Ever had an accident?

To me, this highlights the importance of my NO.1 BIGGEST item/pet peeve/focus:


Muzzle control.



Its usually no. 2 on the list of Range Rules, "never point a weapon at anything you do not intend to destroy." I hear it from RO's, and new shooters hear it occasionally, but in my opinion, it isn't said enough.

Be aware of where your muzzle is pointing, so that in the case of an accident, a trip-up, an involuntary nerve reaction, a sudden fit of stupidity, a malfunction, WHATEVER... your round will go downrange, harmlessly.

Keeping your trigger finger "straight and off the trigger" is good for more than just not accidentally pulling it: With your finger extended, imagine a "CYLINDER OF DEATH" that extends out from it, like a beacon of invisible light. Wherever you shine your "light", that's the zone of destruction. Keep that zone pointed at your target, or under select circumstances, up in the air, or in outdoors environments, down at the (soft) ground. In other words, wherever your trigger finger is pointing, as it rests along your slide/chamber housing group, that's the "zone".

I use the same technique on a shotgun. Wherever my finger is pointing, that's the zone where the blast would hit. As long as you think of it that way, you won't muzzle anyone else, and you won't muzzle your own foot, as you pass through the hallways at the indoor ready.
 
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Thankfully no, but was afraid that I might have one occur when I bought a used .22 LR and someone who previously owned it had jammed a .22 Mag in it. I was able to remove it but had the action open and my fingers crossed.
 
I have been around guns all my life and that has been quite a while. I remember my grandfather back in teh 50's always carried a pistol with him every where he went and kept four loaded guns behind his bedroom door. I knew, not knew of but knew five different people who have died from either AD or ND whichever you want to call them. Doesn't matter because they are still dead. One was a teen ager shot by his father using a .22. It was ruled an accident but could easily be called negligence. One was a hunting guide killed while lowering his gun from a tree stand. One was cleaning his gun and one we really don't know what happened. The other was a high school classmate that was killed when he leaned his shotgun on a fence and it fell over.

A close friend of mine took his .357 and put a bullet in his head and I know a bunch of people that have had bullets dug out of them for being stupid or manly. With all that I have a heathy respect for guns and know that just because you haven't had a ND or AD in 50 years doesn't mean you can't have one. I just don't have the confidence in the safety of the proper handling of a gun that some of you have. Just a personal thing to me but I don't think I could walk around with a Glock and one in the barrel feeling confident. It is like driving a car, you may be a safe driver but there are other drivers on the road. The only way you can be completely safe with your car is to keep it parked in your yard. However we weigh the odds of having an accident vs. needing to go somewhere. We also need to weigh the odds of having a ND vs. our need for self defense. I try to reduce the odds of having a ND as much as possible even if it is at the expense of one second delay in firing.
 
i've got a good one

Ok here's a good one for ya. A friend of mine was dry firing at the big screen TV. said it was good exercise to follow moving targets on the tv. his xd was unloaded, no ammo even in the room. then his cousin comes in with his siq 229 equinox, sat down, took out the loaded mag, and did the same. he got bored, slapped the mag back in and set down his gun. friend number one wants to dry fire his cousin's equinox, so he grabs it off the couch, aims, and BLAM, shoots a hole right through the tv. didn't even know there was ammo in the room, but didn't check either. it was a third cousin's tv, that was the funny part, if there is a funny part of the story. no one was hurt, the tv was destroyed and the wall had to be patched up.
 
Never had one, but have been shooting a very short amount of time. Thanks in part to forums like these, I don't expect to ever have one.

That said, I'm not sure it's completely a good idea to be detailing a lot of these 'accidents' here - it wouldn't be too hard for an anti troll to wander in here via Google search and walk away with a lot of new ammunition, no pun intended. Many of these posts don't exactly scream 'responsible gun owner.' Leaning shotguns over fences? Chambering incorrect ammo? Dry firing at TVs? I don't mean to sound self righteous, but come on, fellas.
 
