Idiot of the Year Award

[Mephisto]

Just further proof that a dedicated *****-for-brains doesn't need a gun to shoot himself!

Man accidentally shoots himself without a gun

POSTED: 1:45 p.m. EDT, May 15, 2007

LAKE LUZERNE, New York (AP) -- A young man shot himself without using a gun.

Damion M. Mosher, who put bullets in a vise and whacked them with a hammer to empty the brass shell casings, was hit in the abdomen by one of the shots, authorities said.

Warren County deputies said they were called to Mosher's home in Lake Luzerne on Saturday afternoon after one bullet went about a half-inch into his abdomen. He was treated at Glens Falls Hospital and was released. No charges were filed.

Mosher, 18, told authorities he was trying to empty the .223-caliber rounds to collect the brass casings for scrap.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/15/whacking.bullets.ap/index.html

I guess this should elevate the gun-control argument . . .

When guns are outlawed, only idiots will still shoot themselves.

When hammers are outlawed only idiots will use hammers to shoot themselves.

When bench vises are outlawed, they'll probably use their teeth to hold the bullet that they shoot themselves with . . .

[BPSCG]

I submit the thread title is premature. The year ain't half over yet.

OTOH, he has to be considered a strong contender.

I liked this:

Mosher, 18, told authorities he was trying to empty the .223-caliber rounds to collect the brass casings for scrap.
Sheriff Larry Cleveland said about 100 other rounds that Mosher hit had "fizzled," but one was somehow sent with more force. It was unclear if the bullet ricocheted or hit him directly.
An employee of an Albany scrap metal company told The Post-Star of Glens Falls that the business pays $1.70 a pound for scrap brass shell casings.
Cleveland said Mosher's shells amounted to just a few pounds.
He probably could have sold the bullets for more than the scrap metal value. Would have been less work, too.

[beowulf573]

My brother, when he was 13 or 14 years old, decided he wanted a necklace of rifle shells. So, he obtained a few live ones, I forget from where possibly my father's, put one in a vice grip and tried to drill though the side near the bottom with a power drill.

I'm amazed he lived to adulthood.

[tsg]

I submit the thread title is premature. The year ain't half over yet.

OTOH, he has to be considered a strong contender.

I liked this:
He probably could have sold the bullets for more than the scrap metal value. Would have been less work, too.

He was trying to earn enough money to buy the tool that does it correctly.

[Mephisto]

I submit the thread title is premature. The year ain't half over yet.

OTOH, he has to be considered a strong contender.

I liked this:
He probably could have sold the bullets for more than the scrap metal value. Would have been less work, too.

You're probably right. Although I thought that this couldn't be topped, I guess I was just underestimating human stupidity.

I'm sure he could have sold the complete round for more than what he would have gotten for just the brass - I supposed the good side to this story is that he didn't kill someone in the next room, .223 rounds have enormous penetration, especially if it was fully jacketed.

[Marquis de Carabas]

If I see a man on a plane with a vise... you know the rest.

[kbm99]

I supposed the good side to this story is that he didn't kill someone in the next room, .223 rounds have enormous penetration, especially if it was fully jacketed.

When fired from a rifle, sure.

When discharged in this fashion, however, I'd expect the muzzle velocity (vice jaw velocity? ball-pien hammer velocity?) to be a bit lacking.

[Yiab]

Rather than "idiot of the Year", I'd nominate this guy for a Darwin Award.

[Temporal Renegade]

Not gun-related, but explosive-related:

I used to work with a guy who had a glass eye and a reconstructed hand. He liked to tell people he had a 'fireworks accident' when he was younger. Another co-worker (who's known him since first grade) told me that when this guy was about 13 or so, he wanted to see if he could make a pipe bomb. Not to hurt anyone, just to see if he could make it. So, he took a 6-inch long pipe with a screwcap end, and packed it full of wooden match heads; since he didn't have another screwcap, he decided to use a claw hammer to seal the open end.

Guess what happened next?

[bob_kark]

I object! I still have 7 months to make it to the top.

[Mephisto]

When fired from a rifle, sure.

When discharged in this fashion, however, I'd expect the muzzle velocity (vice jaw velocity? ball-pien hammer velocity?) to be a bit lacking.

I'm sure it could have made it through a sheet-rock wall without trouble.

[Beanbag]

With no rifled barrel to direct and stabilize the bullet, the net effect would probably be the same as using a wrist rocket slingshot to propel the bullet. It would tumble randomly. I'm more surprised the brass casing didn't shatter and fragment, filling the idiot with tiny brass shrapnel.

