Posted on 08/11/2009 7:57:47 AM PDT by Notoriously Conservative
I came across this the other day, it isn't my account, but the account of an unfortunate gun owner. You can point to snopes, and say this isn't true, but in an episode of MythBusters, they proved it was plausible:
460XVR blew my thumb off today!
No joke, about 1/2 of my left thumb is gone ... what's left is a friggin mess.
It's pretty hard to type, and I'm only posting because you never know, it might save somebody else a thumb. I was using a 2-handed grip, fired off a Cor-Bon DPX .460 and the blast came violently out the side of the gun.
At first my thumb was so covered in blood that I couldn't see how bad it was ... and I was full of adrenaline and felt no pain. And honestly it looked really bad, my whole hand was covered in blood and it was kinda gushing.
The blown-off thumb was on my support hand. I'll re-create the grip tomorrow to see where my thumb was, but it's not like I didn't already know not to get any body part near the cylinder gap. And even if I totally screwed up and did, taking my thumb clean off seems a bit excessive?
Just be careful with those 460's. That case operates at such high pressure, it's just asking for trouble.
BTW, I bought my 460 new and had exactly 12 rounds through it. Info about the gun, it's a full-size 460 with the 8 3/4' barrel and factory installed compensator. It's one of the Whitetails Unlimited models. Ammo was 200gr Cor-Bon DPX.
The gun only had 12 or 13 rounds of the Cor-Bon through it, and 10 ..45 Long Colt rounds through it. So it was essentially still brand new.
Saw a hand specialist while there today. Lots of ways to try and save what's left, but first I just have to hope it doesn't get infected in the next few days ... then surgery early next week.
The hand specialist I spent a few hours with last night said that in gunshot wounds there is always a lot more damage than is first visible ... same with things like fireworks going off in your hand. A lot more flesh around the wound is dead, and will rot and fall off over the next couple days. That's why it's so important to keep clean, and that's also why they can't do surgery now. If they wrapped new skin over dead skin it would just puss out, possibly turn gang-green, and they'd have to start all over again.
This is an example of how he was holding his revolver. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
This is what's left of his thumb. 
More photos on Notoriously Conservative
Hmmmm, I made a bigger mess of my thumb when I first started carpentry although it wasn’t blown open like that. For two days I nailed down 3/4” particle board underlayment with 8dd twist shank nails using a 22 oz. smooth face hammer. My thumb was three X normal size and there wasn’t anything solid inside it. Bone and all was pretty much liquefied. It just healed up on its own and returned to a completely normal state. I guess the burned gunpowder does a number on flesh.
Amazing what a narrow jet of hot gas at a pressure of 50-60,000 pounds per square inch will do. The S&W 460 is rated up to 65,000 PSI.
I'm Jewish as well, though I don't keep kosher, and while I don't hunt anymore, I have no problems with eating wild game. My issues with hunting are quite simple. I'd rather buy a steak at the local market than clean a deer.
Hot gas and liquid lead. Don’t stand next to anyone shooting a revolver.
Can you post the pics of your Garand incident for me? Thanks.
*A man has got to know his limitations*...Harry Callahan
OUCH.
I’d take my “almost” .308 core-sample a thousand times over that.
My hands STING just thinking about those photos!
Thanks. A friend of mine wanted to see them.
Slamfire?
Holy cow dude! What happened?
I would concur, I've seen some "flash" N "blast" damage to hands and this just doesn't look right.
Never fully determined what malfunctioned on the rifle. But it was a malfunction as it was new. This was only the 13th round fired and it had been thoroughly cleaned by a former Marine (TexasCowboy) and we were using factory ammo purchased at the range.
According to Springfield they had no other problems.
I guess it was just Eaker luck.
What cannot be seen in the pictures is the piece of shell casing I had to have removed from my breastbone.
Wow, never saw a Garand like that, Got any info?, determine a cause?... I think I’ll be giving my rifle another good look-over shortly.
Did the rifle “return to service”?
“If it weren’t for Eaker luck you’d have no luck at all”?
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