Or---how my wife survived bein shot with a 45.
Back around 1997, the wife and I took a trip to visit her brother. Now he is a good feller and dang near a best bud as i was also the best man at his wedding. A certified "gun nut" is he. Has a good paying job and a large gun collection and tons of reloading equiptment and reloads. We were on vacation and the wife wanted to see him and i wanted to play with his collection. So after the 1st day there, he and i went to an outdoor range and had a good time shootin his kimbers, cz's, glocks, etc, etc. It was a good day! Went back to his apt and started to do the duty of cleaning. I got thru cleaning mine and he had just got thru cleaning his.
Something went very, very wrong. My brother-in-law inserted a loaded mag (Federal 230gr hydroshoks)into his kimber 1911 "custom royal" and the weapon went off.
At the deafening sound of the shot, my wife, who was standing about 10 ft away, cried out and went down. She was on the floor on her back and saying words that would make a sailor blush! And rightfully so. She had taken the round in the back of the leg just behind the knee joint. As luck would have it, it did not take out the joint itself but it did damage everything behind it including muscle, tendons, and ligaments.
O.K...................everything kicks in, 911 is called for an ambulance. I get towels and start applying pressure to the wound. Brother-in-law has put the kimber down and more in a state of shock.
P.D. gets there 1st of course to secure the scene for the ambulance since it was a shooting. I identified myself as a police officer and gave them my I.D. Ambulance gets there and hauls wife to the hospital. I get to stay there to answer questions for the P.D. with the brother-in-law.
The P.D. concluded it was an A.D. and did not seize the kimber. A sgt. did find the bullet. Seems that after it had exited, struck the floor and channeled under the carpet on the concrete for about 24". The sgt cut it out of the carpet and kept it. Turns out he had a private bullet collection goin on.(wife had actually wanted it to hang around her neck)
The remander of the vacation is of course shot to hell and back.( the "undertaker" was to wrestle in Dallas and i had talked the wife into going until this happened---never been to one of them big matches)
Wife eventually released from hospital and we had that long drive back home. To add insult to injury, the hot water heater had cratered while we were away and the whole house was flooded.
Hav'nt taken an out of town vacation since.
Brother in law to this day insists that the hammer chased the slide down and the kimber went off. I have since examined his kimber and could not make the hammer chase the slide down. A gunsmith also examined it and could find no wrong. I think that brother-in-law had a mental moment and thought he put in an empty mag, dropped the slide and pulled the trigger. I have seen a hammer chase down the slide on an old surplus 1911 before but it stopped on the safety notch.
Moral of the story, treat every gun as if it were loaded, experienced guys make mistakes, don't point a gun at anything you don't want shot, and anything mechanical can fail.
Back around 1997, the wife and I took a trip to visit her brother. Now he is a good feller and dang near a best bud as i was also the best man at his wedding. A certified "gun nut" is he. Has a good paying job and a large gun collection and tons of reloading equiptment and reloads. We were on vacation and the wife wanted to see him and i wanted to play with his collection. So after the 1st day there, he and i went to an outdoor range and had a good time shootin his kimbers, cz's, glocks, etc, etc. It was a good day! Went back to his apt and started to do the duty of cleaning. I got thru cleaning mine and he had just got thru cleaning his.
Something went very, very wrong. My brother-in-law inserted a loaded mag (Federal 230gr hydroshoks)into his kimber 1911 "custom royal" and the weapon went off.
At the deafening sound of the shot, my wife, who was standing about 10 ft away, cried out and went down. She was on the floor on her back and saying words that would make a sailor blush! And rightfully so. She had taken the round in the back of the leg just behind the knee joint. As luck would have it, it did not take out the joint itself but it did damage everything behind it including muscle, tendons, and ligaments.
O.K...................everything kicks in, 911 is called for an ambulance. I get towels and start applying pressure to the wound. Brother-in-law has put the kimber down and more in a state of shock.
P.D. gets there 1st of course to secure the scene for the ambulance since it was a shooting. I identified myself as a police officer and gave them my I.D. Ambulance gets there and hauls wife to the hospital. I get to stay there to answer questions for the P.D. with the brother-in-law.
The P.D. concluded it was an A.D. and did not seize the kimber. A sgt. did find the bullet. Seems that after it had exited, struck the floor and channeled under the carpet on the concrete for about 24". The sgt cut it out of the carpet and kept it. Turns out he had a private bullet collection goin on.(wife had actually wanted it to hang around her neck)
The remander of the vacation is of course shot to hell and back.( the "undertaker" was to wrestle in Dallas and i had talked the wife into going until this happened---never been to one of them big matches)
Wife eventually released from hospital and we had that long drive back home. To add insult to injury, the hot water heater had cratered while we were away and the whole house was flooded.
Hav'nt taken an out of town vacation since.
Brother in law to this day insists that the hammer chased the slide down and the kimber went off. I have since examined his kimber and could not make the hammer chase the slide down. A gunsmith also examined it and could find no wrong. I think that brother-in-law had a mental moment and thought he put in an empty mag, dropped the slide and pulled the trigger. I have seen a hammer chase down the slide on an old surplus 1911 before but it stopped on the safety notch.
Moral of the story, treat every gun as if it were loaded, experienced guys make mistakes, don't point a gun at anything you don't want shot, and anything mechanical can fail.