Negligent discharge - revolver vs. semi auto

You can tell if a revolver is loaded just by looking at it. Semi-autos you have to rack the slide enough to look inside the chamber
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Many semi-auto have an indicator or a small hole where you can see if it is loaded. My 9mm does but my 22 doesn't.
 
I've seen lots of ADs and NDs over the years.
At public ranges, private ranges, organized matches and back yards.
The causes are varied, but most are from:
Not being familiar with the gun and its workings.
Not breaking the instinctive reflex of putting the index finger on the trigger.
Not focusing on the task at hand, especially when unloading the gun.
Not realizing the gun is still loaded after finishing shooting.
Being in a hurry and just not paying attention to the basics.

Like the very experienced guy who saw his squad heading over to the next stage, just as he was finishing his run.
He went through the unloading procedure so fast he didn't realize he was dropping the hammer on a live round that didn't quite make it out of the gun when the slide was racked.
It was a shame having to DQ a front runner, who might have won the match.
 
DA/SA autos, for those not used to them they need to get into the habit of decocking the gun after chambering a round. When I gave my father my 232, the same day I gave it to him I found the gun sitting on his desk in a holster with a round chambered and the hammer back because he was not used to DA/SA autos. I made it a point to constantly remind him that he needs to remember to decock the gun for a few days after that.
 
I confess to one accidental/negligent discharge. I was checking out a revolver headspace and (stupidly) used a live round. I pulled the trigger to move the round away from the firing position. Bang! Colts turn the other way.

Jim
 
jmr40- I have argued for years on forums over ND vs. AD.

Negligence is a legal term assigning fault. If you are telling the story and you say you had a negligent discharge you just accepted responsibility and will now be jailed and or sued.

An accident is an unintended event, is totally correct to use in describing the firing of a gun when you didn't mean to, and I much prefer to say Accidental Discharge in case any lawyers are listening.

But about 107% of people want to tell me I'm wrong so I pretty much gave up on this topic.
 
The only revolver I ever heard of that DID have a safety lever is the very short lived High Standard Crusader.
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You are forgetting about Heritage Rough Riders and their much talked about and generally disliked safety.

I had developed a very bad habit without realizing of re-cocking my single action Blackhawk while bringing down from recoil with my finger on the trigger. With it's light trigger I had a negligent discharge. Thankfully no one or nothing was damaged except my pride. I immediately went to work on my technique and corrected what I was doing but still think about it every time I shoot a single action.
 
I think it hardly matters really, it all boils down to carelessness and negligence.

I once put a .357 magnum 125 grain JHP into the wall of my appartment after drinking a sixer of Pabst Blue Ribbon. They say the most dangerous gun is an "unloaded" gun... I believe that now.
 
I called what I posted in my post #28 a negligent discharge and that is the way I feel about it. Had it caused death, injury or property damage I would have been responsible. That it didn't cause any of these did not make it accidental. I got complacent, thankfully I got away with that one and didn't have to pay a heavy price.
 
In recent times, I've read about a lot of NDs that involve trying to unload an auto pistol by mere removal of the magazine, leaving a loaded round in the chamber.
There's no corresponding mistake possible with a revolver.
The only unintended discharges that I've witnessed involved auto pistols, and finger on the trigger during timed reloads.
 
In recent times, I've read about a lot of NDs that involve trying to unload an auto pistol by mere removal of the magazine, leaving a loaded round in the chamber.

There's no corresponding mistake possible with a revolver.
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There certainly is, in both DA and SA revolvers.

The equivalent mistake in a DA revolver is dumping the rounds from the cylinder without using the ejector rod. Occasionally a live round will stick in the chamber. It's especially likely to happen in a dirty revolver or in a .357Mag that's had .38 specials shot from it leaving fouling rings in the chamber.

In an SA revolver, the equivalent mistake is missing a chamber when ejecting live rounds or dumping rounds without using the ejector rod and failing to notice that a round sticks and doesn't fall out.

If the shooter doesn't carefully check the cylinder for live rounds or count the dumped rounds, dryfiring will result in an unintentional discharge. I have witnessed this type of unintentional discharge with a DA revolver (.357Mag with fouling rings).

One can say (correctly) that it's improper procedure to dump rounds without using the ejector rod or that failing to count the ejected rounds is careless, but exactly the same criticism would apply to a person who ejects the mag and doesn't check the chamber before dryfiring.

One should NEVER assume that the characteristics of a particular firearm render it immune to unintentional discharges. Lack of proper care or failure to follow procedures correctly can result in an unintentional discharge regardless of the type of firearm involved.
 
A revolver can bite you, too.
If it doesn't allow the cylinder to swing out far enough.
When ejecting live rounds, one could hit the cylinder stop, on the side of the frame, and wind up back in the cylinder.
Everything has to line up just right, or wrong, to do that, but it only takes once.
The same thing can happen if the unloading is done with the muzzle pointed downward, allowing a live round to fall back into the cylinder.
Like as has been said, avoiding ADs is always up to us, not so much the design of the gun,
 
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After coming back and reading another page, I still default to the other rule of gun handling.
"Never point a gun at anything you are not willing to destroy."
Several have related personal stories of discharges, whether or not they are ADs or NDs can be debated. But, so far, all the guns have been pointed in a safe (or as safe for location) direction, and no one been hurt.

