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My favorite range had an oopsy!

I have had a couple or three pieces of hot brass get inside my shirt collar. Not pleasant but small beans compared to when I doing overhead welding using a stepladder on magnatized sucker rods using 7818 rods and a blob of slag dropped into my left jeans pocket, down my pants leg and into my boot, stopping on the instep of my foot. It never touched me until it lit on my foot. It's simply amazing how quickly you can jump off a ladder while sweeping your hood off and yanking off a boot when something is burning it's way into your foot. That was almost 45 years ago and the scar has finally faded. It was a good thing I was only about 4' off the ground too.

I can grit my teeth and use an expletive or two while removing hot brass but not dealing with molten slag. Then there is the time I set a brand new pair of Levi's on fire in winter. Thanks to long handles I didn't get burned but my wife did some grumbling while repairing the pants.
 
doubleh said:
I have had a couple or three pieces of hot brass get inside my shirt collar. Not pleasant but small beans compared to when I doing overhead welding using a stepladder on magnatized sucker rods using 7818 rods and a blob of slag dropped into my left jeans pocket, down my pants leg and into my boot, stopping on the instep of my foot. It never touched me until it lit on my foot. It's simply amazing how quickly you can jump off a ladder while sweeping your hood off and yanking off a boot when something is burning it's way into your foot. That was almost 45 years ago and the scar has finally faded. It was a good thing I was only about 4' off the ground too.

I can grit my teeth and use an expletive or two while removing hot brass but not dealing with molten slag. Then there is the time I set a brand new pair of Levi's on fire in winter. Thanks to long handles I didn't get burned but my wife did some grumbling while repairing the pants.
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I once welded a cracked base that is attached to one of my ar 500 critter silhouettes, while wearing flip flops.

I repeat, once.

Lessons were learned very quickly that day. 🤪

Stay safe.
 
This account of the ignition of residual powder is a great reminder that policing the range isn't just sweeping-up the brass. Obviously, indoor ranges accumulate unburned powder. This too must be swept-up and disposed of in a safe manner. If it isn't much powder and copper shavings, one can ignite it, IF the area and the fire-pit are safe and adequate for this task. One could for example use a fuse or other means to remotely ignite it. Keeping one's face and hands is a good thing, so using a match to ignite this is a very bad idea. Should there be a quantity, make sure divide it up multiple times and burn each small quantity one at a time. Never pull a "Look what I can do!" You might end up on the evening news. Not good.

Modern gunpowder does not stay dissolved in water nor even oil. It just won't break down. We're talking very stable / robust chemistry here. Maybe a chemist or someone with experience in these matters can tell us if there is some way of breaking-down smokeless powder. Me I haven't a clue -- I'd just burn it a little bit at a time. Safely burn it.
 
I pulled into the parking lot of a long established Denver Metro LGS/indoor range late one afternoon to browse. Walking from my car, I passed a gentleman who appeared to be attempting to access something in his trunk after pulling down the back seat. Minding my own business, I hardly gave him another thought as I walked inside. About 30 min later, a July superdumper opened up, and an employee noticed from the smoke pit overhang that a car in the parking lot had its door open. When nobody in the shop responded, he went out there, returning in about 60 seconds totally soaked and VERY focused. The gentleman hanging out of his rear passenger door and half in the trunk was dead from a GSW to the chest. My quick stop to the LGS changed into a three hour processing complete with detective interviews, as no one knew if we were dealing with a homicide (not a "nice area"), suicide, or accident. It was quickly determined that the deceased had been shooting on the range and went to his car prior to my arrival. After everything was deducted, the man has gone to his car and was sitting in the front seat trying to load his P226 with carry ammo when he ND'ed into his chest. The closed car reduced the sound signature to the point that no one noticed the shot. He got out, went around the car, opened the rear passenger door, pulled down the seat to the trunk, and was attempting to access a trauma kit when he expired. The detectives in their follow-up to me indicated that he was dead BEFORE I pulled into the parking lot, which made me feel a bit better about the situation. You never know...
 
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Riomouse911 said:
I repeat, once
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Being comfortable most of the time makes up for the short term discomfort once in a while. I had a piece of slag fall inside my untied shoe, which I immediately kicked off without looking up. 10 seconds later my shoe was fully engulfed. Musta been all the oil saturation? Ordered a new pair of shoes online from Rural King and the parts store had a guy go get them for me.

My carry gun sends brass everywhere. Bounced off the top of my head, back of my neck,shirt pockets, 5' in front, 10' behind...but it works so well I hate to mess with the extractor. Besides, hot brass is kid stuff.

Using a torch, overhead, and a splatter of melted steel fell down and hit me in the forehead. Then rolled down  behind my safety glasses and burned into my cornea. It was a bunch of suck. And that little teeny tiny drill bit they used to get it out? Looked like about 1/2" from the view I had of it.
 
