View Full Version : anyone ever damaged by their AR?
ranger_1999
09-26-13, 10:48
I have owned an AR ever since i was discharged from the corps.
I fired a lot of rounds, as most fellas.
Last friday i was practicing, and took a kneeling shot. The brass ricocheted off an object, i believe my well house cover, and struck my left eye instantly splitting my globe. I was rushed to the ER and underwent emergency surgery. Then monday on follow up checkup i was told i needed another emergency surgery to remove a fragment, which i could see at the time.
SO after all that i had a torn globe at six o clock with stitches, detached retina and a 6mm piece of brass behind my cornea and more stitches in top of eye.
Im on a long rode to recovery with certainty i will regain my eye site.
I was just wondering if anyone has had, or heard, of anything like this?
Bad rifle. Bad, bad rifle.
Glad to hear you will fully recover. I can imagine that would really be upsetting... to have one's eye damaged.
I have seen injuries on here but almost always kaboom injuries. I assume you are asking about injuries from regular use.
That sounds pretty horrible. Probably just hearing loss for me.
ranger_1999
09-26-13, 10:56
Bad rifle. Bad, bad rifle.
Glad to hear you will fully recover. I can imagine that would really be upsetting... to have one's eye damaged.
I have seen injuries on here but almost always kaboom injuries. I assume you are asking about injuries from regular use.
Yes from regular use, or had a ricochet off brass injury? I mean this is the most freakish accident. I am a new to this forum as well.
Damn. That sux. Hope your road to recovery goes smooth and fast.
What kind of eye protection were you wearing? Sounds like all the planets were aligned just right to screw you that day. I've had brass ding off barricades and come back at me but thankfully all I've had were burns from one or two going down my shirt.
Curious if you were wearing eye protection?
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ranger_1999
09-26-13, 11:12
No unfortunately i wasnt.
HackerF15E
09-26-13, 11:13
For me, eye pro is just as much part of basic shooting equipment as ear pro.
No unfortunately i wasnt.
Bummer. I hope all turns out well for you.
Lesson learned, I presume. Eye & ear pro are automatic for me. There are times where eye pro becomes bothersome, if there's fogging or other issues, but one has to accept the risk should something happen if they're removed.
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No eye injury, or anything else from my AR, but I did get a good dose of M1 thumb when I was 11 years old...;)
EYE PRO!! Wear it. Sorry to hear. Wish you a speedy recovery, but what were you thinking not wearing eyepro?
I even wear my eyepro when I go hunting at this point. Good luck and wish you a speedy recovery.
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Hope you heal up, OP. Please take this as a serious lesson to wear eye protection when shooting from now on, and always. I've had to learn the painful way, also. Some of us hard-headed types just don't think it's important until we're looking at serious eye injury, and then it can be too late.
Not going to lie, I have forgone eye protection in the past, by pure laziness. But if there is one thing I can do, it's learn from the pain of others. I will wear it from now on, I can't imagine the pain, but I wish you a speedy recovery. I know it won't make you feel any better, but this is one guy who has changed from your picture.
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Sorry to hear about your bad luck. I hope your recovery goes well. I would have taken a piece of brass in the eye in a class recently but my Oakleys saved me. It still put a little cut on the bridge of my nose, but could have been sooooo much worse.
That's the closest I've come to being injured besides the occasional burn from a hot barrel or a wayward piece of brass landing in a less than ideal location.
ranger_1999
09-26-13, 15:53
At least I can help the one fella.
Honestly never thought about eye pro, I assume you mean just safety glasses. But this is a hard lesson I wouldn't wish on anyone .
I trust it'll heal with many weeks progress. Worse part is keeping your head down, constantly, to keep a bubble pressing against my retina.
That and my parts coming in for upgrades on my rifle :(
FlyingHunter
09-26-13, 19:14
Get well soon! Best wishes.
Insofar as injury from my AR's, well, yes, sometimes severe, but always in the same place: my wallet.
Holy Shit Dude!!! :eek::eek:
Have I been injured by ARs? Sure, closed a bolt on my thumb, slapped myself in the balls when I was playing with a single point, but that no, but I where my Oakleys when I am shooting. Now, other people's ARs, that's a different story, been burned, bruised, and had my brain pan rattled by a good friend running a muzzle brake.
Hope for full recovery.
Best wishes for a full recovery.
The only injury I've suffered was a piece of hot brass caught in a helmet chinstrap.
Hope all heals up okay! Eyes and ears when I am shooting.. No, not when I hunt, it'll only be one shot, I'll take the chance, but I did have a similar freak incident last winter with my eye.
I was splitting firewood.. it was kinda warm, sweaty and no, I wasn't wearing any kind of eye protection (heck, even a pair of cheap sunglasses will stop a lot of debris!) and as I laid into a fairly large round with the splitting maul, I instantly saw/felt a piece of wood or bark hitting my eye. Lucky for me it just cut the sclera conjuntiva and not quite enough to get it stitched back up (or so the doc told me when I went to see him a couple days later. It had already started to heal back up). He of course asked me that very question.. 'you were wearing eye protection while splitting wood, right???'... :help:
Lesson learned.. the hard way. Yes, I still have a small piece of debris (probaby a grain of sand) that didn't get cleaned out when I went to the Opthamologist, so I will remember it for a looooong time to come.. lol
Quality eye pro has saved me on several occasions.
