Fess up -- ND & AD stories, please!

P

pax

New member
Hi everyone,

Did you ever fire a gun unintentionally? What were the circumstances and how did it happen?

In addition to hearing your own stories, I'd appreciate some links. I'm looking for first hand accounts (not news stories) about unintentional discharges, of whatever flavor. Video links are even better.

(Also: if you really want to discuss the definitions of "negligent" vs "accidental" vs "unintentional," please start a fresh thread for that discussion. I'd like to keep this one clear just for stories and links to stories.)

Thanks!

Kathy
 
I was watching my younger brother shoot his SKS once when he had a hangfire. The rifle went click instead of bang and he racked it back. When he did this the extractor slipped off the round and left it in the chamber and that's when the round finally went off, the stock was rested in the pocket of his hip and the barrel at about a 20 degree angle, I.e. not a safe direction. I can only assume the round went over our berm and landed in the next pasture over in between a couple head of angus :eek: We learned from that one.
 
Me,me,me!!!!!:D

Blew a hole in the living room floor with a 7.62x25 Tokarev
I use to carry this little gun for SD from time to time till this happened and since then it has become a range gun only.

Anyone that owns one of these great pistols knows the hammer is rounded and short.
While de-cocking the hammer with a round in the pipe my thumb slipped off the hammer and BANG nice hole in the carpet and wood floor underneath.

Just goes to show that no matter how many times you have done something or how careful you are; bad things can happen.
 
:o

While unloading a tubular magazine (.44 Mag '94 Trapper) somehow the safety got moved to the Fire position and somehow my finger got on the trigger.

That baseboard was DRT.
 
Re: Oopsies -- stories, please!

Thankfully, I have never had one. However, I have seen plenty while shooting competitions and while serving as RO.

When I was at the Surefire Texas MULTIGUN (as a competitor), another competitor was clearing his AR (didn't have to, all he had to do was flick the safety on). He dropped the magazine, and when he went to operate the charging handle his trigger finger got inside of the trigger guard and sent the round out the barrel. The RO missed where the round went because he deemed that it went into the berm... It actually was shot at about a 35 degree angle and cleared the berm by about 15 feet... No DQ.

Another while I was serving as RO, the shooter was coming up from a knee where he was shooting off a barricade and sent a round off at about a 50 degree angle. Yep, stopped and DQ'd.

A third (and definitely the scariest) was when I was shooting a USPSA match. Another shooter got the start signal and on his draw had his gun hang up, he quickly adjusted his grip and when he tried to push the gun back into the holster to get more leverage on it the gun discharged twice, whole still in his holster. Thankfully the rounds didn't go through his leg, all he had was powder burns on his pants. The rest of us had other stains in our pants.... We figure that his short had gotten into his holster when he had previously holstered his gun, and when he tried to get more leverage it hot caught on his trigger and that is what caused the discharges.

The last guy DQ'd himself, he was a little too shaken up to keep going and I can't blame him. My mental focus was a little off for the rest of the match as well.
 
A guy fell at a match I was at once when he was running between barriers. As he lost his balance and tried to catch his fall (pistol in hand) a round went off in our direction. It hit somewhere in the berm behind us.

Was crazy how fast it happened, and everyone was pretty spooked. Glad nobody got hurt, he never came back.
 
.30-06 round through roof above attic. 25 cal. through vest pocket as I'm approaching KFC. 9mm through bedroom floor.
 
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Pax - just a little clarification.

Would you like to limit this to stories that we've actually witnessed? I have a story that our state pistol champion from several years ago tells on himself at gun safety classes but I didn't see it. (A friend handed him a 1911 and said check the trigger pull on THIS gun. He pointed it at the family TV and blew it away.)

Allaroundhunter's comments are okay because he actually saw them happen but the story I related above really would be hearsay.

Nature Boy - I think that's exactly what Pax is looking for...could you provide some details about how each incident happened.?
 
Ouch !!!

Pax,
Funny you should ask as I use to collect the documented ones as examples, during our Hunter Safety Classes. The only one I have had, was a pellet in the ceiling of my shop. ...

One documented ones, was about a man who shot himself while beating his dog to death with the butt of his shotgun. Don't have the year but the story came out of Winchester Va. .... :rolleyes:

Another is a about a man in Mount Vernon Washington who shot himself in the leg while trying to shoot an Opossum. That one was an AP story. In part, it reads;
Larry Tenbrink of Mt. Vernon was watching TV when he heard his chickens "carrying-on". Grabbed his pistol and went out to find a large Opossum trying to get his chickens. He spotted a cat sized Opossum, pulled his pistol up while his finger was on the trigger and it went off too soon, shooting himself in the thigh. ..... :rolleyes:

Be Safe !!!
 
Allaroundhunter,

I am shaken up just hearing that story! I'm glad you're okay and no one was hurt.

Nature Boy,

Details, please. How did those incidents happen?

All,

Thanks, and please keep them coming. The only thing worse than an embarrassing incident, is an embarrassing incident that nobody learns anything from. Please teach me something through your eyes. What happened, and what did you learn?

Thanks.
 
