If you shoot often at all, especially at an indoor range, you’ve probably experienced it. A hot empty case ejects from your pistol, bounces off the lane divider and right back at you. Usually it just hits you and caroms off. Sometimes it finds its way between your glasses and your cheek (ask me how I know). And occasionally one will worm its way down inside your shirt.
This is why, when taking new shooters to the range, we always caution them not to wear sandals. Women shouldn’t wear v-neck or low cut shirts. Hot brass in the cleavage or between your toes isn’t fun and can cause a new shooter to react dangerously while holding a firearm.
But no matter what you’re wearing, Murphy has a way of asserting himself and you can end up with a chunk of hot metal between your clothing and your skin. An unidentified man was recently shooting in a northeast Ohio indoor range when a scalding hot casing found its way inside his shirt. That’s when the real problems began.
He reacted poorly, to say the least. Maybe it was the first time he’d experienced that. Or maybe he’d been lucky in the past. Whatever, he began to dance around, trying to dislodge the hot case and apparently forgot he was holding a handgun.
Fox8.com reported and had the video . . .
“The video shows that he is shooting a 9 mm automatic and when he shot, he ejected the shell and it went right down the back of his shirt. So, because that’s hot — it’s brass — he started to move around and his other hand just came and the gun discharged and went through his cheek and out the top part of his other cheek,” the sheriff said.
It all happens pretty quickly in the video above. As the sheriff notes, the unidentified man lost all control of the gun in his hand once he felt the brass inside his shirt. His only thought was dealing with the case that was burning him. Meanwhile, he failed to keep the pistol pointed down range, left his finger on the trigger, muzzled himself, and, ultimately, pulled the trigger.
According to the report, the man was incredibly lucky. The bullet apparently entered through one cheek and exited trough the other. It’s a miracle he wasn’t more seriously injured or killed.
While all of the four cardinal gun safety rules are important, probably none is as critical as maintaining muzzle discipline. If your gun is always pointed in a safe direction — even with hot brass in your shirt — a negligent discharge may be embarrassing, but it won’t ruin your day. Or your life.
This was not a training failure. He shot until the threat stopped. Just think about it – once the first bullet went through his face he was no longer concerned about the hot brass in his shirt!
The sheriff said it was a 9mm automatic. Nice. We aren’t allowed to shoot automatics at my range. Is he sure that the gun was an automatic? I’m sure it was, because he stressed “education” in his interview. (I expected the reporter to say that, not him. )
Also funny: “It’s hot and it’s brass”? That’s why the Lone Ranger used silver bullets. They’re not as hot as brass….lol. If I could only find silver bullets, then I could wear my low v-neck t-shirts. Yep, just got off work and I need an air conditioner….now.
“Automatic” is a valid, although somewhat antiquated, term. It’s short for “automatic loading,” which most now call semiautomatic. Many Browning/Colt cartridges are named “ACP” for this reason: Automatic Colt Pistol to distinguish it from a rimmed revolver cartridge.
yeah,..when someone takes issue with the term “automatic” for a semi-auto pistol…he’s automatically branding himself as a young pup
“Yep, just got off work and I need an air conditioner….now.”
When my A/C died, my carcass was parked under my vintage Casablanca ceiling fan until the repairman arrived.
Sweaty Florida sucks… 🙁
I prefer the term “self loading”
No the casings are brass, the bullets are lead.
All the fudds knocking training.
Glad you aren’t defending our country.
I’ve had a casing lodge between my glasses and my eyelid. Gave me a nasty burn. I immediately set down my pistol before doing anything else. Sometimes you got to take the pain to avoid what this guy did. I’d rather have a minor burn than a gunshot wound anywhere on my head.
I also had a casing get stuck behind my glasses. Ever since I always wear a hat to prevent this issue.
My point exactly. It’s the same as dropping a baby. If you were holding a baby and you got burned, would you drop the baby to attend to your burn?
If you answer ‘yes,’ stay away from guns. And babies.
