Unintentional discharge story
- Thread starter JohnKSa
- Start date
Don't know about the rest of you, but the ONLY time I trust ANY gun is when it's laying in pieces on my bench.
We tend to take too many things for granted, and one of those things is, that no matter how reliable we think our guns may be, there is ALWAYS the chance of something going wrong. In fact, you're better off if you count on it; A little paranoia is worth far, far more than taking someone else's life "accidentally."
Guns are dangerous mechanical devices and, no matter how much we want to romanticize them, no facet of their operation, handing and reliabilty should ever be taken for granted. Period.
We tend to take too many things for granted, and one of those things is, that no matter how reliable we think our guns may be, there is ALWAYS the chance of something going wrong. In fact, you're better off if you count on it; A little paranoia is worth far, far more than taking someone else's life "accidentally."
Guns are dangerous mechanical devices and, no matter how much we want to romanticize them, no facet of their operation, handing and reliabilty should ever be taken for granted. Period.
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LouisianaMan
New member
My slam-fire experience
As a young teen many years ago, I was loading up an old Ruby .32 auto a relative brought back from The Big One. Bad news is, I was loading it inside to "make sure it was ready" for us to go shoot it. (OK, overeager with new toy.) Good news is, at least I was pointing it in a safe direction AND it failed to feed the first round, at which point I said, "Self, you'd better take this outside." I did, then got it to load one from the magazine, at which point "POW!" into the ground. I don't remember if it had only one in the mag or if it jammed, but I presume it would have been a full-auto experience otherwise.
Later I got a good look at the old German holster that came with the gun. . .and there was a hole in the bottom, right where the muzzle would point when the pistol was holstered!
Lucky for me, my Dad had emphasized in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that I was never to point a muzzle at anybody I didn't intend to shoot, so that nobody would die if the gun's safety features malfunctioned. As he stated, guns are machines and machines malfunction. Humans are humans and we occasionally make mistakes. If you train yourself to use both "human" and mechanical safeties, nobody dies if you foul up or if the machine malfunctions. Good advice then, and still good now. I gave it to every soldier under my command--and many who weren't--in 24 years active duty.
Whenever I chamber a round since that old Ruby malfunctioned, the gun is pointed in a direction where nothing beyond a hole in wall/window will result if malfunction occurs. And although I "trust" & like a good auto pistol, I no longer have any & own only revolvers now. Primarily that has to do with many other reasons, but I do have that Ruby in the back of my mind & appreciate the relatively low-threat environment with revolvers.
As a young teen many years ago, I was loading up an old Ruby .32 auto a relative brought back from The Big One. Bad news is, I was loading it inside to "make sure it was ready" for us to go shoot it. (OK, overeager with new toy.) Good news is, at least I was pointing it in a safe direction AND it failed to feed the first round, at which point I said, "Self, you'd better take this outside." I did, then got it to load one from the magazine, at which point "POW!" into the ground. I don't remember if it had only one in the mag or if it jammed, but I presume it would have been a full-auto experience otherwise.
Later I got a good look at the old German holster that came with the gun. . .and there was a hole in the bottom, right where the muzzle would point when the pistol was holstered!
Lucky for me, my Dad had emphasized in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that I was never to point a muzzle at anybody I didn't intend to shoot, so that nobody would die if the gun's safety features malfunctioned. As he stated, guns are machines and machines malfunction. Humans are humans and we occasionally make mistakes. If you train yourself to use both "human" and mechanical safeties, nobody dies if you foul up or if the machine malfunctions. Good advice then, and still good now. I gave it to every soldier under my command--and many who weren't--in 24 years active duty.
Whenever I chamber a round since that old Ruby malfunctioned, the gun is pointed in a direction where nothing beyond a hole in wall/window will result if malfunction occurs. And although I "trust" & like a good auto pistol, I no longer have any & own only revolvers now. Primarily that has to do with many other reasons, but I do have that Ruby in the back of my mind & appreciate the relatively low-threat environment with revolvers.
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thinkstwicenow
Inactive
only thing i point a gun at after that is the dirt, i was lucky, the round traveled through 8" of solid oak before hitting the drywall and entering the adjoining apartment, meaning if it had hit anyone, woulda been like getting hit with a paintball..........instead of a 128G HPJ.....i guess the mistake i made was trusting the weapon, i used firearms every day for work and trusted my life with them, but as the previous poster said, machines do malfunction.......i've since forgiven myself *partially* , now i have to have others forgive me , i've deffinately learned from the experience though, i've sold all my autos and purchased revolvers instead, easyer to make sure there clear
thinkstwicenow
Inactive
it barely did, i was only about.maybe a foot from the oak hutch. when it exited the adjoing wall it wasnt a clean break, the drywall was shattered and cracked in about a 4" diamiter hole, looked like it had been hit with a hammer, hence why i said if anyone had been hit next door, they would not have really been injured, thats why i cleaned my pistols there, i had people above me, below me and to all sides of me, i BELIEVED a 9mm wouldnt go through that old hutch.. seemed like the safest place because it seemed nothing short of a .308 would have penitrated that........i was wrong
Yeah, I was right along with you until you got to the part where "guns are dangerous mechanical devices..." Sounds like a lead-in to an AP front page story pushed by HCI.
