Always use ear & eye protection when shooting, BUT ...

[JimT]

what never mentioned is foot protection.

Years ago .. back in the 1980's ... I was working on some loads for the .45 Colt Single Action, using the old Lyman #454190 roundnose bullet. I had put together a few loads the night before with Bullseye for what I figured were around 800 fps. No hot loads. I was in house having breakfast and looking at the ammo and I thought "I want to fire one to see what it's like."

I had some cedar firewood logs stacked on the front porch where it was handy on a cold morning so I grabbed my sixgun, stuffed a round into the chamber and stepped out on the front porch in my bare feet and fired a shot into the end cut of one of the logs. The bullet turned in the wood grain and came back, hitting me right on the end of my big toe on the left foot. Raised one heck of a blood blister!

So in addition to ear and eye protection, we might want to think about our feet.

Or maybe where we are shooting and what we are shooting into?

Oh ... we were living in the mountains of South Eastern Arizona .. on the edge of the National Forest. Gunfire in the area was quite common and never raised any alarms.

oracle.jpg

I would ride my horse out my back gate and up the mountain on the left early of a morning and watch the sun come up over the Galurio Mountains. It was always inspiring.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Eyes, ears, steel toe boots….

[Bill in Oregon]

Nice country Jim. Sorry about that toe! Are those elderberries in the foreground?

[Tycer]

Or maybe where we are shooting and what we are shooting into?

Some 30 years ago we shot a composite Camaro fender with birdshot at about 15 yards. One shot. Three of the six of us had pellets in our skin. Got one girl right in the middle of the forehead.

[JimT]

Nice country Jim. Sorry about that toe! Are those elderberries in the foreground?

Quite possibly. Other than living in Mozambique, this was the favorite spot I lived in.

[LeverGunner]

Dang. I didn't know bullets could do a 180 off of wood.

When I was a very young adult, there was an old bowling ball out there in the field. I decided to shoot at it one day with my 22 rifle. I did, and I heard a whir go by my right ear. I don't know if it was the bullet or a chunk of bowling ball. Sure scared me though and I've been careful about ricochets ever since.

[rock-steady]

Many years ago, my friend and I were walking around an old pond shooting at turtles and snakes with our .22's.
Partner shot a piece of thick plastic water pipe that was left over on the bank with his 10/22.
The bullet ricocheted back and hit me in the side, just above my belt. Hurt bad and scared me as it broke the skin and a little blood was coming out.
Thankfully, it did not penetrate, but bounced off.

I'm still leery about plinking with a 22LR to this day, especially around water.

It's a miracle any of us survived our youth.

[OldWin]

About 20 years ago, i took a 158gr cast swc to the forehead from a J-frame .38. Luckily, it hit my head and not something I use.
Better add a helmet to the list.

[JimT]

A friend of mine bought an 1860 Army .44 cap & ball sixgun and his first day out with it he shot at a Black Jack Oak tree. He said he remembers firing the shot. The next thing he knew he was laying on his back, looking at the sky, and his head hurt. Checking things out he found a big knot on his forehead, almost between his eyes. Says he has never fired at a tree since that happened and that was 50 years ago!

[Ysabel Kid]

Back 40 year ago I was trying to squeeze another fraction of a second off my draw time with a Ruger SBH. Doing so, I ended putting my finger on the trigger while thumb-cocking as the gun left the holster versus as it was fully raised. Let off a round that went into the dirt about an inch from my right foot. Decided then and there that I was fast enough.

I started Y2K shooting when he was 2 years old at his grandfather's house (where we could shoot off the back porch). Only point of the training then was to get him used to wearing eye and ear protection, every time without fail, and making sure he was not afraid of the gun. Needless to say, I had to hold it - a .22 rifle - and he loved it. I didn't want him doing the same thing I had, shooting without PPE. Fortunately I never injured my eyes, but like most of us, my hearing now stinks.

[JimT]

Huh? Whadja Say?

[Ysabel Kid]

Huh? Whadja Say?

[Bill in Oregon]

Yeah, my sketchy hearing and snoring habits have me in the dog house much of the time these days. Boy, it takes months to get an appointment with a hearing specialist at Costco -- another reason to protect what you have!