Howland937 said:
Being comfortable most of the time makes up for the short term discomfort once in a while. I had a piece of slag fall inside my untied shoe, which I immediately kicked off without looking up. 10 seconds later my shoe was fully engulfed. Musta been all the oil saturation? Ordered a new pair of shoes online from Rural King and the parts store had a guy go get them for me.

My carry gun sends brass everywhere. Bounced off the top of my head, back of my neck,shirt pockets, 5' in front, 10' behind...but it works so well I hate to mess with the extractor. Besides, hot brass is kid stuff.

Using a torch, overhead, and a splatter of melted steel fell down and hit me in the forehead. Then rolled down  behind my safety glasses and burned into my cornea. It was a bunch of suck. And that little teeny tiny drill bit they used to get it out? Looked like about 1/2" from the view I had of it.
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:oops: OMG!

Stay safe.
 
.38 Special said:
All of my local indoor ranges have had suicides - all of them were people who went in, rented a gun, and then offed themselves with it. And all three ranges now refuse to rent to people who come in by themselves and don't bring any guns with them.
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Mine, too. Must be two folks together to rent a gun.

Stay safe.
 
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Speaking of hot brass, went to a indoor range with a couple friends. It was kinda crowded so we decided to use the same lane, just took turns taunting each other.

Friend steps up and starts shooting, next thing we see, he's jumping up and down tugging on his shirt. This is all happening while still holding the gun in his hand.

Just as we step up to see what's happening, BOOM! Luckily the gun was mostly pointed down range. That was enough for me, packed up and left.

Now welding is a different subject, if you stick weld, don't sit down close to what you're welding. Those little pieces of slag/flux have a bad habit of finding pieces of your anatomy, you don't want them to.

Plus running to the bathroom, while trying to rip your pants off, is only funny for everyone but you!:rofl:
 
Thank God I wasnt there when it happened but the Range I shoot at had a Guy shoot himself in the head and killed himself. Their not sure if it was accidental or on purpose.
 
After reading all this, I am never going near a welder again.
The indoor range I worked at MANY years ago only had one suicide I was aware of, on my day off. Also, we swept the range every day, before opening and after closing, wearing bunny suit and respirator. Never had a flash fire, despite MANY fluorescent tubes being shot down. It was a very poorly designed indoor range, closed many years ago and completely rebuilt under a new owner.
 
Milt1 said:
I don't know why there's a link between suicide and gun ranges. Several years ago a man, whose ex-wife and son lived across the street from me, went to an outdoor range he frequented and shot himself. My guess is that the shooter knows their body will be found by someone visiting the range.
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It's because renting a gun at the range is the fastest and easiest way to get a loaded gun into your hand. These people probably don't own a gun of their own, and never had any interest in owning one. Maybe they can't afford one, or pass a background check... so for the price of a quick rental and no background check/wait time they get the most powerful gun they can find, then end it right then and there.
 
Bazoo said:
Wow, I never considered that the powder on the floor might ignite, that's wild man. All the other stories are seriously scary and sad though. Glad that I do not have to rely on a public range as my only shooting venue. I encourage all of my friends, and usually offer to anyone I meet who seems like decent folks, to come down and use my range. I'm thankful for my safe place to shoot.
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Very good of you but you are leaving yourself wide open for a huge law suit and possibly jail time. Just sayun
 
If I had the option of not using the range, I might, but so many wildcat ranges out here are full of broken glass and other tire poppers.
 
Actually, gun-gas, the gas resulting from burning propellant, is also flammable. Most of what comes out the front of the barrel get ignited and burned, but a large proportion escapes out the breech during extraction and ejection.

They lost an F-104 M61 Vulcan while test firing in flight due to build-up of gun-gas in the gun compartment.
 
I have been on fire 2 times in my life, and both times I had to be told. Welding slag got into a fray on my jeans while I was under a buddies jeep in college, and when I was working in a steel extrusion mill, a guy next to me was using an acetylene torch to cut a hole in a piece of titanium so we could hot straighten it. Titanium got into the fray at the very bottom of my uniform pants. Both experiences were essentially the same, smell it, look for it for 30 seconds, get told I’m on fire before somebody throws a cold beverage on it to put me out.

Those were NOWHERE near as bad as the time I was shooting a 1911 and brass went down the back of my tucked in shirt. Suffice it to say that I have small mirror image scars from where it got pinched in the valley… and yes the gun got dropped but it was locked open. Not sure that it would have mattered because burnt butt cheeks hurts and I don’t recall any thoughts other than to get the wasp out… and then I learned that it wasn’t a wasp.
 
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