I get the whole Murphy's Law and extreme diligence in our gun handling, but if you want to play the odds and talk about "always the the chance of something going wrong" then staying out of motor vehicles and traffic would serve the American public much better than a "little paranoia." Let's not even get started with swimming pools and those dangerous chemicals under the kitchen sink.
The four rules are fairly simple and easy to execute. Anything outside the scope of the four rules (anything that would only be defeated by a disassembled handgun on a work bench) is trivial and about as likely as a lightning strike.
These are merely my opinions... without paranoia and preaching.
But we all find our own way. My thoughts apply well to me and my family. They don't have to be gospel for anyone else.
I get the whole Murphy's Law and extreme diligence in our gun handling, but if you want to play the odds and talk about "always the the chance of something going wrong" then staying out of motor vehicles and traffic would serve the American public much better than a "little paranoia." Let's not even get started with swimming pools and those dangerous chemicals under the kitchen sink.
The four rules are fairly simple and easy to execute. Anything outside the scope of the four rules (anything that would only be defeated by a disassembled handgun on a work bench) is trivial and about as likely as a lightning strike.
These are merely my opinions... without paranoia and preaching.
But we all find our own way. My thoughts apply well to me and my family. They don't have to be gospel for anyone else.
Sevens, you're right about the chances of something going wrong being miniscule, but things can, and have gone wrong as evidenced by the AD with the Remington 700. I think that proves my point right there.
Furthermore, how many times do you get in your car, drive off and never give a thought as to whether your brakes could fail? Probably never, but it could and does happen.
Yes, the odds are infinitesimally small, but, after being a gunsmith for many years and seeing totally unpredictable things happen, I prefer to err on the side of caution.
My statement that the only time I fully trust any gun is when it's in pieces on my workbench was intended to be a mildly humorous exaggeration; But once I load a gun, it ceases to be a fascinating amalgamation of interacting steel parts and becomes a potentially deadly dangerous device that could and does have lethal potential.
Unfortunately, Murphy's Law never takes a rest, and neither should we when it comes to handing any firearm.
Furthermore, how many times do you get in your car, drive off and never give a thought as to whether your brakes could fail? Probably never, but it could and does happen.
Yes, the odds are infinitesimally small, but, after being a gunsmith for many years and seeing totally unpredictable things happen, I prefer to err on the side of caution.
My statement that the only time I fully trust any gun is when it's in pieces on my workbench was intended to be a mildly humorous exaggeration; But once I load a gun, it ceases to be a fascinating amalgamation of interacting steel parts and becomes a potentially deadly dangerous device that could and does have lethal potential.
Unfortunately, Murphy's Law never takes a rest, and neither should we when it comes to handing any firearm.
Your chance of dying in a car wreck is 1 in 6,680 per year. Your chance of dying in a firearm accident is 1 in 476,190 per year. So from that standpoint cars are much much more dangerous than guns. An interesting statistic might be the death rate per hour of operation. There are lots of guns and cars but your typical car is operated a lot more than your typical gun. The exception would be people who carry most of the time, but even for them I imagine they have lots of guns stored at home.
Numbers for 2006, age adjusted
http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html
Numbers for 2006, age adjusted
http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html
thinkstwicenow
Inactive
well the good news is the State Police examined the weapon and determined that the locking mechanisim for the hammer was shattered, and the internal firing pin safety was completely removed, hence why it went off, also the extractor was worn so it fails to eject the round, hence they have dismissed the case and dropped the charges! thank god, but i've definately realised that no matter what brand, make or model firearm you have, they can and do fault sometimes, and should not be trusted.......from now on im putting a cable lock through the action and barrel , that way i know there is NOT a round in it........dont want this to happen again
thinkstwicenow said:
If the removal of a factory installed safety feature resulted in the discharge I'm surprised the State Police dropped the issue. You're lucky nobody was hurt since otherwise you would have been dealing with someone's lawyer.
In your first post you said this was your new Taurus PT 9mm. Was it a used gun or did you buy it new? You listed an awful lot of malfunctions happening at the same time.