One of my high school students had an accident over the weekend. She explained to me how the accident happened, but it just doesn’t sound right to me. I am not an expert on guns, however, so perhaps someone here could explain to me how this happened.
The student’s name is Sarah (not really)(or, maybe really?). Sarah was out dove hunting with her dad/uncle/someone. She was loading her gun when the shell exploded.
Sarah says that she was loading a .410 rifle with a shell containing bird shot. (Does a rifle even fire shot?) She said that she placed the shell and was in the process of closing “the action” when the shell exploded. She showed me a picture of the shell. The back of the casing where the firing pin is located was gone. The rest of the shell was intact. She said that the wadding and shot were still packed inside the shell.
Her hand was injured by the action being pushed back by the explosion. Debris (burning powder? pieces of metal?) were blown into her hand and face. She has minor cuts to her face. After the accident, she removed the contact lenses from her eyes and said that they had debris in them. Today, she went to the ophthalmologist and she (the doctor) removed more debris from her eyes, including remnants of the contact lenses. With her eyeglasses on, she seems to see normally. She says her hearing is “boomy” and her voice echoes. Loud noises, like our marching band, cause her pain.
I am not seeking medical advice. Sarah has been examined by doctors, had an MRI of her head, and is otherwise receiving excellent care. She will be fine, though I am worried about her hearing. She was definitely not her usual perky self today.
So, what could have happened to cause this misfire? Sarah says the shell was made by Winchester. Is this a good brand? It is one that I have heard of, so it must be a fairly common brand name. Did her closing the action strike the firing pin? If so, why didn’t the shot eject from the shell rather than the powder and debris blow back in her face? Is this a common injury for folks involved in gun sports? Should I worry that Sarah has not been properly taught how to load her gun?
The primer is in the rear of the shell, so if it ignited while the shell wasn’t being held in place (loaded in a gun) it makes sense that the back of the shell was blown off. That’s what happened to bullets on Mythbusters when they heated them in an oven or a bonfire; the shells were propelled off the bullets rather than vice-versa as they would have when fired from a gun.
As to what would have caused the shell to fire, either an impact or heat. Given that it was being loaded I would assume something struck the shell somehow. Weird freak accident?
Birdshot doesn’t have to be fired from a shotgun, you can even put a .410 birdshot shell in a pistol for self defense.
I’ll start by commenting that there are a few firearms that can fire both 45 Colt pistol cartridges as well as 410 shotshells. The 45 Colt cartridge is mostly thought of as a revolver cartridge but it’s not uncommon for a person to have both a revolver and rifle using the same ammo.
Its possible for a firearm to discharge before the round is fully chambered. A mechanical failure such as a jammed firing pin is often the cause. If the firing pin is protruding from the bolt it may strike the shells primer before the bolt is fully closed.
Fist of all, a .410 is a shotgun and not a rifle. It is the smallest shotgun shell commonly available and usually used by beginners. It is very lightly powered by shotgun standards but it can certainly fire bird shot and is often used for that purpose so that part is completely plausible. Winchester is a very venerable and reputable brand of both firearms and ammunition. That checks out as well.
That said, I have never personally heard of that particular type of misfire even though I grew up with a father that was a gun dealer, have fired tens of thousands of shotgun rounds myself and know people that have collectively fired in the millions. That is incredibly rare although I suppose it could happen as she described through some weird fluke possibly combined through mishandling but even extreme carelessness hardly ever results in a misfire of that type.
I would take her at her word that it happened as described because the facts do fit although I am still not sure why it fired at all. The reason it blew up in that way is explained by Newtonian laws - for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Normally, firearms impart energy on their projectiles by forcing combustion gases to quickly expand and force the bullet or pellets only one way down the barrel. In this case, It was like igniting an explosive in a piece of pipe that was open at both ends. The gases expand in both directions equally. The good news is that type of detonation cannot build up nearly as much compression as a closed tube so there isn’t as much energy at either end to cause damage. The bad news is that your face is still really close to the near end to it if that does happen so you still get sprayed particles and a whole lot of noise if it blows up near your face.
That is what happened to Sarah. The whole thing sounds scary (and it is) but it still probably isn’t quite as dangerous as you may imagine it. Her hearing will be fine in a couple of days. Shotguns are incredibly loud even when they work perfectly and residual ringing in your ears is to be expected if you aren’t wearing good ear protection. However, a .410 is on the very light end of the power and noise scale.
I would advise her to get her shotgun checked by a gunsmith to figure out why it fired prematurely because that is not normal. She could also benefit from some remedial training on how to load it properly and she definitely needs some good ear protection if she wants to shoot again.
What Shag said. But also, my Grandfather always warned that we needed to wait between shots, because the pin was still hot. My Dad would then snort and inform him that we weren’t firing WWII weapons here. We could load quickly.
Apparently there was a time when such backfires happened to a lot of soldiers. Perhaps she was firing an older family gun, rather than a modern one?
Debris in her contact lenses and still having hearing issues a few days later? It certainly sounds like she was not wearing adequate eye and ear protection, which yes, would make me question the quality of shooting instruction she received, at least in safety. “Eyes & ears” are your first line of defense against injury while shooting.
She might have planned to put them on after loading. I can’t say I’ve always worn protection while loading a magazine, though if I’m at a range my protection is on if I’m where people are shooting. Firing a gun without wearing earplugs and/or covers will hurt your ears, especially a shotgun.
There are very many Bolt cation 410 shotguns. Some are made as such and a lot are converted from military rifles.
The accident would be described as an “out of battery firing” the shell has gone off before the bolt is fully closed and locked.
Most common cause is a broken firing pin sticking forward when closing the bolt.
She wasn’t loading a separate magazine. She was loading the firearm itself. If ammo is going into the firearm, and especially if the action is being closed, you should have eyes and ears on.