# Had An Accident This Morning



## fsa46 (Jul 8, 2012)

I was shooting some wide band, NGR, 3/32" tapers this morning that I've been using about 2 1/2 weeks when one of the bands broke at full draw about 1/2" from the fork. This is the first time I had one break at this location.

When it let go, it came back and hit me in the mouth with such force I thought it broke my dentures...but didn't.

I always wear safety glasses, and although it didn't hit me in that area, if it did ( and I wasn't wearing safety glasses ) there would have been a serious problem.

I can't stress enough the importance of wearing safety glasses, it only takes one accident to lose your vision and then it's to late. Just something to think about.


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

Always a good reminder . It's only latex and can fail any time . Better safe than sorry .

I'm glad you're OK Frank .


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## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

Sadly, this is an ever-present danger of our sport. Thanks for sharing you painful experience, Frank.

Everybody, wear your safety glasses!


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

I'll second that emotion!!!!!!!


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Yeah Buddy-Safety glasses work!!! Good job -glad you're okay.


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## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

Safety glasses for me and anyone shooting with me, house rules.

Same goes for bike helmets. As a lifetime cyclists, I've hit my head on more then a few low hanging branches when MTBing.

Safety first.


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

We all know that when a band finally pops and they all do, all, that sometimes breaks near the fork happen. Even a break from a nick half way up the band is enough backlash to tickle a cornea. Not. To remove it.

Fortunately the way I hold sort of aims the bands lower, even the top band used for "sighting", I hold right under my jaw. I do wear eye protection most of the time but I'd better use it all of the time, I have only one good eye, if that goes, I am sunk. No more Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Issue! Oh geez.

I may add, I check my bands about every fourth or fifth shot for tears and nicks. I've avoided a lot of band breaks that way. A tear usually starts and progresses through a few shots so if you catch it you can change the band before a surprise snaps you in the kisser.

For new enthusiasts, to know the force of a band snapping under full draw, pull a band back and snap yourself in the thigh. It will put you to dancing around a bit, it hurts. That's what your eye will sustain...or mouth, on a band break at the fork or near it. If that doesn't make an eye wear guy out of you then an eye pop will and it'll be too late.


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## fsa46 (Jul 8, 2012)

I don't want to even imagine what a slap in the face ( or worse ) by a band breaking at a full butterfly draw would be like.


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Glad you were not hurt any worse than you were.


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## Grandpa Pete (May 2, 2013)

I had a cedar fork break a while back and the band came flying back with chunk of wood attached! Thankfully I was wearing eye protection. Another time I was using my power washer, sans safety glasses, when the hose came loose and slapped me in the eye sending me to the ER. I will never use that thing again without eye protection.

GP


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## Byudzai (Aug 31, 2013)

One of the virtues of looped tubes or flats, the way I do them in my frames, is that when one piece of rubber breaks, the other picks up the slack and nothing hits you in the face. I'm very sorry to hear about the injury!


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## truthornothing (May 18, 2015)

I am guilty of not wearing safety glasses often. I am sorry you got hurt and I need to be more careful


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## fsa46 (Jul 8, 2012)

I guess I'm a creature of habit.I never wore safety belts, don't know why, stubborn, hard headed, just couldn't be bothered. They had a big safety belt push and someone I knew got caught and had to pay a fine. I reluctantly started wearing them and now it's just automatic putting them on and don't even think about it.

It's the same thing with safety glasses, I never wore them. Then Ray posted a picture of a RTS he had and a couple close calls I had and said to myself, what's it going to take to wear them, a lost eye.

I started wearing them and now it's just automatic. I've purchased enough safety glasses that when anyone comes over for a visit and wants to shoot, I have glasses for them.


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## fingerbob (Sep 22, 2018)

I have developed after a lot messing about, by starting to draw my bands back from around my waist area, then up to my cheek anchor point. Because I do everything slowly the bands have nearly always gone on it's journey up to my anchor hold. But safety glasses are a far better guarantee.


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## Hoss (Jun 3, 2014)

I wouldn't ever consider shooting without my safety glasses, it's just not worth losing an eye over.

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk


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## Sandstorm (Apr 5, 2021)

I am so sorry to hear about that. When I was a kid another child snapped me in the left eye at "full draw" with an office rubber band. To give you an idea of how much that hurt (nothing damaged fortunately), when I found out I was going to shoot slingshots the second thing I did was get ANSI Z87+ rated. And yep, these ones go over top of my prescriptions! (Dork cord not included) 









I'm extremely sorry you had an incident and really thankful you weren't hurt any worse. That hurts badly enough.

Oh, I just realized this post was from 2016! Oops. Still though, wear eye protection.


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## raventree78 (Apr 20, 2016)

Yeah eye pro and ear pro are a must. No, my slings are not loud, but my neighbor's dog can be


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