July 18th 2012 was a day that changed my life. After firing 400+ rounds of semi corrosive 308, I decided to do a thorough strip down and clean of my semi 1919. Upon reassembly, I inserted the bolt into the receiver, and could not get it to line up with the hole for the charging handle. I get my flash light, look down to see what is binding and BAM. I can still vividly remember the loud BANG as the rod came to a stop on the floor of my orbital socket/skull. I remember looking to the left and having the drive rod smack my nose....I knew I was in trouble. I immediately went into shock, lost balance and slumped down into a nearby chair. Luckily I had friends in the room when it happened. I was rushed via ambulance to the hospital. Initially the Nurses and Doctors were not very informative as to whether or not I would lose my eye. After what had seemed like hours, an ophthalmologist and neurologist broke the bad news. I woke up out of surgery in ICU 12 hours later. I had bandages around my eye, and the upper half of my head. My girlfriend and other family asleep on the floor. Morphine and whatever they gave me made things easy. My family came in every few hours from all over the country, when I was awake the story was unraveled.
The drive rod flew through my right eye and broke through my orbital socket pushing bone fragments into the frontal lobe of my brain. I underwent "brain surgery", where they removed a baseball size piece of skull from my forehead to gain access to extract bone fragments/cleaned up the mess. 41 staples to put my face back together. I walked away without any brain damage. The head ophthalmologist was not on call to perform the enucleation (eye removal). I was taken off pain medication after 2 days, and had a PICC line inserted in my right arm for a heavy, heavy dosage of antibiotics. I was allowed to go home after 4 days. 2 weeks later I had my enucleation procedure. 2 months passed and I was fitted for a prosthetic eye.
All in all, it could have been alot worse. I'm very thankful for having a rock for a girlfriend and family. I'm not looking for sympathy, just passing on my story as a warning. Life is good, I'm still with the same girl, bought my first house 3 months after the accident and still love shooting/collecting ww2 firearms....It took alot of guts to go anywhere near that spring and drive rod for a very long time. After inspecting it and pondering what the hell caused the rod to unlock, I found worn/squared edges to the tangs that engage the bolt. Part of me also thinks the rod was never a fully turned and locked in place. Who knows.
Either never remove that ******* or be VERY VERY CAREFUL. Treat it as a firearm and keep it pointed away from your body!
The morning after
First go with the prosthetic eye
The drive rod flew through my right eye and broke through my orbital socket pushing bone fragments into the frontal lobe of my brain. I underwent "brain surgery", where they removed a baseball size piece of skull from my forehead to gain access to extract bone fragments/cleaned up the mess. 41 staples to put my face back together. I walked away without any brain damage. The head ophthalmologist was not on call to perform the enucleation (eye removal). I was taken off pain medication after 2 days, and had a PICC line inserted in my right arm for a heavy, heavy dosage of antibiotics. I was allowed to go home after 4 days. 2 weeks later I had my enucleation procedure. 2 months passed and I was fitted for a prosthetic eye.
All in all, it could have been alot worse. I'm very thankful for having a rock for a girlfriend and family. I'm not looking for sympathy, just passing on my story as a warning. Life is good, I'm still with the same girl, bought my first house 3 months after the accident and still love shooting/collecting ww2 firearms....It took alot of guts to go anywhere near that spring and drive rod for a very long time. After inspecting it and pondering what the hell caused the rod to unlock, I found worn/squared edges to the tangs that engage the bolt. Part of me also thinks the rod was never a fully turned and locked in place. Who knows.
Either never remove that ******* or be VERY VERY CAREFUL. Treat it as a firearm and keep it pointed away from your body!
The morning after


First go with the prosthetic eye