Diver shoots hand with own spear gun

[WellBelowH2O]

Well, I was out on a boat yesterday to a wreck about 20 miles off of the Jersey Shore, and at some point while my buddy and I were down, one of the other divers somehow managed to shoot himself in the hand right between the knuckles of the ring and middle finger with his spear gun. Went all the way through. Happened at about 115' early in his dive and he ended up making his way back to the boat unassisted (I think he was solo diving). Took about 2 1/2 hours to get him back to the dock. 4 of us were hanging at about 20' doing a deco stop for about 10 minutes and an additional 15 or so for our comps to get back into the green, not realizing this guy was hurt up top.

Fortunately, the bleeding was under control and he wasn't showing any other problems (no shock, etc.). Has anyone ever heard about a self-inflicted spear-gun wound? It always makes me nervous diving with people using spear guns.

 

[diversjobs]

So now he knows what fishes Feel when he shoots. :58:

 

[RICHinNC]

I dont hunt....but I looked at a lot of spear guns at a dive show a while back. How in the world did he do that??? It took some real manipulation and unsafe practices from what I can tell.

 

[bisonduquebec]

I would never ever ever dive while there is a hunter underwater. I am to afraid he would use me as a target. No kidding, have you seen those arrows? These things are killers.

 

[WellBelowH2O]

I dont hunt....but I looked at a lot of spear guns at a dive show a while back. How in the world did he do that??? It took some real manipulation and unsafe practices from what I can tell.

That's kind of what we were trying to figure out. He said he was tangled in monofilament, but I still am not sure how he did it.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Band gun or pneumatic?

TwoBit

 

[RICHinNC]

I saw both at that show and the pneumatic looked pretty sharp. Granted it was shorter but still....he must have been doing some twisting and turning to shoot his hand. If I remember correctly....both styles had trigger guards.

 

[WellBelowH2O]

Band gun or pneumatic?

TwoBit

Band gun. Fairly lengthy too.

 

[Wayward Son]

Some people have the innate ability to break a steel ball with a rubber hammer. Maybe this guy is one of them.

 

[String]

Ive never seen a spear gun yet alone dived anywhere with one or on a boat where anyone used one and i hope to keep it that way. They strike me as an all round bad idea.