Negligent or unintentional discharges - dry fire stories, please!

I have had a few over the years.

All of them were due to equipment in one way or another, but due to proper muzzle control no one was hurt.

My first was YEARS ago. Single action revolver. I was young and didn't know how light of a trigger pull it would take. I barely palmed the gun and it went off.

My second was a stuck firing pin on an old SKS I had. Apparently they are somewhat notorious for getting those, and I had a round that didn't chamber all the way so I tapped the bolt. It went forward only to fire the round in there and the one after it. I decommissioned that rifle after that.

The third was I was out shooting a pig, and the lever action I had, had a funky hammer. It slipped off my thumb when I was de-cocking it.

As I said in all cases, muzzle control was the saving factor.

I am thankful for my mentors who trained me well and instilled a healthy fear of firearms.
 
In 35 years of handling and shooting firearms I have never had an ND. I attribute this to the kind of devotion to the rules and procedures of safe gun handling that sometimes irritates other people but I don't care if they think me pedantic with regards to safety, it has served me well so far.

I did have one hangfire that scared the hell outta me by going off about 5 seconds after I pulled the trigger, but did no damage because I followed proper safety procedure.

I watched someone at a range (The NRA range of all places) finish shooting a string, point his gun down with finger still on the trigger and then discharge a round about 3 feet from his own foot which then bounced up and shattered a ceiling light. He got to pack up his stuff and received a brisk escort out. :(
 
OK... here is my rectal cranial inversion story.

Home alone with the cats and the old rottweiler, everyone else somewhere else, I'm the only human present. In the bedroom sitting in/on the bed with 3 cats keeping me company, rottie laying at end of bed on floor, new Springfield GI, dry firing aiming at sliding closet door circular brass fingerpull, approx 3" diameter, going fast trying to flash picture with those tiny sights, over and over and over while the TV was on. Whatever show I was watching was over. News coming on. Time for bed.

Don't recall sliding a loaded magazine into the .45, but I did it... without thinking, automatically chambered round, safety on (cocked/locked) placed weapon in holster. On Autopilot. News comes on, set holstered weapon on bed, get up to change to another news station, cats and dog look at me as I get back into bed, everyone all ready to settle down for the night, so they do and I should have.

Slide under the covers, reach for holstered weapon to put on nightstand and for some reason pulled it out of the holster for one last "quick flash of closet door pull", thumbed safety down sight aligned on target, finger entered guard, press on trigger BANG! :eek: :confused:

Cats flying everywhere trying to get the hell outta the room yesterday, rotties head pops up giving me "The LOOK", I safe slide lock safety and I swear to God I looked at the pistol in my hand like "Did you just do that? Really?!" :o

A really nice little .45" hole dead center in the brass door pull. Holes in 2 shirts in the closet, hole in the wall gyp. board, no holes in the room behind closet. Must have hit a stud and to this day I suppose it resides there still.

Heart beat elevated awaiting the Cops to show up as I assume every neighbor on the street was calling 911. Cats weren't seen for a day or two, LEO never made the scene, ears rang for a bit. Lesson learned. "When you accidently, er, negligently, fire an unloaded pistol you darn well better know where the round is going to go." :rolleyes:

Never again.
 
Guilty:

For 40+ years, . . . never did the "dry firing" thing. Held it up, . . . pointed it down range, . . . eyeballed he sights, . . . but never would pull the trigger, . . . was always taught that would damage my weapon.

Fast forward to 3 years or so ago, . . . got a new 1911, . . . can't get any trigger time because of weather, . . . reading on here and other sites about dry firing being OK in newer weapons.

Late one evening (too late and too tired) I'm dry firing at the bad guys on the 30 inch television, . . . show goes off, . . . finish coffee, . . . decide to go to bed.

Looked over at the 1911, . . . it's cocked and locked, . . . better drop that hammer before I go into the bedroom and load it up for night stand duty.

You guessed it, . . . I had already done that, . . . routine?, . . . absent mindedly?, . . . habit?, . . . whatever.

Safety paid off though, . . . when I dropped the hammer, . . . it was pointed at the floor, . . . and a throw rug hides the damage.

Biggest thing hurt was my ego, . . . thank God for multiple layers of training. First level failed, . . . second level minimized damage.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Many years ago a buddy of mine had a S&W Model 19 with a 4" barrel. At the time he was living at his parents house, and kept the gun around for home protection. He would unload the gun, and dry fire it at the TV at night for practice. One night he told me he was practicing, then when he decided he had enough, he loaded it up, put it back in its holster, then set it on the end table. He was going to put it away during the next commercial. Several commercials came and went, and he completely forgot about the gun. He happened to look over at his gun at one point, then decided to practice some more, so he pulled it out, and shot a hole right through the center of his TV. He said that he was glad he didn't line up the sights on his sister's cat for that shot. I ended up buying that S&W from him.
Click to expand...

Well, this triggered a memory. One day while practicing drawing and firing, I quit and loaded my pistol. I was in my shop, and later decided to do it again. I drew and fired for real. Good news is that my imaginary target had always been a stack of wood, or other inanimate object. The good news is that all that dry fire had been helping. The bullet hit the 4x4 I was going for about an inch from the knothole I was using as POA.
It was such a 'non-event', I had completely forgotten about it.
It does show that a person can forget if their firearm is or isn't loaded. Now, I just keep them loaded and won't dryfire unless I double check, and I triple check several times afterward.
 
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