I'd doubt this, but I wasn't there...

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Yoda

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Guy wounds himself when he drops a barbell on a .22. I thought the case would move a bit in one direction but the bullet would pretty much stay right there. Would the barbell retard the movement of the case, making the bullet have to fly in order to conserve momentum, or would the case just open up and gases go laterally
, with the bullet still going nowhere? Your thoughts?

Here's the link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2872094/posts

- - - Yoda
 
No way would the bullet have enough energy to penetrate his shoulder. Shards of the casing, maybe, but not the bullet.
 
If the barbell smashed the case and stayed on it, I have no doubt the bullet would take off somewhere else.

However, there is no way it would have enough velocity to shoot the guy in the shoulder and wound him.

The case might have though.

Here is what exploding ammo does to sheet metal furnace duct when the case is not contained in a chamber.
AmmoFire3.jpg
AmmoFire2.jpg
AmmoFire4.jpg

rc
 
Oddly enough, this is something we experimented with as kids. Not the bar-bell but rather, abusing .22 ammo both with projectiles and after pulling projectiles. Seems one thing we did was dropping a large ball peen hammer head on cases with the projectile in place and the case ruptured or swelled near every time imparting very little energy to propel the projectile.

All this was the result of a sort of 70's (myth busters) due to our parents telling us some fanciful stories to scare us about ammunition. Looking back, we were really very safe in our precautions and protections.
 
Adams said officers did find the casing for the bullet.
Click to expand...

It does not say the "flattened case" or the "smashed case." It does say that no gun as found, which to me implies that the case was in a condition that it appeared that it could have been fired from a gun rather than appearing dumbbell smashed.

Where was the case when it was supposedly smashed? On the floor? If it was, there is no way it could get from under the dumb bell and into his shoulder.

Without further information, I don't believe it.
 
A cousin of mine, as a kid, was setting off .22LR rounds in his family garage by hitting the rounds on the side with a hammer. They went off fine -- one bullet embedded itself in his thigh. The doctors decided it was more dangerous to remove the bullet than it was to leave it alone, so maybe half a century later, it's still there.
I am not sure how this relates to a barbell being dropped, but I would never encourage anyone to play around with .22 ammo and setting it off by hitting the rim. I know atleast one incident in which it DID have enough velocity to do serious harm!
 
Yes, the body tends to form a capsule around a foreign object.
I'm sure there's a few people running around with bullets in them because removing them would be more dangerous than living with them.
 
Fairly believable based on my 1st hand experience.


Friend of mine came back from a a morning of shooting.

Friend had a 22lr in his back pocket. Why?... I dont know. I didnt say he was a smart friend.

Friend put on rollerskates and went to the public park next dood that also had a roller hockey rink set up in the middle of several basketball courts.. with 22lr still in back pocket. Remember... never said he was smart.

Friend fell on his butt. 22lr went off in his back pocket. I could hear it hit the wood side of the roller hockey rink.

Friend screamed... thought for sure he shot himself in the butt. Pulled pown pants :what: and all I saw was about a 1" REALLY red splotchy skin. No blood.


We bailed like two scared kids. :eek:

Next morning we dug it out with a pocket knife.

The round was about 1/4" deeper into the wood than flush.

The empty shell from his pocket was remarkably in good shape. No banana peel look to it. Only oblonged a little where the bullet came out of the shell.

I believe based on that it cooould penetrate his shoulder.

Not likely.
 
There is no possible way a 40 grain bullet can accelerate away from unconfined 9.6 grain .22 shell casing and bury itself in a wood fence 1/4".

If you found a bullet buried 1/4" in the wood fence the next day?
It wasn't the same bullet from the .22 that went off in your friends pants.

Somebody shot that bullet out of a gun some other time before you found it.

rc
 
He could have been hit in the shoulder if he was laying on his back when he dropped the dumbbell. I agree that the guy's story is suspicious, but impossible? I don't know about that.
 
If you found a bullet buried 1/4" in the wood fence the next day?
It wasn't the same bullet from the .22 that went off in your friends pants.

Somebody shot that bullet out of a gun some other time before you found it.
Click to expand...

If they found a bullet only 1/4" into a wood fence, and if it were shot from a gun, that gun was a LOOOG way from the fence when fired. A 40 gr 22 bullet will penetrate five 1" thick pine boards when fired from a rifle.

The article only says he was shot in the shoulder, no description of how deep the bullet penetrated. Or for that matter that it penetrated at all. Maybe it only left a bruise. It is entirely possible the story is true and the bullet may have only slightly penetrated the skin.

Not a close friend, but a guy I know had a 22 that penetrated a small 1" diameter pine tree, then strke him in a leather belt near the buckle where it had to penetrate 3 layers of leather. He was only 16 at the time and pretty well freaked out knowing he had been shot, but when he pulled his pants down only found a small hole and could feel the bullet between the skin and abdominal muscles. He simply squeezed the bullet back through the hole where it went in and continued hunting. I was present at a party 30+ years later when his parents found out as he retold the story.
 
He left the slug in his thigh and not get lead poisoning?
Click to expand...
Lead poisoning from bullets left in the body is rare to non-existant. Lead poisoning: eating paint (lead oxide) positively yes; Bullets left in body (metallic lead) almost no.

The push to ban lead bullets is based on bad science, but is based on pricing strategy: alternatives to lead are more expensive, and constitute a hidden tax on ammo.
 
rcmodel said:
There is no possible way a 40 grain bullet can accelerate away from unconfined 9.6 grain .22 shell casing and bury itself in a wood fence 1/4".
If you found a bullet buried 1/4" in the wood fence the next day?
It wasn't the same bullet from the .22 that went off in your friends pants.

Somebody shot that bullet out of a gun some other time before you found it.

rc
Click to expand...

It was confined... by his butt which formed around the 22 round.

Friend fell on his butt. 22lr went off in his back pocket.
Click to expand...

The bullet exited right about the bottom right corner of his right back pocket of his Levi jeans. Go sit on the ground and youll easily see how the primer area could get whacked while your butt conforms around the shell and that corner of the pocket is right at the point of being exposed.


jmr40:
If they found a bullet only 1/4" into a wood fence, and if it were shot from a gun, that gun was a LOOOG way from the fence when fired. A 40 gr 22 bullet will penetrate five 1" thick pine boards when fired from a rifle.
Click to expand...

5" of pine seems like a lot butt... I'm mean ... but... I agree in pinciple. It was probably ~ 1" thick plywood and it didnt have the benefit of built pressure afforded by a barrel.

I heard where it hit. It was easy to find and was about 1' - 1.5' up off the ground.

Thinking more about it...thinking back on the relation of the diameter vs depth.... it was probably no more than 1/8" deeper than flush and probably more like 1/16" deeper than flush.



RC, I know its not very believable and if I wasnt there 1st hand to witness it I would be skepticle too; just like with the above story. Possible? based on my 1st hand experience, yes. Likely? No.... just as my experience isnt likely to happen... but(t) it did.
 
5" of pine seems like a lot
Click to expand...

I have taught hunter safety classes since 1986. One of the safety video's which we used to show as part of the class had a slow motion segment showing the bullet penetrating the boards placed about 1" apart before entering a can of cola. It was used to illustrate that a 22 should be taken as serioulsy as any other gun.
 
jmr40 said:
I have taught hunter safety classes since 1986. One of the safety video's which we used to show as part of the class had a slow motion segment showing the bullet penetrating the boards placed about 1" apart before entering a can of cola. It was used to illustrate that a 22 should be taken as serioulsy as any other gun.
Click to expand...

Dont get me wrong... its not that I dont believe you.

My (step) brother died from a 22lr from a short barrel revolver. He died intantly according to the coroner. 22's are not to be treated lightly.

Ive shot many 10's of thousands....... but never through so many pine boards at once.

Seems like a lot... but totally beliveable based on my experience.
 
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