The only way I could get burned while holding a baby is when I drop it in the boiling water.
Y’all have a recipe for that? Or, just standard crawfish boil?
“My point exactly. It’s the same as dropping a baby.”
That’s it!
That’s what happened to my demented troll!
Dropped on his head (repeatedly) by his momma… 😉
#metoo. Hurts. But we deal with it.
One reason, along with sun exposure of the bald spot, I long ago decided to always wear a baseball cap. I generally get hot brass down my shirt collar accompanied by the smell of burning hair as my only bald spot, at this age, is on top of my head.
Aside from that I have been shooting semiautomatic handguns for about 55 years and to date have never responded to hot brass by shooting myself, so I doubt I ever will.
I had a 45 +P case get stuck on my right temple, between my glasses and skin. And I literally mean stuck. When I removed my glasses, the case didn’t fall away, because it had melted my skin, which came off when I pulled the case away. My reaction to the searing pain was to take my finger off the trigger, rotate my left shoulder forward and extend my left arm straight toward the berm so nothing I moved would be in front of the muzzle, and rip my glasses off with my right hand. But that’s probably why I just have a small scar on my temple instead of a large scar on each cheek. I also wear a hat when I shoot now.
I’ve had brass go down my shirt so many times, my body now tilts the correct direction without me thinking about it. I also don’t usually tuck my shirt in, which helps get the brass out quickly.
Leave the shirt tails out. I learned that with cutting torches and welders. The hot metal hurts, but shaking your shirt generally makes it fall down – and if your belt is fastened, the metal won’t go down your shorts. Not everyone wears a belt though, so we’ve had reason to laugh now and then.
Yup. My old agency mandated baseball hats on the range just for that reason.
Does this count as one ouch or two….inquiring minds and all that.
So fitting that they show a scene with someone crossing their support hand thumb over behind the slide as they emphasize getting proper training.
I was just about to point that out. That guy’s going to get some slide bite. The M&P doesn’t have a lot of slide clearance.
Yikes! Don’t have a place where hot lead can burn you. And always wear eye protection. And a hat-maybe. I pull my collar up too. I had a pistol that sometimes popped me in the head. You learn without a teacher…
I was shooting bolt-action .22 mag prone once and I learned a practical reason for wearing a baseball cap sideways: the brass from the guy next to me kept hitting my temple, so I just turned my cap and bounced it back toward him.
I remember the first time, in basic, not even my brass. Happens tons of other times in the military, never anywhere else. I guess my clothes just fit? But in the army it was always the uniform. Usually with sleeves being “combat rolled” or just plain old open and floppy. But this Fucken guy… Dumb doesn’t begin to describe it.
kind of reminds me of that scene in “Blackhawk Down” where the poor guy finds himself under a helo firing a mini-gun!
REAL DUMB ASS MURPHY GUY , STORY , OR JUST , LOOK WEAR LONG SLEVE SHIRT , BUTTON TOP BUTTON , YEP NO SHOES , NO SHIRT , NO CAN SHOOT ON RANGE OR SHOOT YOURSELF IN DA FACE . .
N WHAT THE HELL , OF A STORY , HAS TO BE REAL , NO ONE COULD MAKE THAT UP .
PRAY HE LEARNS FROM IT ALL . GLAD DID NOT SHOOT SOMEONE ELSE . LIVE TO TELL THE STORY , TEETH OK , WHAT CAL OF ROUND ? TELL ME MORE TELL ME MORE .
OKOK ENOUGH MURPHY . WHEW
You just gotta get used to it. A moment of singe is far better than anything that can come from letting it distract you.
All I can say is … LOL! Darwin in action.
Another reason I don’t go to public ranges. I don’t like being shot by morons.
This. Last time I went was in CA!!! Yeas, CA!!!! This was 2014 and was visiting family, and an old family friend offered to take me shooting. He drove… us straight to an indoor range. I was so fucking uncomfortable. The level of dumb just by visible assessment was astounding. I shot one time and asked to leave, when I told him why, it was like a deer in headlights. He never even thought about it. Un-family friended, lol, jk. But family in CA is dead to me, so actually yea, unfriended.
