Made a mistake (Graphic)

[Brokennock]

I don't mean what I am about to say as an insult or to demean anyone, or to "question anyone's manhood."

Please look at that o.p. picture again.
Especially if it upsets you or "grosses you out."
The time to find such sights upsetting or for them to make you want to vomit is not when a tragedy occurs and the life, you, may need to save is that of your significant other, child, parent, or best friend. It may not be at the range. Car accidents are ridiculously too common and way too many people are permanently injured or killed in them. Accidents with tools at home or at work. The list is vast if places and manners in which series trauma can occur.
Get inoculated to such sights now. Look at that pic. Seek out others....
More importantly,,,,, seek out basic level trauma care training.
I am not talking about taking an EMT class.
The 1st class that comes to mind is, "Stop The Bleed," excellent relatively short class, keeps up with the latest trauma care trends coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan in the last 20 years,,, boiled down for the average citizen.
Check out a group called, "Field Craft Survival," they are not just firearms and weapons craft training, in fact that is a small percentage of their value. They have many classes that involve trauma care.
East coast folks. Not sure if they still offer it, but look it up, Sig Acadamy used to offer a "First Aid for Range Safety Officers," class that was pretty good.

Remember, we call police, fire, and ems "first responders," they are not. They are second.
When you and your family are in a car accident, kitchen or workshop accident, when your there when an incident involving injury occurs on the range,,,, you are there,,,,
you are the first responder.

 

[Brazos John]

Thanks for posting, and I'm terribly sorry that this occurred.
I'm just getting started in shooting flintlocks, and this is scary. I wanted to go shoot at the family farm, alone, for my first time with flintlocks, but I chose to wait until I had a partner. It was fun, with no problems.
I still have my black powder stored with my smokeless in the bottom drawer of my garage refrigerator (unplugged), knowing that I wouldn't get them mixed up. Now, I don't have that blind confidence.
I see that I have to figure out a better storage arrangement, as a result of your photo.
I showed this to my son, who was an Army medic, and he recommended some first aid supplies for me to carry. I hope to find some of the courses mentioned by previous posters, too.

 

[Rum River]

Bigpat: Very glad the doctors were able to avoid amputating your lower arm. Thank you for sharing this as a very strong public service announcement.

 

[Bigpat271]

Thanks for the overwhelming support everybody. I just hope that this spreads across all shooting forums to show what happens when you don't treat firearms they deserve. I may post this on other social media platforms and pic-sharing sites as well.

I 100% agree that keeping a basic trauma kit on you or around you at all times. I keep one in my car, in my workshop, and a small trauma kit in my left pocket. Pretty much wherever there's a slight risk of bodily harm I have a kit near by.

 

[azmntman]

Thanks for posting, and I'm terribly sorry that this occurred.
I'm just getting started in shooting flintlocks, and this is scary. I wanted to go shoot at the family farm, alone, for my first time with flintlocks, but I chose to wait until I had a partner. It was fun, with no problems.
I still have my black powder stored with my smokeless in the bottom drawer of my garage refrigerator (unplugged), knowing that I wouldn't get them mixed up. Now, I don't have that blind confidence.
I see that I have to figure out a better storage arrangement, as a result of your photo.
I showed this to my son, who was an Army medic, and he recommended some first aid supplies for me to carry. I hope to find some of the courses mentioned by previous posters, too.

I am just getting ready to start re-leoading and this post has made me decide to store the black powder (and subsitutes) separate from the smokless, as far as even one set up stairs and one down. YA IT CAN HAPPEN TO ME.

 

[AMM1869]

Very sorry to hear of your accident. I knew a young man that purchased a stainless steel Remington some years ago. A number of us offered to show him how and what to load. He insisted he knew all about black power firearms. Well, the short of it, he loaded smokeless, barrel just missed his head, cylinder split in 3 pieces, top brace never found. Then he tried returning it to the gun shop and said it was defective. Very lucky young man.

 

[Bergmann]

Horrible.
A “caution- disturbing image” or something would really be appreciated in posts like this. The photos are much too graphic for general viewing! Made my stomach turn.

Mine too. And right in the middle of breakfast!

 

[labrat]

Definitely opened my eyes to a new awareness of safety & handling of firearms. I have gotten a little lax myself and I thank you for reminding use. Very graphic but sometimes we need this shock & awe to remind us. Glade your still with us...............Labrat

 

[Mad Michael]

I'll use this to say that everyone should have some CAT tourniquets on hand. I have one in my truck, one in the boat, one in the bush plane, one that goes in my cargo pocket so it's on my person, one in my bug out bag, one in my lap top back pack for when I'm traveling. I always grab one and take it to the shooting bench- just in case. And they are all set up for one-handed operation so I can put them on myself.

