It's happened again.... *LINK*

The last time I used one

Jack from Maine

>I'm a carpenter,and there is alot of pressure to use nail guns from both customers and fellow carpenters.I always refuse.

Maybe ten years ago I was helping a friend build a house by assisting his hired contractor.I had used a nail gun for framing on occasion but never liked them,so I avoided them. The contractor asked me to nail together some headers he had cut the pieces out for.He handed me his well worn bostich framing nailer. I almost declined but figured it would be inconsiderate and selfish to do it in a way that cost more time/money.After nailing one side,I flipped the header over and the first nail didn't fire. The gun had jammed.I held the trigger in and hit the header with the nail end of the gun several times hoping to free it up and it fired twice. The first shot pushed the gun off the wood and the second one flew free. I felt a tug at my sleeve(I was wearing a heavy jacket)and saw the nail head on the side of my cuff.It had pinned my coat to my wrist(16d nail). I didn't feel anything so I started to pull the nail out until I saw the angle of it.It had to pass directly through my wrist. I went to the hospital and xrays confirmed that it had indeed passed right through my wrist. A doctor cut off the head and pulled the nail the rest of the way through.

All I needed was a tetanus shot and a bandaid. The nail had passed right over the wrist joint. It just cleared all bones. The only damage(besides the entry and exit hole) was a scratch to the bone from the wire that was left on the nail from where the nails join together for loading into the gun.

I kept the nail as a reminder.I considered it a sign that I didn't get hurt.There is no job important enough for me to risk unnecessary injury.If someone wants the job done faster they're gonna have to find someone else.--Crackerjack

Re: It's happened again....

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Dang, you'd think he drop the gun by the 2nd of 3rd shot. That nuts, how's a person shoot themselves in the back of the head. Anyway thats why I use restictive triggers on mine.

4 shots in the back of the head?

miami

>Plus two from well over on the side ... you do have to wonder just how this happened. I can't think of any way you could get that back angle and still be even holding the gun.

Clay

Re: 4 shots in the back of the head?

Bruce, a MN Galoot

>A long time ago there was a Gahan Wilson cartoon in Playboy that showed the following scene: a detective was talking to a uniform cop. There was an arm protruding from a meat grinder, turning the crank on the grinder with a pile of ground meat on the floor. The detective says, "This is the most determined case of suicide I've ever seen." :-)

Rule #1

Jim Brown

>Don't ask your wife to hold the nailgun while you position the work pieces. "Honey, what does this trigger do?"

Re: 4 shots in the back of the head?

Mike G.

>There aint no way a person could "accidently" shoot themselves six times in the head with a nail gun. I hope the police do a full investigation, because from looking at the Xray, and the nail angles, it don't look accidental to me.

Yup!!

Bruce, a MN Galoot

>

Re: 4 shots in the back of the head?

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>I keep thinking of that scene in Happy Gilmore where the construction crew were having target practice with a framing gun and our hero shoots the foreman in the head from 20 feet!

This was discussed in the dark side of this board. There was a CNN link in that thread that had more information. However, I'm still highly dubious but the police have declined to file a charge so one assumes they would know better than I would.