My first (and hopefully last) gun injurty

atxgun · #1

So I decided to spend part of my 4 day weekend at the range. I started by firing off 100 rounds in my XD. Then I rented a kimber .45 1911. And I must say that was awesome. I really need to get one.

But after going through a magazine the last round didn't fire. The gun was left with the slide in place as if it was ready to fire and the hammer cocked, but the trigger wouldn't pull. Thinking what the heck or something along those lines I pull back the slide which locked b/c there weren't any more rounds, however there was still a round in the chamber. My first thought was "oh no, it's gonna be a slow fire" so I release the slide and keep it pointed down range for about a minute. Nothing.

I pull the slide back open again, of course it's still there and i'm wondering why it wasn't getting ejected when i opened it up. Release the slide once more, still keeping it pointed down range and i pull the trigger once more to try and clear it. Sure enough it went off that time but I didn't have a proper grip and the hammer tore open my left thumb.

This wasn't just a scrape, blood was poring out. I set down my gun and went the the bathroom to clean up and then got a bandaide. Luckily it was just a flesh wound but it still hurts as I write this.

Also, does anyone have any idea how the gun could have gotten in such a state that there was a round in the chamber and the extractor didn't latch on?

HooG19 · #2

This was the rental Kimber right?

rentals don't get cleaned as often as they probably should, so the extractor probably had a lot of crud built up which could lead to not fully engaging the round.

AEA · #3

External extractor?

Kimbers had lots of problems with their External Extractor design (such as the problem you described and others) and eventually went back to Internal Extractors.

atxgun · #4

Yeah the Kimber was a rental.

Also looking at my wound now my thumb is blue/purple below the baindaide down toward the joint in my thumb. I'm hoping I wont have a blood clot progress to my brain or anything

Target1911 · #5

I really do hope you cleaned the wound VERY well. All kinds of nasty stuff on a dirty gun.

atxgun · #6

Target1911 wrote:I really do hope you cleaned the wound VERY well. All kinds of nasty stuff on a dirty gun.

Oh yeah, just had soap available at the range but when i got some i did the alcohol & neosporin treatment (after more soap & water).

also it's starting to clear up so i think i'll live