http://subguns.biggerhammer.ne t/reloading.cgi?read=4022
Is a first hand account of this Ka-Boom incident. Reposted here before it expires.
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I'm cross-posting this to all the email lists that have
mentioned this
incident (that I'[m subbed to). Some have had accurate pieces of
info,
some have not. Since I was there, I want to let everyone know what
happened, as I saw it. There are some lessons in this and in the
hope that
Glenn's death not be in vain, I will present them so others will
not make
the same mistakes that Glenn fatally made.
I was at the Easton Fish & Game on Saturday, taking a Defensive
Shooting
class. During a break in our class, someone came down from the
100yd range
and said, "Does anyone have a cellphone? Someone call 911. A guy
shot
himself. I think he's dead." I looked down and saw a cellphone on
the
table. I dialed 911 and handed the phone to someone standing next
to me
and took off around the corner to see what happened.
I was one of the first to arrive at the scene. Glenn was lying on
his
back, bleeding from a single wound to the center of his forehead. A
quick
survey of the scene showed his rifle in two pieces, looking like it
separated at the receiver ring. I knelt down to Glenn and check for
a
pulse. I easily found the pulse in the carotid. A couple quick
shouts to
see if he were conscious were futile and he wasn't breathing so I
pulled
the jaw down and pushed the tongue down to open the airway. He took
in a
deep raspy breath. I then moved to the forehead. I gingerly felt
the open
wound for protruding metal. Finding none, I began to apply pressure
to the
wound. About this time, Pete showed up and immediately began to
assist. For the next 12 minutes, Pete maintained his airway and I
kept
pressure on his forehead to stop the bleeding. He was unconscious
the
entire time, most likely from the initial explosion. Pupils were
dilated
and fixed for the entire period as well. When Pete & I handed him
off to
EMS, Glenn was still breathing on his own and had a good heartbeat.
After EMS took Glenn away, I began to examine the scene. Mixed in
with
the blood was brain fluid. This meant the skull was breached. Since
there
was no exit wound, this meant that either there was piece of metal
inside
the brain area or he had been dealt a glancing, ricochet type blow
that had
cracked the front of the skull. It looked like he lost about 1.5 to
2
pints of mixed fluids.
I looked at the pieces of the rifle. The barrel metal was
completely
intact, with the expended cartridge still in the chamber (more on
that
later), and the wood was badly splintered. It didn't take long to
see that
the receiver had failed. The upper half of the receiver ring was
missing
as were tops of the rails for about 1-2". Upon closer examination,
the
metal showed an obvious crystalline fracture, with the outer edge
areas of
the ring and maybe 1/2" back showing stretching/tearing, rather
than
crystalline breakage. The missing metal was nowhere to be found,
although
some wood splinters were recovered. The bolt would not return to
battery. I couldn't tell if the bolt had been completely in battery
when
the round was fired but I am unfamiliar with the Lee so I don't
know if it
is possible to fire a round when the bolt is out of battery.
I then turned my attention to the barrel. The brass was stuck in
the
chamber. There was a hole in the brass, in the extractor area. The
primer
was missing, the base of the cartridge was blackened and slightly
bowed out
into a convex shape. Surrounding the hole in the brass was obvious
flow
into the unsupported area of the extractor. The semi-rimmed brass
was now
obviously rimmed. Obvious, major headspace problem. Obvious, major
overpressure situation.
Looking through the barrel, I saw that it was plugged. Obtaining a
rod, I
slid in down the muzzle until it stopped. Marking the length with
my
thumb, the obstruction was at or near the end of the chamber. A
shake of
the barrel was silent. Driving the rod into the barrel to drive out
the
brass took a few sharp strokes, the first couple feeling like
something was
wedging in the barrel. After popping out the brass, I inspected the
barrel. It was free of bulges and the barrel actually looked quite
nice -
dark but with strong rifling. The chamber was in good shape as
well, with
no obvious deformities. Examining the brass, I immediately noticed
that
the bullet had never left the barrel because I had driven it back
into the
powder area of the brass when driving it out and that it was what I
had
felt for the first couple blows. I did not notice any rifling marks
on the
bullet but could not see it that clearly inside the brass.
I next turned to the shooting table, where Glenn had his box of
ammunition. Glenn was apparently testing handloads because he had a
few
pieces of paper with different loads written on it. I recall them
being
30gr or so of IMR powders but don't remember the numbers (I'm not a
big
reloader) with 100gr and 150gr bullets (Hornady and Speer). I do
recall
that one of the loads was 11gr Unique. Looking at the ammo in the
box, I
realized that the fatal shot was his second as there was only one
previously expended round. Picking it up, it was obviously deformed
as
previously described: obvious brass flow into the extractor area,
blackened
& rimmed base, missing primer, except no hole in the brass. Looking
at
this first round, I have to wonder how hard it was to extract. It
looked
like a hammer-beater to me.
And that's as far as I got before the police started to impound
everything.
It wasn't until later that I found out that when Glenn was taken to
the
hospital, x-rays revealed that a piece of metal 40mm on its long
side had
penetrated the brain, ending its straight though travel at the rear
of the
skull; destroying his sinus cavity in the process.
Lessons:
It doesn't matter how much experience you have, if the brass is
obviously
deformed, stop shooting.
If something looks wrong, it's most likely because it is. Resist
the
temptation to take "just one more shot". Figure out what's wrong
FIRST.
Always have a first-aid kit with you.
Always have latex gloves with you.
When you go shooting, make sure that EMS knows how to get to you,
wherever
you are.
A cellphone is no longer a luxury. If it works, it can shave
valuable
minutes off the emergency response time.
Glenn didn't need to die. From what I've read about him over the
past
couple days, I wish I would have met him in better circumstances,
he
sounded like a helluva guy. He was smart enough to notice that
there was a
problem. He either wasn't paying attention and missed it or he
choose to
ignore it; and continued shooting. Learn from his mistake.
No fancy closing words here, just a reminder that this is a
dangerous sport
and to be careful out there.
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