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Man Is Injured While Hammering Bullets

Posted by samzenpus on from the 9.8-on-the-dumb-scale dept.

There are a few basic rules that everyone knows: don't run around on your roof holding an antenna during a thunderstorm, don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger, and don't try to smash bullets in your driveway with a hammer. 21-year-old Matthew Dugger never learned the bullet rule. Dugger went to the hospital after one of the bullets he was slamming with a hammer exploded, blowing shrapnel into his leg. The hammering was witnessed by several kids belonging to Dugger's roommate, who was already under investigation for inadequate supervision of the children. "Anyone nearby could have certainly been hit by it. It's such a monumentally stupid idea," said Travis Brunson, owner of Chiquita Guns.

20 comments

  1. ok, wait... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    This is a profoundly stupid, "darwin award"-grade act, but let's make it clear that the bullet isn't going to go flying off and shoot you. It's the casing fragments that are dangerous, and they tend to be lightweight and don't penetrate well. Enough to put an eye out, which I guess would give you a great story about why you wear that patch.

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    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:ok, wait... by CheshireCatCO · · Score: 1

      ... It was me first day with th' hook?

    2. Re:ok, wait... by v1 · · Score: 1

      agreed, they do well when snugly supported in the chamber, and when their back is being supported as well, but don't do nearly so well when unsupported. Reminds me of the occasional mention of morons that throw .22's into bonfires... but really, A HAMMER? Makes one wonder what he expected.

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      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    3. Re:ok, wait... by nicc777 · · Score: 1

      I saw an old Mythbusters episode the other day about various items they put in an open fire to see what happens. Bullets was one of the items. The results obtained there is very similar to what happened here with the only difference the cause.

      It's confirmed then - there is no medicine for stupidity :-)

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    4. Re:ok, wait... by JamesTKirk · · Score: 1

      Well, if the bullet casing is trapped between the ground and the dropping hammer, couldn't the slug be propelled out of the casing?

    5. Re:ok, wait... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      Not very far. The casing is actually quite delicate compared to the forces involved. Without support of the chamber, the casing will always fragment, letting the gas escape before the bullet gets much energy. Injuries from ignition outside the gun are invariably from case fragments.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    6. Re:ok, wait... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      True story-

      When I was 12, I was walking past my friend Tom Egbert's house (he was 12 too) and he's in his back yard. "Steve! Come here!" he said. I got back there and asked "what?"

      "I'm gonna hit this bullet with a hammer!" he said.

      "You're going to WHAT?" I said. "Are you crazy?"

      "Nah, it won't hurt nothin'".

      I ran inside his house and stood by a wall. His mom was washing dishes (it was primitive in 1964, nobody had dishwashers back then) and she said "what are you doing?"

      I said "Tom's going to hit a bullet with a hammer and I don't want to get hurt!"

      "He's going to WHAT?!"

      *BLAM!* She ran outside, and came back in with Tom, his hand bleeding.

      "I did it!"

      You are correct, the danger is from the shell casing fragments.

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      Free Martian Whores!
    7. Re:ok, wait... by SlappyBastard · · Score: 1

      It's confirmed then - there is no medicine for stupidity :-)

      Um, you know if the bullet is used properly, one can argue there is something that will cure stupid once and for all.

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  2. Gun Control by conureman · · Score: 1

    I kinda prefer a literal interpretation of the First Amendment, so I took great Umbrage when the People's Republic of California required I pass a test to get a permit to buy more handguns. When I took the test I was horrified to consider that some people were actually lame enough to not pass it. Maybe some people should not have guns. Proper testing could identify some perhaps.

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    1. Re:Gun Control by damburger · · Score: 1

      Why yes, you are quite entitled to say that.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    2. Re:Gun Control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMG- well I meant the Second. Brain failure, sorry. What I'm thinking, is if you fail the test, maybe a public notification would be in order. "Damn Fool at xxx address has a gun..." something like the child molesters. OTOH the Legislative branch has proven itself incapable of legislating around the slippery slope of Constitutional violation. Tough question, that.

    3. Re:Gun Control by damburger · · Score: 1

      Perhaps the test should be to see if someone has the mental faculties to identify the amendment that lets them own a gun :P

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    4. Re:Gun Control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps the test should be to see if someone has the mental faculties to identify the amendment that lets them own a gun :P

      Or perhaps they should be required to ID the amendment that prevents the government from banning gun ownership, since there isn't one that "allows" gun ownership.

    5. Re:Gun Control by SpuriousLogic · · Score: 1

      First of all, I am very much in favor of the Second Amendment. Where I live in Illinois, you have to have passed a background check and received a FOID (Firearm Owners ID), before you can even legally TOUCH a gun. And I have to say, I would have no issue at all if in the process of getting a FOID, you had to pass a safety class and test. For people born after 1986 in Illinois, they must pass a hunter safety course before they can have a hunting license. Even though I own lots of guns of every type, I would have no reservation of requiring the same type of class and test for gun ownership.

  3. Cartridges not Bullets by Beer_Smurf · · Score: 1

    Bullets are just the projectile.
    Cartridges are the complete assembly of casing, powder, primer, and bullet.
    Hammering on a bullet is a non event, nothing happens.

    1. Re:Cartridges not Bullets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Post your address and I'll swing by and let you hammer on a 105mm bullet. I'll video you as you do it. From a distance of course.

    2. Re:Cartridges not Bullets by Beer_Smurf · · Score: 1

      Projectiles beyond small arms caliber that contain explosives are not referred to as bullets.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet

  4. The Gods Themselves by Velska1 · · Score: 1

    Makes me think about Isaac Asimov's Sci-Fi piece The Gods Themselves. For those of you, who have not read it, it has three parts.

    They are:
    1. Against Stupidity
    2. The Golds Themselves
    3. Fight in vain.

    --
    Every problem has a solution that is simple, easy and wrong. Selling our Liberty for a little Security is a much too de
    1. Re:The Gods Themselves by Velska1 · · Score: 1

      I meant...

      2. The Gods Themselves

      I guess I proved the point: Nobody can save me from my own stupidity...

      --
      Every problem has a solution that is simple, easy and wrong. Selling our Liberty for a little Security is a much too de
  5. Let natural selection happen by xgr3gx · · Score: 1

    He didn't quite get what he deserves. He was luck to get a second change.

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