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Article about how *not* to grip your new handgun:

http://nwanews.com/adg/News/236609/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Article quote: "Todd had to support this very heavy gun entirely with the strength of his hands and arms while trying to steady the cross-hairs of the scope on the deer, and in doing this, Todd held the pistol grip with his right hand and placed his left hand under the trigger guard of the revolver and also braced the gun against the window of the deer stand,” the complaint states.

After firing at the deer, blood began “spurting up in the air and on his gun and clothes.” Brown’s left thumb was severed by the gases escaping from the barrel cylinder gap when it was fired, and a deep gash was left on his palm, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims that Smith & Wesson should have known a hunter might move a hand forward on the weighty gun’s barrel when trying to site an animal and should have factored that possibility into the gun’s design.
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Yep, I bet that did hurt the idiot.

One would think a journalist would know the differnce between "site" and "sight". And he never did tell us if he got the deer.

Greybeard wrote:Article quote: "Todd had to support this very heavy gun entirely with the strength of his hands and arms while trying to steady the cross-hairs of the scope on the deer, and in doing this, Todd held the pistol grip with his right hand and placed his left hand under the trigger guard of the revolver and also braced the gun against the window of the deer stand,” the complaint states.

After firing at the deer, blood began “spurting up in the air and on his gun and clothes.” Brown’s left thumb was severed by the gases escaping from the barrel cylinder gap when it was fired, and a deep gash was left on his palm, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims that Smith & Wesson should have known a hunter might move a hand forward on the weighty gun’s barrel when trying to site an animal and should have factored that possibility into the gun’s design.
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Yep, I bet that did hurt the idiot.

One would think a journalist would know the differnce between "site" and "sight". And he never did tell us if he got the deer.

Like Jeff Cooper was fond of saying, (paraphrase): "There's no such thing as a foolproof gun. Fools should keep their hands off machinery."

So the gasses cut off his thumb????

Deer-hunting with a pistol. What fun.

gregthehand wrote:So the gasses cut off his thumb????

Sounds to me like the bullet hidden in the gases did the work. n You stick your hand in front of a pistol barrel and something is going to get blasted!

Keith B wrote:

gregthehand wrote:So the gasses cut off his thumb????

Sounds to me like the bullet hidden in the gases did the work. n You stick your hand in front of a pistol barrel and something is going to get blasted!

A bunch of time ago a friend had a revolver which had been a little abused by a previous owner and it was seriously out of time. We took it out and tested it by putting butcher paper around it and checking the pattern of lead spatter from each chamber of the cylinder. Even with the extreme shaving that was going on there was never enough power in the ejected lead or gas to cut off a digit.

I have also shot a lot of revolvers and placed my hand in the same support position that I would use for my semi-autos. I got a little burned, a very minor amount of it, and a lot of powder mark on my skin, but never enough gasses to even break the skin much less come close to amputation.

I am very skeptical of this one.

I would be willing to bet that the nimnul who lost his thumb had his hand out in front of the gun with his thumb in front of the muzzle when he fired.

jimlongley wrote:I would be willing to bet that the nimnul who lost his thumb had his hand out in front of the gun with his thumb in front of the muzzle when he fired.

That's one heck of a flinch that guy has there, eh?

It would be interesting to hear the details of the remaining wound from the removed thumb. Since the article said that blood spattered, I would tend to believe that the digit was in front of the muzzle.

If the gases from the cylinder gap have enough energy to cut off his thumb, I would think that they would be hot enough to cauterize the wound, resulting in little or no blood.

But, IANAL, nor am I a physician.

"If the gases from the cylinder gap have enough energy to cut off his thumb, "

Having a scoped SRH in .454 (a "sissy-load" in the 460), I actually find it pretty credible if he had his thumb very close to the forcing cone. We've had more than one sandbag ruined at the range when folks who should have known better positioned their .357's and .44s so close that the flames cut the cloth. Too, when I got the S&W 340 (scandium 357 5-holer) years ago, I noticed that it has special little piece of stainless steel just above the forcing cone to minimize the "gap flash" cutting into the underside of the topstrap.

A guy in a youtube video held a hotdog alongside the cylinder by the forcing cone on a ruger 44 magnum and it blew the hot dog apart,the firearm in question operates at much higher pressures and as stated he didn't stick his hand in front of the barrel,it was gases escaping around the forcing cone and his stupidity in not reading the instructions and warnings that came with the firearm that resulted in his injury

How many of those have been sold, shot, harvested game & the shooters not injured. If the gun is defective it should hurt the first few that shoot it instead of FINALLY hurting the X,000th one.
Another frivilous one.

I've seen at least one other report of this happening http://orangecountyshields.tripod.com/id15.html

Keith

Excaliber wrote:
Like Jeff Cooper was fond of saying, (paraphrase): "There's no such thing as a foolproof gun. Fools should keep their hands off machinery."

Programmer's axiom:
The purpose of a programmer is to write idiot proof programs.
The purpose of the universe is to create bigger and better idiots.
So far the universe is winning.

jimlongley wrote:

Keith B wrote:

gregthehand wrote:So the gasses cut off his thumb????

Sounds to me like the bullet hidden in the gases did the work. n You stick your hand in front of a pistol barrel and something is going to get blasted!

A bunch of time ago a friend had a revolver which had been a little abused by a previous owner and it was seriously out of time. We took it out and tested it by putting butcher paper around it and checking the pattern of lead spatter from each chamber of the cylinder. Even with the extreme shaving that was going on there was never enough power in the ejected lead or gas to cut off a digit.

I am very skeptical of this one.

Not only am I skeptical, I don't believe it.

jimlongley wrote:A bunch of time ago a friend had a revolver which had been a little abused by a previous owner and it was seriously out of time. We took it out and tested it by putting butcher paper around it and checking the pattern of lead spatter from each chamber of the cylinder. Even with the extreme shaving that was going on there was never enough power in the ejected lead or gas to cut off a digit.

And what caliber was that? If it was "a bunch of time ago", there were no revolvers chambered in anything even approaching .460 S& W Magnum.

At 2900 ft-lbs of muzzle energy, I can absolutely believe there is enough energy escaping the gap to do serious damage to a digit.