Unfortunatly I'm guilty

Yes unfortunatly I'm guilty of having a ND about a year ago while cleaning my .22. I forgot to make sure the chamber was empty even after taking the clip out. Making one of the stupidest mistakes I have ever made I pulled the trigger so I wouldnt do it in the middle of cleaning and supprise myself when the "empty" chamber clicked little did I know it wasn't empty and I now have a hole in my roof as a reminder. Needless to say I do not forget to check it anymore after that.
 
.45 in drywall

I was living in a high rise building and had recently bought a NORINCO 1911 since it was inexpensive and I was a student "on a budget". I was new to guns, having only purchased my first ever handgun (Beretta 92FS) a few months earlier, but I just had to have a "Colt .45 !". I was in my room practicing loading magazines and chambering "Live" ammo. (<---DUMB IDEA #1) I pulled the slide back to chamber a round and the round became stuck on the feedramp with the slide not fully forward. Instead of removing the magazine and pulling the slide back to allow the round to fall harmlessly away, I made the brilliant decision to slam the slide forward and chamber the stuck round. Now is where the details are a little fuzzy. I don't recall having my finger on the trigger...but...you probably guessed it...when the slide went forward the pistol fired ! Fortunately, I was more or less obeying one of the safety rules which was to point it in a safe direction. Of course, in a High rise I suppose there really is no "safe direction". In any case, the bullet went through a pressboard bookcase and lodged into the drywall. I was shaking at this point. I just "layed low" for a few minutes. I opened the door into the hallway and didn't see any residents wondering what the noise was. My phone rang. I was so shook up I could barely pick it up. It was my mom discussing future dinner plans. It took a great effort to disguise my jittery voice from my own mother. (they really do know everything !!!). That was in 1994. I learned more about respect/firearms aren't toys from that incident more than any article etc. Since then I've competed in IPSC matches. I didn't shoot very well but the RO complimented me on my safe handling technique. (nothing but basic stuff really)
 
The consequences of an ND can be completely contained when people practice total muzzle awareness. While you can't stop a round from going downrange in those rare cases of a catastrophic part failure, you can 100% control where that round goes.
 
My hunter safety teacher made us repeat "A safety is a mechanical feature that will fail" about a zillion times, lol.
 
This is a post by a good friend of mine. He posted this on another forum regarding NDs. He is a "master istructor" trained by Col Cooper himself.

The safety rules are something that we emphasize all the time, and we should. As I mentioned we have a tendency to disregard things we know very well.

Another very important thing to learn is that when we do mess up we need to get back on our feet and walk like a man. Past mistakes and improper or sinful choices of yesterday do not deliver us from the duties of today. People sometimes do not do what they should do because of what they've done. They feel that they are unworthy, hypocritical, or stupid. Those are the whisperings of satan, don’t listen to the liar! There is work to be done, let’s be about it.

Regarding negligent discharges –

Be careful in handling firearms when fatigued or inebriated. (Just don't handle the gun, your judgment is impaired.) I remember seeing a man (drunk) who drew his pistol and press checked it and all the while the .45 was pointed right at his thigh. He was sitting almost directly in front of Col. Cooper while practicing this perfect asininity.

Be careful while handling firearms with which you are unfamiliar.

Be careful if you are doing something unfamiliar with a firearm, ie attempting to recreate a malfunction.

Guard yourself against complacency.

Guard yourself against arrogance.

Good friends help you in all these areas through accountability.
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:oYes, a couple of times with my sks lately. I let the bolt fly and BANG! Next shot was fine then again the shell got stuck in the chamber so I cycled it and once again, BANG! without a trigger function. Needless to say, its not getting used anymore until I can fix that sloppy sear that seems to be able to be moved about 1/16-1/8" when the rifle is still out of battery as it shoudn't do that. Not to mention getting the empty shell stuck in the chamber so bad I almost have to use a mallet to open it. Good thing I kept the rifle pointed at the targets so the bullet went in a perfectly safe direction.
 
