Munro Williams
New member
More proof that there's no such thing as an unloaded firearm.
Thanks very much indeed for the post.
Thanks very much indeed for the post.
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A sobering event (a long post)
- Thread starter Cobra 4-6
- Start date
Stephen Ewing
New member
No flames here. The fact that I've never had an accidental bang isn't entirely my fault, you see.
I was in the room once, when somebody put a hole in the wall, and it made quite an impression on me. I have somebody else in the family who has put holes in the wall on two separate occasions. Reminders like that help postpone my own contribution to the count, and I'll take all I can get if it will postpone it long enough.
Thanks, Cobra.
Steve
I was in the room once, when somebody put a hole in the wall, and it made quite an impression on me. I have somebody else in the family who has put holes in the wall on two separate occasions. Reminders like that help postpone my own contribution to the count, and I'll take all I can get if it will postpone it long enough.
Thanks, Cobra.
Steve
Cobra-No matter how good we are about safety with firearms, we can still make a mistake.
Thank God yours did not cost you anything but a hole in the wall, and maybe a hole in a box
siting in storage, and did mine.
We had just come down from a rugged mountain trail about 100 miles east of reno, Nevada, in my Jeep, it was 1995, me and some buddys had just spent the weekend in the mountains camping,4-wheeling, and shooting.
I had just pulled onto interstate highway 50
and went a little way down the road and remembered I still had a round in the chamber
of my Colt MKIV Series 80, the same one my wife used to defend herself from the attacker that broke into our house.
I passed my Colt to my buddy next to me and asked if he would take the round out of the chamber for me so I could keep my hands on the wheel, I did not watch him do it, my eyes were on the road.
I took the gun back when he handed it to me and dropped the hammer with my thumb, the gun
went off, and blasted the windshield.
I was lucky it cost me nothing but some razzing and a new windsheild.
------------------
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, becuse the whole body of the people are armed"
Noah Webster
www.2ndamdlvr.homestead.com/home.html
Thank God yours did not cost you anything but a hole in the wall, and maybe a hole in a box
siting in storage, and did mine.
We had just come down from a rugged mountain trail about 100 miles east of reno, Nevada, in my Jeep, it was 1995, me and some buddys had just spent the weekend in the mountains camping,4-wheeling, and shooting.
I had just pulled onto interstate highway 50
and went a little way down the road and remembered I still had a round in the chamber
of my Colt MKIV Series 80, the same one my wife used to defend herself from the attacker that broke into our house.
I passed my Colt to my buddy next to me and asked if he would take the round out of the chamber for me so I could keep my hands on the wheel, I did not watch him do it, my eyes were on the road.
I took the gun back when he handed it to me and dropped the hammer with my thumb, the gun
went off, and blasted the windshield.
I was lucky it cost me nothing but some razzing and a new windsheild.
------------------
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, becuse the whole body of the people are armed"
Noah Webster
www.2ndamdlvr.homestead.com/home.html
I haven't had my AD yet either. I have become somewhat careless from what I was when I was a teenager. As a youth, I had the benifit of a father who would ask me questions in just the right tone of voice like " You planning on shooting the couch? " Those constant reminders and the ones I get here, help me to be safe. Your AD might have prevented mine for another few years. I have a terrible habit of placing my finger on the trigger in the house. I've been trying like He!! to stop it, and I've been pretty successful so far.
My dad used to tell us as kids that Every gun is loaded even if you check. "The devil comes behind you and loads your gun". This is how he explained all the shootings of kids by kids by "unloaded" guns. That made a lifelong impression on me. Thanks for keeping me on my toes!
My dad used to tell us as kids that Every gun is loaded even if you check. "The devil comes behind you and loads your gun". This is how he explained all the shootings of kids by kids by "unloaded" guns. That made a lifelong impression on me. Thanks for keeping me on my toes!
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
In almost 60 years of shooting--beginning as a little guy with a Daisy Red Ryder--I've had maybe four ADs. In every case, the gun was pointed in a safe direction. In every case, I was by myself, with nobody else endangered.
Conclusion: You're more likely to relax and be careless when nobody else is close by. (This is an "Odds" thing, not an absolute.)
One of the strangest was while deer hunting. I saw a nice buck, and brought up my .270 to collect him. He moved behind some brush. So, I eased off to get another look, and a branch caught the trigger. VERY unexpected! Oddly, Bambi wasn't spooked; I quietly reloaded and shot him--an unexpected happy ending. The point is that you can get so focussed on just one aspect of "the world around you" that you don't pay attention to other stuff that can bite you.