Thing to remember is that modern rifle propellant burns, not explodes. Compared to black powder, modern propellants have a gradual burn rate that gives a gradual push of expanding gasses to accelerate the round down the barrel. The percussion primer (whose initiating chemicals do explode) was probably what popped the bullet from the case throat, after which the still-burning propellant grains were most likely spewed around the room. Surprised the fool didn't set fire to his surroundings.

You'd be surprised how easy it is for a pointed object to penetrate flesh at relatively low velocities. There is a lead fishing sinker called a bullet weight, oddly enough because it looks like a spire-pointed bullet. One of the most important things to learn when using bullet weights when fishing is: if your line gets stuck in a tree, don't yank on the rod to try to free it. If and when the line breaks free, the weight will whip straight back at the angler and has been reported to have done serious injury, just like a gunshot. That's just from the elasticity of the fishing line and the spring from the bent fishing rod.

Beanbag

[President Bush]

Here's (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070510/NEWS02/705100450/1004) another good one. Check out the audio link on the right.

The department's investigation began with a bizarre 911 call from Sanchez's home in Dearborn Heights. On the night of April 21, 2006, a panicky Sanchez told an emergency dispatcher he thought he and his wife were overdosing on marijuana.

"I think we're dying," he said in the 5-minute tape, obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

"We made brownies and I think we're dead, I really do," Sanchez continued.

He told the dispatcher he had never made marijuana brownies before, but had previously used marijuana.

Then, he asked the score of the Red Wings game on television that night, explaining, "I just want to make sure this isn't some type of, like, hallucination that I'm having."


Carried over to 2007 with the Dearborn police having just declined to pursue criminal charges.

[fuelair]

You're probably right. Although I thought that this couldn't be topped, I guess I was just underestimating human stupidity.

I'm sure he could have sold the complete round for more than what he would have gotten for just the brass - I supposed the good side to this story is that he didn't kill someone in the next room, .223 rounds have enormous penetration, especially if it was fully jacketed.Had mine written befor I saw Beanbags'
. Spot on Beanbag!!!:) :) :)

[BPSCG]

I used to work with a guy who had a glass eye and a reconstructed hand. He liked to tell people he had a 'fireworks accident' when he was younger. Another co-worker (who's known him since first grade) told me that when this guy was about 13 or so, he wanted to see if he could make a pipe bomb. Not to hurt anyone, just to see if he could make it. So, he took a 6-inch long pipe with a screwcap end, and packed it full of wooden match heads; since he didn't have another screwcap, he decided to use a claw hammer to seal the open end.

Guess what happened next?He's lucky. There are lots of stories of kids doing what he did with empty CO2 cartridges rather than pipes, and blowing their hands off or their throats open.

[President Bush]

There are lots of stories of kids doing what he did with empty CO2 cartridges rather than pipes, and blowing their hands off or their throats open.

One time I found myself with a couple leftover bottles of oxygen and acetylene. It seemed wrong to waste all that gas. So I filled a large plastic garbage bag with about 5 parts oxygen to acetylene, stuck a piece of masking tape to the bag and then hung it on Bill Moyer's front porch. I can remember lighting the tape and backing away as it began to burn. Next thing I knew both of my eardrums were broken and Amy Goodman was giving me mouth-to-mouth.

Durian and soy crickets... ugh!

[Mephisto]

One time I found myself with a couple leftover bottles of oxygen and acetylene. It seemed wrong to waste all that gas. So I filled a large plastic garbage bag with about 5 parts oxygen to acetylene, stuck a piece of masking tape to the bag and then hung it on Bill Moyer's front porch. I can remember lighting the tape and backing away as it began to burn. Next thing I knew both of my eardrums were broken and Amy Goodman was giving me mouth-to-mouth.

Durian and soy crickets... ugh!

:) Gosh, and to think the worst thing I ever did was to light a paper bag full of dog poop on my math teacher's porch, ring the bell and run. ;)

[shecky]

Yow!

