Hit in the face with something?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Aaryq

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
1,039
Location
Washington
Howdy, folks. I went out shooting today at the outdoor range (fun as heck even though the snow was drifting above my knee in some places) and came across something that I haven't experienced before. I was shooting a S&W 9mm with reloaded ammo and hadn't been properly cleaned in about 150 rounds or so (my fathers gun), and my Marlin 99 .22 LR which had been stripped down, cleaned and oiled almost to the point of inspection ready using brand new high velocity ammunition. When I was shooting both of them, I felt something hitting me in the face. It felt like powder or something. What was it and is it a problem?
 
when i had my s&w mod 13 i was shooting with my brother one time..... he was standing about 6-8 ft behind me a off to one side when he got hit in the cheek with some lead that blew back an out of between the barrel and cylinder of the revolver....... my mod 27 has alot tighter barrel cylinder gap..... it don't spit lead like that......... it is however good at spitting 150 gr. lead bullets out at 1250 fps:D :D .... i'm thinkin you might have gotten hit by some of the lead from a leaded bore myself.......
 
Revived: Also Hit by something

Last Friday I was shooting PMC 135gr FMJ's from my Taurus 85SSUL and was hit just below the eye with something. It hit fairly hard, broke the skin and left a small scab about the size of a pin head.
Since the original thread got derailed by discussions of snow I thought reviving this discussion would bring some more ideas about whether this was definately unburnt powder or could be from something else (i.e. could the bullet be hitting the forcing cone and splintering?). The gun was clean and I was using factory ammo.

BTW, I hate to say it but...it is snowing here now! :uhoh:
 
So first off, have you checked your revolver for proper timing? Most shooters I've met don't bother or don't know how. With slight mis-timing, lead gets sheared and it'll spit regardless of the barrel cylinder gap. When/if it gets further out of time, it becomes a profoundly dangerous problem especially with the higher pressure cartridges.

For those who don't know how to check a revolver for proper timing, I'll line it out.

1) Check to ensure the gun is unloaded

2) Repeat step one!

3) Close the loading window (for single actions), close the cylinder into the frame (for double actions).

4) Gently rotate the cylinder until it latches securely.

4.5) Point the muzzle at an appropriate backstop.

5) SLOWLY cock the hammer taking great care not to touch the cylinder as it rotates. As soon as the hammer reaches full cock gently grasp the cylinder and rotate it in the direction of normal cylinder rotation. If there's ANY movement before the cylinder bolt clicks home, your gun is out of timing.

6) Repeat step five for each chamber in the cylinder.

7) Now repeat step five only cocking the hammer quickly. Most of the time the gun that passes with the test when worked slowly will pass when worked fast but it's happened to me.

That's pretty much it. Some folks worry about measuring tolerances and dimensions but I've found that loose tolerances that don't impact timing, generally reduce accuracy but don't create a safety risk.
 
Thanks, rockstar.
It seems that at least one chamber is a little off. If I pull the hammer back as slowly as I can the one chamber fails to lock. Most times just the vibration of the hammer clicking into full cock causes that chamber to lock in place.
I think the time it spit at me I had stopped in mid trigger pull after losing my sight picture and then continued the trigger pull very slowly...too slowly.
I guess I will re-clean and lube and keep a sharp eye on the problem, if it continues obviously I will have to get it fixed.
 
rockstar, I was under the impression that alignment when the hammer is cocked is irrelevant: only when the hammer is fully down (as in, trigger back, hammer down, when the bullet would be travelling) matters.

To check the alignment, you should drop the hammer on an empty chamber and then check.
 
The sticky, "revolver checkout", found in the revolvers section of THR, goes into good detail regarding cylinder timing and alignment.

I can't help but think, in the first case anyway, that maybe reloading, say in the summer with maybe a target loading ends up being overly light in the winter and not obturating the case resulting in powder-gas blow-by..
 
I would agree with the theory of unburned powder possibly hitting you in the face if the wind was right. Maybe a little too much oil in the .22 action was causing a bit of oil to spray out of the action during the firing cycle. I've had a few fired cases rattle around between the brim of my cap and the top of my shooting glasses but I assume from your question that the stuff hitting your face is not quite so large and easily identified. :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top