Teen Injures Self with .22 Cartridge

[S&WIowegan]

Two threads?

It seems we have broken the original story into two directions. One is can a cartridge cause damage if ignited outside a firearm? We have innumerable examples that it sure as heck can!

The other facet is do we believe it happened the way numb n*tz said it did. Could an unsupported cartridge fire a bullet into the guy's foot? Most of us who have experimented (done dumb things) don't think you can shoot yourself in the foot without a gun. The guy is LYING.

Bob.

 

[the naked prophet]

Even a hollowpoint .22 LR has a good chance of going clean through somebody's foot if it's fired from a pistol. If the bullet is lodged in there, either it hit a bone, or wasn't moving particularly fast to begin with.

And as to those who say that he is so stupid he should remove himself from the gene pool: half the posters on this thread have done something like that, though most have had better luck than this guy.

While it's certainly possible he's lying about it, there's an equally good chance he's not.

When holding a .22 cartridge in a pair of pliers or vice grips, and hitting it with a hammer, where is it pointed if you didn't think about where it's pointed? That's right - at your feet.

I would also like to point out that if the pressures in a .22 case could rupture the brass... then it wouldn't be a rimfire, would it? The rim is the thinnest part of the brass, due to the stamping method of manufacture, and if that doesn't rupture, then the case probably won't either, especially without a barrel holding that pressure back.

I noticed I had a pair of pliers that had a shape which fit a .22 cartridge pretty darn well. I stuck one in there and hit it with a hammer, taking pains to point it in a safe direction. It did pretty well, almost as well as a short barreled mini revolver. The case barely even expanded to the toothed shape of the pliers grip. It did not rupture.

 

[AJAX22]

While I lean towards the bs on this, it would be possible to use pliars that fit the contours of the bullet closely to achieve the desired results.

As far as bullets exploding in the fire, the danger isn't from the lead but from the brass casing.

I have a few in my colleciton somewhere that I found at the beach, the casing on a .22 when heated to ignition is soft enough that it opens like a flower and goes slicing through the air. it seems that if the bullet is nose down into the fire the brass goes alot further.

If the brass was supported well enough by a close fitting pair of pliars, maby a set of small hog ring pliars (not sure if thats the right name). it could discharge hard enough to fire.

I know we used to make wooden zip guns by drilling a close fitting hole in a piece of oak and slipping a .22 into it. we would set them off with a hammer or shooting the back with a bb gun.

we never pointed them at our feet of course, but I have to beileve that a pair of correctly shaped pliars would create a the scenario the guy describes.

An ND from a pos jennings would be alot more likely however.

 

[CSA 357]

I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH A GUY THAT DID THIS , BUT BE PUT THE 22 IN A VISE THE LEAD PART ANY WAY AND HIT IT WITH A HAMMER! THE LEAD STAYED IN THE VISE, BUT THE BRASS CASE HIT HIM IN THE NOSE, OR SOME SHARP PIECES OF IT ANY WAY I DONT THINK HE EVER GOT ALL OF THEM OUT, HE WAS THE KIND OF KID THAT WAS ALWAYS WANTING TO DO SOMETHING CRAZY! THE LAST I HEARD OF HIM HE WAS COOKING METH AND BLEW HIS EYE OUT!*CSA*

 

[buzz_knox]

I have always been told that a round going off without a chamber, etc. would more-or-less 'pop' like a 1" firecracker. I've never personally seen this ( and was never stupid enough to attempt it myself ) but the idea and the physics behind it seem to make sense. My first thoughts after reading it is that the story is probably some sort of Bravo Sierra concocted for the LEO's who showed up at the hospital to investigate a gunshot wound.

I agree there is more to this story, I just wanted to give you the results of a "science experiment" (i.e. stupid kid stunt). If one wraps the exposed ends of an extension cord around a .22 shell, insert the shell bullet first into gravel, and then plug the cord into an outlet, you will see an extremely bright flash from the cartridge and one of the loudest sounds you're likely to survive hearing. Oh, and there will be no evidence of said bullet or casing . . . and a whole lot of burn marks around the outlet.

 

[jersey_emt]

The worst I've done as a kid was taking a .22 LR cartridge and pulling out the bullet. The gunpowder would be poured into a little pile and lit, making a nice big flame for a second or two as the powder burned. Then I would take the empty case and whack the rim with a small hammer, which sounded like a small firecracker (a bit louder than a "ladyfinger" firecracker). I never had the nerve/stupidity to whack a cartridge complete with powder and bullet.

We'll never know if the kid was telling the truth and had a cartridge in a vice, or if he was actually shot from a .22 LR pistol.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Did he think that the hammer strike would rain down puppies and ice cream?

 

[Archie]

Having done some experimentation... ahem...

There's something more to the story.

It could be the young man in question is holding back or not being forthcoming, and it could be the reporter is unaware of the details. (Like that never happens.)

With all respect to 1911 Tuner, a chamber only is much more efficient in directing pressure than an unsupported case. There is a fair amount of information in various books and magazines and I'm not going to cite them all here. A length of old style automobile antenna will accept a .22 long rifle case with some slop. It will channel the force sufficiently to propel a bullet. This is the basis for an old fashioned 'zip gun'.

Under the circumstances posited by some (AJAX22 at least) as holding the case tight in snugly fitting pliers, the effect would be to give some support to the sides of the case and it might, might generate more pressure than a totally unsupported case. Still, for the bullet to discharge with sufficient velocity to penetrate a foot? I'm skeptical. It might be a bit of the case, and the reporter simply wrong.

Several questions remain to me.

Was the young man wearing shoes, or barefoot?
What exactly penetrated the foot in question? The projectile or a bit of case?
If a projectile, are rifling marks evident?
How deep was the wound?

Finally, as Cordex points out; this kid is a wimp. I'd have pulled the projectile out with tweezers or something, cleaned out the wound with iodine or alcohol or something, bandaged it up and kept my yap shut. The kid is a dope as well. I've done some pretty edgy experimental work and never shot any part of my body with any fragments at all. There's a difference between 'experimentation' and 'stupid'.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

This thread is from 2006!

Start a new one if you wish, but please don't drag old threads up from the dead.