Guy shot himself in the leg today at the range we were at

punkur67

Well-Known Member
Apr 12, 2014
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A guy shot himself in the leg today while we were at a local range. Hot brass went down his shirt. Looked like he arched his back and lowered the gun straight down and he shot the back of his leg. It went in the back of his calf and out by his shin.

He was in the 25 yard and we were in the 50. We were walking out and he was in the hallway bleeding everywhere looking for help. My wife (an RN) sat him down to keep him calm till the staff came in to start first aid

I wanted to share this to keep people on their toes and be aware of shooters around you at the range. That could have easily been worse or another shooter hit. I really try to keep an eye on others around me to know who is a risk or not to the best of my abilities.

The range staff was all over it and handled the situation quickly and professionally.
 
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Thanks for sharing. It’s not clear to me how exactly he managed to shoot himself in the leg. It’s obvious he didnt follow some basic gun safety rules. First he did not follow the number one gun safety rule - always keep a gun pointing in a safe direction. Second he had his finger on the trigger (at least I’m assuming that). Finger should stay off the trigger until you are going to fire the weapon. There are other safe errors too but those two are probably the most critical he failed to follow. Hope he’s ok and hope he and people around him learn from the incident.
 
Another is those shooting semi auto need to put up the screen. I have been hit by the ejected cartridge before.
 
I will never forget the first time I had an ejected hot 5.56 casing go down my neck to my mid back in Boot Camp. Excruciating as it was, I made a mental vow then to never let Hot Brass upset me into moving or jerking suddenly and losing my composure. I have had plenty of hot casings in different calibers down me back over the years and kept that vow from doing something unsafe as a result.
 
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I was out shooting with a good friend one time and he bent down and picked up one of my just ejected shells, well, he dropped it right away and stood there shaking his hand, I asked him if it was hot, he said no, it just doesn't take me long to look at empties. :joy:
 
We were there in the showroom, and saw him getting wheeled out. Saw you and your wife attending to him. Thanks, you two were pretty cool headed. We thought he had been practicing fast drawing from a holster.
 
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It's a pure wonder that he didn't shoot anyone else. Couple years back I went to a local range and there was kids running behind the shooting line bumping into the people on an active indoor 100 yd range. Parents just stated kids will be kids and the range safety officer didn't do anything. I will never shoot at that range again and sad it's popular in San Diego East County.
 

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