Even with all proper precautions, I have had injuries while shooting. While shooting an AR a year or two ago, I caught a jacket fragment in my forehead which embedded itself down to the bone. Stuff happens, but you can mitigate an awful lot of it.
thebarracuda
09-26-13, 21:01
Hope you recover as quickly as possible. I have not been damaged by an ar, but have caught a ricochet while shooting a single action .45 long. A piece of lead came off the steel plate (smooth) and hit me square in the chest, breaking the skin through my t-shirt. Came straight back at me!
That did it for me, ear and eye pro. No exceptions. I was lucky.
I pray you have a quick and full recovery with no further complications.
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"One cannot awaken a man who pretends to be asleep."
Failure2Stop
09-26-13, 23:31
This should be a sticky called "Always wear eye protection".
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Pierced Armor
09-27-13, 00:38
Hope you heal up without any complications. Sorry you were hurt, but you've been a great inspiration to those of us that don't always wear eye protection for whatever reason.
I always do, but now I have verification that it's the right thing to do.
Get well soon.
PA
I technically shot myself in the neck with my AR. I shot a exposed well pipe at 100 yards and a fragment came back and hit me in the neck, no blood or penetration.
ranger_1999
09-27-13, 06:42
Thank you for all the kind wishes. It's unexpected honestly. I'll keep an update of my eye. I also got the brass casing that did it, figure I'll hang on to it, seeing it will be the most expensive round I will ever fire.
Mr Elbowseed
09-27-13, 07:26
Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.
Close call but hope you return to the range ASAP.
This should be a sticky called "Always wear eye protection".
Agreed. Are you not able to make that happen in this part of the forum?
That looks painful!
I've not been injured by my AR, but I have caught .45 brass on the bridge of my nose and it was then held in place by my eye pro. It left a pretty good burn mark.
I once saw a soldier catch a piece of hot brass down the collar of his shirt, his reaction was less than manly, he threw his still loaded AR in a somersault fashion over his shoulder, and then clawed at the brass. If he had closed his mandarin collar the brass probably would not have gone down his shirt. If he would have used his sling he would have been able to retain his AR. "If, the middle word in life". Stuff can and will happen, however the risk can be reduced by using Personal Protective Equipment.
never more than the typical brass burn or grabbing a hot barrel. Then again, I'm religious about PPE.
5 ear surgeries and PRK. you bet I double ear protect and wear good eye pro. Cheaper than a hearing aid and seeing eye dog.
I've had 2 close calls with eye pro on. Ruptured 308 bolt gun with "match" round had piece of brass stuck in middle of right lens. Money well spent (ESS) and bounce back brass nice burn under eye AR.
Hope you have a full and fast recovery.
Sorry about you eye injury............... Not trying to be a d!ck, but eyes (protection) and ears (protection) are just common sense. Certain kinds of activities require certain kinds of gear and when the protective gear is over looked, "accidents" happen...... Hope you regain full use of your sight and vision.
Once I had brass from my G19 bouncing off a barricade during an IDPA league. I took 2 or three hits to my glasses and I didn't figure out what was going on until the stage ended. It chipped my glasses slightly. I've also been hit by a pancaked round that popped off of a steel plate target while watching a steel match...that felt like a paintball hitting me. I wear eye pro every time.
Ballistic Agency
11-13-13, 14:51
I literally could not get your eye injury photo off my screen fast enough. Damn. Hope you get to feeling better.
For the love of Pete, get some eye pro and wear it. I too have had some close calls that would have been a show stopper had I not had eye pro on. I have a nice scar on my Rudy Project glasses where a 200gr LSWC from a 45ACP bounced back and popped me in the right eye. Scared the crap out of me and the Rudy's took it without major damage, but a nice scratch which made them unusable. Rudy was kind enough to replace the lens for me. NEVER will I be without eye pro if I can help it.
PCC's, PCI's devil dog...
ranger_1999
I wish you a full, not too painful recovery, cuz I know it won't be completely painless.
I'm going to learn from you - I pledge from now on to wear eyepro and insist on it for my wife and granddaughters who all love to shoot.
In the past, wearing it was random for me, though I have been strict about it and ear pro for the kids.
Now, I'll NEVER let any of us go without it.
Thanks for the reminder.
Get well soon.
Hurt? yeah once in 30 some years of knocking about with these rifles but not in the eye...man I wish you a speedy recovery...mine was a ricochet to the shin...never knew if it was mine or one of two buddies I was shooting. No matter, the jacket separated from the lead and came back and popped a hole in my leg...it's still there and hurts like the dickens every so often...some things you just can't plan for eh?http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y225/hillmillenia/556wound.jpg (http://s6.photobucket.com/user/hillmillenia/media/556wound.jpg.html)
It sucks loosing vision whether in one or both eyes, temporarily or permanently. I was blinded for about 28 hrs due to overspray even with glasses on. I should have been in supplied air. Talk about felling stupid. Now I do alot of stuff with safety glasses on, scared straight so to speak. I just look at the cost of another ER visit and the feeling of possibly never being able to see again (scared shitless). I even buy my own safety glasses at work now because my employer doesn't like paying for the ones that I use. It took some time to find a frame and lense combo that; 1: was comfortable and stayed in place; 2: would provide good protection for various tasks; and 3: not fog up. I probably spent about $230.00 this year on ten frames and 60 sets of replacement lenses. It is real cheap compared to an ER visit.
