Boneyard
My Accident with a BFG!
No matter how long, or how experienced, you are at playing Airsoft accidents CAN & DO happen! One minute your enjoying yourself and the next you could well end up dazed, shocked and bewildered and all through a malfunction with a 12Gauge Dynatec BFG misfiring. Pin pulled and arm on the swing to toss said BFG and the whole thing DETONATES in my left hand! It's probably THE loudest thing I ever had the misfortune to be so close to.
Just like those first person shooter games the world turned white and hazy whilst the blast wave was just a wall of sound ringing and jangling in my ears. The world literally span around me, and I lost all sensation and feeling down my left hand side. So in the space of several seconds I had gone from testing my kit for a day’s Airsoft filming to not even knowing what day it was or even where I was.
The blast had left me really disorientated and I really did not want to look down at my numb hand as I feared the loss of several fingers or even a mangled up hand! I tried to clench my left hand into a fist and it worked but it was totally numb so I waved it around to get some blood flow back into it. Just a slight trickle of blood and burn to the index finger, was the worse I could see. At this point I must give a HUGE debt of gratitude and thanks to NUTZ and TITCH from SWAT AREA 51 for their quick thinking and first aid skills as well as CAM for the use of some wipes for clearing up the black powder residue covering the hand and face injuries. The hot sweet tea and a can of Coke also helped!
I was SOO lucky, just a numbed index finger, some minor burns on the finger and high velocity black powder on the left hand side of my face and of course hand, the rest was just shock and concussion. The left ear drum hurt and for most of the day it sounded like people where underwater but that reduced as the day wore on. It could have been so much worse!
Anyway, long story short one anti-tetanus shot later my local medical practice nurse confirmed I had not blown out my ear drum and passed me onto the hospital A&E dept for an x-ray of my index finger which had suffered the worst of the damage with a flash burn, black powder and small cut. The hospital were great and intrigued by how I’d come about my injury but discharged me with some precautionary antibiotics and some gel plasters for the burn. I must say the ant-tetanus shot has given me more trouble than the initial injury, just my luck. I must thank the ministrations of my wife for clearing up the mess the BFG made of the left hand side of my face, if your ever in the unfortunate position of removing high velocity black powder embedded in your skin you have my sympathy.
Of course these injuries proved to be extremely minor when you think of what COULD have happened and of course all totally preventable by the use of protective gloves and face/eye protection. It shows that no matter how much we use these things they can reach out and ‘BITE’ just when we least expect! Checking your kit BEFORE use is so important, so ensure you do before each skirmish.
Remember Play Safe and don’t let this happen to you.
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8 comments
After seeing Yosser shortly after this incident, I can assure readers that his injuries were/are far worse than they appear above. The camera loses some detail and as black-powder burns leave miniscule fragmentation marks, the photos really don't do the true extent of the damage justice. Yosser was lucky not to have lost a finger during this unfortunate accident. However, it was a miracle that he never lost an eye! As Yosser states in his blog entry, one should always adopt an approach of protection. Eyes and hands are what you use most in airsoft. Make sure you keep them safe.
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Yes, i was extremely lucky. The pictures where off a mobile phone a few days later and of course my lovely wife did a great job cleaning the mess up off my face already!
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 2:14 PM
Could you please explain in more detail what actually led to the misfire. Just to let others learn from the accident.
Thanks!
Hartmann
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 3:22 PM
Not sure if I'm honest, we tried it a4 or 5 times after - the 'fuse' seemed short on one occasion and on at least 3 times it worked flawlessly! Pin pull is relatively stiff so that could have contributed!
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 3:36 PM
Okay thanx!
Hartmann
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 9:41 AM
Glad to hear you're OK dude, I had a 10mm go off next to my head in game the same day, and that was still making my ears ring 10 minutes later...
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 6:02 PM
I set a 12 gauge one off in my hand yesterday. I have a fair few bits of black powder injected under the skin on my knuckle where one of the vent ports was pointing at it, and another piece in the white of my eye! I was taking part in a game where the grenade was used to represent a special explosive in a task and given to me to use by the organisers as it was my stag do. I was told the fuse starts going with little handle movement, but not how much travel the handle would have. The first one I went to use did not go off at all, and when I did the second one I was expecting the handle to fly right out like on a traditional grenade. As it hardly moved I simply banged it on a hard surface thinking it had jammed, but in reality the fuse was already counting down....
As airsoft uses mesh masks there is a significant risk of eye damage to someone right next to a grenade when it goes off. There would be little problem in paintball with lensed masks, but if my face had been blasted in the same way as my knuckle is I would be blind in that eye for sure. Toerag.
Posted on April 21, 2013 at 9:06 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOj6pV_Yf_8
I caught mine on camera.
Posted on August 19, 2016 at 6:51 PM
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