When a teenager, liked to carry a WWII bring back 9mm FN high power pistol when hunting. Pistol slide would lock back when last round was fired. Magazine held around 13 rounds. One day, when on my hunting lease, had been firing the pistol at several different things as I headed to the woods to squirrel hunt with my 22 rifle. I'd lost track of number of rounds fired. Slide locked back and I released it without checking the chamber. So, I'm walking along with pistol in my hand and muzzle pointed down toward the ground. I pulled the trigger and much to my surprise the pistol fired. Magazine spring was weak and not enough pressure to push up the last round properly. Bullet clipped the edge of my boot.
 
Clearing my Star BKM before putting it in the safe. I turned it on its side and pressed the magazine release; BANG! 9mm hole in safe lining and small dent visible on outside of safe back.

I don't know where to call negligence. Safety was off as I was planning to cycle the slide. I was not then and am not now aware of touching the trigger.

After the bang, and after making sure the pistol was clear, I attempted to re-create the malfunction and was unable to get the hammer to fall w/o significant pressure on the trigger. I don't understand how it happened; the BKM does not have a light trigger and I don't believe I touched it in any case.

I checked the pistol as well as I know how and it eventually went to a smith who was unable to find anything wrong with it.

I try to be meticulous about the four rules and the pistol was pointed in safe direction (pun intended) and now my safe is a blem. No other damage and I count myself very lucky indeed. So far, my only unintentional bang. I did shoot my truck one time, but that's a totally different story.

I still have the BKM but don't carry it anymore.

Will
 
When I turned 21 I bought my first pistol, a Beretta 92FS. My dad went with me to the store and he bought a S&W 357 revolver. Although my dad owned an old 22LR/Magnum revolver (H&R I think...) he never shot it much... we were both brand new to handguns. That weekend, we headed for the woods to shoot. We started with the Beretta fine, then he took out the 357, loaded it, cocked it, held it pointing at the ground while he discussed what target he was going to shoot.... the gun went off and missed his foot by a few inches. <Rule II, III>

We didn't know about Cooper back then, but rule II and III were instantly ingrained and never forgot and the rest of the 4 rules were quickly studied and equally ingrained. Rule II came into play years later when I was lowering the hammer on a 1911 and my thumb slipped. 4 simple rules never meant so much.
 
Rule II came into play years later when I was lowering the hammer on a 1911 and my thumb slipped
Click to expand...

I bet your hand didn't feel too good after that one...

Question, do you still try to lower the hammer on a loaded 1911, or just use the manual safety?
 
I had a savage .22 rifle that I had just gotten, and was running rounds through the magazine. After I got done, "thinking" I had emptied the mag, I was holding the rifle, and my finger went in the trigger guard. The bang that errupted scared me "silly."

Bad news was- this was in an apartment.

Good news was- the round hit the wall right in line with a steel support on the sutside of the wall. They plastered the hole, and no penalties/additional charges for me.

Best news- I didn't hurt myself or my cats...
 
When I was on active duty, we were in garrison and the 1st Sgt decided we needed to clean all the weapons in the armory...again. We were just handed random weapons, not necessarily our own issue weapons.

So I plop down on the couch in the TV room with an M16A2, press the trigger like I usually did before disassembly and BLAM! I discharged a blank round, thankfully not a live one. It was still very loud in an enclosed area as the rifle was sans blank-adapter.

Note - the rifle should have been checked by the soldier who returned it, the armorer who took it in and issued it back out, but most of all by me as I was handling it.

Very embarrassing but a good lesson with no injuries. The 1st Sgt chewed me out pretty good, but he really ripped the armorer a new one!
 
allaroundhunter said:
Question, do you still try to lower the hammer on a loaded 1911, or just use the manual safety?
Click to expand...
No. The manual safety works fine. I'm perfectly fine with cocked and locked I don't know what compelled me to lower the hammer that day.
Surprisingly, no injury or discomfort from the ND.
 
Re: Oopsies -- stories, please!

Koda94 said:
No. The manual safety works fine. I'm perfectly fine with cocked and locked I don't know what compelled me to lower the hammer that day.
Surprisingly, no injury or discomfort from the ND.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear it ended without an injury. Follow the 4 rules, and even an unwanted shot will not do damage to life. Good job for that.
 
I’ve seen a few:

1. An IDPA stage where the shooter was required to get low enough to shoot through an open ended barrel on the ground. One guy tripped while approaching, stuck out his hands to catch his fall, and double tapped the ground near the barrel.

2. A friend came back from a muzzle loader hunt and put his gun in the truck. Our state defines an unloaded muzzle loading gun as one without a cap on it. After stashing his other gear he remembered he needed to remove the cap. So he reached in with cold hands and the hammer slipped as he pulled it back. The muzzle was in contact with the carpet on the floor, so he said it wasn’t as loud as he expected. The right front tire suffered a fatal wound.

3. At a Cowboy Action Match, a competitor was shooting in the “gunfighter” class. This means he pulls both Single Action revolvers, one in each hand, and shoots the pistol targets alternating shots between right and left. He lost count and holstered the right revolver with the hammer cocked and his finger on the trigger. Luckily it missed his leg and foot when it fired. The Cowboy operating the timer was standing right beside him, and said he saw the problem as it was happening, but was afraid if he tried to grab the gun it might still shoot somebody in the foot. So he cringed and waited for the result.
 
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