Ouch! Hot Shell!

Yesterday after an especially long week I was at the range doing some "lead therapy" with my Sig P229 .40. I usually run PMC bronze ammo for practice, but yesterday I tried American Eagle 185 grain because it was a bit cheaper.

I didn't like it from the start. Whereas the Sig reliably spits the PMC casings out the side, the American Eagle brass went all over the place. Plus there was huge muzzle flash.

But the most exciting part happened toward the end of my session, when a shell casing ricocheted off the side of the booth and went down the back of my neck under my shirt. That baby must have been smoking hot, because it hurt like crazy. I was doing the Texas Two Step trying to get it out of my shirt. Fortunately, I put the gun down first, or I suspect the range master would have gotten pretty excited.

When I got home, my wife found a nasty blister right at the base of my neck. Still hurts this morning.

Pretty funny. I'll switch back to PMC.

Terry

[stomachmonkey]

Btdtgts

[HHI944]

My AR will eat anything I throw at it....except independence. ...last time I shot that crap, I got hit in the face with hot brass a few times....I'm a righty, I didn't know it was even possible to take brass to the face shooting an AR righty...

[Taz's Master]

It's not the ammo, it's the equipment.

Well the Sig is a pretty nice piece, and this is the only ammo it has ever disliked. Could also be operator error, but I've put a ton of rounds through it and other handguns without ever having had this happen.

Terry

[weseeeee]

Been there, and it's not fun. I always wear a ball cap now because I've had hot brass land between my safety glasses and eyebrow!

Good idea. I caught a few glancing blows to the face before the big event.

Remember--guns don't kill people, it's those things that come out of guns that kill people.

Terry

[Taz's Master]

Originally Posted by madcorgi

Well the Sig is a pretty nice piece, and this is the only ammo it has ever disliked. Could also be operator error, but I've put a ton of rounds through it and other handguns without ever having had this happen.

Terry

Sorry, I wasn't disrespecting the Sig, just bottom feeders in general. I've never had a revolver toss brass where it could burn me. Semi's are fun, but they're messy, and tend to make me look forward to the next shot rather than focusing on technique for the current shot. (And I'm not suggesting that's a problem inherent in the machine, that's totally me.) They just aren't for me, so I was just trying (I guess poorly) to make light of your American Eagle experience. It would not be the least bit surprising if different ammo caused slight changes in the function of your firearm.

[allaircooled]

My sig p229 in .40 didn't like some of the cheaper ammo either. It was a nice spoon and I wish I still had it.

[wildthing]

Must be the AE .40. I've been using AE 9mm and on both the 226 and the 229. No issues. Of course I've probably only shot max 300 in one session and then off to cleaning...

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Btdtgts

Me too... My sig spits brass out hard enough to go about two tables over. So I usually line up at the end table so that no one else catches the ejects. Had one hit the wall pretty high up and come back to me. Fell down the front of my shirt and lodged between my ta-ta and my bra....while I had a loaded pistol in my hands.

Very exciting for the next few seconds - LOL! Made a nice little strategic burn mark before I got it outtta there!

angela

[targa911S]

It once takes once and you button your collar at the range from now on.

[ledhedsymbols]

12 years ago or so, before I met my wife, I was dating a girl named Michelle. I had recently purchased a Walther P99 in .40 S&W. Took her on a date to the shooting range, it always seemed to get her excited to go shooting. Michelle was wearing a v-neck shirt, and had large breasts so there was a fair amount of real estate available. You guys know where this is going... Hot brass bounced off of the lane divider and landed right in her cleavage. I dove for the pistol before she could point it the wrong way. Needless to say that was the end of our date at the pistol range.

[legion]

I have a scar on my left forearm from hot 5.56 brass landing there during a live-fire drill. I remember trying to twitch to shake it off, but my skin had melted to it. I was taking a class and shooting in the prone position and I would have had to take both hands off of my rifle to use my right hand to pull it off. I elected to suffer rather than do something potentially unsafe.

[71scgc]

I will never waste my $$ on American Eagle ammo again.
Bought some because it was cheap, and I was just wanting to "smooth out" a brand new AR.
Shot about ten rounds and rifle jams up hard, case stuck. Clear that. Trigger won't drop hammer.
Primer jammed under trigger. Cleared that, started inspecting the dead brass. All had primers either pushed out or missing entirely.

I threw the remaining 3 boxes of the crap in the trash at the range. Later, a guy saw it in the trash, started fishing it out. I told him "trust me, you don't want that ****". He answered "Really? American Eagle is great ammo"!
I doubt he had better luck...

Only the russki crap is worse.

Carter

PS Once at the machine gun range, an M-60 had deposited 3 brass down my BDU sleeve. When I rested my right arm on the ground, I got a 3-brass tattoo on my forearm. I mean complete image, casehead with extract groove and all.
It woulda made for cool ink. Sadly, the scar didn't last...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by weseeeee

Been there, and it's not fun. I always wear a ball cap now because I've had hot brass land between my safety glasses and eyebrow!

I had one land between my safety glasses and my temple. That felt great!