Wish you an easy journey on the recovery road.
Another time eye protection is mandantory to me, after two late night trips to the ER, is running a weed eater. Being a construction professional, I surely knew better. PROTECT YOUR EYES
Glad to see folks wearing eye protection and hopefully shooting gloves as well (they can keep burns, KaBoom shrapnel from hacking the meat away from your paws). Shit can happen and hospital bills are expensive.
Thank you for posting this, I caught myself about to fire the other day and realized I did not have my glasses on. Don't learn from your mistakes, learn from the mistakes of others.
Another time eye protection is mandantory to me, after two late night trips to the ER, is running a weed eater. Being a construction professional, I surely knew better. PROTECT YOUR EYES
I surely knew better hasn't kept me from injury. Last big I surely knew better was this summer when my wife sold her horse .It was a well bred 1380 lb Quarter horse built like a world class body builder and that horse could move. Well I wanted to take him for a good last ride and I should have put a saddle on him but I like the feel of the horse. He did a real good spin and usually when you are getting spun off I grab for a hand full of the horses mane,that will get you to land on your feet . Well I missed grabbing the mane and as I was flying like Superman looking at my hand with no mane in it all I could do was tuck and say to myself I am going to break my collar bone. Yep that is what happened. I climbed back on the horse rode him home and you know the rest of the story. YOU HAVE THE MOST FUN RIGHT BEFORE YOU GET HURT.
Ouch!
Well, I think I need to invest in a second pair of eyepro now.
And some more gloves- I'm a glove fiend- I love gloves. They have saved me from so much stupid over the years. I just need to remember to not wear them around drill presses... LoL
As far as being damaged by ones' AR....
A little while ago I was going prone, and caught my nose on the corner of a DD fixed rear sight. Actually tore the nostril, so it bled all over the place. Still finished the drill though- Good times! :D
Needless to say that sight was removed post haste, to be replaced with a folder.
I've only been injured twice thankfully, not counting stuff like wacking myself in the nuts or knees, had a piece of brass go down the back of my top, Polly pro, and PC during SDM school while shooting from the kneeling position. The other injury was when I had my finger get eaten by the BCG when it was let forward while my finger was in the chamber, had a nice carbon, CLP and brass shavings tattoo scar for a while
A great reminder as to why eye pro is the best money spent in my range bag...
I've not yet been injured, and I'll continue to be as safe as I know how to be.
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If anyone recalls my thread about my eye giving me problems, what I am about to recall happened to my other eye (right) so that is why it was never mentioned.
To add to WHY YOU SHOULD WEAR EYE PRO:
I had a brass case stuck in my chamber of my AR. So, not knowing what to do properly, I tried to use my knife to hook onto the back of the case to get it out, I did that more than a few times, so brass flakes were everywhere. Eventually we found one of those signs that are put in people laws about which Mayor to vote for, as you may know they are held up by metal rods that stick into the grass.
We stuck it down the barrel, into the case, and pushed it out. After all this time my eye pro was taken off. Being angry since that was the third time a case got stuck that day, I loaded the mag and fired, the first shot sent a brass flake into my eye, cutting it.
It was very, very painful. It was extremely red for two weeks then it healed and was all better.
Always wear eye protection.
If anyone recalls my thread about my eye giving me problems, what I am about to recall happened to my other eye (right) so that is why it was never mentioned.
To add to WHY YOU SHOULD WEAR EYE PRO:
I had a brass case stuck in my chamber of my AR. So, not knowing what to do properly, I tried to use my knife to hook onto the back of the case to get it out, I did that more than a few times, so brass flakes were everywhere. Eventually we found one of those signs that are put in people laws about which Mayor to vote for, as you may know they are held up by metal rods that stick into the grass.
We stuck it down the barrel, into the case, and pushed it out. After all this time my eye pro was taken off. Being angry since that was the third time a case got stuck that day, I loaded the mag and fired, the first shot sent a brass flake into my eye, cutting it.
It was very, very painful. It was extremely red for two weeks then it healed and was all better.
Always wear eye protection.
Yes you should. You should also use the correct procedure for stuck case and it would have prevented the brass shavings.
A chain of events that led to the issue.
Traditional field expedient instructions for stuck case removal in an AR-15
1. Drop mag
2. Find hard surface
3. Pull strongly on the charging handle
4. keep head clear of muzzle
5. SHARPLY smack butt of weapon on ground while pulling handle.
6. Watch stuck case eject and check for rim off case or case remaining in chamber
7. Use a chamber brush to clean your chamber
8. Resume shooting.
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