Even the most careful can still shoot their eye out...

Fletcher Knives

Fletcher Knives

STEEL BREATHING BLADE MAESTRO
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So last night, I set out for a simple overnighter with a little shooting for practice before the big hunting season and long camping/hunting trips. We camped out last night and had a good time. Found a good spot up by Wild Cat Creek in North GA. Good mountain area. I took my favorite shooter with me, an old battle beaten Chinese SKS. No fancy stuff, just like it was in the cosmo. I had packed a set of shooter glasses, ear plugs, ammo, and for fun, a couple of people targets instead of animal. The first target, I shot one full clip at and the last round actually bounced off the tree next to me, hit my eyebrow and actually STUCK BETWEEN MY GLASSES AND MY AIMING EYE! I took my glasses off and the case was still stuck to my eyelid. I had to pull it off and with it came a good bit of my eyelid skin. I took pictures when I got home, but as with all good stories, the evidence doesn't do it justice. The pictures didn't come out very good. The burn was actually about the size of a dime and greatly peeled the skin and made it bubble a good bit. Needless to say, IT SUCKED BAWLS!

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Now comes the ultimate question, how hardcore of a shooter are you. Well I'll tell you. Hardcore enough to have this grouping looking through my gacked up aiming eye from about 75 yards open sights. Ten rounds in the head. Ten rounds centermass.

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Wow that was really close! Glad to see you're ok. I always wear a hat when I go to the outdoor/indoor range just for that reason. My Norinco SKS throws them up in the air and it somtimes lands on my neck and rolls down my shirt. Talk about maintaining control! Gently sit the rifle down and immediatly do the I got one down the shirt dance.
 
While you are at it, turn your collar up and button the shirt all the way. A hot one down the shirt isn't fun either... not as bad as one in the eye for sure.

Glad that you don't seem to have any permanent damage. Put some neosporin or similar on it. The goal is to try to keep the skin moist. Might want to cover it with a bandage too. It's a bad place to have a scar.
 
With some of the older .45autos, I have had brass hit me between the eyes, & some go down my shirt ,rifle brass is alot hotter!
 
I still have a scar on my neck in the shape of .223 brass, from boot camp. I couldn't move it off, so it sort of just cooked there for a while.
 
I had a .223 casing hit the ground while I was shooting prone and it must have put a spin on it because it popped right back up and hit me in the temple and proceeded to rattle between my temple and my helmet a few times before it dropped into my shirt (I am a lefty and they didn't have any brass deflectors available on the range, but you know how it goes EVERYBODY has to qualify one you are on the range). I got a burn mark that lasted a few days. I always wear shooting glasses and I like the type that are huge enough to wrap around the entire eye area.

I hope your eyelid gets better soon. Nice shooting!
 
Glad you are OK.

Camped out a few times up at Wildcat Creek, good spot to watch meteor showers. Might want to be careful shooting up there as the Rangers are not to far away over by Moccasin Creek & the Hemlock Falls area.
 
My Brother was standing next to / behind me one time shooting. A Casing dropped into his shirt and he danced around howling. I thought some how I'd shot him. Scared the choonyas out of me for a couple seconds until we figured out what's goin on.
 
Looks like it hurts. From the few times I have shot Skeet, eye protection isn't complete without a hat. There are a few positions where a good hit will have the clay bird raining down on you.
 
I still have a scar from my only hot brass/skin encounter almost 20 years ago. I don't quite know how it happened, but I got a .22 lr case stuck to my left elbow after being ejected from a ruger 10/22 (ejects to the right). It bubbled up the skin real nice. Better the elbow than the eye lid, though.
 
The scar on my right lower eyelid is almost gone after about 9 years. I had the misfortune to have some hot brass drop into the gap of my shooting glasses and lodge between my eyelid & the lens. I had a nasty blister followed by months of red skin before it finally settled into a scar.
 
Thanks a lot guys. That picture was taken in the still gewwy yet clean faze. I had some cleansing solution on me at the time so I was able to clean it out right away. Unfortunately I have an allergy to neosporin (something in it) so I can't use it. I did find some antibiotic burn cream to put on it as soon as I got home though. It looks a lot more gnarley today. I accedently rubbed it a couple of times and just the normal opening and closing cracked it a little. I'm sure it will leave a scar, but shouldn't be too bad. Gives me character. hahaha. It looks good and nasty today though. I had sunglasses on almost all day. I took them off and my girlfriend's eyes got real big and she said "holy sh!t! Can you see?" It looks a lot worse than it feels. I still mliked it a little to persuade her to take me to the local Army Navy surplus and buy me a couple hundred feet of tan and black paracord. ;)
 
It's a process. Looks a little like a good crater at the moment. Coming along nicely though. After a good deal of cleaning, looks a lot better than it did yesterday. What the picture doesn't show very well is that the hole is about as deep as a quarter and has it's own blisters. Doesn't sound like much, but it's major when it's your eyelid. Also, the bottom eyelid has a good large blister on it directly under the hole. Good stuff. People at work have renamed me one-eye.
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Nice shootin', Tex! I had hot .45 brass do that to me once.It landed between my glasses and left eye. Baseball caps for me now, when I'm shooting.
 
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