Man Fires Bullet With Hammer

WANE-TV ^ | April 24, 2009 | Alyssa Ivanson

[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.

[Myrddin]

Ever put “strike anywhere” matches on an anvil and hit them? quite the bang for a kid...

The wood strike anywhere matches launch beautifully from a BB gun barrel. Fired against a hard surface, the tip makes a healthy pop on contact.

[John W]

That and I was thinking as we watched this story, who reported it and what made the newsroom decide they should run this piece. Goes without saying the subject is just nuts. To do something kind of dingy and then agree to appear on camera. He does seem to be somewhat of an attention whore, though, as many have pointed out he lied about his injury, obviously.

[metesky]

1952
3 9 yo boys
1 handfull of .22 shorts
Pliers
Nail
Hammer
Bullets ricocheting down residential street
9 yos run for it...

[Squantos]

This is what happens when you school the populace, through propaganda and lies, that firearms and ammo are eeeeeeeevil !

They try and destroy that which they haven’t a clue about and hurt themselves and or others, directly and indirectly, due their own ignorance of the facts .

Sort of like gun control idiots.....;o)

Glad no one was hurt.

[Arrowhead1952]

LOL at the replies ping

[Graymatter]

Yep, they were called cap pistols.

Oh my! We were some naughty little freepers, weren't we?

I never did try doing a whole roll at once, for the mega-bang. I stuck to hitting the little spot accurately with a small hammer.

But then, I'm a female. ;)

[hiredhand]

I knew these two guys when I was growing up. We were middle teens at the time. They found a .30-06 cartridge and one took it to the garage, squeezed it into a vise, aimed the projectile end at a block of wood on the bench top and was going to whack the primer with a punch and hammer. His brother told him it was probably a bad idea. The moron with the hammer told him that the bullet would simply fire into the block of wood. I remember at the time (even before taking up reloading) thinking that this whole thing sounded like a supremely BAD idea.

So there stands one with the cartridge in a vise, ready with hammer and punch. The other is standing across the room trying to convince him that this isn't a good idea. The one across the room threatened to TELL MOM unless moron #1 at least put on some gloves and eye protection. Moron #1 complied...set the punch on the primer of the cartridge, drew the hammer back.....and....

You can probably guess the rest. I wasn't there, so I got this second hand from his younger brother who was at a relatively safe distance across the room. After the *KB*, he ran around the room howling like a scalded dog. Then of course there was NO way he could keep his Mom from seeing where the dozen or so small pieces of brass entered his face. The gloves prevented injury to his hands and the safety glasses saved his eyes. His Mom took him to the doc, and then according to his little brother kicked his ass. I was over there about a week later thinking, "Sheesh...Even I wouldn't trying something as dumb as this!"

They did keep the bullet though, because as you can imagine it didn't go far. :-)

[jurroppi1]

I used to lay them out and hit them in succession as fast as I could with a hammer like you describe. There really was no comparison to the whole roll properly smashed with a maul. My ears start ringing just thinking about it.

[DrewsMum]

His page says he lives in the South so there’s a 10 in 10 chance that he does... ;-)

[Arrowhead1952]

Next came the pipe stuck in the ground, a lit firecracker and a marble.

Hey. I resemble that remark!

Better yet, using the powder from 8 or 10 unexploded firecrackers in a pipe with one good one at the bottom. All you needed was a hole drilled in the side.

[ßuddaßudd]

I dont know about this one.
Is enough pressure created without the barrel for the projectile to penetrate skin???

[cyclotic]

Never tried that. I blew up a soup can once and had a piece of shrapnel go by my head 100 feet away.

My best M-80 story was a few years ago. One of my neighbors asked me to light her gas grill. She was scared to do it because a friends grill had just blown up.

So, being the nice neighbor, I went to my house to get matches (and an M-80) On her back porch, I leaned my head into the grill, lit teh M-80 and tossed it to the side on the ground. Just then, my neighbor came onto her porch.

BOOOOM! followed by me screaming and holding my face in my hands.

She screamed then yelled at me.

THey moved not long after. I’m not sure why.

[Allegra]

LOL ping.

[bert]

.....One thing I never did was hit a cartridge with a hammer. We had these little poppers that were round and exploded by throwing them against the wall.....

I got in real trouble with the cracker balls. At Sunday night youth group, I put one between the seat retainer and the seat on a folding chair so that it went off when someone sat on the chair. It made a big noise in the Sunday school room

[philly-d-kidder]

Hope all is well!!

[MeekOneGOP]

BWAHAHAHAAAA!

[CodeToad]

People are so ignorant and stupid as to hit ammunition with a hammer??? We’re doomed.

[Allegra]

It's nice and quiet here lately. Lots of sandstorms, though.

How are things with you? Did you do a Tea Party in Philly?

[Shooter 2.5]

I understand a lot of empty cartridge cases were buried behind a fence.
Next to a parking lot.
At Dealy Plaza.
In Dallas, Texas.

[philly-d-kidder]

I did some tea Parties...

1st in feb at liberty Bell...150 people Organized in 3 days
April 4 West Chester 450 People
April 15 Philly Love park Torrential DownPour 400
April 15 Kennet Sq 20 Rain
April 15 Phoenixville 500 rain
April 18 Philly Liberty bell 1500

we have competeing factions in Philly! it is getting ridiculous..