I am very glad it all worked out for Bigpat and he is alive and functioning. It was very brave of him to post something so intensely personal so we can all take warning from it.

I am seconding Cornstalk's suggestion to always carry a CAT tourniquet with you. If you can, take a "STOP THE BLEED" course offered under the auspices of the American College of Surgeons. It will take 4 hours out of your day, max. I have been an instructor since 2015 and find it rewarding and a pleasure to teach. Obviously, I had to take the course first. Many instructors will come out and teach groups especially if there are retired instructors at hand.

 

[Mad Michael]

Take a "STOP THE BLEED" course offered under the

Whoops sorry I see Brokennock beat me to the punch.

 

[Brokennock]

Whoops sorry I see Brokennock beat me to the punch.

Worth reiterating.
As we know, not everyone reads all the posts before they comment (not referring to you), so repeating this, especially from an instructor is worth it.

Maybe you could post some links?

 

[JCKelly]

Humans, all of us, make errors. They are more likely with muzzle-loaders than with unmentionables using store-bought ammo. I enjoyed my personally made flintlocks for some twenty-five years until I learned some things abought common rifle barrels. Then no muzzle loaders till I learned a bit about how Pedersoli & Traditions handle matters. No one really cares about safe firearms Until.

 

[stephenprops1]

I work part-time in a gun store. Occasionally a customer will ask for recommended smokeless powder loads for a muzzle loader. I always advise them to never do that. I have had a few people scoff at me and say they have been doing it for a period of time. I just shake my head and tell them to always keep their affairs in order.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Point made... i will be more alert now

I guess I am thankful that I ONLY shoot black powder and have no others in my possession. That is a disturbing image. Look ... look again ... think through every possible mistake... be careful

 

[Mad Michael]

As we know, not everyone reads all the posts before they comment (not referring to you),

Yes, It was referring to me, rightly so, in a manner worse than you can imagine. I do "skim" the other posts before posting but did not read in detail. Was brought up to admit my errors in full and to apologize appropriately, so I don't mind eating crow for my mistakes, so it was me.

POSTS:
The best news is Stop the Bleed , like so many things has gone to a two part training program, the first is virtual, The second is a on hands Skills course.
So one starts here:

STOP THE BLEED® Interactive Course

or here if you are using a mobile device:

https://www.stopthebleed.org/training/online-course/mobile
Then one finds the skill classes here:

https://cms.bleedingcontrol.org/class/search
Most are free. Whenever I have charged for a class the student walks away with a NAR CAT, a "Stop the Bleed" T-Shirt, and a small key chain CPR mouth shield (CPR is not part of the course but I buy these mouth shields for cheap so I throw it in because). It brings the price to around $40 as I provide them at cost only, my time is free. Mostly I don't charge. If one notices a fee and it is above my figure there, find out if the student gets to take away a tourniquet or kit at the end. I would locate a skills course in my area, then take the virtual course. If one cannot find a skills course nearby, Take the Virtual Course anyway.

Another group worth getting involved with who teach this along with other things is your local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), which is a 18 hour minimum commitment to training, it is all basic disaster preparedness and relief. There is usually no requirement that you join a team to take the training so if time is available it is worth doing.

Mad Michael.

 

[CaptainKirk]

BigPat...thank you for your bravery in sharing this.

 

[Twopoint]

Thank you Sir, for posting. I am fairly new to black powder but not to firearms in general.
this pic was a definite eye opener. while I know there is a lot more energy in smokeless power,
this drives the point home is a spectacular fashion.
I am very sorry for your injury, but glad you are now doing well.

 

[Bigpat271]

I work part-time in a gun store. Occasionally a customer will ask for recommended smokeless powder loads for a muzzle loader. I always advise them to never do that. I have had a few people scoff at me and say they have been doing it for a period of time. I just shake my head and tell them to always keep their affairs in order.

Print out of the pics of my hand and put them by the reloading supplies with a note at the bottom. I bet that will make people think twice.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

During the summer between my Junior and Senior years in high school an acquaintance of mine acquired a Damascus barreled 12 ga. double barrel with exposed hammers. He cut the brass from 12 ga. shotshells and inserted those into the breech. Then muzzle loaded the barrels with I don't remember what and packed them down. Upon firing the left barrel, the breech ruptured and removed his left hand at the wrist. He wore a hook to graduation the following year.

 

[golden sky]

i once almost ended up the same as the OP, I was a kid and fount an old flare gun, started tinkering with 12gauge shells in it. it was fun, then i had a bright idea of installing a 12 ga Magnum shell. holy smokes I blew the barrel sky high and the damn gun was cut in half. fortunatly my hand was unscathed.