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At the range today, using steel cased Monarch 9mm.. wife was shooting the Taurus 24/7 Pro. All of she is to my right and the ejection port is on her right. I was about 15 feet from her (on her left). Outdoor range, no sidewalls to bounce off of...when all of a sudden I am smacked with force by an empty shell. Not just a pop-fly we all get sometime, but hard. A couple of rounds later, she has the same happen to her, grazing her elbow (cutting it) and hitting her leg (through her pants) hard enough to all but draw blood. Too many spent cases on the ground to know which was ours to examine.. any ideas what could cause this? I can't imagine anything with the gun could do this.
A theory? What about cheaper, slower burning powder... that once ejected, continued to burn and missiled out of the gun?

I was at the range a while back (perhaps 2 years or so) and my extractor kept flinging shells at my face. One time it landed top of my shooting glasses. I quickly tried to put the gun down in fast yet safe manner, but it was no match for the hot shell. Burned the crap out of my eyebrow area. Hurt like hell. This is why I truly hate to wear glasses at the range. I'm all in for safety, but not for glasses anymore.

This sounds like an ejector problem. Look carefully at the ejector and see if it is loose, bent, or damaged in any way. I had an ejector come loose in a 1911 the empties flew all over. I replaced the ejector the problem went away.

I guess its possible it is extractor... but we have all been hit by ejecting brass. This was with such force it cut skin through pants and felt like it was propelled in some way.

Extractor = pulls empty shell from the firing chamber.
Ejector = hits pulled shell on left side/back of rim to throw it out the port.
Port = shell should clear without contacting any edge of port.
Timing = controls all of the above.
Recoil Spring = partially controls timing.
Firing Pin Stop = also partially controls timing.
Hammer Spring = also partially controls timing.

Have a look at the EJECTOR like the post above yours suggested.

Extractor clocking can also cause erratic ejection of the shells. If clocks on extraction I suppose it could have an erratic hook on the shell when it hits the extractor. But it is more noticeable as a fail to feed problem.

Are you certain it was spent cases hitting you?

It sounds more like bullet spatter. Was another shooter doing something stupid?

Pawpaw wrote:Are you certain it was spent cases hitting you?

It sounds more like bullet spatter. Was another shooter doing something stupid?

We were the only two on the outdoor range! I agree, it really felt like I was hit by a spent bullet fragment.

68Charger wrote:I was at the range a while back (perhaps 2 years or so) and my extractor kept flinging shells at my face. One time it landed top of my shooting glasses. I quickly tried to put the gun down in fast yet safe manner, but it was no match for the hot shell. Burned the crap out of my eyebrow area. Hurt like heck. This is why I truly hate to wear glasses at the range. I'm all in for safety, but not for glasses anymore.

That's why I wear a hat...

Extractor tension is one of the first things that should be checked.

The extractor in a 1911 has a very slight bend to it that creates a precise amount of tension between the extractor and the cartridge case.

If that bend is too much or too little, you'll see extraction and ejection problems because the cases aren't being held in the same position each time during the ejection cycle.

Brownell's sells a set of gauges that are used with a trigger pull gauge to measure the extractor tension. Any gunsmith should have a similar set.

Simply replacing the extractor may not fix it - the new extractor may not be properly tensioned either.

wgoforth wrote:I guess its possible it is extractor... but we have all been hit by ejecting brass. This was with such force it cut skin through pants and felt like it was propelled in some way.

Ejected shells don't do that.

Bullet fragments can.

Excaliber wrote:

wgoforth wrote:I guess its possible it is extractor... but we have all been hit by ejecting brass. This was with such force it cut skin through pants and felt like it was propelled in some way.

Ejected shells don't do that.

Bullet fragments can.

That is exactly what I was gonna say. I had a piece of copper embed itself in my neck deep enough that we had to use needle nose pliers to get it out. OK, tweezers probably would have been enough, but we only had pliers.

I have never seen a case hit anyone with enough force to draw blood. But, there is a first time for everything.

Crossfire wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

wgoforth wrote:I guess its possible it is extractor... but we have all been hit by ejecting brass. This was with such force it cut skin through pants and felt like it was propelled in some way.

Ejected shells don't do that.

Bullet fragments can.

That is exactly what I was gonna say. I had a piece of copper embed itself in my neck deep enough that we had to use needle nose pliers to get it out. OK, tweezers probably would have been enough, but we only had pliers.

I have never seen a case hit anyone with enough force to draw blood. But, there is a first time for everything.

I've seen lots of bounceback cases from whole projectiles or pieces of them.

Jacketed hollowpoint ammo will often come apart in the backstop (likely from hitting a pile of lead already there) or on a steel plate target. Very sharp jacket fragments move at high speed and could easily penetrate pants and then break skin. It's not unusual to see folks on the range picking this stuff out of their clothing and sometimes their skin, especially at ranges of 15 yards or less. Incidence decreases with distance from the backstop.

Cleaned and inspected gun this morn...all is fine. Took to the range, and this time watched the casings sling out rather than the target. Each one acted proper... slinging out far and above to the right. After reading about Monarch being known to have improper pressures, I still have to wonder if it was a bullet blowing up. They were FMJ's.

wgoforth wrote:Cleaned and inspected gun this morn...all is fine. Took to the range, and this time watched the casings sling out rather than the target. Each one acted proper... slinging out far and above to the right. After reading about Monarch being known to have improper pressures, I still have to wonder if it was a bullet blowing up. They were FMJ's.

It may not have been a fragment of your bullet that hit you.

It could have been a fragment from a round in the backstop that was dislodged and propelled back toward you by the impact of your round.

Weird things happen when bullets hit other bullets in a backstop that's filled with a lot of them.

Think it has been settled. The backstop behind the frames is solid full of lead. Think we were having ricochettes off of the spent lead. Ouch!