I’m a member of a private range where the members are vetted. Most are former military or law enforcement (I’m not). However, I usually just load up targets, firearms and ammo into the pickup and head out onto BLM land. Much more private and much safer.
Glad this fella will be fine, except for his pride. Speedy recovery!
I try and pick times at the indoor range when most folk will be at work because I am concerned about people doing dumbness ( = dangerous when guns are involved).
Fortunately, my job allows that flexibility.
Have I done dumbness at the range? Not that I am aware of, but since when I go, it is always lightly populated, it could be just that no one noticed.
One of my friends gave me his Colt Commander to fire off a few CCI Blazer rounds. The rounds cycled the action hard and spent casings were ejecting straight back. The open case mouth of one hit me in the forehead right between the eyebrows resulting in a small cut.
I told him if he wanted to use those rounds he might want to modify the recoil spring a bit.
LOL
He could have a broken ejector. I had a POS Kimber (I know it’s redundant) that was flinging brass straight back (see my brass in the glasses story above). When I took it apart, I noticed that the ejector, which in a normal 1911 protrudes out into the magazine well slightly, did not. The protrusion had broken off and the cases were ejecting straight back due to inertia and the muzzle rise.
I wonder if the Lefty Media will consider it a mass shooting since two cheeks were involved?
Hot brass hurts…fortunately, it is only that hot for a few seconds at most. Never had hot brass behind my glasses (ouch!)…down the collar, yeah, too many times to count.
In those days of old when Knights were bold and f**ks were a dollar, I had my shirt tail come untucked while shooting prone and a couple of 5.56 brass from the guy next to me found the small of my back…that definitely leaves a mark for a couple of days.
“….Lefty Media will consider it a mass shooting since two cheeks were involved?”
Depends on the color of the cheeks in question.
Two cheeks were involved, and he can still sit?
Score one for the latter in the semi-auto vs. revolver debate.
Came here for this REEEVOLLVEERRRR, I get to keep my brass, hit my targets, and no unwanted interactions with hot brass.
Any you’re John Wayne, Audie Murphy, and Randolph Scott all rolled into one with your Fudd handgun.
Had tons of hot brass hit me. Had the slide rip my hand. We all have.
Had too much recoil startle us.
We didnt panic. This fellow I would say isnt suited to owning a gun.
It isnt that bad a burn for God’s sake.
A few years ago a fellow pulled a similar stunt on a range and killed a kid behind him.
Problem is no predicting what people will do. Maybe he had training. Sometimes
folks do stupid things after having training.
I had the pleasure of getting some extra training when only three of us showed up for a class that was meant for sixteen. One of the fun parts was “distraction training”: while we were shooting the instructor shot us with Nerf darts, tossed ping-pong balls at our faces, slapped together some boards making “bangs” as loud as any gun, flashed the lights, poked us in the side with a cane… everything he could think of to distract us short of setting a fire or activating the sprinkler system. We were pretty embarrassed at first at how much natural reactions trumped training, but by the end we were all a lot more focused on “gun control”.
It wasn’t too much after that experience that a bit of hot brass managed to land and stick right where my glasses passed my right eye. My eyes stayed on my sights and my left hand grabbed my Ruger as I swept my right hand backwards and knocked off my glasses and cap along with that pesky brass — and I thank that creative instructor for that reaction.
Not a handgun or indoor range, but two of my favorite outdoor 100 yard range guns are two left handed BSA Martini International Mark IIs, both with classic 7/8 inch tube 10x scopes and one set of left handed iron sights to share. These rifles eject 22 long rifle casings with unusual gusto. I generally try for a lane on the extreme left, but if that isn’t possible I go to the third lane to the left and apologize in advance for the empty casings. One saving grace is that by the time they fly that far they have generally cooled off and are little more distracting than rain drops.
stupid hurts
It’s better to have a “war” story about burn scars and keeping your mental focus, than having to explain why you need dentures or sinus repair, or can’t keep food and water inside your mouth.
Best comment on this!
Low cut blouses and loose t shirts are one reason I reccomend female shooters come to the range topless.
Safety first and always.
This ones for you possum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH-SQG7hAVg
In 5 years this one has managed to NOT shoot herself.
I would leave this range immediately.
Where is the RSO?
Hey at least she’s got the close eyes yank trigger technique figured out.
Through out the entire video I kept saying, ” So that’s TTAG’s DebbieW ! ! Wow, nice.”
🤺
Holy crap. If I saw this bimbo, I would leave immediately.
DA
Just one reason I don’t go to an indoor range. I’m lucky enough have my own “range” set up at home in the backyard.
When I was in basic training in S.C. in 1961 I was taking one of the shooting tests, pop up silhouette targets when a piece of brass hit me in the right eye hard, M1 carbine. I kept on going and finished the course with only my left eye you didn’t wear safety glasses back in those days. I still was able to pull in a expert badge out of it but had big old shiner.
The Snowflake generation. Our future is here.
Men also shouldn’t wear collared shirts with a couple open buttons since it can make a nice funnel.
I was shooting at the Chabot Range in Castro Valley many years ago. A man was with a woman shooting a .22. She fired, the case went down her cleavage, and her reaction was to turn 90 degrees and gut shoot the guy. He was embarrassed and hid in the bathroom trying to stop the bleeding with paper towels. Eventually, they had to close the rifle range so Flight-For-Life could land.
Safety education is stupid he should have just put the gun down as soon as he was compromised and could no longer function properly. That should be common sense but really instinctual. One time I was firing full auto ak47 and debris ricocheted off target stand from about 30 feet away and hit me in the face. I instinctually put safety on and lowered rifle to ground and then checked my face. A small piece of concrete chipped out and hit me at high speed. I was okay but did not know what had hit me. People thought I had been shot but were happy I wasn’t and safely handled the gun.
Some people are stupid. To me this sounds like a fluke or fake news. Is this really how you all get down? What safety do they really teach in gun classes? Nothing. It a bs tax and obstacle in the form of a class as usual. And that’s how it starts. They use scare tactics like say “he was not charged with a crime” and “you can’t just buy a gun you need training” to scare people into being afraid of guns.
Putting warning on guns isn’t to prevent accidents, it’s legalize to avoid lawsuits brought by gungrabbers. It sucks because the excessive stamped warning make the gun look wimpy and makes people look and feel like losers so really it is just a form of harassment.
Should we stamp warning on the side of cars: “Warning accidents may cause death”?
Should we stamp warnings on scissors: “Do not run with scissors as may cause death or personal injury”?
Instead of telling people to get gun safety he should of told what to do in this situation but he didn’t because he was scared of making a positional statement. If something happens just put the gun down or drop it. He had pretty of time to do that. I don’t think dropping a handgun on soft grass will discharge nor will a glock dropped on concrete with a drop safety. I don’t care about excuses anything I have stated as a remedy would be better than SHOOTING YOURSELF in the face.
This guy is about as dumb as the girl who used super glue as hairspray and could not remove it smh.
Control the gun at all times. Never let it break 180 degrees, even if it means you need to turn your body to keep the gun pointed downrange instead of turning the gun to the side. Stay focused on what you’re doing the entire time you’re on the line, and don’t get distracted (and hot brass is a very common distraction).
That’s basically all the “training” you need to keep from shooting yourself (or worse, me) in the face at the gun range.
Listen to that fat pig tell you you don’t “just own a gun” without training…… what a POS…. You can just tell he’s one of these holier than thou pigs who thinks only him and his “diverse” police force should have guns….
