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Thought I'd share it here, since it's really funny and painful.
I've been shooting for a long time and have never had
anything "interesting" to share, until now.

I wasn't being very safe so no supprise that I got my first
injury on the range. I hear so many accidents, etc. but I've
never had any until now.

So today I went to the range to shoot the 200 round break in
on my new Kahr PM9. Since I kind of just decided to "waste"
these ammo, I started being creative on my holding positions
(indoor range), sideways, upside down, upside down w/ pinky
on the trigger, etc. Initially my justifications was to make sure
this gun won;t jam in any position. Lots of casings bouncing
around, on my head, on my shoulders.. kind of fun. Then a
HOT ejected casing got caught between my eyeglasses and
eye lid!! Ouch! and the embarrasment!!

Well, this is my first shoot injury and I figure I'll share it w/ you.
There is a ~1mm^2 piece of outer skin that got burned off on
my right eyelid.

I think the casing hit the lane divider (I was shooting at an
indoor range) and bounced behind my eyeglasses. After
that I was very, very mindful of where my ejection port was
aimed for the rest of the rounds.

BTW: The Kahr had lots of FTFeed (slide won't go completely
back into battery, I have to push it back) on the first 100
rounds. I thought I got a lemon. I then cleaned it. And on
the next 100 rounds (where I got my injury) it had no
failures. I shot 2 boxes on the cheapest ammo WWB range
ammo. I'll be testing it w/ carry ammo next.

That can happen regardless of how you're holding the gun. It's happened to me a coupe of times during regular range sessions. Either bounced off the divider or bounced off the ceiling.

I had a 357sig casing go down the back of my shirt the other day. That was fun.

I've had casings go down my shirt, but they 've not caused much
problems. Feels hot, but they come right out.

I've read people getting casings caught between their glasses and eye,
but I didn't think much of it until now. I've been shooting about 11yrs
and it happened yesterday.
-Ching

I always figured that since I wear glasses that's enough eye protection for me. After your experience, I think I'll go back to wearing eye protection over the glasses.

Hope your eye lid heals ok.

j1132, you are the 2nd person in my shooting life that I know that has had the same burn. I think the eye lid may be the only place to get one that can really injure. All other will be like HV said & just be wiggly funny for a while until removed. Even ladies down the shirt is sure sore for a while but not INJURIOUS. If you wear a cap this takes care of the space between glasses & eyebrows.

longtooth wrote:. Even ladies down the shirt is sure sore for a while but not INJURIOUS. If you wear a cap this takes care of the space between glasses & eyebrows.

This made me think back to an incident where my sister in law had 3 spent cases (in one shooting session) go down the front of her shirt. She was wearing shooting glasses and a cap, but unfortunately...also had a "V" necked T-shirt on.

My Brother's new Kimber was spitting out brass nearly every direction (including straight back). Two cases hit under the rim of her cap, the last one hit her square in the forehead. In less than 100 rounds, three hot cases managed to find their way down the front of her shirt.

We tuned the extractor and ejector and put in a 22lb. recoil spring to solve the problem.

Kinda funny watching her dance though. It can happen to anyone, but in an anatomical sense.. the ladies create a "brass funnel" for themselves if they don't wear something close fitting around the neck. Thats about as delicate as I can put it.

Hot brass will "home in" on the collar of a shirt also. It doesn't take long to figure out it's laying right against your neck!

Oh well, it happens.

In an indoor range with lane dividers regular glasses are not safety gear. Although we don't require it, I always try to talk people into wearing our safety glasses over their standard glasses.

We do not allow gansta, upside down or other non-standard shooting holds either. We have enough trouble keeping people from destroying the equipment when the hold the gun properly.................;)

I have burn marks on my arm, forehead and chest from casings.

OK, now that someone has broken the ice, I can confess. I, too, have had this happen and I am missing half of one eyebrow which will never grow back.

When I first started shooting, I couldn't decide if I was lefthanded or righthanded. That only makes sense to us lefties. You righthanded guys never even thought about it, right? Anyways, shooting lefthanded, right eye dominant, you either move the gun hand to your dominant eye or you move your head to the gun hand. Either way, I was constantly getting smacked in the forehead with the ejected brass. One case landed on top of my glasses and stuck right between my glasses and my eye. Before I could get it off, it raised a nice blister on my eyebrow area. This has been several years ago, and even though it healed, the hair has never grown back.

I now shoot right handed.

llwatson wrote:When I first started shooting, I couldn't decide if I was lefthanded or righthanded. That only makes sense to us lefties.

I now shoot right handed.

Good point. I'm left handed and right eye dominant. Mirror image of my father, who is right handed and left eye dominant. I too shoot right handed. This combination caused many issues growing up and playing sports. In baseball, I would bat left handed and throw right handed. In football I threw left handed. Golf, well, lets just say I finally gave up.

Shooting right handed seems natural to me and causes less frustration with semi-auto shotguns too.

Sorry for the hijack... I was just happy to see another lefty shooting right handed.

Speaking of casings hitting you, I used to shoot a luger... and every now and then it would send a casing straight back at me... Those casings are HOT.

flintknapper wrote: the ladies create a "brass funnel" for themselves if they don't wear something close fitting around the neck. Thats about as delicate as I can put it.

My wife and daughter have been... ummm... "blessed". We call that area the "crumb catcher".

Have you ever fired a Cz52 (7.62x25)? Ejection is "vigorous", as they say. I don't know about getting burned, but you'd get a welt from being hit!

They say Cz52 owners don't reload, because they'll never find their brass.

I had a hot .45 case fly out of my gold cup and wedge in the corner of my shooting glasses and my nose. Got a nice little welp to prove it for a few days.

My personal favorite range moments come from doing the hot brass dance while keeping the muzzle down range and finger off the trigger. You don't realize just how redicluous you look when dividing 100% of your attention between the gun and your burning skin.

-nick

gigag04 wrote:My personal favorite range moments come from doing the hot brass dance while keeping the muzzle down range and finger off the trigger.

We call that the "safety dance" at work. "Burn for the Bureau", as we say.

Personally, those are not my favorite range moments.

Kevin

I've done that dance too. It wasn't pretty either.

The first time I ever shot a Semi-Automatic my Dad told me that wearing glasses wasn't enough. You should wear a hat/cap with a bill on it as well. Now that I have found Ear-Muffs with a band designed to wrap around the back of my head instead of the top, I always shoot at the range with one of my cowboy hats on. Yeah, I sometimes get a brass stuck on the crown, but never behind my glasses.

Wheather you wear a cowboy hat or a ball cap, I think it's a good idea. But then, my old man taught me that way when I was about 9 yo. Doin' it ever since.