How Accidents Happen.

Jump to latest Follow Reply
RM100GUY

RM100GUY

Member
Jun 22, 2018
946
1,477
69
Ceder Key Florida USA
I would venture to say that most if not all of us who shoot PCP air guns have (or should have) a healthy respect for HPA. Every once and a while it taps us on the shoulder and reminds us of how dangerous it can be if not given proper respect. I spent my working life operating all types of complex machine tools as a machinist and I learned and tought "accidents are most likely to happen when your distracted or something out of the normal routine happens", I've had my share of "close ones" and had another one last Friday, I wanted to pass along. I was shooting a Taipan Veteran .22 using the single shot tray 18gr pellets at 850fps, I would hold the gun in my right hand, cock, pick up a pellet out of the tin, load and close cocking lever with my left hand. During one of these cycles I picked up two pellets by mistake, as I loaded one in the tray the other one dropped into my shoe, I immediately removed my shoe to get that pellet, just as I was getting my shoe back on my phone rang, hurring the shot to answer my phone I had neglected to close the cocking lever! I don't know what happened to the pellet that was in the shot tray but the air blast hit my right cheek bone with the force of a short fist punch...I wasn't wearing any glasses...and yes I know better. Fortunately my cheek and eyes are fine, the gun had the breech o-ring blown out and was hanging on the pellet probe undamaged. This was a case in point of being distracted and operator error plain and simple, I just wanted to pass along this "tap on the shoulder" (punch in the face), to everyone!


 
Man that is scary stuff. I had my 1st run in modifying 2 guns. I forgot to tighten down the manometer on the front of the air cylinder and proceeded to fill it and let's just say at 1k psi the plastic face cover shot off and hit me in my forehead. It felt like Mike Tyson punched me and left me a knot and massive headache. I did have protective gear but yeah I feel your pain. 
 
Upvote 0
I was filling my 22 cal Marauder and the female foster fitting hooked to my gun failed. It sounded like a 22 cal revolver going off and my ears were ringing. I checked myself for blood but found none. The fitting was nowhere to be found. I can only imagine where the little ball berings inside went. Now, all my fill fittings are stainless. Close call.
 
Upvote 0
My wife and I were replacing our bedroom mattress with a new one. The old mattress was one of those extremely heavy high density thick foam with a full box spring. I had gotten done plinking outside and remembered leaving a pellet in the chamber. I decided to discharge it into the mattress with the belief that surely such thick high-denisty foam would stop the pellet. Instead, it fully penetrated the mattresss, the box spring, the carpet, the 8# carpet pad, the OSB subfloor, and lodged into a joist.

It was an eye opening error. Prior to the experience I was mentally treating it as-if it were a firearm but grossly underestimated the power. Now I treat my .22 pellet rifles as-if they are 22 LR. I follow all the firearm handling rules including "Know your target and what is beind it."
 
Upvote 0
Interesting last week at the dairy when I reloaded the magazine on my Crown. I aimed and took a shot, the gun made a really odd sound so I knew immediately that something was wrong. Yep, forgot to close the cocking lever but in this case there was no blow back. No damage done but yes, it's easy to let your guard down. We all need to remain conscious of the power of high pressure air and that both ends of the barrel can cause damage.
 
Upvote 0
Thanks for the reminder about safety. I had a close call as well this past winter.

I was working on an fx verminator for a friend. I degased the gun and took it out of the stock. I had it in my lap and accidently hit the trigger. Well guess what? There happened to be a pellet in the chamber and since it was a regulated gun it still had air in the receiver. It shot the 18 gr pellet out the corner of my gun room window. Scared the sh!t outta me. Just glad I had it pointed outside instead of toward the living room.
1587920030_16121415195ea5bc9e0eda28.37594917.jpg

 
Upvote 0
My wife and I were replacing our bedroom mattress with a new one. The old mattress was one of those extremely heavy high density thick foam with a full box spring. I had gotten done plinking outside and remembered leaving a pellet in the chamber. I decided to discharge it into the mattress with the belief that surely such thick high-denisty foam would stop the pellet. Instead, it fully penetrated the mattresss, the box spring, the carpet, the 8# carpet pad, the OSB subfloor, and lodged into a joist.

