Blew a half inch hole through my left foot with a 200 gr jhp from my 45 acp. I was going to put down this ranch cat that had a baseball size tumor growing off its side. The isects were getting into it and it was real disgusting. So, i switched out my snake loads for my handloaded jhp. Grabbed the kitty and went behind the shed so that the kids wouldn't see what was going to happen to kitty kat. The damn cat started to get real tense before i set it down (knew something bad was about to happen). I set down the cat and held onto it with my left hand and pulled out my SW4506 with my right. Let go of the cat and stepped back to fire. The cat jumped just as I fired and drilled it through the guts. Knocked the wind out of it and then it started to cruise back to the house. I didn't want the kids to see kitty with four more lives dragging its entrails back to the house so I hurried my next shot and missed high. Cat ran into a willow clump and hid for a second. By this time I had positioned myself between it and the house. Damn thing ran right at me and I was concentrating on my sight picture so much that I didn't realize how close it was. By the time I fired, I was leaning real far back with my left foot out forward. Bullet went through the cat and then through my foot. Couldn't believe what just happened. Felt like someone had taken a sledghammer and whacked my foot as hard as they could swing it. felt my foot expand to the size of my boot as the shock wave passed through the flesh. Then it just tingled (didn't hurt). Looked down and the cat was gurgling on top of my foot. Kicked the cat off and saw a hole in the top of my boot. Said "Oh damn" (not really but you all know what a mean). Stuck my finger into the hole and came out with blood. Walked over to my friend and had him drive me to the hospital (hour a way). We stopped for a bit so that I could check it out (expecting huge exit wound). Had fair amount of blood on top and bottom of foot. half inch of muscle haging from exit hole and few bone chips. trimmed it up and put the boot back on real tight to restrict blood flow. entry and exit hole were same size (whew! thank GOD) Walked into the ER and they flushed and bandaged it. had to drive to the big city to get proper help (three hours away). By this time it was pretty sore and could barely walk on it. Saw the specialist pull out of my foot two pieces of sock, several bone chips, couple chunks of boot, and LOTS of kitty (about two teaspoons of cat fur). I was damn lucky that that cat was close and thin because the bullet didn't expand till it hit the bottom of my boot. Complete recovery, still wear the boots today. Oh, and did I mention that if you want to meet someone safe, try an individual who has actually passed their own bullet through their body. Still pack heat and love to shoot. If you get bucked off, just gotta get back on and keep goin'.
Watch those feet and five pound tom's,
Karl