Woman shoots self in leg after hot shell falls into shirt

[Janq]

Agreed, hot brass is not that hot at all and it cools nearly in an instant even when in contact with otherwise sensitive skin.
Jumpy thin skinned reactionary like people FTLegshot.

- Janq

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[HotGuns]

It aint all that hot ?

I took the Youth Pastor from my church to the range for an afternoon of shooting. He was shooting a Colt .45 that he had just got. The range required eye and ear protection. I gave him a pair of saftey glasses to wear. He was shooting and a hot piece of brass stuck in between his cheek and satey glasses.

He did what we call the "Brass dance" on the range but did manage to keep the gun downrange. By the time he placed the gun on the table and got the piece of brass out, he had been burned. He mentioned that it was hot and we both continued shooting.

When he came to church the next day, I was amazed. He had a sizable second degree burn complete with blister right where that brass had hung up.

It may not feel so hot when it just hits you and bounces off, but if it stays there it can and will leave a blister...escpecially in those "soft spots". He had the witness mark to prove it and spent the rest of the morning explaining it....

[buckeye .45]

I have a scar on my left forearm from an .22 casing when I was helping my dad sight in his rifle. I wasn't thinking and set up to his right instead of left. Cases are hot, and do kinda hurt. At least she only had a "minor leg wound" and didn't do anything more serious like severe an artery or shoot someone else. It would be interesting to know how much previous shooting experience she had, too bad she got hurt, hopefully she gets more training and doesnt quit shooting.

[rocky]

yep, a guy I soot with got a piece of brass stuck between the safety glasses and his temple. Left a good burn on him too.

[PaulG]

Several years ago, I took a 12 week IPSC beginning shooters course.

The instructor was dead serious about safety; as he should be.

He made it clear that safety violations would be met with harsh language but a second violation would be met with "thank you for coming but now you should try golf because you are out of here".

He talked about hot brass and other minor injuries but really drilled the safety concept.

What he drilled into us was something like this: I don't care if you fall into a barracade during the course, hit your eye on a nail, or rip your arm off. That is NOTHING compared to the hell you will go through if you screw up and shoot another person.

Well I guess it worked. Some time later I was shooting the old Kimber and a .45 ACP brass ejected to land between my glasses and my eye lid. (I now wear a ball cap when shooting).

I thought: WOW, that hurts! I changed religions 3 times, made up 5 new cuss words and calmly placed my trigger finger along side of the slide, unloaded the gun, layed it down, retrieved the brass and continued my cussing.

I guess practice really works.

I hope she has learned a valuable lesson and continues to shoot after her recovery.

[HotGuns]

I thought: WOW, that hurts! I changed religions 3 times, made up 5 new cuss words and calmly placed my trigger finger along side of the slide, unloaded the gun, layed it down, retrieved the brass and continued my cussing.

You didnt get "happy feet" and do the DANCE ?

[PaulG]

You didnt get "happy feet" and do the DANCE ?

Nope, no happy feet. I was concentrating too hard on keeping the muzzle down range. However, mentally I was dancing all over the place

Fred Astaire would have been proud!

[kairo]

I, too, have gotten burns from assorted casings. Most noticeably, a bad .40 that spewed gas in my face and put the spent shell down my shirt where it ended up pressed against my chest. It hurt alot, and I also invented a few very colorful cuss words. I was outside, by myself, in the hills, and haden't ever prepared for such a situation before. I half-panicked and ended up dropping the mag, racking the slide, and dropping the gun in the dirt while simultaneously tearing my shirt off and scrambling for a water bottle for my eyes (Yes, I even had eye protection on). Since then I've mentally prepared myself for that every time I shoot. I've had a couple more shells go down my shirt, and though painful, I've never done anything but calmly wait for the pain to subside.