Today's safety topic ... DO NOT use a live .50 BMG cartridge as a pin punch!!

[MCMXI]

I was at a military range yesterday and saw the flier in the link on the wall at Range Control. This is a good reminder of the energy stored in ammunition, particularly the .50 BMG cartridge. When the case wall isn't constrained during ignition, VERY bad things can happen.

CAUTION: VERY graphic image in THIS .pdf link!! If you feel that a .pdf file poses a security risk to you or your computer then DO NOT click on the link!

Here's a link to a JPEG image of the injury in question if you're worried about downloading a .pdf file.

 

[Mp7]

a link that contains a pdf is a safety issue. Dont do that please.

 

[MoDerN_WarRioR]

Ohhh Boy! That is a Very graphic pic! Poor guy! (Yes i was warned... but it was like a red button that just needed to be pushed. I had to see!)

Gotta think with your head before doing something dangerous like that. I know a kid that blew his hand apart with a C02 cartridge. Looked alot like that!

Be safe people!!

 

[C-grunt]

Yeah I saw that a week or two ago. How much powder does a BMG contain? Its gotta be like 200 grains or so.

 

[taliv]

my favorite load was 230 grains and it wasn't "hot"

 

[unit91]

I feel sorry for the guy, but good grief talk about lapse in judgment.

 

[EdLaver]

Thats his own fault for being so stupid. Tapping or hammering something with the primer of a bullet? How much sense does that make?

 

[fireman 9731]

Yikes.

 

[JoeMal]

Oh

My

God


I bet that hurt

 

[highorder]

Seems that someone here made mention of this very incident a week or so ago...

Live rounds make poor hammers. Ask Bugs Bunny.

 

[Maverick223]

Seems that someone here made mention of this very incident a week or so ago...

Yep in the "dumbest thing you have seen at the range" thread IIRC. Tragic incident, but a good lesson in thinking before you act and common sense nonetheless.

 

[MATTHEW QUIGLEY]

I hope he passed out instantly.

 

[rodensouth]

Looking at that made ME want morphine. Yikes!

 

[springfield30-06]

wow, that sucks. If you couldn't hit the pin in with a rock what would make someone think that a .50BMG round would be better??

 

[DIM]

did he get purple heart?, looks like he did get permanent disability...

 

[Justin Holder]

You only get purple hart if you are wounded by the enemy, not your own stupidity.

 

[DIM]

that was a joke, sorry didn't say smile

 

[Kentucky_Rifleman]

I remember Dad teaching me just how potent guns could be so I wouldn't be tempted to play with any of the guns in the house. He set a watermelon on a stump in the backyard and hit it with a load of 12 gauge #4 turkey shot from about 15 feet away.

I didn't handle a gun without my Dad or another adult around until I was 10 or 11 and had thoroughly learned safe gun handling.

It left an impression I'll never forget.

Even at age seven I understood that cartridges were dangerous if mishandled.

Poor guy.

KR

 

[gb0399]

I saw a similar incident to this one where a soldier was re-linking .50 cal rounds. He slid them into the links and was then pushing them in tight by pushing the base of the cartridge against the edge of the ASP table. Similar results to his hand.

 

[speaksoftly]

:banghead:

 

[gb0399]

Sig P226r .40, Sig P229 SCT .40, Smith and Wesson M&P .40, Smith and Wesson M&Pc .40 w/ Crimson Trace Grips, Kel Tec PF-9 , Mossberg 590A1 w/ Surefire Forend, Smith and Wesson MP15T w/ Eotech 557.AR223

What is name all the guns you own?

 

[CoRoMo]

I'm not in the mood to look at the linked photo. I'm guessing the guy was holding the round with one hand, tapping on the base with a hammer in the other hand, trying to tap a pin out of place with the nose of the bullet. Hammer detonates the primer, and the hand holding the round is history. Is that it in a nutshell?

 

[RP88]

hand is there, fingers aren't. At least most of them aren't...

 

[gb0399]

those pins are really hard to put in. He should have used a 20mm.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

This goes with the topic. My brother's friend was sizing pulled .50 cal bullets though a die that allows you to push the bullet up through the die with the ram of the press. Often, pulled bullets get out of round, and have pull marks, so this is a pretty standard operation. However, one got stuck, and "the operator" forgot he was working with INCENDIARY bullets, and decided to hammer it DOWN to push it out of the die. Yeah, you guessed it. Bullet detonates, and he gets abig surprise. Amazingly, he and all his eyes and fingers are here today, still attached and working as they should.