I've found a direct correlation between high pressure and high heat. I've had .45 ACP cases go down my shirt, lay on my belt-line and I simply continue shooting, whereas a 10mm case caused me to do a 3 Stooges dance and left a nice mark.
I wore penny loafers to the range, and I did think that if brass fell in between the shoe and my foot that it'd be hot but then I thought, "What are the odds of that happening?"
Brass can cause horrific burns. I have a scar on my collarbone from a M2. A buddy of mine was seriously injured when a 20mm round from an a10 overhead landed on his neck.
Absolutly,i've been to several indoor ranges and gotten some nasty burns.The last time was the worst because they had installed roofs in each booth and every round would fly up and back down on me and my wife.
The worst burns came from the 223 we were shooting,i ended up with at least 5 burn marks on the back of my neck that took days to go away.
I tend to stay away people shooting semi-auto guns. But usually pistols dont eject far. Just a couple of feet, and neither do some rifles. The only cases I've been hit with are .22s from a rifle. They were hardly warm. I have picked up 7.62x39 and they were toasty. And AKs eject far too, 5-10 feet. Casings from single shots and bolt actions are warm. I catch the ones from my 45-70.
Yes!
It cools quickly but if it goes down your shirt ... yep, it's darn hot. I have 2 small scars near my neck from brass burns from shells going down my shirt. This usually happens during leagues on about the 4th shot of a 5 round timed target. Sure makes focusing on that last shot hard!
Hot brass down the shirt...yep, it's hot.
Brings back some interesting memories.
I had it go down the back of my neck. It's like being stung. Not that painful, but it's a sudden shock.
Overly concerned, no... reasonably concerned, yes. Some posters have mentioned 2nd degree burns, and others have mentioned brass landing on eyelids.
Take precautions, and hardwire into your brain to keep the muzzle downrange and the weapon under control, no matter what. Putting the weapon down, muzzle downrange, before doing the dance is good if possible.
It's no worse than cutting overhead with a torch. Just don't dance, be safe. I found that by the time I turned off the torch and found someplace to set it, whatever was going to get burnt was already burnt.
As others have said, your reaction to a hot piece of brass could pose far more danger to you and others than the brass itself.
got burned with a 9mm casing when it stuck between my temple and the earpiece of my glasses, fresh out of my XDm ... but brass cools pretty quickly; you can pick up a piece of brass a few seconds after it's been fired and it's cool enough to touch ... in yet another bit of TV insanity, saw a CSI Miami a few weeks ago where a murder was committed and they caught one of the killers from skin stuck to an ejected case. It landed on the floor and he walked over to pick it up; the idea is it was still hot enough to burn skin off his fingers, even tho 10-20 seconds had passed ... then of course he left it there to be discovered and was done in by the evils of DNA ...
Try having a 5.56 land on your neck under your collar in prone position and the best you can do is lay there, keep shooting, feel and smell your skin burn, and get a scar...
getting hit by hot or cool brass on a public range should be expected.
i have had many hot 5.56mm/.223Rem. brass hit me in places where i can not dislodge it fast, have had blisters that fill with water (? you know that kind !) most of them are from my own rifles in summer time when shooting bare arm, the hot brass lands on the bench rolls right up against my bare arm and i do not feel it.
i have had some permanent nerve damage and i do not feel pain at the instant of being hit by hot brass on my arms or fingers, only after a few minutes do i start to feel the pain, on my neck or back do i feel instant pain.
I generally show this short wav file during my concealed carry class.
The 4th or so clip is a quite realistic hot brass dance.
During basic training Fort Ord Kali AIT we took part in what was called a "MAD MINUTE"
and at midnight we were to all fire our weapons on full auto for this one min. time and when I opened up my bud is still in his sleeping bag while also firing caught a long string of hot brass from my rifle right into his bag. That min was missing a couple rifles firing that night as i helped him out of a very uncomfortable situation.