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The M44 extractor was bad, a live round was in the chamber, as you know the Nagant chamber shield covers the view of it well, so you cant just simply look from above to see if a round is chambered or not as you can with an AR or AK. A live round was fed, that round stuck, the bolt pulled back, the gun handed to me. I fed a live round and it slammed right into the back of the current live round in the chamber. We deduced this because of the different colors of shrapnel and different ammunition we were using.
The explosion cost me $5000 in payments as I had no insurance and was not an illegal alien so I had to pay for my medical care. It was a costly experience but luckily I only had minor nerve damage and my eyes were saved from burning gunpowder and brass shrapnel. It took me 7 years to get over that and finally touch a bolt action again. Paranoia=safety.
Lesson learned, EYE protection is a must. Ear protection is dependant on sound levels and hand protection (gloves) is also an option. I use nomex leather flying gloves from now on, stops touching burning barrels or shrapnel in hand by accident.
the KEY for eye protection is the ANSI z85 rating for ballistic impact. Dont get a cheapo $5 pair of walmart or target sunglasses, though they would be better than nothing, dont think they would be the same as safety glasses.
Also think about skin coverage, Oakley lenses cover a lot depending on the cut, some other glasses are thin and small, cool looking but they wont block that errant brass case or ricochet to your cheekbone. Oakley also sells Laser optics on the military site but thats a whole other story.
A lot of guys prefer WileyXs because they have a strap that under your helmet really gets the glasses tight on you whereas oakleys only have arms that can slide or cause headaches from squeezing your ears and head for too long. In anycase, eyewear is not cheap and should seriously be considered by any shooter. Try them out like trying new shoes in a store.
Oakley has special green lenses for shooting (dont use them to drive though), check em out.
The explosion cost me $5000 in payments as I had no insurance and was not an illegal alien so I had to pay for my medical care. It was a costly experience but luckily I only had minor nerve damage and my eyes were saved from burning gunpowder and brass shrapnel. It took me 7 years to get over that and finally touch a bolt action again. Paranoia=safety.
Lesson learned, EYE protection is a must. Ear protection is dependant on sound levels and hand protection (gloves) is also an option. I use nomex leather flying gloves from now on, stops touching burning barrels or shrapnel in hand by accident.
the KEY for eye protection is the ANSI z85 rating for ballistic impact. Dont get a cheapo $5 pair of walmart or target sunglasses, though they would be better than nothing, dont think they would be the same as safety glasses.
Also think about skin coverage, Oakley lenses cover a lot depending on the cut, some other glasses are thin and small, cool looking but they wont block that errant brass case or ricochet to your cheekbone. Oakley also sells Laser optics on the military site but thats a whole other story.
A lot of guys prefer WileyXs because they have a strap that under your helmet really gets the glasses tight on you whereas oakleys only have arms that can slide or cause headaches from squeezing your ears and head for too long. In anycase, eyewear is not cheap and should seriously be considered by any shooter. Try them out like trying new shoes in a store.
Oakley has special green lenses for shooting (dont use them to drive though), check em out.
from that paranoia I also carry my sidearm with no round in the chamber although regulations state we should be chambered. I just make up for it by having the hammer cocked so I can rack the slide quickly if need be. I am sure if I wind up in downtown Khafji in the middle of a Clint Eastwood shootout I will have wished one was in the chamber, but otherwise it makes peace of mind.
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