webbo Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 (edited) I've read several times about how racking the slide with a loaded chamber on certain guns has the potential to ignite the primer. I've seen many pictures of this and I've always ignored it. I thought this was one in a million stuff, and maybe it is, but my one came up today. Now I've still got all my fingers and my eyesight but it scared the poop out of me and, frankly, it hurts. After about 175 rounds at the range today I switched to a new load. A load I've never shot and I did not take the time to chamber check. I looked to my shooting buddy and said "I'm going to put about five of these down range to make sure my gun does not blow up." It was in jest, but now I feel stupid for saying it. The first shot was fine, the second didn't chamber. No big deal I thought, and I smacked the back of the slide, it still didn't chamber all the way. The slide was stuck. So I did what I've done many many times. I grabbed the slide with my left hand and jammed my right hand against the frame.....Boom. I was taken by surprise. It didn't hurt yet, but I knew something was wrong. I looked at my left hand and saw a bloodless hole with a hint of brass deeply imbedded. I said "We've got to go to the hospital." So we did. Another shooter helped us get our gear to the car (thank you) and we zoomed over to the ER. Never exceeding the speed limit.? By now the adrenaline was gone, the blood rushed out of my head and out of my finger. I was nauseous and starting to wonder what kind of damage my have been done to my hand. I only looked at it immediately after the detonation, and I really didn't know how bad it was. In hindsight, I overreacted. Look at the pics and think about the situation, it's easy to let your mind wander. As I've read many times... Don't put your hand over the ejection port. Learn from my, any many other mistakes. Aren't X-rays cool. Edited March 11, 2012 by webbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbo Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 The gun, undisturbed. This fits perfectly on my ejector. What they pulled out of my finger. There are many small cuts and minor burns. In short, it's shitty and I'm lucky. I'm not a new shooter. I'm not a stupid guy. I knew better. I may need help setting up for three gun next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Gundry Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I'm not a stupid guy. I knew better. Thats up for debate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Gundry Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Heal up fast! Glad you're okay. You just did this so I'd have to come help on the 18th, didn't you? I'd say walk it off, but you're probably too far into the scotch for that right now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbo Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 David you know me too well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snertley Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Dang man, that is a hell of a way to get out of setup. Heal quickly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I hope you heal quickly! I know that at UASC, my hand is behind the ejection port, but I think I need to review my tap-rack-bang drills in slow motion to make sure I don't have my hand over the ejection port. It's gotten to the point that I can do it automatically, but I don't know where hand is exactly on the slide. I'm hoping that I've still got my old training where most of my hand is over the sights and part of the slide behind the ejection port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpthole Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Holy crap!! I'm glad you're goIng to be alright. I talk about this kind of stuff in my classes, but I think most have that one-in-a-million attitude about it and pretty much brush it off. I may have to use your experience as an example. Get well soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimWarner Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Ouch, be glad that's a ring you don't take off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNRDSKYNRD Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Hope you heal up quickly, and I appreciate you sharing your experience. I will be using your story and photos to reinforce not covering the ejection port to my student shooters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Csiedmond1 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Ouch, glad your ok!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Texas Granny Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 All I can say is ...OUCH! Heal quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Very sorry to see this, but glad you are OK. At least it was only a few stitches which earned you this story. An old shooting buddy had this happen with a .38 super at a match while unloading and showing clear. A piece of the case shrapnel gave him a a nice surgical cut on the bottom part of his nose between his nostrils, but nothing imbedded. The ROs were ok, too. After that he had his ejector changed to a different shape (his was pretty pointy) and some of us learned to not do the cool rack-the-slide-and-catch-the-round-in-air trick. Your story again affirms that it is really best to keep all the body parts you like away from the ejection port (including the RO's face) when doing unloads and clearing jams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob DuBois Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Seen this a few times over the years, yours was one of the worst injurys, hope you have a complete recovery and thanks for the post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpspeed Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Glad to see it was not as bad as it could have been. I have been told that the best lessons we learn in life are the ones that cost the most. I bet you won't do that again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauWau Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Glad to hear you are OK. I am a relatively new shooter. Can you explain in more detail what happened and how it happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon b Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 That's a good size piece of brass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Stoeger Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Holy hell that looks bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Ouch.... I just sent a link to this thread to two of my shooting friends.... They always do this while I am standing beside them as a SO/RO too..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbs007 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Glad you're writing about it... could have been worse. Take care and get well, thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Primer Brand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbo Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 Please do use this to teach others, that's why I posted it. In truth it's kind of embarrassing, because I had been taught this too. Unfortunately for me I ignored it. Primer Brand? CCI, not that it matters all that much. I think an impact like that would have ignited just about any primer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PINMAN44 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Despite how embarrassed you feel, it is brave that you posted this. I sent this to some members of my club who refuse to believe that accidents can happen when you put your hand over the ejection port. I greatly appreciate you posting this, and this learning lesson for you has provided one for many people. Thank you, Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike cyrwus Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I did this three years ago in the shop, my hand was fwd of the port, but I still got some brass in my gut and in the back of my palm. hope you heal up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim/GA Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Had a club member mention seeing people covering the ejection port quite often during our Jan. match so during shooter's brief at the Feb. match I had warned about the possibility of a detonation. Some thanked me and changed what they were doing, others I am sure did not. LauWau, many people will cover the ejection port with part of their hand (or aim the port at someone/some part of themselves) when ejecting a live round. Some do this by grabbing the front of the slide, others by grabbing the rear of the slide with a sort of backward hand position, in either case when the live round is pulled back by the slide and ejector, it can end up off center and the primer can hit the ejector which can act like a firing pin. Since case is not supported by the chamber, the easiest place for the gases to go is out the side of the case. If your hand, face, RO, etc is there they can get hit by the pieces of the case, etc. Best bet is to grasp the rear of the slide with your hand BEHIND the slide, point the ejection port away from you and the RO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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