Found it in Reddit Guns. .25 cal can hurt some.
And the narrative:
My step father’s forearm. We were shooting at our private range on Thanksgiving day, and his parents were over.
We had been shooting for a little while with a multitude of different pistols. However, the .25 caliber pistol that my step-father’s step-father had brought wouldn’t fire with any reliability. Following a trigger pull that did not result in a fired round, he stepped back about ten feet and I thought he was clearing/putting the gun away.My step father had stepped up to where we were shooting from ad was showing his mom the operations of his Smith & Wesson.
Now at this point I was standing about ten feet to his right, looking around in the grass for a round I had dropped. It was while I was bending over I heard a crack, followed closely by, “Ouch!” (my step-dad is funny in that, while his language could be terrible when we were working on cars, etc. he still, in times of durress, would not cuss in front of his mother).
As I turned I saw my step father bent over as he turned to look around. Obviously, given the X-ray, he had caught a round in his left forearm. It was, in fact, from the .25 that hadn’t been functioning earlier. So, we applied pressure and transported him immediately to the hospital.
To this day, I do not know whether it had been a negligent discharge (likely) or whether it was a slow burning primer (possible, not as likely). My brother and I were a mix of worry/anger/embarrassment at the time and I am still rather embarrassed when discussing the story with others.
The important lesson is that, had the four rules (particularly those regarding muzzle discipline) had been followed, no one would have gotten hurt.
Edit: .25 is even powerful enough to shatter bone, and it has less energy than .22lr. Caliber wars are particularly worthless.
Thanks to the OP for sharing this case. Even though accidental shootings are less and less every year, they do happen and sharing them reinforce the message of following the Four Rules and Safety Above Everything.
Getting shot, even with a .25 can be serious. People need to learn and live the 4 rules. This could have been a lot worse.
I have a pocket .25 that was my father’s gun when he worked the graveyard shift in downtown Miami 45 years ago. I’ve never considered carrying it because of all the negative things you hear about the caliber, so I keep it as a memento.
This makes me think it can’t be all that bad. I assume it was close, but aren’t most shootings within 3 yards?
I would use it as Contact weapon at best. We are talking bad breath distance, I wouldn’t go any farther with it.
I toted a Baby Browning .25 for years, and traded it off. It was better than nothing, but not by much- if facing face eating zombies for instance.
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