[D Winkler]

February 21, 2008
Power Tools, Rifle Cartridges Don’t Mix

Do you ever recall some of the dumb stunts you pulled when you were a youngster—and think about how you’re fortunate to be alive, despite yourself?

Chances are that a couple of Sheboygan County, Wisc. teenage boys will remember an incident occurring this week as one of those seminal moments in their lives—that is, if they make it to adulthood.

762x54mm_2

Benjamin Fisher, 18, and a 17-year-old friend were messing around in Fisher’s backyard shed Monday when they got the wild idea to remove the gunpowder from some surplus 7.62x54R cartridges they found.

The two Sheboygan Falls High School students first tried to pull the bullet from the live cartridge using pliers. It didn’t work.

That’s when they opted for power tools.

After cutting the tip of the bullet so it offered a flat surface, one of the teens held the cartridge with pliers, while the other used a drill to bore through the bullet.

Within seconds, the backyard shed became a classroom of sorts, as the teens were taught an important lesson about physics and compressed gunpowder.

The two were fortunate to receive only non-life threatening burns from the resulting explosion.

Those burns, in time, will disappear. But the marks left by youthful indiscretion will remain. And the boys already know it full well.

“It’s just, I guess, bad judgment on my behalf, just kids being kids,” Fisher told the Sheboygan Press Tuesday. “I’d kind of like to drop it right here, but I know that’s not going to happen.”

You’re right, kiddo, it’s not gonna happen.



Newshound

[Brian.Hama]

Sounds like my old man when he was a kid. He was born and raised in Finland. One day when he was about 10 he was hanging out with his older brother and a friend. My bloods' friend had found his father's .22 Short revolver. They wanted to shoot some cans or bottles or something but they couldn't find any .22 Short rounds. They did however find a box of .22 LR rounds. To their dismay, the rounds were too long naturally. They came up with a "ingenious tm" plan. What if they cut the rounds down to size so they'd fit? It sounded like a good idea to a group of 10-12 year olds. They didn't use power tools such as here, just a pair of heavy-duty wire cutters. After a bit of work, they snipped of the of the rounds so they'd fit into the old revolver and the cylinder would close. The gun worked though was extremely inaccurate. When it was my dad's turn, he dropped in the rounds, closed the cylinder, and the gun fired on its own. The muzzle blast tore up my dad's palm between his thumb and fore finger. They couldn't find where the round had gone. After much searching, they found an impact in the brick wall behind where my uncle was standing when the gun went off. They found out that the bullet had passed within a few short inches from my uncle's head. Stupid kids playing with an unsecured gun almost killed my uncle.

[D Winkler]

I know that I have some stupid stories and close calls from when I was younger. I have a buddy that took a .22 in the leg. He was putting .22 rounds in the end of a straw and throwing them up. When they came down they fired. Luckily it was only his leg that was hit.