The state shooting range in Ebelsberg burned down. What happened? An 80-year-old shot from an old revolver, black powder fell from the barrel and ignited nitro residue on the ground. The man was thrown to the ground in the incident, but was lucky.
He certainly had no intention of making such a “direct hit”: an 80-year-old was practicing on Tuesday afternoon at the Auerhahn state shooting range in Linz-Ebelsberg with a muzzle-loading revolver, as was customary in the Wild West.
The accident happened around 3:50 p.m.: When the shooter lowered his weapon, the remaining black powder from the barrel fell onto the floor and ignited nitro powder residue that had accumulated in cracks in the wooden floor, as senior shooter Alois Litschmann reports: “We have everything on video. You can see exactly how a small flame first appears and then an explosion takes place. Our member was knocked over by the pressure, first he lay on the floor and then crawled out of the shooting range.”
Quick return
Fortunately, the elderly gunman was not injured, but was examined in hospital due to a serious illness. In the evening he appeared again at the “crime scene” in Linz.
When the professional fire brigade arrived, the roof structure of the shooting range was already completely on fire. After the fire was extinguished, the destroyed sheet metal roof structure was removed from the building with a truck crane and the remaining embers were extinguished.
Serious incident in 2018
Such explosions are anything but harmless: On February 1, 2018, a fire broke out at the shooting range in Viecht in the municipality of Desselbrunn when two snipers were zeroing a rifle. A 50-year-old from Eberstalzell was killed and his colleague (62) was seriously injured.
Purchased extra special floor
“The way you do it is the way you do it wrong,” says club president Litschmann, who struggles with the pitfalls of his hobby: “We have a special antistatic stone floor so you can sweep up the powder residue. We only have a wooden floor where our shooter stood because of the risk of ricochets.”
The investigation is still ongoing, but for Litschmann the case itself has been solved. The shooter did nothing wrong and the damage is covered by insurance.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
