Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

[Sinfulwolf]

I have a bit of a story and a picture here to share. Note while some may chuckle at the story, the picture is pretty damn gory. It was sent to me by one of my old sergeants.

The story, pitched to American soldiers as a reminder about gun safety (the incident happened to an American soldier), and was grabbed by Canadian officers as well to spread the reminder.

A soldier attempting to repair a .50 cal machine gun was having trouble getting one of the locking pins back in place. After using a hammer, than a rock to no avail, he then used a live .50 cal round to hammer the pin into place. The round went off in his hand, and caused some rather extensive damage (check under the spoiler to see it).

Needless to say, live ammunition can fuck you up. Treat it with respect, use yer damn brain.

The image is graphic, so with that warning I don't want any neg reps or whiners on an adult forum whining about virgin eyes after fair warning. The image helps to drive home the whole point.

Spoiler

http://www.ulmf.org/bbs/album.php?albumid=297&pictureid=4050 (follow the link if the image doesn't show.)

 

[ToxicShock]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

tsk tsk tsk some people


At least he's got like a good terminator impression now.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

tsk tsk tsk some people


At least he's got like a good terminator impression now.

How do you always find the bright side of any situation? It's unreal.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

tsk tsk tsk some people


At least he's got like a good terminator impression now.

I'm thinking they're going to amputate the hand. Not much use as it is.

 

[ToxicShock]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

intimidation and grossness. He could wear a huge glove over his hand, then pull a Benny and reveal to people he's actually a mutant of Mars before he gets "screwed". that's right, total recall

 

[DarkFire1004]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

Now I'm not an expert on firearms, especially something like a .50 cal machinegun, but... Do soldiers usually use a hammer to get a locking pin back into place?

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

Now I'm not an expert on firearms, especially something like a .50 cal machinegun, but... Do soldiers usually use a hammer to get a locking pin back into place?

Not usually. But sometimes if it's being stubborn. If the weapon is unloaded. I still don't see the thought process of "Hammer didn't work, use rock. Rock didn't work, use live round,"

Some machine gun cleaning kits come with a general purpose wrench that has a hammer built into it. But locking pins are generally able to be pushed in with pressure applied by hand.

intimidation and grossness. He could wear a huge glove over his hand, then pull a Benny and reveal to people he's actually a mutant of Mars before he gets "screwed". that's right, total recall

Might work. Put pulling a glove over that would... not be fun.

 

[ToxicShock]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

Might work. Put pulling a glove over that would... not be fun.

WHAT​

 

[Lucas]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

You sure that isn't just a picture of some guy who just discovered Demon Girl and/or these forums?

 

[Nunu]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

why would someone use a bullet? i mean it can't possably be better for that than anything else he used could have used.

 

[DeMatt]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

My initial reaction?

"Gods... an exploding cartridge did THAT?"

Now that I'm calmer... I guess my mental image of how much explosion you get out of a cartridge is, well, off. Similarly with how much explosion it takes to tear a hand apart. Especially if it's totally contained within the hand instead of being exposed.

Idle thoughts, totally unsupported by actual experience:
- The first two fingers and thumb look reasonably intact. If they can reconstruct the palm, maybe they can save those digits. Better'n a prosthetic, right?
- "Hammer, then rock, then cartridge." Yeah... um... why didn't he pull the pin OUT and see why it wouldn't go in?

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

You sure that isn't just a picture of some guy who just discovered Demon Girl and/or these forums?

If it is, those are some really bad blisters. But I'm pretty sure no one has the pain tolerance to go that far. Pain tolerance having little to do with IQ.

why would someone use a bullet? i mean it can't possably be better for that than anything else he used could have used.

Well. Having not actually met the guy, I'm going with the assumption that he's fucking dumb.

My initial reaction?

"Gods... an exploding cartridge did THAT?"

Now that I'm calmer... I guess my mental image of how much explosion you get out of a cartridge is, well, off. Similarly with how much explosion it takes to tear a hand apart. Especially if it's totally contained within the hand instead of being exposed.

Idle thoughts, totally unsupported by actual experience:
- The first two fingers and thumb look reasonably intact. If they can reconstruct the palm, maybe they can save those digits. Better'n a prosthetic, right?
- "Hammer, then rock, then cartridge." Yeah... um... why didn't he pull the pin OUT and see why it wouldn't go in?

We are talking about a .50 cal machine gun cartridge. Not a .22, or even 5.56mm. This is a big damn round. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but it did.

Yeah, pointer finger and thumb look reasonably intact, but the rest of the hand is so torn up and mutilated, severed tendons and all that jazz, that I'm pretty sure amputation and getting a prosthetic on there are some of the only options left. Never got the guy's name though, so I won't be able to follow up with what happens to him.

As to your second point. I think we can assume clear thinking was not on his list of skills.

 

[lurker]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

Keep an eye on this guy, he seems like Darwin Award material. Or at least the type of guy who'd rob a convenience store with a rocket launcher *shifty gaze*

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

Must have made for a messy facepalm just after.

Reminds me of a similar story I heard from an old science teacher of mine, about some other teacher that used to have a .50 sitting on their desk as a novel paper weight, fully believing it was a dud. They liked to use it to bang on the table when getting the classes attention, only one time it got a lot more attention than usual. Don't know any details on that story unfortunately, but seeing this I've got to wonder if it was nastier than the "badly burnt palm" my teacher described.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

If one really want's to look on the bright side, I just saw a pic of a badass prosthetic somewhere. The first fake hand that's literally as good, if not better, then a real had. The pic showed the guy picking up and opening a can of soda with it, so that's some precision control right there.

Also, ironically after seeing that last night, watched the new Rambo movie which has a scene where he takes out half a battalion with a 50 cal, including realisitic damage instead of what hollywood's ususal whimpy 50 cal damage.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

I couldn't help but smirk while watching the Iron Man movie, at the part where he builds his prototype suit out of crappy scrap metal and then proceeds to shrug of multiple .50 cals as if they're nothing.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

Ah Hollywood. So far the fourth Rambo movie, and Paschendaele have had some of the more realistic gunshot wounds.

Say what you will about Paschendaele, still got some of the best WWI battle scenes in any movie I've ever seen.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

I couldn't help but smirk while watching the Iron Man movie, at the part where he builds his prototype suit out of crappy scrap metal and then proceeds to shrug of multiple .50 cals as if they're nothing.

If I recall correctly, that "Crappy scrap metal" is from giant fucking missiles that he took apart.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

The missiles weren't that big, and most missiles don't have that solid an exterior. A .50 cal round would easily go through it.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: Ammunition Safety/Intelligence

Then we also remember that it's sci-fi and totally not real? If those missile casings were made of some uber tough fabricated metal? I dunno. If we're going to nitpick about reality in the movie why not about the glowy thing in the center of his chest keeping him alive?

Aaaanyway. That pic... was whoa. Seriously, here's hoping this guy is out of our military now, we don't need that.