Which ever direction the arrogant and unread choose to split a hair, AD or ND is a reality and noone should be judged if it has happened to them! One who has experienced one of these events in now Better trained than the arrogant clowns who think they are superior because "they have never" and "they would never". The possibility and reality of ND/AD is why we follow the "basic four"! Karma has its way of getting around to those who need it!
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Thank you Silentarmy, you said that beautifully! It is a reminder to all of us that one second of distraction can have dire consequences. That is why the Big Four is so important
 
Does it count if I was asleep when I pulled the trigger? I can tell you from experience that a 10mm Silvertip fired in your bedroom will wake you up in a hurry. I'm still not sure what I was dreaming about that made me grab the G20 off the nightstand, rack the slide and then touch one off into the wall. Now I sleep with my HD pistol on the top shelf of the closet.
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Wow, that's a scary prospect. :eek: Don't even want to think of that one happening!



There are some interesting lessons to be learned from the stories of mechanical failures in this thread.

After reading these stories, I will no longer trust my decockers. I will now use two hands, one thumb on the hammer and the other operating the decocker lever.

I don't think I'll be letting any slides or bolts snap home, either, when chambering. I'll lower slides and bolts down gently any time I am chambering a firearm that is not pointed downrange.

(There are sometimes feeding issues when a semiauto's slide is lowered slowly, so in that scenario I will drop one in the chamber first to ensure that it is "fed" before slowly letting the slide down, then insert the mag.)

You don't often hear of safety techniques to prevent an AD from mechanical issues - other than frequent inspection - but these sound like good starts to me.

I'm one of those people that live in an upstairs apartment with neighbors below and with homes on all sides - no real safe direction to point a gun. Safest is up, and there are still danger issues there. As such, I don't even chamber my semiautos at home. I don't want to move even that small amount closer to the possibility of an AD. Bright orange snap caps sit in the chambers (makes it nice and obvious that it isn't loaded when slide is pulled for inspection - it pops out or falls through the magwell, and then is put back in). I understand that I must chamber the round when the Hamburglar kicks in my door looking for cheeseburgers.

When I move to a home with good solid dirt beneath, I will feel better about chambering indoors.

The only thing that stays 'chambered' in my apartment is my revolver. I really wish that the cylinder on my .357 could be swung open while the hammer is cocked. It'd be MUCH more comforting to know for certain that there was nothing for the hammer to strike down on. Not that I *EVER* cock it while loaded, but there could be a close-call situation with a threat, and I'd need to decock afterward, and probably be a little shaky, etc.
 
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I've had two. My first happened when I put a .25 I used to have in my vest pocket when I heard my daughter come down the hall. She wanted me to go to a restaurant and get something for her. As I was walking towards the restaurant, I remembered that I had the burner in my pocket. I reached in, touched the trigger with my finger and it went off. The round went through my pocket, hit a nickel on the way out, hit the pavement, and then hit the bldg. No one was injured because I was the only one in the parking lot. No one heard it.

The other happened when I went to the attic to check a serial number on my 30-06. Don't ask my why I pulled the trigger. I don't have an answer for you. The muzzle was pointing towards the ceiling when it went off. My daughter was at the bottom of the stairs and my wife was just pulling into the drive way. I stood there, ears ringing, imagining all of the things that could have gone terribly wrong. Thank God none of them happened.

I'm very conscious about checking weapons. I always, always check anytime I touch one. Just goes to show you dosen't it?
 
heard it said that "a police station with out a bullet hole from an ND, is a brand new police station."

guess that means we've all either done it, or lied about it.
 
My first happened when I put a .25 I used to have in my vest pocket when I heard my daughter come down the hall. She wanted me to go to a restaurant and get something for her. As I was walking towards the restaurant, I remembered that I had the burner in my pocket. I reached in, touched the trigger with my finger and it went off.
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What gun was that?! :eek:

Why I don't ever cock my Jetfire when it's in a pocket as a BUG. It's SA, and utterly dormant unless cocked.
 
When I was 13 I had gone hunting with a 7.65 Argentine Mauser. Got home and ran all the cartridges thru the action to unload it. When it was empty I pulled the trigger to let off the spring tension on the firing pin. I didn't know at the time to hold the trigger back while closing the bolt. Anyhow I blew my bedroom mirror to smithereens. No other harm done cept a small hole thru the wall and nothing but woods behind the house. No I didn't fess up as to how the mirror got broken.:D
 
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