Injury sustained after lawnmower filled with tannerite explodes into a lethal mass of flying debris when struck by high-powered bullet
The three friends no doubt thought shooting at an old lawnmower would be a fun way of exercising America’s gun ownership rights.
But packing it with Tannerite explosive beforehand turned out to be a serious mistake when the target exploded in a dangerous hail of flying metal that hit one of the men, causing horrific injuries that cost him his leg.
This footage shows the moment when 23-year-old David Presley is struck by debris from the machine after firing at it with a high-powered rifle at close range.
Mr Presley and his two accomplices in Walton County in the southern state of Georgia packed the lawnmower with 3ib of Tannerite - a binary explosive designed to make a loudly combusting target for firearms practice - before shooting at it from just 14 yards away.
“It went terribly bad from there,” he admitted ruefully afterwards.
Mr Presley lost his left leg below the knee after being struck by the potentially lethal lumps of metal. The consequences could have been fatal if his friends had not been present to attend to his injuries and have him taken to hospital.
Tannerite, a patented product, combines ammonium nitrate and aluminium which are mixed and shaken together to produce an explosive. It is not flammable and generally stable when not subjected to high velocity bullets.
While its use for shooting practice is both common and legal in Georgia, the injured man and his friends ignored basic precautions, according to police - packing the lawnmower with too much explosive and then firing at excessively close range.
“It’s not a toy. It’s much more than just a fire-cracker,” said Joe Chapman, sheriff of Walton Country, adding that use of the explosive for fire practice generates frequent complaints about noise. “As a rule of thumb, I’m told that you need to be 100 yards away per pound of Tannerite.”
Mr Presley admitted to be just 43 feet away from the lawnmower when he fired his high-velocity rifle. His two friends were standing behind him, one of them filming.
#1: misterwhite To: cranky (#0)
From another blog:
The formula for safe distance in meters is: (Y * 5)/X
Y is the amount of tannerite in ounces and X is the number of beers you've had in the last 2 hours.
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-26 12:35:05 Reply Private Reply
#2: Stoner To: cranky (#0)
Stoner posted on 2016-03-26 12:38:46 Reply Private Reply
#3: Roscoe To: cranky (#0)
Roscoe posted on 2016-03-26 12:40:48 Reply Private Reply
#4: misterwhite To: cranky (#0)
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-26 12:48:12 Reply Private Reply
#5: misterwhite To: Roscoe (#3)
misterwhite posted on 2016-03-26 13:17:22 Reply Private Reply
#6: Willie Green To: cranky (#0)
Thank God he had the 2nd Amendment right to defend himself...
If that suicidal lawnmower had gotten any closer, it might've blown his other leg off too!
Willie Green posted on 2016-03-26 13:25:19 Reply Private Reply
#7: Roscoe To: Willie Green (#6)
Roscoe posted on 2016-03-26 14:24:29 Reply Private Reply
#8: BorisY To: Willie Green (#6)
of
speech
doesn't
mean
you
get
freedom
from
stupidity
love
boris
ps
you 're
the
reason
we
so
many
guns
sudden
jihad
... derangement
syndrome
BorisY posted on 2016-03-26 15:26:09 Reply Private Reply
#9: VxH To: cranky (#0)
VxH posted on 2016-03-26 15:29:58 Reply Private Reply
#10: paraclete To: cranky (#0)
paraclete posted on 2016-03-26 17:16:30 Reply Private Reply
#11: Logsplitter To: misterwhite (#1)
"Watch this."
Logsplitter posted on 2016-03-26 17:34:15 Reply Private Reply