The starting guns used for races: has anyone ever gotten accidentally shot?

no, unless you are near the back of pack, but who cares about back of the pack runners

Yeah i did it once

I can't tell if you're serious or trolling. Starting pistols use blanks, not bullets.

No, but millions of birds have died because of this.

starting pistol survivors' relief fund wrote:

I can't tell if you're serious or trolling. Starting pistols use blanks, not bullets.

Yes, they use blanks but you can still be injured from them as there is a little bit of force and small bits of the charge that comes out. I remember my high school coach telling us of an incident that happened back in the '60's where it took out one of their athletes.

Years ago I worked as a starter for high school track meets. The pistol was not cocking properly and I had it go off accidentally in my hand. I didn't get "injured" but my hand was hurting for the rest of the meet. And I hadn't put my ear protection on yet so my ears were ringing for a little while (.32 caliber)

One Down wrote:

starting pistol survivors' relief fund wrote:

I can't tell if you're serious or trolling. Starting pistols use blanks, not bullets.

Yes, they use blanks but you can still be injured from them as there is a little bit of force and small bits of the charge that comes out. I remember my high school coach telling us of an incident that happened back in the '60's where it took out one of their athletes.

Yeah, except OP asked if anyone has ever gotten shot and killed

People have absolutely gotten shot and killed by blanks. An actor thought that "pretending" to commit suicide like that would be funny, except it actually worked. At point blank range and bullet-like speeds, anything aimed at your head is deadly.

I have not heard of anything like that at a track meet, however.

Something I've always wondered about: When you see armed idiots shooting automatic weapons straight up into the air celebrating, where do the bullets come down? You would think a lot of people would be hit.

I once heard a VIP became deaf at one ear after standing next to the starting gun.

Might as well switch to the horns used in hobby jogger 5K's. They last for an entire second though.

horny wrote:

Might as well switch to the horns used in hobby jogger 5K's. They last for an entire second though.

During one middle school track meet that I ran in, the starter told us that he was out of blanks, so he used a horn instead. There were lots of confused kids who didn’t know when to start.

As a starter, the most popular question I get is "Is that a real gun?".

not shooting blanks wrote:

People have absolutely gotten shot and killed by blanks. An actor thought that "pretending" to commit suicide like that would be funny, except it actually worked. At point blank range and bullet-like speeds, anything aimed at your head is deadly.

I have not heard of anything like that at a track meet, however.

But that was a different kind of blank. The blank that killed Jon Erik Hexum was designed to look like a real gun and ejected material out the barrel. A starter's pistol does not have an open barrel, so there's nothing that comes out at "bullet-like" speeds.

You can certainly get injured from a starter's pistol, but that's related to the explosion.

Yes, once the bullet from the starting pistol hit an airplane and 520 people died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123

My favorite prank it to switch the blanks with real bullets. You should see the look on the starters face when the gun explodes.

starting pistol survivors' relief fund wrote:

I can't tell if you're serious or trolling. Starting pistols use blanks, not bullets.

Back in the day, they sometimes used a real gun. I used a real gun once when I could find black for my starter's pistol.

Clint Eastwood used to be a track official and used a gun with real bullets. When he wasn't sure if he had any left he would mess with the runners:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xjr2hnOHiM

Starter pistols really should not be allowed on school property. Zero tolerance.