(Drifting off-thread a bit, I read of a guy stalking a deer, easing along sorta squatting, who got snake-bit...)
But all these posts generally show that part of our training holds. We might unconciously reload a gun, and pull trigger--but it was pointed in a safe direction. I don't think I've ever heard of a trained shooter who regularly handles guns, who accidentally shot somebody.
But I don't wanna be the first. It's tales like these that make me ever more cautious and careful.
Art
Conclusion: You're more likely to relax and be careless when nobody else is close by. (This is an "Odds" thing, not an absolute.)
One of the strangest was while deer hunting. I saw a nice buck, and brought up my .270 to collect him. He moved behind some brush. So, I eased off to get another look, and a branch caught the trigger. VERY unexpected! Oddly, Bambi wasn't spooked; I quietly reloaded and shot him--an unexpected happy ending. The point is that you can get so focussed on just one aspect of "the world around you" that you don't pay attention to other stuff that can bite you.
(Drifting off-thread a bit, I read of a guy stalking a deer, easing along sorta squatting, who got snake-bit...)
But all these posts generally show that part of our training holds. We might unconciously reload a gun, and pull trigger--but it was pointed in a safe direction. I don't think I've ever heard of a trained shooter who regularly handles guns, who accidentally shot somebody.
But I don't wanna be the first. It's tales like these that make me ever more cautious and careful.
Art
J
Jeff, CA
Guest
No flame here either, but let's not mince words: "Accidental discharge" is a cop-out. The word "accident" implies some element of chance. It's properly called a "negligent discharge"; that places the responsibility where it belongs. I'm not singling you out, Cobra. Several people on this thread and others have used the "A" word. (For the record, I've had 2 NDs. I knew the gun was loaded both times {and pointed downrange}, but I fired the shot when I wasn't intending to, and that still counts.)
I too choose to dry-fire into the floor or my couch and always down range when ending a shooting session. And I am extremely thankful that I have yet to experience what you and many others have.
Could it be possible that you cleared the chamber Before dropping the magazine? Just a thought.
I will relate an incident that was nearly a serious disaster.
I was Range NCOIC, familiarizing my unit with the M1911A1. We had a weapon that malfunctioned. It was removed from the range to the _safe?_ area. After fiddling quite sometime with this weapon, I decided to jack the slide. You know what happened. Live round fell to the ground. Still, to this day, gives me chills. Needless to say, within the week, my unit had a Range Safety Class, just to remind myself of proper procedures.
Just goes to show that no matter how many times you have done something, always expect and be prepared for, the unexpected.
I'm certainly thankful that no one was injured when you had your experience.
Sgt.K
Could it be possible that you cleared the chamber Before dropping the magazine? Just a thought.
I will relate an incident that was nearly a serious disaster.
I was Range NCOIC, familiarizing my unit with the M1911A1. We had a weapon that malfunctioned. It was removed from the range to the _safe?_ area. After fiddling quite sometime with this weapon, I decided to jack the slide. You know what happened. Live round fell to the ground. Still, to this day, gives me chills. Needless to say, within the week, my unit had a Range Safety Class, just to remind myself of proper procedures.
Just goes to show that no matter how many times you have done something, always expect and be prepared for, the unexpected.
I'm certainly thankful that no one was injured when you had your experience.
Sgt.K
Cobra 4-6,
I'm happy to hear that you atleast pointed the gun in a safe direction. I'm also happy to hear that neither you or anyone else was injured.
I have taken to a practice to help prevent ND's (Negligent Discharges.) I never dry-fire my weapons unless i am doing one of two things:
1. Pointing said weapon down range at the backstop.
2. Using 'snap-caps' with the magazine removed. (I don't own and wont buy weapons with magazine safeties.)
I am training myself to never touch the trigger unless i am firing or dry-firing consciously. I dry-fire only when working the trigger at the range, or after cleaning at home, with a snap-cap and the magazine removed. Other than these two times, i never touch the trigger.
Hope this helps.
~USP
I'm happy to hear that you atleast pointed the gun in a safe direction. I'm also happy to hear that neither you or anyone else was injured.
I have taken to a practice to help prevent ND's (Negligent Discharges.) I never dry-fire my weapons unless i am doing one of two things:
1. Pointing said weapon down range at the backstop.
2. Using 'snap-caps' with the magazine removed. (I don't own and wont buy weapons with magazine safeties.)
I am training myself to never touch the trigger unless i am firing or dry-firing consciously. I dry-fire only when working the trigger at the range, or after cleaning at home, with a snap-cap and the magazine removed. Other than these two times, i never touch the trigger.