When I was about eight, my buddy down the street had a gun in the house. His dad's. Dad had enough sense to somehow keep it hidden from us (we looked high and low for the thing on several occasions, and usually gave up once we found some Playboys). One day, we found a box of cartridges for it. ISTR they were common .22 rimfire. Surely, there must be some way to shoot these things without a gun! And of course, one of the gang knew how-he'd seen a friend or relative do it. So off we went to the back, in what was sort of an alley, where we learned this new trick. It involved laying a round on the ground, and dropping a big rock on it. We actually had a large rock, lugged it on top of a small stoop, picked it up, and dropped it on the cartridge. It took several tries, and finally, BANG! We were elated, and naturally did another within a minute or two. At that point, ISTR we were beginning to draw some unwanted attention and abandoned the endeavor. We never knew what happened to the bullets, or the used casings, for that matter. I'm guessing they took off in separate directions. We never repeated the practice, as it seemed easier to score some firecrackers when we wanted to make some noise.

I sometimes wonder how I survived.

[Schneibster]

I never played with bullets, but Estes rockets were a hell of a lot of fun.

We filled an Alpha once with magnesium flash powder and used a paper clip to loosen the ejection charge in an engine so it would burn rather than explode. Most impressive; the flash lit up about a square mile, and we could see it because we launched it from the top of a pretty high hill.

[fishbob]

Rather than "idiot of the Year", I'd nominate this guy for a Darwin Award.

Ineligible.
He survived.

[Big Les]

Beanbag; thanks for answering my question on the other thread, i.e.

Isn't that pretty astoundingly bad luck? i was led to believe that without a chamber/breech to contain the expanding gases, bullets don't leave their casings with much energy at all. I suppose if he was close enough that wouldn't make much difference.

For graphic illustration that this is (generally) the case, have a look at this link (http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot9.htm), showing rifle cartridges being shot at (!).

The fact that the guy in the story hit many others without the bullet projecting any real distance also supports this. Although hitting rounds with hammers is clearly very, very stupid, the awareness (from experience) he had, that a bullet will not typically "fire" from a cartridge outside a gun chamber, makes his actions more understandable and reduces the "Darwin Awards" potential of this story, IMO.

Beanbag has pointed out that even low velocity projectiles of a certain shape will still penetrate (think about arrowheads or knives for example). The question is, what was different about that one round? Why did it "fire" further than the others?

[FarmallMTA]

:) Gosh, and to think the worst thing I ever did was to light a paper bag full of dog poop on my math teacher's porch, ring the bell and run. ;)

SOOOOO.... that was you, was it? It may interest you to know that I suspected that green-snotty nosed hooligan Ralph Saunders, the unkempt child who always sat on the back row and doodled during class. I flunked him in math out of spite, which caused him to fail the entire year.

Taunting by classmates the following years for "being a flunky" caused him to drop out of school, associate with a bad crowd and eventually get sent to prison for various crimes, where he still is to this day.

I hope you're proud of yourself. Now get over to my porch THIS MINUTE and clean up this mess.

[Temporal Renegade]

He's lucky. There are lots of stories of kids doing what he did with empty CO2 cartridges rather than pipes, and blowing their hands off or their throats open.

I'm still surprised he's lived to be this old (he'd be about 49 this year, I think); he's not really the brightest person you'd meet. Not really stupid, just has a habit of not really thinking things through.

[Temporal Renegade]

I never played with bullets, but Estes rockets were a hell of a lot of fun.

We filled an Alpha once with magnesium flash powder and used a paper clip to loosen the ejection charge in an engine so it would burn rather than explode. Most impressive; the flash lit up about a square mile, and we could see it because we launched it from the top of a pretty high hill.


Ah...memories!! :D

[casebro]

I've often heard the story of standing a 30-06 shell on a hot plate, under a cardboard box. When the primer blows the powder, none of the fragments even penetrate through the box. My guess is that a fragment of the casing penetrated the bozo's abdomen the 1/2 inch. A pistol round would have been more hazardous, the pistol powder burns lots faster.

[Mephisto]

SOOOOO.... that was you, was it? It may interest you to know that I suspected that green-snotty nosed hooligan Ralph Saunders, the unkempt child who always sat on the back row and doodled during class. I flunked him in math out of spite, which caused him to fail the entire year.

Taunting by classmates the following years for "being a flunky" caused him to drop out of school, associate with a bad crowd and eventually get sent to prison for various crimes, where he still is to this day.

I hope you're proud of yourself. Now get over to my porch THIS MINUTE and clean up this mess.

Heheh, I'll hose off your porch, but you'll have to scrape off you own shoes (I watched you try to stomp out the fire from the hedges). I heard Ralph was getting out on parole this summer because he found Jesus, turned his life around and will set up house with his cellmate and life partner, Bruno. :)