'Doomsday Preppers': Man Shoots His Own Thumb Off (VIDEO)

Tim Ralston is a prepper. As such, he is prepared to face the unexpected -- and is even prepping his own underground bunker in case of disaster -- but perhaps shooting his own thumb off was one scenario he hadn't envisioned.

On "Doomsday Preppers" (Tues., 9 p.m. EST on National Geographic) Tim was indulging in a spot of target practice when his gun misfired while his hand was in front of the barrel.

He shot his thumb almost completely off his left hand, but thankfully his young son, who was standing close by, was not injured in the accident.

As paramedic Jesse Ellerbee finished dressing his wound, Tim passed out and lay unresponsive on the ground. For a while things looked really bleak for Tim, and Ellerbee said later he thought the prepper would lose his thumb completely.

In fact, Tim went on to make a full recovery. The bullet had gouged out the middle part of his thumb, but surgeons were able to reattach the top part. However, he was left with what he described as "a midget digit," a thumb that was much, much shorter than it used to be.

"Doomsday Preppers" airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on National Geographic.

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Comments

[John Newell]

09:21 PM on 02/25/2012

friggin wimp!...trying to impress his sons as a tuff guy... faints at the sight of blood...what would he do if somebody actually confronted him?...faint?

[OdinsEye]

12:40 AM on 02/26/2012

Shock due to injuries can happen to anyone. While in the military we had to get shots all the time and one of my buddies and I had got through the shots multiple times and never had a problem. Then one day was went through, got a shot and about 3 minutes later my buddy just crumpled. It never happened before and it never happened again.

[Rachel Morrow]

11:50 PM on 02/22/2012

You don't put anything in front of a barrel that you don't mind getting shot. In this case, his thumb.

[Bucket Head]

09:48 AM on 02/16/2012

My only issue is calling a failure to follow the Rules a "malfunction." The gun functioned exactly as it was designed, it fired when he pulled the trigger. It's was just his own dumb fault for A) having his finger on the trigger and B) Having his body in front of the muzzle.

[OdinsEye]

12:41 AM on 02/26/2012

I believe what they mean was the firearm had a malfunction and then while trying to clear it he put his thumb over the barrel and that is when the discharge occured.

[magnolialover]

04:44 PM on 02/15/2012

Dude didn't have a malfunction, he was operating his weapon incorrectly. HUMAN ERROR. If this guy is a prepper, then I have a much better chance surviving than this guy does. Shoots his own thumb almost off. Nice work super chief. Learn how to handle a firearm.

[OdinsEye]

01:05 PM on 02/26/2012

I think what they meant was that the firearm had a malfunction prior to him putting his thumb in front of the barrel. I beleive he was trying to clear the malfunction when the discharge occured. Still bad firearm handling skills, but it makes far more sense this way.

[tallrdhd1]

12:54 PM on 02/15/2012

Tim Ralston is no more a prepper than is Paris Hilton. He has seen an opportunity to make some money selling survival gear, so he becomes a prepper wannabe. For gosh sakes, the man and his family live in SNOTTSDALE, AZ; that's as far from survival mode as it gets. Now that we know one of his weak spots, all one has to do is shoot him in the thumb, he faints, and the person takes over his "compound."

[reporter1]

08:51 PM on 02/15/2012

You can bet he's a rootin' tootin' member of the NRA.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere around him when he's packing.

[blacksmithn]

12:27 PM on 02/15/2012

Delusional paranoid shoots own thumb off. Film at 11.

[Uuncle Bob]

10:46 AM on 02/15/2012

golly, now his thumb and brain are the same size.............

[reporter1]

08:54 PM on 02/15/2012

I betting his thumb will still work better than his brain.

[Uuncle Bob]

11:39 PM on 02/15/2012

I think that's debatable

[mds308]

10:11 AM on 02/15/2012

I've been involved with guns since 1981. In all these years I've come to realize there really is no such thing as an accidental discharge. The trigger must be pulled. You can accidentally pull a trigger but is there really such a thing. Maybe his finger was accidentally on the trigger. I almost shot my foot practicing quick draw shooting. Mistakes happen but 99.9% of the time the shooter did something wrong. A mistake, not an accident. Maybe I'm mincing words. Maybe not. When I read these types of stories I always come away with the impression they are blaming the gun and not the shooter. I'm glad to hear he will be OK.

I'll give him 1 1/2 thumbs up.

[magnolialover]

04:45 PM on 02/15/2012

Yeah, this wasn't a weapon malfunction. It was an operator malfunction.

[reporter1]

08:57 PM on 02/15/2012

You're being too kind--it was a wannabe thinking he was a survival pro.

[captwasabi]

12:55 AM on 02/19/2012

Well I'm calling into doubt that fact that you have worked with guns at all then. First possible cause for an accidental firing is from overheating. Second cause would be any firearm with a free-floating firing pin such as the SKS which is very well known for accidental discharges. This is often referred to as a "slamfire" when the bolt moves forward after the new round has been loaded into the breech. Without a spring to keep the pin back the free-floating pin could have sufficient inertia to strike the shell casing and set off the primer. Not saying that is what happened here but there are plenty of ways to set off a firearm accidentally.

[mds308]

02:51 PM on 02/19/2012

I was speaking about handguns and I guess you missed my point. Let's say a young man gets shot and when they arrest the perp he claims it was an accident. "The gun just went off." It's a miracle as if Jesus himself pulled the trigger. I'm just trying to point out that most gun errors are no accident, thery're a dumb mistake. .