My Wake Up Call....

Had a similar situation happen to me a few months ago. Went to my gun room and decided to compare the triggers on my model 17 and 14 S&Ws. Pulled trigger on 14 and then grabbed 17. Cocked hammer pulled trigger and bang. I didn't check to see if it was loaded. I never leave it loaded but then I remembered loading it to dispatch a raccoon on the back deck a week before. I never un loaded it. Luckily it was a cci quiet 22 shell. It went through a plastic drawer under my bench and bounced off the drywall and landed in the middle of the floor. It was surprisingly not very loud. Kinda like a cap gun. Scared the poop out of me. Cant believe I did such a thing. Luckily no one was hurt except the drawer. Goes to show cant be too careful.
 
Thanks for the reminder. Glad no person or dog was hurt.

Stuff like this is frightening- it could be any one of us in a moment of complacency. That motivates me to make sure I show appropriate caution.
 
Thanks for your sharing, baddarryl, and making it our wake up call.

I think it's good for all of us to read about one of these every now and then just to keep us from becoming complacent.

A few years ago I had a semi-auto pistol malfunction and discharge when it shouldn't have. I was following the rules and no significant damage resulted. In the following hour, I disassembled and re-assembled the gun two or three times, trying to get it to repeat the malfunction.

It never did. When I was getting ready to put it away, I had an honest-to-goodness, totally my fault, ND!

Again, following the rules, the only casualty was a lawn chair.

Sobering always to be reminded of the danger part of our operations.
 
It is good for that kind of stuff to happen (As long as no one is hurt). It really wakes you up. Like some one else said, after handling hundreds of guns, you just sort of go through the motions unaware. If you play around with guns long enough, you are bound to screw up.
 
There's someone here on the forums who has the signature: "There's nothing as loud as a bang when you don't expect it." Or something like that.

It always reminds me of the ND I had when I was first getting into guns. Scariest moment of my life.

Glad everyone is ok.
 
First, glad no one got hurt. Also glad that you're turning your experience into a learning experience. And I wouldn't beat yourself up too much about it; as noted above many of us have made the same mistake before, and some of us have done it more than once.

For myself, I've had three NDs since I started shooting guns over the last 35 years. Two with a Glock and one with an AR-15. Fortunately for me and everyone else I never put a bullet in someone or someone's pet. Grace of God, I guess.

After each one I tried to adopt a better and safer method for clearing and checking my weapon. After the last one (with the Glock), I got a bit over-zealous with the whole clearing procedure. Now I drop the mag, and rack the slide no less than three times. After the last rack to clear I visually inspect the chamber and stick my finger in there before allowing myself to believe the weapon is unloaded. With revolvers I also visually and physically check the cylinder, and operate the star three times after that.

I even do this with weapons that are handed to me, such as at the LGS. And when I hand a weapon back to someone, like the sales clerk, I always hand them the mag, then the gun with the slide locked open. I get some funny looks, but I could care less about what some clerk thinks about it.

I know, this procedure is a bit over the top, but I've had three too many NDs, and I'll be damned if I ever have another one.
 
This is why muzzle control is so important and it's wise to aim at something that will stop a bullet even when dryfiring.

People will tell you that a DA revolver is very safe, but what most don't understand is that the most common cause of an unintentional discharges is for someone to INTENTIONALLY pull the trigger. There's no gun that won't go off under those conditions.

Think about it. When a person wants to dryfire the gun, they're going to pull the trigger. If there's a manual safety they will disengage it so they can feel how the trigger feels as it goes through a full pull. If there's a magazine safety they will put in a magazine so that the trigger will operate.

I'm glad no one was hurt.
...I got a bit over-zealous with the whole clearing procedure. Now I drop the mag, and rack the slide no less than three times. After the last rack to clear I visually inspect the chamber and stick my finger in there before allowing myself to believe the weapon is unloaded. With revolvers I also visually and physically check the cylinder, and operate the star three times after that.

