I had a very unusual incident happen yesterday at the range. I was shooting at the 100 yard range with several other people. To my left, and at the end bench was a couple shooting a rifle. I only saw the woman shooting. The rifle was strapped into a rest with rubber feet. I waited to post my target while I waited I noticed that each time she shot the gun the rest assembly moved towards the rear 1/2 inch to an inch. Coupled with the movement of the gun due to recoil was the woman's extremely poor shooting position. She was shooting right handed, while kneeling in a chair, and sitting on her right foot. She was hunched over the gun giving the impression she was left eye dominant. She was wearing a baseball style hat and plastic sunglasses. I shot a round of 5 and was setting up for my next set when the incident happened.
I know this is a long-winded scenario but I need to write it out in case I mention something important that I have overlooked.
The next thing that happened was a shot was fired behind me. The report was not normal, being somewhat muffled. At the same time debris seemed to rain down around behind me, some hitting my back and left arm as I was setting up. I looked up trying to find the cause of the muffled report and source of the debris.
What I saw was the woman still over the gun with what appeared to be 3-4 bloody spots on her face.
I suspected she had been scoped badly. I stood and faced her. She stood and faced me. Where her husband/boyfriend was, I don't know. I was looking for the source of the blood around her right eye. None was there, but almost immediately a large amount of blood began coming from her mouth.
I told her to remove her hat and sunglasses, looking for the source of the blood. It was not from her eye. Everything seemed to be coming from her mouth. It was all down the front of her shirt. About this time the husband/boyfriend appeared and began efforts to stem the flow of blood.
I turned my attention to the gun. It was a black, bolt-action gun. Someone at the range stated that it was a Howa 7mm. I cannot confirm this. A gentleman tried to lift the bolt of the gun but it was frozen and jammed. It appeared to be closed. I could not determine where the debris came from until someone mentioned that the bottom of the gun had been blown off. Sure enough, the plastic magazine had been demolished. It simply was gone.
The site was quickly policed and all gear placed in the car and the woman was quickly taken to the hospital.
How could this have happened? The trigger could not have been engaged or fired without a closed bolt. But how do you get the obvious blow-back down through the magazine that obviously destroyed the bottom of the gun? Oversize cartridges would not have allowed the bolt to close. Undersized cartridges would not have caused the extreme blow-back down through the magazine. I guess the injuries could have come from the shock wave and flying debris.
Any thoughts about this?
I know this is a long-winded scenario but I need to write it out in case I mention something important that I have overlooked.
The next thing that happened was a shot was fired behind me. The report was not normal, being somewhat muffled. At the same time debris seemed to rain down around behind me, some hitting my back and left arm as I was setting up. I looked up trying to find the cause of the muffled report and source of the debris.
What I saw was the woman still over the gun with what appeared to be 3-4 bloody spots on her face.
I suspected she had been scoped badly. I stood and faced her. She stood and faced me. Where her husband/boyfriend was, I don't know. I was looking for the source of the blood around her right eye. None was there, but almost immediately a large amount of blood began coming from her mouth.
I told her to remove her hat and sunglasses, looking for the source of the blood. It was not from her eye. Everything seemed to be coming from her mouth. It was all down the front of her shirt. About this time the husband/boyfriend appeared and began efforts to stem the flow of blood.
I turned my attention to the gun. It was a black, bolt-action gun. Someone at the range stated that it was a Howa 7mm. I cannot confirm this. A gentleman tried to lift the bolt of the gun but it was frozen and jammed. It appeared to be closed. I could not determine where the debris came from until someone mentioned that the bottom of the gun had been blown off. Sure enough, the plastic magazine had been demolished. It simply was gone.
The site was quickly policed and all gear placed in the car and the woman was quickly taken to the hospital.
How could this have happened? The trigger could not have been engaged or fired without a closed bolt. But how do you get the obvious blow-back down through the magazine that obviously destroyed the bottom of the gun? Oversize cartridges would not have allowed the bolt to close. Undersized cartridges would not have caused the extreme blow-back down through the magazine. I guess the injuries could have come from the shock wave and flying debris.
Any thoughts about this?
