Home gunsmithing gone wrong

[Scratch]

10 minute video but worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPxQsP7_ZQw&ebc=ANyPxKrnCzXSfTueLqrr6AnTVu6XLsYLBrkYartjBxzBpQwG9nV2l_qDE3zDWZ5Fc6nDA2YkC9_aSswOL2_vO7CGHB9DbyIcjw

[Seismic Sam]

Somebody richly deserves having 50% of each finger and the thumb on their shooting hand snipped off with a pair of brush loppers - Too bad this didn't happen down here in the swomps. There are actually MORE personal injury lawyers than water moccasins in this State, and while their bite is not as poisonous, once they latch on, you WILL legally bleed out and die... I certainly hope the idiot that modified their own gun and then sold it to her at least knows what they did....

[shooter115]

My first question after seeing this posted elsewhere was "are we really sure the booger hook didn't hit the bang button". Then I saw pictures of the holster and it definitely looks like it went off fully seated.

[mmcnx2]

Tragic, but if you are dumb enough to buy a used gun(one admittedly used competitively - so probably pretty heavy use and high probability of customization) and not have the skills to confirm its safety and still not get it to a competent gunsmith, well then yea stuff can go south.

So she made that bad decision, followed by only testing 100 rounds (and I suspect none of it from a holster), followed by continuing to use it after having a number of failures, then she admittedly does a field clean but again does not indicate she has confirmed it operates safely. Lastly followed by the gun discharging into her. There are number of places this could have gone wrong given any one of those actions, cumulative it clearly resulted in a poor outcome.

Darwin award candidate - you just can't fix stupid.

[Ghost]

She went from high speed low drag to low speed high drag.

So, who did the modification to the firearm? Am I to assume the previous owner did? How do I know the previous owner didn't have a gunsmith perform the work?

[hammAR]

Never trust a gamer.....................

[andrewP]

I really don't want to dogpile on Ms. Eisenzimmer, but Ben Stoeger's classes are far from free; attending one with a gun (used or new) through which you've only put 100 rounds seems unwise. Likewise, buying a used gun without asking about modifications, especially if you know it's been used for competition, seems unwise. While ultimately, the responsibility is hers for not having properly inspected and tested the gun she bought, it's hard not to feel sorry for her; a gunshot wound is almost the harshest possible way to learn those lessons.

[Holland&Holland]

Must have been a Remington 700.

[FJ540]

I really don't want to dogpile on Ms. Eisenzimmer, but Ben Stoeger's classes are far from free; attending one with a gun (used or new) through which you've only put 100 rounds seems unwise. Likewise, buying a used gun without asking about modifications, especially if you know it's been used for competition, seems unwise. While ultimately, the responsibility is hers for not having properly inspected and tested the gun she bought, it's hard not to feel sorry for her; a gunshot wound is almost the harshest possible way to learn those lessons.

I'm not a doctor, but I'm seeing gangrene and amputation in her future and honestly can't see why her medical staff is delaying the inevitable.

I watched 85-90% of the video. Did they post the holster or some other compelling video that says she didn't jump the clock and send one into her own leg?

2.5 seconds from beep to bang is pretty darn slow. I'm not sure what the class was focused on, but I have to wonder if she wasn't trying to improve on her first round on target and playing the "guess when the cadence is going to hit". Holstered or sitting on the table, is it going to slip off the sear under static loads? That should be repeatable, right? Put a primered empty in the chamber and set it on a table with a video camera and it should go bang on it's own. Otherwise, I'm in the "she did it, but doesn't admit it" crowd.

[Ghost]

2.5 seconds from beep to bang is pretty darn slow. I'm not sure what the class was focused on, but I have to wonder if she wasn't trying to improve on her first round on target and playing the "guess when the cadence is going to hit". Holstered or sitting on the table, is it going to slip off the sear under static loads? That should be repeatable, right? Put a primered empty in the chamber and set it on a table with a video camera and it should go bang on it's own. Otherwise, I'm in the "she did it, but doesn't admit it" crowd.

I thought she said it was quicker than that. I watched the whole thing and I still don't understand what she was doing when it "went off".

My take was she hadn't touched the gun but I'm not a believer in spontaneous detonation and I would have thought a gun that could just "go off" would have likely doubled at some point prior.

[FJ540]

The shot clock said it was .2-.5 seconds from the buzzer (if I remember that right) to the discharge, and she claims she hadn't touched the gun yet. RO asked if she pulled two times, which makes me believe her hand was on it when it went off.

[crbutler]

Compartment syndrome isn't gangrene.

Her injuries are completely consistent with what she states from a medical end.

Compartment syndrome plus a bullet traveling inside the leg from outer thigh to inner ankle... yes, she is very lucky to still have her leg.

[FJ540]

You don't think she has a high probability of developing gangrene in that leg?

My grandpa took a grenade in WW2 and he ended up losing the leg below the knee from it in the 80's from gangrene they said resulted from the shrapnel.

[andrewP]

2.5 seconds from beep to bang is pretty darn slow. I'm not sure what the class was focused on, but I have to wonder if she wasn't trying to improve on her first round on target and playing the "guess when the cadence is going to hit". Holstered or sitting on the table, is it going to slip off the sear under static loads? That should be repeatable, right? Put a primered empty in the chamber and set it on a table with a video camera and it should go bang on it's own.

It should be testable, yes, but I think that subjecting the gun to a small shock while muzzle down as if it was being holstered would be a more valid test, since that's what the claimed circumstances were. Depending on what the geometry of the sear engagement is (I'm not familiar with the innards of the gun in question except to know that it's a fully cocked striker), it *might* be possible that with the modifications that were done to it, the sear could get jarred enough to slowly slide out of engagement with the striker, allowing it to fall after a delay. Of course, this would also require that the striker block was either disabled or malfunctioning, but again, the claim is that the gun was all effed up by some junior-grade home gunsmithing, so it's hard to categorically rule that out.

None of the lack of certainty about the actual cause of the shot in question changes the fact that there's value in being reminded to be cautious and thorough when purchasing used guns or modifying your own guns. I can't agree with her that modifications should never be done by an amateur, but they need to be carefully researched, carefully done, and carefully tested.

[Hmac]

You don't think she has a high probability of developing gangrene in that leg?

My grandpa took a grenade in WW2 and he ended up losing the leg below the knee from it in the 80's from gangrene they said resulted from the shrapnel.

Gangrene? No, no possibility...her leg will get better, not worse. Amputation won't be required.

I am distressed by her medical care. She was discharged from the ED after the initial event...she should have been admitted to the hospital so that the leg could be monitored for compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome was a completely predictable acute outcome and probably the major contributor to any long term dysfunction she'll left with. Fasciotomy for compartment syndrome is a surgical emergency. You have about 90 minutes to get that leg decompressed or significant nerve damage occurs. She got bad medical care IMHO and it's very possible that that did more damage than the gunshot wound.