OUCH!

Person shot at Cheshire shooting range
Created On: Saturday, 27 Dec 2008, 4:59 PM EST
Cheshire (WTNH) - A person was taken to the hospital after what police call an accidental shooting at a firing range. It happened at New Departure Fish and Game Club at 625 Cook Hill Road.

Few details are available right now, but police call it an isolated incident. Cheshire police said the injured person was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital.

In another article in the New Haven Register it was claimed the person shot himself in the hand.

Neither of the above articles can be retrieved from the appropriate websites.

The Reality: The "accidental shooting" was in fact a catastrophic failure of the firearm. The injured shooter was shooting offhand the first round of the day from a friend's Marlin 1895 .450 cal scoped rifle with reload rounds. The friend was an experienced reloader having done work for others and PDs. Upon firing, the gun literally exploded. The forearm disintegrated, butt separated from the receiver, barrel separated from the receiver, the feed tube was found several feet in front of the firing position, and the barrel exploded banana peeling in three segments. The shooter experienced severe damage to his left (forearm) hand severing an artery with pieces of the forearm inbedded. There was no loss of fingers. Investigation was made by Cheshire police and the firearm sent to the State Police for investigation. No determination has been made as to the reason for the firearm failure. While this may be called an " isolated incident" any occurrence of this type is extraordinarily rare.

quote:

first round of the day from a friend's Marlin 1895 .450 cal scoped rifle with reload rounds. The friend was an experienced reloader having done work for others and PDs. Upon firing, the gun literally exploded.

There are several key statements here

1. The rifle did not belong to the shooter

2. The shooter was shooting reloaded ammo

3. The reloader loaded for police department (assuming has also used pistol powders)

The most common error in reloading is insufficient powder and driving a bullet into the rifling and jamming it.....the next round then blows up the gun.

There is also a possibility of the wrong powder inadvertently being used.

Based on the data presented these two scenerios are the most likely.

Vapo's post has a lot of possible reasons with which I agree. It could also have been just plain ignorance at work, not an accident.

I am constantly amazed at the number of police officers who seem to assume expertise in firerms and ammunition, apparently because they they have been issued a badge.

I know of several locally whose shooting related actions literally scare me away from them. One for instance brought a Model 29 into the shop missing the top strap and the tops blown/cracked off of three chambers of the cylinder.

Detailed questioning led to the info that he had started reloading a few months vbefore, and in that instance had filled the cases with "pistol powder". Apparently his buddies loaded pretty much that way, except they were using Hercules 2400 or something even slower burning. He was using Bullseye. It is "pistol powder", right?

But, as Vapo pointed out, using another man's reloads is generally a risky business. Especially if one hasn't seen HIM firing them.

They are good sources of components when torn down, but I have to know the man better than my own family members before I'll actually shoot them.