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Old February 28, 2018, 11:30 PM   #1
Metal god
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Any danger in shooting while needing/using oxygen

I took my dad shooting a few years ago and he was hooked . Helped build him an AR and then he bought a 45acp . Next he bought a 308 with a list of next to buy . Unfortunately he has run into some serious health problems and now it appears he will need oxygen full time .

Today I got to thinking how flammable oxygen is and wondered is it dangerous to shoot with those oxygen tubes in your nose . At first I think it should not be an issue . If the gases and or flames were anywhere near your face you have bigger problems then the oxygen tube in your nose . When thinking it through a little more I start to think about the what if's .

What if something does go wrong and there's a spark or hot gases near his face That's not going to go over well for him or the people standing with in 30 feet of him

Any of you on oxygen and still shooting ?
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Last edited by Metal god; March 1, 2018 at 03:29 PM.
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Old March 1, 2018, 12:06 AM   #2
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Oxygen doesn't burn. It simply supports combustion. How would anyone get the flame from a gun up their nose to begin with? I can't imagine how using oxygen would be a problem shooting a gun. There might be some other problems related to his health shooting a gun, but being on oxygen shouldn't be one of them. If you're concerned, ask a doctor about it. Internet medical advice is worth just exactly what you pay for it. Same with legal advice.
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Old March 1, 2018, 12:16 AM   #3
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Seconding No2nd’s comment.
Shouldn’t be an issue unless he holds his breath too long.
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Old March 1, 2018, 02:08 AM   #4
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There is one concern - damage to the system from bounce back. Whether he is on pressurized gas, like an E or D system, or a liquid system, he has a pressurized tank with him, things that "don't react well to bullets". You don't have to puncture a metal tank to get bad days, blowing off the regulator on a tank causes what we call an unguided ballistic rocket. Puncturing a hole in a liquid system could cause spillage on whatever is nearby, and that something is human tissue - that stuff is insanely cold and can cause intense cold burns from momentary contact. Contact whoever is supplying his O2 and ask for a 50 foot roll crush proof tubing, then place the delivery system behind something solid, and let him keep his nasal cannula attached to the tubing.
The other danger is forgetting how much time you have before that tank runs dry - at 2 liters a minute an E tank will run dry in about 4 hours, IIRC. Bring back up if going out for a while.
Hope that helps.

Last edited by armoredman; March 2, 2018 at 05:51 AM.
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Old March 1, 2018, 08:00 AM   #5
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I'm on oxygen 24-7 and shoot allmost every day and some with a flintlock.I have a consenator not tank.I shoot off my deck.
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Old March 1, 2018, 09:18 AM   #6
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An Oxygen concentrator has less risk than pure oxygen.

While smoking and cooking with oxygen has risk, with gunpowder it is significantly reduced since it has the proper mix of fuel and oxidizer. The flammability risk with oxygen is increased, but you still need a fuel, heat and ignition.

I have worked on several cases of folks on oxygen getting badly burned, usually while smoking and a few times while cooking and a few times in the presence of petroleum products.
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Old March 1, 2018, 12:36 PM   #7
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Thanks guys , so far sounds unanimous and along the lines of my first thought . I don't know much about this subject and is why I asked here . It's also great news for him as he loves shooting and I enjoy being apart of that . The only frustrating thing about his shooting is he does not care to learn the little things that make you better . Things like he just want's me to tell him how many clicks and or where to hold . It gets frustrating when I have to tell him for the umpteenth time something he should have retained by now . It's all good though I'm sure he felt the same way with me over the years on many other issues . It's still fun and a little in reverse , as in I'm teaching my dad rather then him teaching me as so many others have learned .

Thanks again
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Old March 1, 2018, 01:01 PM   #8
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If anything just use some extra extension tubing to place the O2 tanks a little farther away if there is still some concern.
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Old March 1, 2018, 02:06 PM   #9
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When I lived out West, I used to see folks who used those O2 tubes while smoking and playing slots in the grocery store...........
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Old March 1, 2018, 02:34 PM   #10
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One more thought on the subject. You're a good guy for taking the time to help your father out at this stage of his life. Two thumbs up to you and I hope he's feeling better. Good luck.
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Old March 1, 2018, 02:42 PM   #11
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I am not an expert, but as noted, Oxygen is an catalysts and an major accelerator due to its concentration.

I do know of a death in an Aircraft that the guy was smoking and had his oxygen mask pushed aside to do so (Navy pilot, over Oakland circa 1973)

At the time is was pretty common.

What exactly changed no one knows - but the oxygen interacted with the cigarette as the material for burning and lit off.

At that point, while not a lot, it turned into a flame thrower and took the aircraft down (maybe follow up)

I would be extremely hesitant to use it while shooting.

There is a area of safety out there that addresses this. Its kind of a toggle thing. As long as the toggle is not tripped, no issue.

When the toggle is tripped, it results in a bad outcome (think Space Shuttle and O rings)

The term they came up with is Normalizing Deviation.

Hard to assess as unlike the O rings, we don't know for sure what could go or if its fully safe. Worth chewing on work arounds.
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Old March 1, 2018, 06:56 PM   #12
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Space Shuttle O-rings...was standing next to my Dad when Challenger exploded. He looked right at me and said "O-rings failed". He had worked on the same thing at JPL, as well as Apollo 13 for which he got a certificate of achievement. They knew exactly what the failure mode was, and the potential, and still launched. When he and his partner ran the calculations on SkyLab that predicted it would fall out of orbit and crash back to Earth several years prior to it actually happening, they were off by a few minutes, but it was no surprise to those that knew.

The Navy Pilot, yeah, we know. Cargo ships cracking in half in temperatures below 20F on the Atlantic, yeah, we know why that happened too. I've spent the last 25 years as a forensic engineer working on "accidents" of all sorts. As long as fire does not destroy the evidence, we know what happened, and even if it did, 9 times out of 10, we figure out what happened and why.

In over 200 fatalities, still have never seen a "single" cause failure that resulted in death. Most times, it is stupid combined with a failure of some kind. For the vast majority of people, making a left hand turn in a controlled intersection is the most dangerous thing you will ever do. (Provided you did not smoke or do drugs).
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Old March 1, 2018, 09:29 PM   #13
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For the most part it is a chain that allows a single aspect to toggle it over.

This is a case of an unknown area, proceed with caution, think about any possible combustibles that might be present.
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Old March 2, 2018, 12:43 AM   #14
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Quote:
One more thought on the subject. You're a good guy for taking the time to help your father out at this stage of his life. Two thumbs up to you and I hope he's feeling better. Good luck.
Thank you for your thoughts .
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Old March 2, 2018, 05:49 AM   #15
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My ex boss was delivery a full liquid tank in his SUV once, with the tank kicked partially over to fit, He was a chain smoker and couldn't figure out why his cigarettes were burning so fast that trip...
We had ashtrays every ten feet in a warehouse full of E,D and J tanks, and liquid systems, though those were filled at a local welding supply warehouse.
I had a customer at the indoor range I worked at who had the exact solution I proposed. Your oxygen supplier should have 50 foot rolls of tubing on the truck.
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