Well sorry about your luck, Pig… the constitution already answered that question over 200 years ago…..PIG
I wear a baseball cap at the indoor range to keep hot brass off my scalp — I’ve been cut by brass and even a little nick on the scalp will draw blood. My shooting glasses have a gasket across the top to prevent brass from getting behind the lenses and burning my eyes or eyelids. Anywhere else, I can take hot brass long enough to put the gun down and do what I have to do.
I advise my students to use the same tactics. An ounce of prevention is better than drilling two artificial dimples in their faces, or accidentally capping their best friend.
As someone who been welding recreationally for over 2 decades, hot brass hardly even gets an flinch from me. 😅 I’ve literally been lit on fire before. 😂
In all seriousness though, hot things falling down your shirt IS startling, especially if its completely unexpected.
I guess after seeing the hot brass bounce off the dividers at my first indoor range trip I just figured getting hit by one was always gonna be a distinct possibility; maybe I’m just slightly more observant than average? Therefore, I’ve never really been caught ‘off guard’ by a stinging burn or a smack in the face by a bouncing brass projectile.
Hopefully this guy has learned a lot, heals quickly and most importantly, dedicates a lot more time to learning safe handling practices and doesn’t just ‘give up’ and preach to everyone who’ll listen about how dangerous guns are.
Poor choice. We’ve all been there, admit it. You suddenly consider your options to stop the burn. I’ve always passed on the shoot myself in the face option, but in his circumstances who are we to second guess his judgement? Until you walk a mile in another mans moccasins……..
Sheriff Hildebrand is the quintessential OFWG Fudd stereotype….the pompous is strong in this one!
I have a different take on this video.
After the guy shoots himself, he clearly places the pistol on the ground, and then runs away.
But, right after he places it on the ground, the video is blurred so you can’t see it; it’s like it disappeared. What possible reason is there for this? It’s ok to see the pistol shoot him in the face, but it’s somehow offensive to see a pistol laying on the ground?
Why?
Think he had butt crack showing
The authoritative publication VITAL STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES documents the fact that only about a dozen people die from gun shot wounds at shooting ranges. Compare this to the many tens of thousands of people who are killed or severely injured while indulging in other sports. I suspect that far more shooters die of heart attacks at shooting ranges than from gun shot wounds.
It is understandable that a guy might not discourage a woman from wearing a low cut top to go shooting. However; a true gentleman who observed an expended case dropping down into her cleavage will gallantly reach down her shirt to retrieve it before she gets burned.
Gallantry usually gets , ” Stop pawing at me.” I’m like what the fck these are not hands you know.
The ones that I get upset about are the ones from the shooting lane to your left. Some folks when they shoot seem to think they have to be right up to the shelf and stick their firearm past the limits of the side barriers.
This can be enough to eject a round into the lane to your right. If this happens, tell the range safety officer to get the person to back up a foot. It’s unsafe and as we see here dangerous.
eject a cartridge.
He probably tried to call for help, but he’d turned his mouth into a silencer and nobody heard him.
LOL , that was funny.
Reminds me of the time I got muzzled by some ho wearing a spaghetti strap top in the lane next to me. One of those chicks who was kinda gross but had confidence from big sloppy tittaaaes. Luckily there is ballistic glass in the way so I put my arms kit to the side like “hey….uhh” and the range officer came running over.
Never understood the hot brass freak out. When I get brass in my clothes I calmly out the gun down and then pull it out. Desire to not kill myself or someone else makes suppressing a little burning surprisingly easy 🤷♂️
“No charges will be filed against the man” for shooting himself in the face.
Charges should be filed for wearing a fanny pack.
Just think how easy he can floss his teeth now.
First time I shot service rifle prone, I wondered why all the other guys were wearing hoodies. Some under their shooting jackets. It only took one match to figure out why.
“He had a 9mm automatic”. “You have to be educated when dealing with firearms”.
2 sentences uttered by the same man.
I was shooting at an outdoor range and just as the trigger was about to break a black hornet that had flown up the leg of my shorts stung me.
I followed through with the shot, instinctively layed the pistol down pointed downrange, and did my version of a rain dance.