't have blowed up, but women are stoopid and don't no nuttin' about guns...hey, bitch, why you pointing that gun at me? That's the one that didn't blow up and it might go off and ...."

Jim

 

[Shorts]

Sounds like she needs a new boyfriend

 

[Eightball]

"hmm...my barrel just got embedded in mud. Must be clear enough to shoot through, though--it's only wet dirt" What an idiot. Without trying to sound too harsh, it sounds like he pretty much deserved it. And, he probably deserves what he got from his friend for blowing up her favorite gun--goodness knows I wouldn't be too easy on a halfwit who blew apart any of my "precious babies"

 

[1 old 0311]

Darwin was right.

Kevin

 

[larry starling]

Wow!

 

[Wiley]

Experience teaches the best, most lasting, lessons. And as Woody Smith once said: The only Capital crime is STUPIDITY.

 

[HankB]

As long as nobody is hurt, it's good for a doofus to make a fool of himself in public - he provides a lesson to others. (It's usually better to learn from others' mistakes, rather than your own.)

 

[El Tejon]

Maybe he thought it was an AK-47 revolver which can fire even when the barrel is obstructed?

 

[bakert]

Sadly the world of gun owners seem to have a lot of people like that. Luckily no one hurt and he learned a lesson he'll never forget. Don't know about his future relationship with the lady but he will probably either be shopping for a nice new replacement gun or a new girlfriend.

 

[yorec]

Huh - hope he works lotsa overtime to replace her revolver and that he works somewhere where he can think about that incident over and over while he goes about making it up to her...

 

[XLMiguel]

Good to see yer out and about, Preacher.

"Pride goes before a fall, 101." It's a cheap lesson that doesn't involve blood and/or body parts.

 

[Standing Wolf]

(It's usually better to learn from others' mistakes, rather than your own.)

You have only a very limited future as a leftist.

 

[Onmilo]

I have the feeling that pictures of the weapon may show up on the 'Net with the caption "Smith Blows Up for no good reason!!"

 

[hillbilly]

Of course, this doofus should have cocked the hammer all the way back to let light into the rear of the chamber and then looked down the barrel to see if it was clear or not.......

hillbilly

 

[Taurus 66]

Still close enough to the 4th of July for fireworks? It's equivalent to having a quarter stick blow up in one's hand. It's good to see that he at least had a chance to live and learn the hard way, though he wasn't the only person in harm's way.

Back when I started with guns, I did something crazy. My uncle and I went out to a shooting range, guns, ammo, soft drinks, smokes ..... can you see the problem right now? Yes, soft drinks, on the table, in a bottle, and left uncapped. As I was shooting 4 slugs from the Remington 870, my coke bottle tipped and spilled a little inside the breech of my Colt HBAR on the table right below me. Not thinking much of it, I later loaded one of the small mags that comes with the rifle and began firing. Upon every shell ejection I was sprayed with the soda. I stopped after the magazine was empty. No breech or barrel damage to report, but just how dangerous could my situation have turned out that day?

 

[Chuck Dye]

An alarming trend?

Was this at the same range as Stupid is as stupid does...? I think I might find another range, even if this doofus was also banned for his dangerous action.

 

[Preacherman]

Yes, Huck, same range... it's used by three or four local law enforcement agencies, and a lot of their family members. The muddy soil is because it's on the floodbank of the Red River - in fact, when the Red comes down in flood, the 300-yard rifle range becomes a 25-yard rifle range!

 

[bosshoff]

Just remember, things like this happen to EVERYONE. I am not saying you or I would make the same mistake, but when a person is in a new environment (shooting with the girlfriend at a new range?) or an unfamiliar similar situation, letting your guard down, not paying attention, and not going slow and methodically (as you normally would) is a recipe for a mistake. This is a good lesson for ALL of us. Know your environment, be comfortable in it, don't rush, and have fun. Oh, and always check for bore obstructions after a situation like the one above.

 

[Travis McGee]

Wow!

 

[chris in va]

that was his girlfriend's favorite revolver

Did you guys even catch that?

 

[21H40]

Man, y'all are kinda harsh to a man who blew up his girl's gun... sounds like he's created enough punishment for himself -- do you need to call him names to make yourself feel smarter??

Don't expect me to admit ignorance in front of you. Y'all might call me names and hurt my feelings.

anyway, good story to educate with, thanks for sharing.

 

[Missashot]

Hey guys, no one said that the revolver belonged to the girlfriend. Just that it was her favorite.
My favorite revolver used to be my husband's Colt Anaconda, until he bought me a S&W 629 that I had been wanting for a while.
Glad this guy didn't hurt or kill himself or worse, someone else. Guess it was an expensive lesson. Hopefully well learned. Even without the exploding gun, I would HATE to drop any of my guns. That is why I secure them out of harms way while I shoot another. Never know who may bump into them or even worse walk off with them if they are left out.

 

[CAS700850]

I saw something similar happen a while back. A bailiff (who is no longer one, thankfully) was qualifying at the same time I was. He was doing a moving shoot stage. Got to cover, went to reload, and dropped the revolver (Smith Model 10). Stuck barrel down in a puddle. Picked it up, loaded and fired depite the yelling of the instructor. KABOOM! Cylander split, barrel bulged, the whole nine yards. He didn't understand why he neede a whole new gun, since only the cyalnder was ruined. :banghead: