Shooting Fatalities at the Range

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Rockchucker

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As a certified instructer, I am frequently engaged in discussions with fellow shooters regarding the relative safety of the various shooting sports. In my memory, I can recall an article in Precision Shooting magazine about a bench rest competitor who accidently killed his wife while trying to tap a stuck loaded round out of the chamber from the muzzle end (with his cleaning rod). I also saw an article about a guy who was using a muzzle mounted bore sighter and accidently fired a round with the bore sighter still in place. He was killed when the bore obstruction blew up the rifle. Would anyone have links to these stories or similar documented "at the range" accidents.

As a long time trapshooter, high power rifle competitor, USPSA, IDPA and 3-gun competitor, I have always heard that fatal accidents NEVER happen at ranges.

I'm not trying to dredge up horror stories or glorify someone elses misery, just trying to document some actual situations (Not internet blog, You-tube type fiction) that could be used for educational purposes.

Thanks, Mike
 
not a death but last year a guy had a new scope on his gun and no one told him about eye relief, he was looking through the scpope like you would a pair of binoclours, only one shot and needed stiches over his eye.
 
I've heard about the woman who was killed when the case her husband was trying to tap out of a BR rifle chamber struck her in the chest - bolts are removed from BR rifles not actually being fired. I've also seen pictures of the rifle the guy forgot to remove the laser bore sighter from. He wasn't killed, the bolt and action were still intact, but he sure ruined the barrel.

I've also personally seen accidents and the remains of accidents from stupidity, case failures, and the like. A trio of guys with a muzzle loading rifle had one guy's hand badly burned when the rifle discharged while he was ramming the powder. Either there was an ember in the barrel or it was cocked and a cap on the nipple. The ramrod remained stuck in the roof over the firing line for quite awhile. Other people have fired the wrong cartridge (.280/7mm Rem Express in a 7 Rem Mag) in their rifle and wrecked the rifle, and others.

Never heard of anyone being killed accidentally except for the one woman though. I'd say a person is more likely to be killed driving to and from the range than at the range.
 
Tho deaths in Memphis TN. One was an accidend where a guy shot himself in his car in the parking lot outside the range and was found dead some hours later. Another when a shooter at an indoor range had a really bad miss and a bullet somehow bounced back off a moving target frame mechanism and hit the shooter in the head.
A third in Mississippi where a female shooter prematurely fired a Glock 9mm on the draw during an IDPA match causing a minor flesh wound to the fatty part of the thigh.
 
At a benchrest event a few years back, an instructor was showing students how to determine the proper bullet jam, and he used a piece of cleaning rod to knock out the bullet.

He was talking, and forgot the cleaning rod was in the bore. He fired a round, and enough gas and stuff came back through the bolt to send a jet of plasma and debris into his brain. He told people to call an ambulance, but he was dead at the hospital. They found the section of rod, with the bullet jacket around it, about 40 yards downrange.
 
Those are all news to me. I did see an accident at a pistol match. A guy was clearing his pistol after finishing his stage and put his hand over the ejection port to catch the ejected round. The primer hit the ejector and it set off the round, going through the web of his hand. Not really all that serious, but could have been.
 
The range treasurer where I joined recently said a guy accidently killed himself a few years back. The indoor range used to be setup so you had to walk downrange to hang targets. He was squeezing the clip on the hanger while his fingers were in the guns trigger gurad. Immensely stupid. Bullet went through the top of his shoulder near the collar bone, and came out on the opposite side of his back near the side.
He made it to the phone and called 911 and bled out shortly after paramedics arrived. Now the range has the hangers on hand cranked lines. So the guy violated all of the 4 rules, and brought the loaded gun downrange unholstered which is against range rules. I don't know why anybody would ever squeeze a clip with the same fingers hanging through the gun by the trigger guard. Could have easily been avoided.
 
I've known for a fact of some suicides over the years at ranges in my area.
Click to expand...

That has happened at several ranges where you can rent a gun.
Just like it happens where tall buildings have observation decks.
 
One of my forebearers died in the 1840s or '50s in a blackpowder-pistol mishap, I'm pretty sure. I want to say that this happened at Clemson, but they weren't founded until 1889. Dammit, I wish I'd written this thing down!
 
i saw some pics posted a few months back of a pistol round that when fired the case ejected with enough force to hit the roof overhead then fell back down with enough force to detonate the primer on an unfired round that was sitting in the box on the shelf next to the shooter...

i dont think anyone got hurt, but it scared the hell out of the guy...
 
One of the bigwigs at Navy Arms died when his 6mm Remington Lee straight pull exploded at the range a couple years back.
 
One fatality on the range I work. It was before I started.

A woman walked in, rented a gun, then went in and shot 49 rounds. The 50th (and last) round, she turned on herself.

She'd chosen the lane furthest to the left, and she held the gun to her head from the right, so the exiting bullet did not hit anyone else. I suppose that was a small bit of consideration amidst the selfishness and malice she left others to clean up.

I later found out that she'd been diagnosed with several personality disorders, and that she'd told her friends she was going shooting. You'd think a bunch of liberal-arts college graduates could have added two and two.

I'm to understand this happens very often in California, and that most ranges there will not allow solitary people to rent guns.
 
at my local range a few years ago. a guy was loading a marlin 60 he had the tube out and was dropping in the bullets when his son pulled the triger. Bullet went right through his hand. I started having problems with mine so i stopped shooting it. But everytime i took it to that range one of the range officers would always look over my gun when i went to load it to make sure it not only was on safety but the bolt was pulled back and held open.
 
Thanks for the info. It is exactly what I was looking for. I think that as shooters, we would like to pretend that these things don't happen. My opinion is that these stories need to be told just to keep us on our toes. Some of the worse gun handling that I have seen has been by very experienced shooters who, through familiarity, have lost their respect for the gun.

At USPSA and IDPA matches, I have given the "shooter ready" command many times, only to be stopped by a shooter saying "no" they were not ready and that they were nervous. My reply is always that if you aren't a little nervous, you have lost respect for the gun......

I have a disagreement with one of the clubs that I belong to. They require that the range access gate be closed and locked if you are using the range (to keep non-members out). I use the example of: you are at the range and your son is accidently wounded. You immediately call 911 on your cell phone and put pressure on the wound. Who is going to unlock the gate and let the paramedics in.....you???

Thanks again, Mike
 
Just becarefull how you mention this stuff. This is the things that the brady org would just love to get there hands on.
 
There was one I heard about (sorry, don't remember specifics about when or where) where a guy went to an indoor range, rented an AMT automag in .44mag and ended up accidentally shooting himself in the head. They figured the gun came up in full recoil and he accidentally pulled the trigger again.
Just becarefull how you mention this stuff. This is the things that the brady org would just love to get there hands on.
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True but it's no secret that guns are capable of hurling hunks of metal at extreme velocities and the utmost care and safety is required. The VAST majority (if not all) are accidents caused by not following all 4 rules. Fatal accidents have, can, and will happen with guns, cars, power tools, electricity, knives, and a few thousand other things.
 
not doubting the story, just curious as I'm obviously missing something, but in regards to this story:
I've heard about the woman who was killed when the case her husband was trying to tap out of a BR rifle chamber struck her in the chest
Click to expand...
If he was at the muzzle end tapping out the case, how was the wife killed, and not him, unless he was to the side of the muzzle, and she was in front, or the case detonated somehow and she was near the breach and got shrapnel? Just wondering real quick and breif what happened there.
 
I'm sure you all mean well, and are even reasonably sure that you're repeating true and actual incidents, but I detect a (perhaps) complete lack of names, dates, times, locations, and newspaper or television reports to comfirm the veracity of these accounts.

Sorry folks, sounds like BS.
 
Well mine wasnt first hand info. This was told to me by a range officer. The guy had a hand wound. Other than that i have not heard anything either. im sure if you do a search in google you will find real events with news stuff. just im not too sure i would want to be reading that stuff
 
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