Man Shot Self ... Without a Gun!

It's just stupidity to shoot yourself, but it takes real talent to shoot yourself ... without a gun! Here's the bizarre story of one Howard Sheppard, 30, of Deltona, Florida who somehow shot himself in the arm without any firearms present:

Sheppard, who works at DeLand Memorial Gardens, told a nurse he picked up six rounds of ammunition and one of them discharged and struck him in the arm, Hudson said. When Sheppard said the other five rounds were in his shirt pocket, a security guard took the shirt and called police.

Sheppard initially said the ammunition was on a shelf and one of the bullets may have discharged because he threw a hammer and a string trimmer on the shelf, police said. After being pressed, he told Hudson that he secured the sixth bullet in a vise clamp, placed a metal punch into the cartridge primer and hit the punch with a hammer.

http://www.bradenton.com/331/story/1145715.html - via Dave Barry's Blog

This doesn't make sense. Bullets only travel forward because of the compression of gas behind them in the barrel of a gun. Without a barrel, there is no pressure and no reason for the bullet to move aside from the slight force exerted by the gases expanding in open air. Doesn't seem like that force would be anywhere near enough to injure someone.
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We used to hear about someone doing this in the metal shop in high school once a year or so. Usually the brass cartridge would just rupture and burns or metal shrapnel were the worst of the injuries.
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There are other instances of this happening. Hitting the bullets like this doesn't usually cause a discharge that could injure anyone....but it can happen!!

As to why he is doing this? Some places buy used shell casings. They can reload and resell them with less overhead. It's possible the guy got ahold of some free bullets and wanted to make a little side money.

Or, maybe he's an idiot.
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he put the bullet in a vice, which practically turns it into a gun without a barrel, all the barrel does is give the bullet trajectory and allows you to aim, if the bullet is held stationary (like in a gun, the shell can't move backwards) then the actual bullet itself has no choice but to move forward...it would work
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What the vise did not do is tightly enclose the cartridge which is necessary to keep the cartridge from failing and turning into shrapnel. Chances are the bullet didn't go very far or fast since the exploding gases were not focused down a barrel but expending themselves out from between the vise jaws.

The dude probably took a piece of brass casing in the arm. Too, he may have been dumb enough to put his arm in harms way and the slow bullet did some minimal damage.

All together now: "What an ultramaroon!"
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Yeah i could see how the shrapnel theory would apply as weak as brass is (for metals); otherwise, the casing itself will project the bullet 'on a path.' and i'm sure it sort of still did, but far weaker; no defect or deformity upon stiking something (hard) probably...
did the guy get struck by case fragments? or by actually forgetting where his arm was? who's to say...let's give him SOME credit as a man who tests his own half-assed theories...right after we call him !!!STUPID!!!
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I think he tried to kill himself on propose. idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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