I even do this with weapons that are handed to me, such as at the LGS. And when I hand a weapon back to someone, like the sales clerk, I always hand them the mag, then the gun with the slide locked open. I get some funny looks, but I could care less about what some clerk thinks about it.

I know, this procedure is a bit over the top, but I've had three too many NDs, and I'll be damned if I ever have another one.
Click to expand...
Your procedure is neither overzealous nor over the top. It is an excellent procedure.
 
Thank you for posting! As others have said, it is not easy to put that info out here. I, like you, have handled guns almost daily for many years, and am reminded in my job ( Fire Lieutenant ) to constantly work with our crews about "complacency" so that we may go home at the end of our shift. But after preaching that lesson for years, it is still a reminder that never gets old. I have no problem being reminded of this EVERY DAY. Thanks again, you are a LEADER!!!!!
Chris
 
Had something similar happen when I first got into shooting. No ND, but one in the chamber when I thought there wasn't and swept a group of people.
Only once.
 
my wake up call

I never pull a trigger in the home. I always check to see if a gun is loded.
Well.... My wife's little .38 I opened it up and unloaded it.
I was outside on the rear deck. Pulled the trigger guess what; one round hiding somehow. New Rule turn the cylinder after unloading.
 
It pains me to admit this, but I just about did it. I shoot Bullseye (Precision) Pistol, so dry firing is an important part of training. One time about a year ago I picked up my M1911 and dry fired about 20 times. Then for some reason I picked up my M9 to dry fire it also. I keep the M9 loaded and one in the chamber for those "just in case" times. I started to apply pressure on the trigger, then it dawned on me the thing was loaded. I was a fraction of a second away from putting a hole in the wall of my gun room. Learned something very important. Always check the chamber as soon as you pick up a gun.
 
Some close ones are from assuming what other people did. I was at a Flea market and walked up to a couple older women with a van. They had some Mausers leaning against the table, so I asked to take a look. The first one I pulled the bolt back on popped a round out. I thought they were going to pass out. Apparently the one woman's husband had been dead a few years and she was cleaning out the closets. That kind of stuff sneaks up on you.
 
We all learned the 1st lesson, "every gun is loaded until proven otherwise".
That and a few others.
There was an accidental discharge in a CCW class I went to. Different class same guys. It wasn't a students' gun, it was the instructor.
These guys have been handling firearms in the service, highway patrol for over 40 years. It happens.
Whew, it's a good thing he had it pointed in a safe direction.
 
Welcome to the accidental club.I have a small hole in the bedroom door about 1 foot off the floor that's the same size as a 45acp. Cats use it as a peephole, I use it to remind me of how lucky I was.
 
Glad everyone was ok! There is no doubt this is scary. I drove around with a hole in my pick ups door for a good while because I NDed back when I was 17. That little dent was a good reminder to be extra careful.

My neighbor borrowed a 10-22 from me to try to kill a pesky coyote. He was trained in the Russian military on of course the ak47. Well their procedure to clear a weapon is to stand it on end, sweep the hand over the mag well to make sure a mag is not present, rack the slide to eject the last round, pull the trigger. BANG. A hole in his roof. He had neglected to realise that the 10-22s mag is flush, so when he racked it according to the old doctrine all he did was rack in another round. He was wholly embarrassed. He kept after the coyote but he did ask me for a banana mag that hangs out of the bottom like and AK mag does.

Thanks for sharing your slice of humble pie. Its a good reminder to the rest of us to be extra diligent.

Also glad the Perfect Perries havent shown up to berate you about this.
 
I also realize that the more you handle firearms the more familiar you are with them. I pay attention at the gun range and always "offer" assistance to shooters that got that look of not knowing what they are doing. Most of the time is helping with magazine extraction (you'd be surprised how many places the magazine release button can be).

The range I go to has pretty good safety rules but it is easy for a inexperienced shooter to turn the gun to the side to clear it endangering the other shooters, versus turning the body so the barrel stays downrange.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top