Getting burned by hot brass?

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Kynoch

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I'm looking for any tips/tricks on how to avoid getting burned by hot brass? Do you all wear wide-brimmed hats, button the top button of your shirts, etc?

Seems like I get burnt most often while timing someone else. Hot brass seems to enjoy going down the neck opening of my shirt. A hat did help but buttoning my shirt led to one of my worst burns ever when a piece of .45ACP brass got wedged between my collar and my neck.

Any tips, tricks, insights would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Wear a long tailed shirt, and keep it tucked in. I was sitting at a bench to the right of my buddy who was shooting a 10/22 rapidly. I have a 22LR scar at the top of my butt cheeks! I know, TMI....
 
Baseball cap will keep it from getting behind your glasses at that one angle that it can get you.

Other than that, I wear a t-shirt... nothing too baggy. Sometimes a sweatshirt over that. I try to avoid open collared shirts or polos, but if I'm coming from the office its hard to avoid.

That being said... don't wear boat shoes to the range. Made that mistake once, and can still see the outline of a .22 shell on my right foot. Once that .22 landed in there, I never unloaded and cleared a gun so fast so I could get down to clear that out of my shoe!
 
Candyman87 said:
Baseball cap will keep it from getting behind your glasses at that one angle that it can get you.

Other than that, I wear a t-shirt... nothing too baggy. Sometimes a sweatshirt over that. I try to avoid open collared shirts or polos, but if I'm coming from the office its hard to avoid.

That being said... don't wear boat shoes to the range. Made that mistake once, and can still see the outline of a .22 shell on my right foot. Once that .22 landed in there, I never unloaded and cleared a gun so fast so I could get down to clear that out of my shoe!
Click to expand...

Good advice, thanks. If it was real cold, a turtleneck shirt would put an end to neck burns and the "all the way down" burns.
 
Candyman87 said:
Baseball cap will keep it from getting behind your glasses at that one angle that it can get you.

Other than that, I wear a t-shirt... nothing too baggy. Sometimes a sweatshirt over that. I try to avoid open collared shirts or polos, but if I'm coming from the office its hard to avoid.

That being said... don't wear boat shoes to the range. Made that mistake once, and can still see the outline of a .22 shell on my right foot. Once that .22 landed in there, I never unloaded and cleared a gun so fast so I could get down to clear that out of my shoe!
Click to expand...

That happened to me once. It was painful!
 
.22s do seem to be my biggest problem. It never fails that I am testing reloads from a rest and have a hot one roll under my forearm from the guy next to me.

While you can mitigate it some by wearing a hat and long sleeves, I have come to accept it is just part of the game. After working in a CNC shop for 15 years or so and dodging hot steel, aluminum and titanium chips, hot brass is... well it still hurts:)
 
Best way to avoid brass burns...shoot a revolver. Brass burns is the reason I sold my autos, especially my 1911. A baseball cap turned backwards helped me a lot but it wasn't the end-all-be-all. I eventually got so frustrated that the guns sat around, and them got sold or traded. Same with my winchester rifle.
 
It's a hazard with bullseye or highpower.

Bullseye: Baseball hat, button shirt, and you can make a little rectangular deflector to clip to you pistol box out of cardboard cloth (that woven wire stuff).

Highpower: Long pants, boonie hat to protect neck, hope for the best. I also try to place my shooting stool to protect the guy next to me.

Teaching somebody: stay to the left of the shooter.
 
Well...I've just discovered the definitive cure for hot brass and lost brass this summer when I bought my first revolver.

:neener:

Other than that, it's all about placement relative to case trajectory and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). Lots of tricks of the trade here.

Occasionally, even as the shooter, hot brass will ding off your body or find its way where it's not wanted. So:

- Don't stand in the path of hot brass being ejected.
- Be aware that brass can bounce off walls and such, placing you in the path again.
- Wear protective eyewear...prescription eyeglasses at the least if you wear them, protective eyewear if not. Both, if you want.
- Be mindful of your shirts. Open neck shirts invite hot brass. Consider different shirts, button up shirts, and even leave your shirt untucked to facilitate hot brass quickly falling through.
- Hats are helpful, with some kind of brim or bill.
- Pant legs that come over your footwear and prevent hot brass from entering the tops of shoes/boots.
- Cover your ejection port when operating the bolt, or operate the bolt more slowly.
- Long sleeves and pants instead of short sleeves and shorts.
 
WestKentucky said:
Best way to avoid brass burns...shoot a revolver. Brass burns is the reason I sold my autos, especially my 1911. A baseball cap turned backwards helped me a lot but it wasn't the end-all-be-all. I eventually got so frustrated that the guns sat around, and them got sold or traded. Same with my winchester rifle.
Click to expand...

True! I was RSOing this stage at a match one time and I had been burned by brass (neck) 3 times that day so I started to shield my neck with my free hand. A shooter came up and said "Are you hit?!? Why are you holding your cardioid artery?" with a grin. He was shooting a revolver...
 
Someone on another forum claims they are a shooter and have never been hit by a piece of hot brass -- their own or another shooter's... ;)
 
Kynoch said:
I thought the same thing until a piece of 10mm brass lodged between my buttoned collar and my neck and then branded me when I moved my head driving the hot brass into my neck!
Click to expand...

I once had a piece of hot brass manage to sail past the collar of my shooting jacket, past the sweat shirt I was wearing, and down the collar of the tshirt under it all, to settle at my lower back.

Note that this was while shooting the offhand portion of a High Power match.

As far as I know, there's no speedy way to take of a High Power shooting coat.
 
Someone on another forum claims they are a shooter and have never been hit by a piece of hot brass -- their own or another shooter's...
Click to expand...


Wish I could make that claim....



That old playing with fire adage, seems to ring true.... we purposely set off explosions in our hands
 
Justin said:
I once had a piece of hot brass manage to sail past the collar of my shooting jacket, past the sweat shirt I was wearing, and down the collar of the tshirt under it all, to settle at my lower back.

Note that this was while shooting the offhand portion of a High Power match.

As far as I know, there's no speedy way to take of a High Power shooting coat.
Click to expand...

That would indeed be harsh. It's difficult enough to deal with a t-shirt...
 
I have been hit by my own and by others brass but never burned but I tend to dress a bit for the occasion. I wear safety glasses with shields over my regular glasses. I wear T-Shirts and usually have a "Wife Beater" under that so that if one were to get past the neck opening I have a layer of cotton between skin and hot stuff yet.

I never shoot in shorts so never had brass get in my shoe as my pants always cover the top/opening. Partly lucky I guess....I did get kind of a bad look at the range once with our small shooting group when one of the rather well endowed ladies who like to wear low cut stuff a lot trapped a piece of 9mm between her sweater puppies. She did a shocked ouchy dance (she wasn't shooting at the time) and extricated the brass. I don't think she was seriously burned. I laughed and made the "oh well, sucks to be you" gesture. She was not amused.

I did notice she didn't wear low cut stuff to the range anymore after that ( I warned her previously that she might not wanna dress quite that way at the range...)which doesn't make the guys very happy but hey, what are ya gonna do? :cuss: :D

VooDoo
 
When I was a kid we'd ride two up on motorcycle in the pasture with the guy on back having the gunner privileges. Using 22 autos to shoot ground squirrels. Got burned plenty as the front man. Graduated to jeeps and the guy riding shotgun took the hits.
 
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