Old Ammo - Stupid Crook 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
The following was related to me in the gun shop in which I work. If the story is not urban legend, the events described below probably occured in the Southwest United States sometime in the early- to mid-1990's.
A small-time hood broke into the home of a World War Two veteran and, among other things, stole the old G.I.'s Model 1911-A1 .45 automatic pistol, which had been carried into battle in the 1940's. He then went directly to a local convenience store and proceeded to stick up the cashier with his newly stolen pistol. The cashier (being no dummy) did exactly as was told and handed over the contents of the register. About to leave the store, the crook decide that leaving witnesses was a bad idea. He leveled the pistol at the cashier and pulled the trigger.
"CLICK!", went the .45.
At this unexpected development, the puzzled crook looked straight down the barrel of the gun and uttered the words "What the He-".
It turns out that the WWII veteran still had WWII vintage ammunition in his WWII vintage pistol. When ammuniton is stored improperly or is loaded into an overly-oiled firearm, the priming cap in a cartridge can lose its normally spontaneous nature, causing what is known as a "hang-fire".
Such was the case here. As soon as the crook had the barrel was pointed squarely at his own eye, the tired old primer detonated, igniting the powder charge and sending a nearly half-inch diameter chunk of lead and copper and associated hot combustion gasses directly into the would-be felon's skull at a speed of 900 feet per second from a range of less than six inches. The normal result of this is that the body is only identifiable by fingerprints.
As the story was related to me, the same police officer who responded to the original burglary was first on the scene of the armed robbery. He carefully picked up the .45 and compared the serial number to the one he had written down in his notebook. The G.I. got his pistol back soon thereafter. Case closed.
Submitted on 01/15/02
Submitted by:
Erik Dorothy
Reference:
Hopefully NOT urban legend
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