A series of unfortunate events ( WARNING : GRAPHIC, VERY )

[savanahsdad]

So you think this will offset some of your savings for reloading?

Again .. we don't save money reloading , We just shoot more ! I spent over $600 at Cabela's last month , don't even remember what I bought

 

[GLOOB]

Wishing you speedy recovery. The first pic of your hand didn't look too bad. The second pic was pretty gruesome. I hope you have a full recovery.

 

[Odd Job]

he was right. I missed three anvils and two cups. Im trying to get the stupid xray pics to convert to an uploadable format from the disc they gave me- but no dice yet.

I can help you with that. Send me a PM, with details of what CD viewer they gave you (the CD will usually launch a DICOM viewer, as that is the industry standard format of radiographs in a digital format).

 

[PhilMc]

Thanks for the story, hope your recovery goes well.

I use an RCBS bench primer that I will very careful with thanks to your incident. I get very good prescription safety glass' from work which I always use during reloading and shooting.

 

[blarby]

Odd job, I'll get the info to you when I get home, bout an hour or two. Thank you !

As to the actual cost offset ?

Well, after insurance, this episode is gonna run about $600.

According to my logs, I loaded about 2300 rounds of 44 mag, about 1545 45 acp EXACTLY-stupid incidents, 800 rounds of 223, and almost 4000 rounds of 40 between November and the end of February.

So ya, I'm still ahead. Just the first 1200 rounds of 44 paid for this one. Actually, those were cast swcs, so much less than that, actually.

I've got a press swap impending on the Dillon for a T-7, and some extra scratch- so no loss there.

 

[Rodentman]

Blarby, I am glad you weren't more seriously hurt. My reading glasses have taken some parts propelled by gun springs and I was lucky. Not so lucky I lost a leg in 1991 in a motorcycle accident. So glad you didn't go thru that. Best wishes and thanks for sharing your heartfelt story.

 

[Dudedog]

blarby,
Sorry Murphy decided to show up. I am glad it was not worse.
I hope everything heals up correctly so you can still shoot that .44.
Thankfully most prescription lenses these days are made of of shatter "proof" materials.

Get well soon,
DD


PS: that looks like it probably hurt like .

 

[bikerdoc]

Just saw this man, best wishes for a speedy recovery.

 

[hso]

With that in mind, I've already learned the most valuable lessons- which I hope having paved this road for you, I implore that you take to heart :


#1- If a piece of shooting or reloading kit is out of spec, replace it immediately. That $90 primer assembly does not so costly sound now. As Don says ; "Never underestimate the amount of toil and angst a cheap SOB will put himself through to save 5 cents" This could apply to any piece of kit however- a choke tube, a hinge pin, any mechanism piece, really. The workaround you come up with may work many times before the time it doesn't. Conditions may be vastly different from the times it worked before, in ways you don't fully grasp in your ignorance.

#2 Federal primers are indeed much more sensitive than CCI. In fact, according to the MSDS sheets provided by the hospital the only common ones still to contain nitroglycerin.

That explains a few things.

#3 Primers are plenty powerful. As RC says, "never put all your primers in a glass jar."

#4 ALWAYS WEAR EYE PROTECTION.

and last but not least,

#5 When your wife says go to the hospital, GO. yes , HE-MAN, I'm talking to you.

Excellent lessons learned and a very good analysis on the root cause and proximal causes.

The best way to learn a lesson is from theory, the next best is from other people's mistakes, the last if from your own. This may help some other "cheap SOB" from incurring the additional expense of an ER trip (if they're lucky).

 

[blarby]

ok, thanks to odd job, I was able to convert the dicom images to JPEG, but its mighty small- and does not "scale up" well without severe distortion.

That Ifran viewer is mighty handy ! Thank you for the point in the right direction.


here's the best one.

 

[kostner]

Glad that your at OK and a good reminder to all of us who reload. In the parks around my house they have signs warning of rattle snake and they say
RATTEL SNAKE AREA
GIVE THEM THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE

Primers need to be respected too.

 

[788Ham]

NOW I know why I took that primer feed tube off my RCBS Junior press years back! I never had this experience, thank God, but I got tired of the jams that always seemed to appear during that procedure, I put it back in the box, still have it somewheres downstairs............. Heal up brother, glad it wasn't worse!!

 

[TBJK]

Glad you were not seriously hurt & hope for a speedy recovery. Keep those wounds really clean. My wife picked up MRSA in an injury from an accident, she went through 9 surgeries & wearing a wound vac for 4-5 months, bad loss of tissue. So keep it clean.

 

[mikemyers]

blarby, I don't have any DICOM images to test this with, but it might do what you need:

http://download.cnet.com/DICOM-Converter/3000-2129_4-75860085.html

 

[jeeptim]

Thanx

I think I speak for most of us here on THR we really appreciate your detailed documentation of the INCIDENT we get complacent hell its only a primer.
I always knew the danger but until you see it first innerweb from one of our peers you just shurg it off.
THANK YOU!!! I know it sux and I bet you'll be good as new in a few weeks. It gives us all a lot to think about, as long as we keep thinking about the INCIDENT as a community we will all be better for it .

SAFETY IS NO ACCIDENT.. lil corny but true.

Godspeed in your recovery and thanx for sharing the INCIDENT with us.

 

[GaryL]

FWIW, dealing with primers is a risky proposition no matter how it's done. The Dillon 550 system is pretty much the same as I saw used in a big name ammo factory I installed equipment in some years back.

Sometimes I think the good Lord spares us so many times over we're not even aware of it.

I won't stop using it on my 550, but I do think regular cleaning and maintenance is a very good idea.

Again, I thank blarby for making this post.

 

[RandyP]

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery and thanks for being brave enough to share your tale of woe as a learning opportunity for us all.

On my Lee turret and single stage using the Safety Prime system the primers are kept in a separate tray and only one at a time come in contact with the ram or other source of detonation. NO possibility of a 'chain fire' accident as the rest are several inches away from the ram. Still 'could' in theory have a single one detonate though.

I wear progressive lenses which are polycarb so fortunately I'm always wearing 'safety glasses'.

 

[Odd Job]

Something has gone wrong with that image conversion, it's as if only a preview thumbnail was converted.

By the way, I hope you had some post foreign body removal X-rays as the primer cups can hide additional debris which may remain in your hand.

I happen to know quite a bit about X-raying people for foreign bodies, especially if they are projectile in nature.

 

[blarby]

There were 3 post op xrays.

It's all gone

I'll try on the images when I get home, was trying to get it done over coffee and the morning 're-wrap of the hand before work.

 

[mikemyers]

Blarby, I found lots of ways to convert the DICOM files to show images; if the one I suggested doesn't work, I'll send you a link for all the others.


Question. After reading this discussion, I found this YouTube link about Dillon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN2ZCRKUrNE

Shouldn't that steel tube have protected you better from the primer explosion? Or did the parts that injured you go down or up, get deflected, and then hit you?

I'm doubly concerned, because I helped a close relative set up his Dillon 550, and while we followed the instructions and the YouTube videos, neither of us knew what it "should" feel like. When it came to primers, I didn't want to put any more than 3 or 4 in the tube. After I got home, I suggested he install the primers, one at a time, manually, and just get used to using the Dillon. I was wondering if one could drop one primer at a time into the primer tube, and use the Dillon as if it was a single stage press, at least until he was familiar with it.

I'll be visiting my relative again in a week or so. I plan on doing two things, thanks to your post. First of all, I'll re-read what you wrote, while looking at the parts, and try to understand them. Second, I'll bring a pair of safety goggles to put over my glasses, whenever I'm dealing with primers.

(If you can't convert the DICOM image, you can mail it to me, and I'll do so and send you back the 'jpg'.)

 

[lbs]

well,,, one of the quirks i've found is when i drop primers into an empty tube the first one doesn't like to align itself and most of the time gets stuck sideways. i always leave the 3 last ones in when i add more. on a caliber change i make sure the first one is sitting in there properly. so one at a time may be a problem but not 2 or more? that's my experience anyway.

 

[blarby]

Well, let's hope the GRAPHIC warning keeps this from meeting the fate of all stickies : unreadable, and great advice unheeded as a result.

I thank all of you for your well wishes.

The one week follow up with the surgeon is tomorrow, and about 90% of the wounds are "closed" at this point.

 

[ironworkerwill]

I'm really glad you had glasses on. I hate that happened to you. I hope you heal well.

 

[blarby]

Alrighty, so the followup went good.

Wounds are closed, and the pinky function is expected to return- albeit slowly, as the torn tissue realigns itself.

In better news; left handed reloading isn't anywhere near as hard as I expected. So, that horse is mounted

When i'll get to use that 357 is anyones' guess, but its ready

 

[LiveLife]

See, this is why we practice shooting strong/weak hands

Glad you are healing up well and didn't get more seriously injured. The scratches on glasses gave me the shakes! Dang blarby!!!

Thanks to your thread, I will be adding one more QC step when loading on the Dillon 650.

Get better soon!