Posted on 04/24/2009 7:15:08 PM PDT by John W
PLEASANT LAKE, Ind. (WANE) - George Fath moved to his mobile home in rural Steuben County two months ago. The previous owners left a lot of trash in the yard, so Fath was cleaning up Thursday afternoon. That's when he found a 22 caliber bullet in the yard. He didn't want his three young boys to get hurt from the bullet, so Fath decided to dispose of it.
"My hammer was outside so I took the bullet and put it on a rock and smacked it with the hammer," Fath said.
Fath wasn't expecting the bullet to fire.
"It went off and went into my belly and knocked me on my butt," Fath said.
Fath said he thought he was shot in the stomach. His wife called 911. According to the police report the bullet didn't actually hit Fath.
"Fath was not bleeding, and it did not appear that Fath was struck with the bullet. Fath suffered a minor abrasion to the area of his stomach," police records read.
But, Fath told NewsChannel 15 the bullet did go in his stomach and doctors removed it at the hospital.
"I smacked the bullet and fell down and blood came pouring out," Fath said. "I was hitting it to smash it. I didn't expect it to go bang."
Fath said he'll never hit a bullet with a hammer again.
"I wasn't thinking about it. It was the dumbest thing I ever did in my life. I suggest nobody do it," Fath said.
Police agree. Steuben County Sheriff Rick Lewis said no one should ever hit a bullet with anything.
"The round can go anywhere. It could hit the person striking it with a hammer, a neighbor, a child in the yard. There's just no controlling where the bullet will go," Lewis said.
A bullet doesn't have to be in a gun to fire.
"Anytime you get pressure [to the end of the bullet] to cause it to explode, it will fire," Lewis said.
If someone finds a bullet, don't throw it in the trash either.
"Call local law enforcement and we can take car of it," Lewis said.
Ever put “strike anywhere” matches on an anvil and hit them? quite the bang for a kid...
Reckon why not?
“One move and the ATF guy gets it!” /blazing-saddles
“Fath said he’ll never hit a bullet with a hammer again. “
He will instead, just dispose of unwanted bullets either in his oven, or in his lit charcoal grill.
A .22 knocked him on his buttocks? Must have been badly off balance to begin with.
Cartridges which are set off, or cook off as in a fire, outside of a chamber which provides the strength to contain the pressure of the gasses produces by the powder burning, either split, like a firecracker, or expel the bullet at very low speed, or both.
Even a .22 fired from a handgun or a rifle isn't likely to be knocking anyone, not even a Mary Martin type, on their ass.
Might kill you if it clipped an artery, or from infection even from a minor wound. (.22 bullets are usually lubricated and pick up all sorts of nasty stuff).
And he might not vote for Obama in 2012 again, either...
Bullets are to cartridges as flour is to bread, as cement is to concrete, etc. When will they ever learn?
***What the hell kind of tenants were in those rental houses?***
Good question. It was a mining and oil drilling area. We were renters also. You would be surprised at the stuff we found in them.
I had a buddy in high school with an arc welder and acetylene torch. On 4th of July one year they got around to taking hefty trash bags and putting them under 40 gallon or so metal garbage can, filling the bag with acetylene and setting the welder contacts under it. Then they’d go into the garage and turn the welder on, nearly sending the can into low earth orbit with a window rattling boom and a resounding crash when it came back down to earth...
I think he’s full of beans on how he shot himself. There have been plenty of studies done, and the brass will go a hell of lot farther than the bullet. Without something, like a chamber/barrel to contain and direct the pressure, there really isn’t any direction to the energy, and frankly, with smokless power, if it ain’t contained, it doesn’t build much pressure. I suggest that the local law enforcement folks investigate this thoroughly. My guess is that they will find a gun somewhere.
I am a certified firearms, and reloading instructor, and I have had ammo pop on me in the form of the rechargable battery pack from my camera flash setting one off in a jacket pocket. I jumped pretty good. There was a scorch mark, but the cotton pocket was fine and contained the bullet and case.
YOu can do that with high powered military rifle cartridges.
Ask me how I know... I had a problem with aftermarket magazines for my 7.62x51 H&K. About the 3rd or 4th round from the end would stovepipe, putting a big dent in the case. I pulled the bullets with a pair of pliers, well two pair, and burned the powder...That last turned out to be the "more than I expected" part... but only because I was living an apartment at the time, and burned several catridges worth on my patio. Kinda scorched the underside of the balcony above. :) Nice pretty purple flame, a BIG pretty purple flame.
And a cousin can jump even further when you give him a jumper wire with a break in the insulation?
My Grandfather would check the spark on the RidgeRunner (ground up built 4 wheel drive vehicle with a 1946 4 cylinder, air cooled, Wisconsin engine from an old hay baler) by pulling the plug wires off and just feeling it. I was close enough once or twice for him to grab hold of me and ask if I thought it was firing properly...
***He will instead, just dispose of unwanted bullets either in his oven, or in his lit charcoal grill.***
When I was young (8) way back in 1956 New Mexico I had a Navajo Indian friend. He and I would go to his house and start a bonfire then throw .22 cartriges in it to listen to them pop!
I am surprised we kids didn’t get seriously injured from some of the stunts we pulled then.
Hitting a whole roll of them at one time makes an even nicer bang. Do it in the just inside an open garage and you get a nice booming effect.
Last fall, I watched a gun store, well a pawn shop that did a lot of firearms business, new firearms and ammunition burn to the ground. It sounded like popcorn, only I was 100+ yards away. Firemen didn't seem overly concerned about being much closer to it than I was. Some were even almost on top of the fire on the ladder truck's extended ladder.
“I think he’s full of beans on how he shot himself. There have been plenty of studies done, and the brass will go a hell of lot farther than the bullet. Without something, like a chamber/barrel to contain and direct the pressure, there really isn’t any direction to the energy, and frankly, with smokless power, if it ain’t contained, it doesn’t build much pressure. I suggest that the local law enforcement folks investigate this thoroughly. My guess is that they will find a gun somewhere.
I am a certified firearms, and reloading instructor, and I have had ammo pop on me in the form of the rechargable battery pack from my camera flash setting one off in a jacket pocket. I jumped pretty good. There was a scorch mark, but the cotton pocket was fine and contained the bullet and case.”
Finally, someone that knows what they are talking about. A cartridge not in a firearm won’t propel the bullet, it is more likely to toss the case. Or the case will rupture. I have seen pictures of ammo subjected to fire and the cases usually burst. I don’t see how a 22 caliber rimfire round hit with a hammer on a rock is going to present much of a projectile danger. My biggest fear would be small fragments hitting the fool’s eyes.
I’m not going to try it either. :-)
My problem was with the sheriff. He didn’t get the information right either.
The primer is in the rim. It's just not a replaceable Boxer or Berdan center fire primer. A cartridge "fired" in this fashion doesn't develop much velocity as the pressure developed is not confined in the chamber and accelerating the bullet in a controlled fashion down the barrel. It is essentially a brass firecracker. It was a dumb stunt.
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