New Brunswick Man Shot In The Face By “Misfiring” Rifle
BY Herschel Smith
8 years ago
BOIESTOWN, N.B. — A New Brunswick restaurateur has survived after a misfiring rifle showered his face with bullet shrapnel.
Douglas Lyons said a bullet exploded in the chamber as he tried to load his Savage Axis .30-06 rifle Sunday while testing it in the woods ahead of a planned hunting trip.
“The firing pin fired and blew that shell up on me, and that’s what hit me in the face,” Lyons said Wednesday from Boiestown, N.B., where he owns the Tipsy Canoe restaurant.
“The covering of the bullet and the powder and all that stuff in there came up and struck me on the side of my head. Cut my face open there quite a bit.”
Lyons said he had dropped his four sons off at Sunday school and went to the woods with some friends to sight his rifle. He took his gun from its case, and tried to load it, but the bolt wouldn’t lock.
The firing pin went off as he pulled the bolt back on his third attempt, the bullet still in the chamber, he said.
“The barrel was pointed away from me. It was quite a moment. The gun went one way and I went the other,” he said.
Lyons said he bought the gun a year ago at a store in Fredericton, and said the firing pin should never have fired in that position.
He drove himself out of the woods, despite his friends’ pleas not to, and his wife later drove him to a hospital in Fredericton.
He said he had lost a lot of blood, and felt light-headed and cold by the time he got to hospital about 90 minutes after the misfiring. Doctors found and removed most of the shrapnel, although he said they want the swelling to subside before they take the final piece out.
Lyons remains in a lot of pain, he said, but is mostly glad the damage wasn’t worse.
“My ears are still ringing, I’ve still got a friggin’ headache, but the main thing is I’m still around here to talk it about I guess,” he said. “It could be worse, I could be blinded or whatever, right?”
“The firing pin fired.” This is a strange writeup and it isn’t clear to me what happened. Here is a picture of the round still in the gun.
So what is your judgment? What did this guy do – try to slam the bolt into battery and end up striking the primer with the firing pin? You can visit the URL and see pictures of his shot up face.
On October 21, 2016 at 8:29 am, Blake said:
How about hand load that didn’t have the bullet seated deep enough and he tried to force the round into the chamber by slamming the bolt home? (pretty much what you said, Herschel)
On October 22, 2016 at 8:25 am, Danny Ray said:
Or a primer not seated deep enough
On October 23, 2016 at 9:33 am, Louis Chapman said:
I’m leaning towards improperly sized brass, and an improperly seated primer.
On October 23, 2016 at 9:43 am, Danny Ray said:
agree
On October 21, 2016 at 6:35 pm, Ned Weatherby said:
If the AXIS design is like that of a Savage 10 or 110, one would have to have a finger pressing the trigger – safety off – while pressing the bolt closed to have the firing pin detonate a cartridge before the bolt is fully closed – if there is no defect in the gun.
On October 22, 2016 at 8:32 pm, Duke Norfolk said:
Yeah, that was a totally confused mess. Really useless article. Who knows WTF actually occurred, though you can make a safe bet that this guy is a dumbass.
On October 23, 2016 at 9:46 am, Danny Ray said:
The problem is not only is there not enough information for gun people to make a call. There is just enough information that the anti-gun people can look at this and go, see all guns are dangerous. Everybody knows just as soon as semiautomatic assault rifles are outlawed the absolute next thing that will go after is these dangerous sniper rifles. Not to mention the people who think gun manufacturers ought to be able to be sued for the stupidity of the people using it. This gentleman caused this accident in some way shape or form. But the left in this country works really hard to make sure no one is responsible for their own actions. If it happened someone else did it to you and I’m not absolutely certain this guy isn’t blowing this up to get a jackpot.