A New Brunswick man says he is happy to be alive after his rifle malfunctioned, sending a bullet into his face.

"I know I'm not going to be using that rifle anymore," said Douglas Lyons on Tuesday.

Lyons was with a few friends on Sunday morning. He was sighting his bolt-action rifle when he started having troubles — he couldn't get the bullet to go down.

"I pulled it back and I tried it again and it wouldn't go. So I pulled it back like that. When I pulled it back like that, boom," said Lyons.

Lyons said he doesn't plan to use the hunting rifle again. (CBC) The gun fired with the chamber still open, directing the bullet toward his face.

Lyons has been hunting his whole life but has never had something like this happen. His gun is a year old.

"I didn't know for sure what was going on. I just got all dizzy and half sick, and blood was running down my face," he said.

Lyons, who was outside Boiestown at the time, called his wife Ashley and told her just after 8 a.m. that he had been shot.

Lyons still has a piece of this shell in his face, as it can't be removed until the swelling goes down. (Submitted by Douglas Lyons) "I almost dropped the phone," she said.

The two rushed to the hospital in Fredericton. Ashley Lyons said they were pulled over by police, but the officer told them to continue on once he saw what had happened.

Hospital staff removed the bullet fragments from Lyons's face, but a piece remained in a muscle in his jaw, making it too risky to remove, until the swelling goes down

Ashley Lyons drove her husband to the hospital in Fredericton after finding out he had shot himself in the face. (CBC)

"It could have been worse. It could've my life. It could've been an eye. It could've been anything," said Lyons.

"It turned out the best way it could've turned out."

His wife is also thankful he's alive.

"I got so much stuff going through my head, I just thank God he's alive. He's my best friend," she said.