Pdoyle Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 How NOT to hold a revolver! A St. Louis, Missouri guy on my AR-15 forum had a bad accident with his S&W 460XVR Magnum yesterday. He was shooting with a two handed hold and got his left thumb up near the lower front of the cylinder. The normal (powerful) gasses blowing out at the barrel/cylinder gap ripped the top of his left thumb off. I've added some of his posts & some pics. S&W 460XVR Magnum 460XVR blew my thumb off today! No joke, about 1/2 of my left thumb is gone ... what's left is a friggin mess. It's pretty hard to type, and I'm only posting because you never know, it might save somebody else a thumb. I was using a 2-handed grip, fired off a Cor-Bon DPX .460 and the blast came violently out the side of the gun. At first my thumb was so covered in blood that I couldn't see how bad it was ... and I was full of adrenaline and felt no pain. And honestly it looked really bad, my whole hand was covered in blood and it was kinda gushing. The blown-off thumb was on my support hand. I'll re-create the grip tomorrow to see where my thumb was, but it's not like I didn't already know not to get any body part near the cylinder gap. And even if I totally screwed up and did, taking my thumb clean off seems a bit excessive? Just be careful with those 460's. That case operates at such high pressure, it's just asking for trouble. BTW, I bought my 460 new and had exactly 12 rounds through it. Info about the gun, it's a full-size 460 with the 8 3/4' barrel and factory installed compensator. It's one of the Whitetails Unlimited models. Ammo was 200gr Cor-Bon DPX. The gun only had 12 or 13 rounds of the Cor-Bon through it, and 10 .45 Long Colt rounds through it. So it was essentially still brand new. Saw a hand specialist while there today. Lots of ways to try and save what's left, but first I just have to hope it doesn't get infected in the next few days ... then surgery early next week. The hand specialist I spent a few hours with last night said that in gunshot wounds there is always a lot more damage than is first visible ... same with things like fireworks going off in your hand. A lot more flesh around the wound is dead, and will rot and fall off over the next couple days. That's why it's so important to keep clean, and that's also why they can't do surgery now. If they wrapped new skin over dead skin it would just puss out, possibly turn gang-green, and they'd have to start all over again. This is an example of how he was holding his revolver. Wrong, wrong, wrong! This is what's left of his thumb. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How NOT to hold a revolver! A St. Louis, Missouri guy on my AR-15 forum had a bad accident with his S&W 460XVR Magnum yesterday. He was shooting with a two handed hold and got his left thumb up near the lower front of the cylinder. The normal (powerful) gasses blowing out at the barrel/cylinder gap ripped the top of his left thumb off. I've added some of his posts & some pics. S&W 460XVR Magnum 460XVR blew my thumb off today! No joke, about 1/2 of my left thumb is gone ... what's left is a friggin mess. It's pretty hard to type, and I'm only posting because you never know, it might save somebody else a thumb. I was using a 2-handed grip, fired off a Cor-Bon DPX .460 and the blast came violently out the side of the gun. At first my thumb was so covered in blood that I couldn't see how bad it was ... and I was full of adrenaline and felt no pain. And honestly it looked really bad, my whole hand was covered in blood and it was kinda gushing. The blown-off thumb was on my support hand. I'll re-create the grip tomorrow to see where my thumb was, but it's not like I didn't already know not to get any body part near the cylinder gap. And even if I totally screwed up and did, taking my thumb clean off seems a bit excessive? Just be careful with those 460's. That case operates at such high pressure, it's just asking for trouble. BTW, I bought my 460 new and had exactly 12 rounds through it. Info about the gun, it's a full-size 460 with the 8 3/4' barrel and factory installed compensator. It's one of the Whitetails Unlimited models. Ammo was 200gr Cor-Bon DPX. The gun only had 12 or 13 rounds of the Cor-Bon through it, and 10 .45 Long Colt rounds through it. So it was essentially still brand new. Saw a hand specialist while there today. Lots of ways to try and save what's left, but first I just have to hope it doesn't get infected in the next few days ... then surgery early next week. The hand specialist I spent a few hours with last night said that in gunshot wounds there is always a lot more damage than is first visible ... same with things like fireworks going off in your hand. A lot more flesh around the wound is dead, and will rot and fall off over the next couple days. That's why it's so important to keep clean, and that's also why they can't do surgery now. If they wrapped new skin over dead skin it would just puss out, possibly turn gang-green, and they'd have to start all over again. This is an example of how he was holding his revolver. Wrong, wrong, wrong! This is what's left of his thumb. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pdoyle Posted February 21, 2008 Author Share Posted February 21, 2008 I have photos on email if you really want to see them. Give me an IM and I will ship them to you. pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Man, I have shot a LOT of rounds through my 625 that way... Glad I never tried that 500 when I had the chance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plinker625 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 (edited) Makes a person think, and I have my thumb forward, but I index on the engraving on the frame about mid cylinder on the 625. Adds new meaning to it slices and dices! Edited February 21, 2008 by plinker625 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooterj Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=60567 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sinko Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Here we have a "revolver" which fires a cartridge that really belongs in a rifle. So maybe the shooter was trying to hold the gun like it was a rifle? I can't see the pics, so I'm offering a guess. I don't understand how this could've happened any other way. I have been shooting large caliber magnum revolvers for years and have never had any thumb issues. Dave Sinko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nphd2000 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 When did your friend have this accident? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigtex84 Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I fire my 340pd with my thumb past the cylinder all the time nothing has ever happened to me yet, I guess I will have to rethink my grip a little. I saw the thread on arfcom but there are also videos on youtube of someone testing this theory with hotdogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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