My Wake Up Call....

B

baddarryl

New member
Well I got a new 442 and was comparing it with my mothers Bodyguard .38. She brought it to me and I unloaded it or so I thought. I had the trigger smoothed on my 442 so I went to compare them. First pull nothing and I thought wow, I am glad I got my trigger smoothed. Second pull Bang! Apparently I broke the cardinal rule of double checking to make sure the gun was unloaded as there was one cartridge still in it. I damn near shot the dog.

I take a couple of things away from this. We were damn lucky no one was hurt or killed. If anyone else had done this I would call him a complete dummy. I have seen people fire accidentally and that is exactly what I thought. Fact of the matter is I was having a conversation while unloading, not fully concentrating and was basically just complacent I suppose. I was taught to shoot as a little kid. Taught the safety rules, thought I adhere to them, shoot competitions and carry everyday. This is exactly how people get accidentally killed. Laziness and complacency. I am seriously glad I did not become the poster boy for the 'why guns in the home are dangerous' crowd.

We are dealing with deadly weapons that are designed to kill. I say this for myself............Don't Ever Forget That!
 
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That's exactly why you always keep them pointed the hell away from anyone. Most important rule IMO.

Saw this happen once with the Rem 700 safety recall and it's scary. Again, luckily in that instance the rifle was pointed away from anyone.

It's why I hate getting swept with a muzzle.
 
It happens more often than many would think. Now that I think about it this is the 3rd time I have seen an unintended shot. Scary is right.
 
I once was showing my 042 to a girl thinking about buying a small 38.

I was talking to her as I dumped out the rounds in my hand, and passing her the gun. She held it a while, then pointed it (in a safe direction) and was about to squeeze the trigger when I looked in my hand and saw only 4 rounds.

Luckily I managed to stop her. I'm not sure if the gun would have fired, but I had overlooked the fact that one round remained in the gun.
 
I am glad everyone is ok. Thanks for posting , that had to be hard to admit. But it is very helpful to those of us who have handled guns for a long time, it only takes a second to undo years of safe handling. Luckily my only accidental discharge was at the range with my pistol pointed at the backstop.

Give Fido a burger for dinner tonight. I'm sure all will be forgiven.

The fact that a ND or AD can occur to seasoned gun guys is one reason I rarely take my kids to the gun show with me.
 
I had a similar experience once. Wakes ya right up. A guy at a range years ago told me a tale about shooting himself in the hand. I asked what happened, as his left hand was heavily bandaged, and he said he was cleani g his guns. Worked the slide a few times, assumed he had emptied the chamber, but didn't check with his little finger. Put the muzzle in his left palm, squeezed the trigger and blew a 40 cal hole through it. He was in the garage, but his wife heard the shot. He told me that hand cost a lot of dollars, cant remember but it was a lot.

Stories like this should make all of us more aware of our responsibility with guns.

Glad all is well, Darrel. Thanks for sharing.
 
I also have had this happen to me. I pulled my 631 out of the safe, and actually opened the cylinder to verify it was empty, closed it and was testing my lasergrip and on the third squeeze it fired.

Fortunately the muzzle was pointed toward my work bench. Wow, what a shock, I do not know what was worst, shooting the gun in my garage or the fact that no one inside my house heard it.

I went inside and got my son to come into the garage, he said immediately, "Dad, I know what you did wrong, look at how dark it is in here and how could you really see if the cylinder was empty".
I had not noticed that some of the fluorescent light bulbs over head were out.

We looked for what got damaged by the bullet, I shot through a hand gun soft case, a pair of old S&W grips and we could not find where the bullet went through the bench.
 
You would be surprised at how many law enforcement officers have negligent discharges. I had an instructor back in the 1980s make a comment which I have found holds true. The more and longer you handle firearms the closer you get to your negligent discharge. This was yours and you have owned it so I would say your clock has restarted. Glad everyone is fine.
 
On top of that it hit the floor, bounced off a window casing and landed behind us. Probably lost its energy by that time, but still. I would not want that Hornady 110gr going through me. It was mangled.
 
Thanks for sharing this baddarryl. It takes a lot to admit a mistake like this to the world, and is certainly a good reminder to avoid complacency!

I've only ever seen an accidental discharge happen once. It was when I was at Infantry OSUT at Ft. Benning. Fairly early on during our training a recruit accidentally fired his M4 while preparing to exit the firing range. Every Drill Sergeant in sight swarmed around him within seconds... dear god I thought he would never see the light of day again!
 
I did much the same with a small pocket semi-auto in my bedroom five or six years back, my bed being the casualty. Fortunately a 1/2 inch slat of rough sawn oak was enough to stop a .380 hollow point before it struck the hardwood floor.
Familiarity, complacency, my own sheer stupidity most definitely.
You're right about it being a call for a wake up, and the coverlet that was folded on my bed at that time still bears the scar that I notice every time I look at it, even as small as it is.
 
I came close to a ND myself years ago and I turned completely white when I opened the chamber and realized it was loaded. I had been at the range waiting to shoot one last time and there were a lot of people by then so I foolishly put in the gun bag without unloading it first. In my case, I almost did something foolish and my mother was out in the kitchen at the time. I just remember trying to catch my breath and thinking how things could have gone wrong quick. Those are the teaching moments when no one is harmed yet it makes you a much better(wiser, and safer) gun owner. Glad no one got hurt, the dog included.

Laura
 
First,kudos to the TFL members for not going judgemental/critical on the OP.
Its good for people to know "It could happen" Its good to maintain some humility.
Second,as others have pointed out,if we practice the four rules,there is a layer of redundancy to cover for human fallibility.Having the muzzle pointed in a safe direction saved this situation.
Third I guess its about focus.Most all of us will clear every time a weapon is picked up,passed off,or received.
What CAN happen,(I still remember mid 70's when it DID happen to me) a person can be talking with someone or otherwise distracted and go through the motions of clearing without really paying attention.Its "going through the motions"
In my case I was talking with a buddy whe I "cleared" a 38 Super 1911. It had an empty chamber with a full magazine,chambering a round.In this case,my friend saw the round chamber and he told me "Whoa"

That was about 40 years ago.I can tell you it was a WW Silvertip. I have not forgotten.
Clearing needs to be focused and deliberate.And,it doesn't hurt to look out for each other.
 
Thanks for posting , that had to be hard to admit. But it is very helpful to those of us who have handled guns for a long time, it only takes a second to undo years of safe handling.
Click to expand...

I think this sentiment sums it all up. Hard to admit, but worthwhile if it stops someone else from making a similar mistake and as some other anecdotes have shown, it can happen to even the most experienced!

I'll certainly think of this when I next handle my firearms.

Thank you.
 
What CAN happen,(I still remember mid 70's when it DID happen to me) a person can be talking with someone or otherwise distracted and go through the motions of clearing without really paying attention.Its "going through the motions"
Click to expand...

Bingo!
 
A friend of mine had a thriving gun repair business with a contract with a well known manufacturer of hunting rifles to do some mod in rifles that customers sent in. He had a tractor trailer full of them to work on. He told me that about 20% of them were sent back loaded to him. Amazing.
 
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I think that this problem is far more common with semi-autos than with revolvers, although caution is needed for both type handguns. But stories are almost common regarding someone taking the magazine out of a semi auto and then pulling the trigger and being surprised that a round was in the chamber. For this reason alone a magazine disconnect is a good idea. Some fear that if the mag falls out and they need to shoot a bad guy, having a mag disconnect would render them defenseless, but I think the chances of that happening are far, far less than the chance of accidentally firing a round after a mag is removed.
 
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