Hope this helps.
~USP
Cobra, glad to hear no one was hurt. Although I have never experienced a ND (yet, hopefully no time soon), we did have one when I took my CCW course in South Texas. Sadly enough, the one who committed the ND was the instructor.
We were all instructed as we came into the classroom that if our weapons were loaded to remove all rounds( or mags) from our weapons. After the didactic part of class, we were leaving to go to the range ( class was at insrtuctors home/office) one of the students wanted to show the inst. his Colt 45 1911a1. I was watching (because I wanted to see the weapon also) as the instructor took the weapon, turned it to his side (left side, towards wall and kitchen. Unfortunately, without inspecting the weapon (assuming that everyone heard and followed intructions to unload weapons) he pulled the trigger. BHAM!! Now my brother, his now ex-girlfriend and myself are emergency medical personnel, and I was damn glad when our instructors mother walked in from the kitchen to see what had happened, that we did not have to attempt to save her life that day.
Thank you for your post, an eye opener indeed.
We were all instructed as we came into the classroom that if our weapons were loaded to remove all rounds( or mags) from our weapons. After the didactic part of class, we were leaving to go to the range ( class was at insrtuctors home/office) one of the students wanted to show the inst. his Colt 45 1911a1. I was watching (because I wanted to see the weapon also) as the instructor took the weapon, turned it to his side (left side, towards wall and kitchen. Unfortunately, without inspecting the weapon (assuming that everyone heard and followed intructions to unload weapons) he pulled the trigger. BHAM!! Now my brother, his now ex-girlfriend and myself are emergency medical personnel, and I was damn glad when our instructors mother walked in from the kitchen to see what had happened, that we did not have to attempt to save her life that day.
Thank you for your post, an eye opener indeed.
mzanghetti
New member
I do not currently own a gun, but enjoy reading the posts and hope to get back into shooting soon. I just wanted to thank Cobra for sharing what happened and to voice my respect for everyone else for the way they reacted to it. Thank you all for being a great learning source for me about far more than firearms
Hey Cobra,
The point is, you followed the rules of gun safety and that is why the event was no biggie.
You did not point the gun at anything you were not willing to catch the bullet, and you assumed it was loaded, thereby droppind the hammer in a safe direction.
Even though you "KNEW" it was unloaded, you followed the rules and no one got hurt. That is how it is supposed to be.
As an aside, I am very paranoid about an ND, probably because I spend most of my time in very populous areas where I cannot afford to send a bullet flying. So, I check and triple check the chamber right before I pull the trigger every single time when I dry fire. I will not let more than a half second go between checking the chamber and firing. In other words, even if ammo is in a seperate room, and I KNOW it is unloaded, and I just checked the chamber 10 seconds ago, that is not good enough, I check it again right before I dry fire. It has worked for me so far.
You did good.
The point is, you followed the rules of gun safety and that is why the event was no biggie.
You did not point the gun at anything you were not willing to catch the bullet, and you assumed it was loaded, thereby droppind the hammer in a safe direction.
Even though you "KNEW" it was unloaded, you followed the rules and no one got hurt. That is how it is supposed to be.
As an aside, I am very paranoid about an ND, probably because I spend most of my time in very populous areas where I cannot afford to send a bullet flying. So, I check and triple check the chamber right before I pull the trigger every single time when I dry fire. I will not let more than a half second go between checking the chamber and firing. In other words, even if ammo is in a seperate room, and I KNOW it is unloaded, and I just checked the chamber 10 seconds ago, that is not good enough, I check it again right before I dry fire. It has worked for me so far.
You did good.
Yep, I almost had one too. I had been to the range a couple of days before and still hadn't cleaned the guns afterwards. I opened the cylinder and dumped out the live rounds from my 'house gun'. I happened to count the rounds in my hand and came up one short....
The cylinder was very dirty inside from shooting .38 loads and when I had dumped out the .357s, one hung up in the chamber. I did not hit the ejector to unload the gun, I had just let gravity do the work
Lesson learned. Always use the ejector to unload the gun. Always visually check the status of all of the chambers before closing cylinder!
------------------
Remember, just because you are not paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you!
[This message has been edited by Cougar (edited May 28, 2000).]
The cylinder was very dirty inside from shooting .38 loads and when I had dumped out the .357s, one hung up in the chamber. I did not hit the ejector to unload the gun, I had just let gravity do the work
Lesson learned. Always use the ejector to unload the gun. Always visually check the status of all of the chambers before closing cylinder!
------------------
Remember, just because you are not paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you!
[This message has been edited by Cougar (edited May 28, 2000).]