Perhaps a few people will mess with guns their whole lives, and never have any type of unintentional discharge, but I believe most will. As humans we are all imperfect. To be ever vigilant is difficult, and it is easier to slip than to not.
So certainly work to be ever vigilant of the unintentional discharge.
But watch the muzzle, just in case.

Working in a gun shop, being given guns for the purposes of repair or modification, I am handed "unloaded" guns all the time.
You might be surprised at how many times they are not actually unloaded.
 
Hi, Saxon Pig,

I am not sure the terms can be that neatly divided for legal purposes. I have never seen the term "negligent collision" used in connection with an auto wreck, but people are sued all the time in the aftermath of "automobile accidents."

I do hope there is a statute of limitations; I would hate to be sued or jailed for that shot that was fired (into the shop wall) 50 years ago! It might be hard to get evidence, though; the building was torn down around 1980.

Jim
 
Just to add a little more fuel to the fire of "accidental discharge" vs. "negligent discharge":

For many years the plea of "the gun went off accidentally" has been used implying the gun was at fault, i.e, defective or in some way fired itself. "Negligent discharge" came into to use indicating the gun was fired accidentally due to negligence on the shooter's part.

When a gun is fired accidentally, it is indicative of the fact that the shooter failed to properly inspect/check the gun before loading, or failed to familiarize himself with the gun.

Bob Wright
 
If someone hands me a firearm I immediately open it to make sure it's not loaded. I don't care who hands it to me, I always check.

A couple of my semi-autos have something that sticks out if there is a round in the chamber. I check them by racking the slide anyway. I can tell if any of my revolvers is loaded by glancing at the side of the cylinder. I open the cylinder and check them anyway.

As a teenager I had two AD's, one with a handgun and one with a rifle. Luckily no one was hurt. I don't intend to have any more ever.
 
...work to be ever vigilant of the unintentional discharge.
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AMEN!

Just a few years ago I fired a pistol in my house and killed my bed. :eek:
I'd been working on a job where my attire had to fit a certain criteria due to it being a company that processed edibles. I could not wear my typical daily carry without detection, so I opted for a small pocket .380 during working hours. I allowed myself to get into the habit of simply dropping it in a drawer when I would get home from work and swap to my regular carry option, still loaded with safety engaged, ready for the following day of work.
Got a call one weekend from a little lady I used to date and made plans to take her and her daughter to the range with my sons as the three of us had already made plans to do that weekend. In preparing and packing for our day at the range I grabbed some firearms that I thought she and her daughter may enjoy, the pocket .380 being one of my choices. I retrieved it from the drawer, dropped the magazine onto the bed, half racked the slide and saw that there was a round in it, then promptly flipped the safety off pointing it down at the bed and pulled the trigger to relieve the firing pin! :eek::confused::eek:
I don't have an explanation.
I don't have an excuse.
I couldn't even begin to tell you what my thinking was at that moment.
I knew exactly what I was doing and did it anyway!

It WAS an accident and completely unintentional.
I certainly did not mean to kill my bed much less fire the pistol in my home.

But it WAS NOT an accident and must have been intentional.
I looked at the round in the chamber and proceeded to kill my bed.

Regardless it WAS negligence and carelessness, and lets face it, just plain old stupidity on my part. I neglected to actually engage my primary safety mechanism when handling a firearm, my brain.

Though in thinking over what I did, I'm not certain that I've got one of those! :o

I am ashamed at my stupidity, and inexpressibly thankful that the only casualty was the bed and my pride. That was the only accidental/negligent/unintentional/careless discharge I've had in my life and you can bet that I will no longer allow myself complacency and I am again now, "ever vigilant of the unintentional discharge.", so that no one ever sees first hand the depth of my stupidity again. (wishful thinking)



A little side note... the bullet traveled from about a foot above the bed through a 12 inch thick mattress, 10 inch thick box spring, and lodged in a 1/2 inch slat of rough sawn oak beneath pretty much intact... never passing through to the hard wood floor.
I don't know about anyone else, but that makes me think more critically about caliber choice.
 
It's my understanding that the thing most often shot negligently is a tv set. This tells me that some bozo is sitting playing with his gun and sighting on the characters on tv.
I once had a female parole officer shoot a hole in the floor of my gun shop with her issue model 64 S&W. She had it in a holster in her purse and attempted to pull it out ...with her finger on the trigger...to show me some cleaning problems she was having with it. She managed to nick a small place on the finger of the hand holding onto the holster, and had a burned spot of the off hand as well...not to mention the burned powder imbeded in the skin.
She called her supervisor who investigated the situation and she was scheduled for more training.
I helped her clean up her hand and put a bandage on her finger. Luckily it wasn't worse.
Just the common problem of putting her finger on the trigger when she shouldn't have.
 
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