[rdcbn1]

More likely they blew up in your hands and killed you.

[Ikeon]

Getting your hand blown off by a cheap firearm, isn't going to kill you right away. It's just gonna hurt like h#ll. You could be blinded by shrapnel.

Otoh, most of them didn't blown up,(ie: hi-point, cheap and not know to blow up) they just misfired, fired when you least expected it, or broke. Hence the invention of electrical tape handles with chunk's of wood.