It was an eye opening error. Prior to the experience I was mentally treating it as-if it were a firearm but grossly underestimated the power. Now I treat my .22 pellet rifles as-if they are 22 LR. I follow all the firearm handling rules including "Know your target and what is beind it."
Click to expand...

Yes sir! I, a while ago, was thinking in the same silly way. I had cleaned .22 springer, and needed to discharge it, so I stuff a pellet in the there, and decided that I would discharge it into one of my smaller foam blocks, along with a couple of magazines and a pair of old tennis shoes. I thought no problem, that will stop it....wrong. That pellet blew through all that stuff, through the wall, and continued on to "where ever"! Had to replace the strip of siding on the outside of the house, and patch the wall of the inside.
 
Upvote 0
This thread reminds me of the time Mike Tyson landed a solid right cross on my chin, which reminded me of the time I forgot to return the under-lever of my BSA Airsporter Stutzen to home position under the stock before taking an offhand shot. The under-lever whacked me across the underside of my left fore-arm; thankfully at angle enough to not break my arm... the way that Tyson right cross broke my jaw!

I quit 'seeing' Robin Givens after that...


 
Upvote 0
Yes sir! I, a while ago, was thinking in the same silly way. I had cleaned .22 springer, and needed to discharge it, so I stuff a pellet in the there, and decided that I would discharge it into one of my smaller foam blocks, along with a couple of magazines and a pair of old tennis shoes. I thought no problem, that will stop it....wrong. That pellet blew through all that stuff, through the wall, and continued on to "where ever"! Had to replace the strip of siding on the outside of the house, and patch the wall of the inside.
Click to expand...

After my mistake I did some thinking, why did I do that?!? I certainly wouldn't have done it with a Ruger pistol in 22 LR let alone Marlin Model 60. After some thought I realized that my brain classified my Brocock Commander as an adult hobby toy instead of a weapon... a big-boy version of BB gun. An abundance of caution/ingrained handling instruction ensured that I followed the safe handling protocol prior to the accident, and it was discharged in a safe direction, it's just that I needed to re-train my brain with respect to "know your target and what is behind it". That is, don't assume you know and understand the penetration potential. Know your target, what is behind it, and ensure there is a safe backstop. Sounds like your story is very much similar to mine. Now my brain just thinks of these in powerburner terms. If it's safe for 22 LR then it would be safe for 14.3gr CPDs out at 965FPS.

RM100GUY's story is an exceptional reminder that if we think in terms of firearms we may be less accident prone. If I were feeding my .303 Enfield hand loads breach loaded and I was distracted I'd go through the full safe/clearing procedure if I were walking away.

Please don't infer I'm suggesting any nonsense/legislation, I'm an NRA life member, all I am suggesting is that if we consider from a handling aspect that "in my hand is a device capable of destruction similar to a firearm" it helps or at least did for me.
 
Upvote 0
When I added a gold filter with molecular sieve to the output of my Shoebox compressor, I didn't notice that the female foster fitting had a slightly larger outside diameter that the fitting on my fill station that had been hooked up to the Shoebox previously. The new fitting didn't fit into the opening in the Shoebox front panel, and therefore stopped just short of locking onto the male fitting. When the pressure in the line was around 1K, the fitting let go. What saved me from it being more than just a bad scare was that I had not opened the valve on the SCBA tank yet, so only the air in the filter and hose was released. Had it reached up there around three or four thousand, it would have been worse. Now I have enlarged the opening in the Shoebox front face, and I am employing hose tethers. I also plan on adding a hose with female fitting on the output of the gold filter, so I can connect to the check valve fitting on the fill station. That will prevent all the air in the tank escaping should I ever have a hose let go at high pressure. I'm glad you started this thread. It's a good way to share our "moments" and make us all a little more aware of the importance of safety in our hobby.

Shoot straight, tell the truth, and be kind to one another!

James
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu