Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Anyone heard the story of the 50 Cal. shooter...?
About 20 years ago...or maybe less...I heard a story that was circulating around the gun industry that went something like this...
A member of the US Military (I think it was a Marine) had reassembled a Browning M2 50 caliber machine-gun incorrectly, and left-out a critical part (possibly the recoil spring assembly). The man in question then went on to fire the weapon, and the first shot caused the entire bolt assembly to be throw back through the rifle, through his chest and exit his back. The bolt group missed all his critical organs...and as the story goes...he never even knew that there was any problem; he stood there without showing any emotion of pain.
Can anyone possibly verify the veracity of this story? Is it merely urban legend, or did it really happen? Thanks.
4 Answers
- Crashn87Lv 51 decade agoFavorite Answer
I would have to lean towards urban legend. The back plate on the M2 has to be slid down and locked into place for the weapon to fire. If it's not in place you won't be able to fire the weapon. Regardless of any parts left out inside of the gun there couldn't be enough energy generated by the round to force that carrier group through the plate and through a human. As someone else has posted on here, if you remove that plate with the weapon c*ocked the spring will do some nasty things to you but wouldn't go through the body. I was the main gunner and instructor on the M2 but that was about 20 years ago so the internal parts are a little fuzzy in the memory now-a-days.
- 1 decade ago
well i dont know about this particular issue but i do know of tha thappening ths is not a myth. The recoil buffer if charged will shoot out the bolt assembly if you dissassemble while the recoil buffer is primed. That buffer will gore you alive . he maybe suffered shock, pain then went screaming ..
Source(s): 4 yrs military 4 yrs shooting 4 yrs M2 dissassembling - CCLv 41 decade ago
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2010/02/11/50-c...
Go to that thread, about 3/4 down the page.
You can also google .50 cal mishaps and check out some of the posts there.
- Colter BLv 51 decade ago
I dunno about an M2...
But if you assemble an M4/M16/AR15/etc. without the cam pin, it will likely not lock the breech... Which is..... bad.
