Safety Safety.............For GODS SAKE!!! SAFETY!!

[ww2farmer]

Guys.........just a reminder. Be safe. I type this after being the victim of a accidental discharge today while out shooting with friends. I was shot/grazed in the left arm by a 9mm round by a guy who was careless...............and NO I did NOT shoot myself!!  It's nothing more than a minor flesh wound, a hole in a sweatshirt sleeve, a little bleeding, and a lot of swearing, with some uneasy nerves right now. I'll spare naming names, as it was an accident, but lets just say this fellow messed up, and even being a "gun guy" had a brain fart.............a major brain fart!! It could have been much worse. The actual "wound" is laughable, but the situation is/was not. A few frog hairs closer and it wouldn't have been just a scratch............it's probably a miracle that it's even just a small gouge/scratch in my forearm as is.

A guy and I were on the firing line, plinking away at a steel plate with our pistols, when the target fell over. I held my arms out to show clear and call a cease fire, when the shooter who nicked me touched a round off from behind me while "clearing" his pistol, and it grazed my the underside of my forearm about an inch below the elbow. I heard the shot and felt nothing at first, but then as I turned around to give him the "what the heck are you doing man!!!" speech, I felt a slight burning sensation in my arm. I looked at my sleeve saw the holes, and ripped my sweatshirt off and saw a small nick and a little patch of blood and was like..............."holy crap that was WAY to close of a call". A few more swear words were tossed around, and I picked up my brass and left.

And now for the laughable pictures of said scratch...............Still...........it was a scary close call............that's my reeling arm LOL!!!

[A-Jay]

Glad you're OK.  You've Very Fortune indeed.

After many hours on several organized (insert military) ranges - your incident is exactly why as a retired from that stuff shooter, I really do prefer to shoot alone. 

A-Jay

[Bluebasser86]

I've seen some bad, bad brain farts on the range line at work during qualifications. I get nervous every year shooting with people I don't know. I got lasered really bad once, thankfully the guys gun was jammed and he was turning to show the instructor that his gun wasn't working. It happens every year, usually more than once, some agency will have someone shot and killed during range time from someone being careless. 

Glad you're okay, that could have been a serious disaster. 

[K_Mac]

Glad you weren't seriously hurt and thanks for posting. It is unbelievable how little attention some people pay to safety. I shoot alone or with a trusted friend most of the time for this reason. I have offended friends telling them how they handle their weapons is dangerous. The 4 Safety Rules have to be followed carefully or bad things happen. Not everyone gets it...

[buzzed bait]

WOW, forget about close or not... that's ridiculous!  Just goes to show you how easily a small mistake can have a HUGE impact. Honestly glad that's all you've got to show for it.  

Did you at least tell him you wanted him to buy you a new sweatshirt?  

[Crappiebasser]

Glad you're ok. I am surprised you think it's an "accident" though. After years of reading your posts I would think this would happen a lot. 

[ww2farmer]

3 hours ago, Crappiebasser said:

Glad you're ok. I am surprised you think it's an "accident" though. After years of reading your posts I would think this would happen a lot. 

Well, seems as it wasn't a bass resource member, my wife, or a co-worker...........I think it was an accident. LMAO

[I.rar]

At least you're here to tell us about it. 

That's ******* scary stuff, man. 

I usually go to an indoor range with automatic targets and always check my back after every magazine. Never had anything happen to make me do so but after reading so many similar stories, I made it a habit. 

Wow. 

He definitely should have bought you a new sweater at the very least. 

[clayton86]

17 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I've seen some bad, bad brain farts on the range line at work during qualifications. I get nervous every year shooting with people I don't know. I got lasered really bad once, thankfully the guys gun was jammed and he was turning to show the instructor that his gun wasn't working. It happens every year, usually more than once, some agency will have someone shot and killed during range time from someone being careless. 

Glad you're okay, that could have been a serious disaster. 

Muzzle awareness non existent. Every year we do our live fire ranges with guys infront of others with live rounds going down range and muzzle awareness is always drilled into our brains walk crawl run phases in dry, blank, live fires so you do it about 9 times at the minimum before the exercise is over. 

 

We we had a close call before our deployment on a night time "blank" run being dark the ammo point couldn't see the ammo or something couldn't feel the projectile or the weight difference from live to blank. Gave our 240 gunner a belt of live 7.62 ball for his 240 lined up to do a test fire of the belt fed weapons. One of the safety's took some shrapnel of the blank adapter as a 6-8rnd burst went down range.  

 

I wsnt ant on the line at the time but was in the chute to go shortly and remember hearing the rounds go and all of us stopped and knew live shots were fired and it was about to be a very long night. 

[Ratherbfishing]

Two "first's" of firearm safety:  Treat every firearm as though it was loaded and NEVER point the firearm at anything you do not (or would not) intend to shoot at.  i'm really not sure what is so HARD about these two rules.

Glad to know the outcome was not worse.  

[desmobob]

I'm with A-Jay... to be safe, shoot alone!  That knucklehead could have killed you.  You are a lucky man!

Tight lines,

Bob

[slonezp]

Glad you're ok.

I haven't been to a range in awhile. My buddy has property in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin and we shoot one at a time. If I get hurt I can only blame myself.

[loudcherokee]

Well let me be the first to say that it's a good thing it was just a puny 9mm and not a .45acp or you may be missing that arm.

All jokes aside, glad you're ok and this is one of the reasons I stopped going to public ranges. Just too many people out there that don't know what they're doing and don't understand the repurcussions of failing at gun safety.

LC

[scottyboy]

"WOW, I don't consider it luck, I consider that blessed"!   People need to learn to keep their booger hook off the bang switch!   

[Russ E]

glad you are ok.

I am member of a local indoor range. spend a lot of time there when it is cold out.

I have seen a lot of brain farts. worst I have seen is a bullet ricocheting off the wall, because someone did not know how to use their gun. 

fortunately there is a very good range officer on staff. any careless activity gets you banned.

one other thing this range has implemented is all guns have to be in your booth.  No messing with the guns while behind anyone.

 

 

[thinkingredneck]

I drive past two ranges to get to one where I trust the range officer.  Safety lesson reminder before shooting.

[optimator]

Glad you're OK man. I shoot 3 gun & USPSA. Gun safety is of HUGE importance to me. If it were me, I'd have knocked his teeth down his throat. And on the other hand, it sounds like lack of situational awareness on your behalf. How was someone handling a weapon behind you on the firing line? I'm not beating up on you, it's just there are idiots everywhere.... Like the clown with a loaded gun behind the firing line. You always have to watch for that guy. Again, I'm glad you're OK!