[i]A 22-year-old Fremont woman accidentally shot herself at an indoor shooting range in town last week, Milpitas Police Department reported.
On March 10 at about 7:43 p.m., Milpitas police responded to Target Masters shooting range at 122 Minnis Circle on a report of a person being shot. Upon investigation, officers determined the woman was shooting a gun for the first time, when an ejected bullet casing landed in her shirt, police said.
The first-time shooter attempted to remove the hot casing from her clothing while holding the gun and it accidentally discharged. Police said the woman was shot in the leg and transported to a local hospital for treatment and she is expected to survive. There were no other reported injuries.
“It was purely accidental from our investigation,” Milpitas police Sgt. Huy Tran said.
Whenever working with someone new to firearms, I always discuss hot brass. They instantly see why it is so important to retain discipline when it happens. It’s not a matter of if, but when. The worst for me was somehow getting a 5.56 case inside of eyepro. One in a million shot doc, one in a million.
It happens…which is why people should exercise a bit of discipline when they end up with burning brass at the range. A little hot brass down the shirt and dudes start dancing and waving their muzzle all over the place.
I had a .45 shell somehow wedge it’s way between my safety glasses and my right temple, I felt the casing bounce off the side of my head after it was deflected by the lane stall, but I didn’t feel it start burning till I was sighting in for my next shot. This was just after I bought my first pistol but even being new I still had the common sense to set the 1911 down, muzzle down range, before addressing the problem.
Lesson learned for me, don’t hug the right of the stall.
I guess it happens more than i thought. Bunch of hot brass down shirt type vids on youtube. I’m assuming most of you have seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWO-EzoIbSs&feature=related Looks like her booger hook (love that!) is still on the trigger.
Pistol brass is annoying but not a big deal (yes I have had it trapped inside my eye pro cheek too). Rifle brass… and particularly .308 on the other hand…you have to peel it off yourself.
This is a huge problem. I’m not in the training business, but on occasion I’ll take somebody new out who hasn’t shot much or perhaps has never shot a handgun or an evil SBR - and this is a scenario that I always and specifically warn them about, emphasizing that no matter what happens - that gun stays pointed THAT way. You can jump up and down, scream as loud as your lungs will go, curse at me and my mother - but the gun stays pointed THAT way.
I’ve seen more than one loaded gun pointed at another human being because of hot brass landing on skin, and I saw a guy (who was a turd to begin with) get kicked out of a carbine class a couple years ago after he a ND due to dancing around from brass going down his neck and into his collar. Fortunately the ND went into the berm, but still …
I warned my wife that it would happen, and no matter what, finger off the trigger, safety on, and keep the muzzle towards the target.
She had it happen to her at the indoor range last time, and it went right between the girls. She had the sense to put the gun on the shelf with the muzzle towards the target, and recompose herself. She got the gold star for the day.
This is another reason why I start off new shooters with only 1 round in a magazine till they get comfortable, then go to 5, then 10.
Happened about a dozen times in our Magpul class. Travis taught us that if you get brass down your shirt just shake it out, don’t be a monkey about it.
A friend of mine has a nice scar on his neck from a 5.56 case. The case stuck to his neck and caused 3rd degree burns. It was fired from a M4 on full auto.
This thread is a decent reminder to breif new shooters of this issue
