close calls

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any accidental/negligent discharge stories that you will own up to.

i guess we could include those you've seen.


mine:
with my first pistol (at 19 y/o) i went down to the range to put a few rounds down it... this was my first time firing an auto pistol, so yeah.... i should've asked for some instructions, or read the book that came with it.

loaded, racked it... then started fiddling around looking for the safety, hands running all over it looking for the safety like i was molding it out of clay. then BAM!, my middle finger was riding right below the barrel (talkin less than 5 mm's), the blast and the action bruised /singed that finger pretty good.... my pistol did not have safety!

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I had a close call that I'll not soon forget. I was shooting my glock at a gun range & I didn't have my safety glasses tight enough against the top of my head, nor was I wearing a baseball cap. A hot case ejected while I was shooting at a target & landed exactly correctly to get stuck between my safety glasses & my skin. I was so flustered in my attempt to quickly remove the hot case burning my skin that by the time I was done getting rid of it I realized I was pointing my gun at my foot & I still had my finger on the trigger. 2 rules violated - keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire, and don't point your gun at anything you are not willing to destroy.

The burn on my eyelid was so severe that it scabbed over & took several weeks to heal, but I was very thankful that I didn't accidently pull the trigger while I was in the fluster. Lessons learned:

1) Always make sure your safety glasses are on tight against your skin & wear a visor type baseball cap.

2) Make sure that you take your finger off your trigger & be aware of muzzle safety before rushing to dislodge a hot case.

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So far I have been very lucky. I have heard a few stories about Navy watch standers discharging their weapon during watch turnover. They forgot to remove the magazine fisrt, racked the slide to show the chamber was empty (no round ejected) then pulled the trigger to prove the gun was empty. Wow, how they must have been surprised!! Did not hear of anyone getting hurt, just scared the crap out of them. With the adrenaline rush, I bet they could not get to sleep after their watch.

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No AD/ND story here but a funny one.

I was at the range getting certified for my CCW requirement (NRA course) and the girl who took the course with me had a case land right down the front of her shirt lodging in her bra. She screamed like hell and dropped the pistol (it was her first time shooting), so no AD/ND, but a lot of screaming.

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I've never had a ND, but I saw an interesting one at the range one time. It was a teenage girl at the range with her parents, all were shooting, the girl had a HiPoint C9 as her gun, the mother had a Glock of some sort, and the dad had a S&W auto. At one point the mother and daughter traded. Somehow the girl had her finger along the slide in the proper position while aiming downrange but looking away to talk with her father. Her middle finger managed to slip inside the trigger guard and BOOM! Slide bit her finger, but thank God she managed to keep her finger away from the end of the barrel. She was scared good, but she could have been a lot worse. The rangemaster stepped in after that and took away the gun and secured it. Gave hera good talking to. Asked the rangemaster next weekend how she did after that (I left shortly after that happened) and he said after they had talked for a while about proper safety and all that, she went right back and kept on shooting, but with her Hi Point, gave the Glock back to her mother.....it ended up a good learning experience, but could have ended disastrously......

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uncoolperson wrote:

any accidental/negligent discharge stories that you will own up to.

i guess we could include those you've seen.


mine:
with my first pistol (at 19 y/o) i went down to the range to put a few rounds down it... this was my first time firing an auto pistol, so yeah.... i should've asked for some instructions, or read the book that came with it.

loaded, racked it... then started fiddling around looking for the safety, hands running all over it looking for the safety like i was molding it out of clay. then BAM!, my middle finger was riding right below the barrel (talkin less than 5 mm's), the blast and the action bruised /singed that finger pretty good.... my pistol did not have safety!

Click to expand...

All guns have a safety, it's the device controlling your trigger finger. Sometimes we just forget to activate it.



LoveMyCountry

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I've never had an ND, but I did have a funny little experience. I was shooting a Glock (owned by someone with 3 NDs...he wasn't there, though, so it was safer), but I hadn't fired an autoloader in quite awhile. I had a poor shooting grip, though it would've worked quite nicely for a revolver. As I fired, I remembered where my left thumb was and somehow got it out of the way of the slide. To this day, I have no idea how my hand moved that fast, though I did get nicked a bit. Not even a bruise, though, so I was lucky.

These days, I'm much better at switching between autos and revolvers.

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A looong time ago when after I turned 18 I bought my first rifle, Winchester Model 1894 30-30, just like the cowboys I watched on TV carried on their horse. I had been brought up with guns and knew all the rules. However, about the third time I took it out to shoot I was with my buddy and wanted to play "rifleman". Those not familar, he had a custom lever action rifle, he'd cock and shoot with one hand. I took a few practice "rifleman" shots, just cocking one handed with no rounds loaded. I was able to sort of do it, I thought if I was placing my finger in the trigger guard I'd be able to control it better instead of holding my finger straight out. I did it once with my finger in the trigger guard and it looked like I'd imagined. Time to load it and give it a whirl. I attempted to do it and prepared to fire...bad idea. Some how my trigger finger ended up between the front of the lever (behind the trigger) and the stock, somehow in me jerking and pain dance my finger went to the trigger and fired when the lever was back in position. The round hit about 10 feet in front of us, richocheted and hit the barn to the side of us. When the dust cleared and we'd made things safe again, checked out my newly aquired blood blister my buddy commented on the sound of the richochete. For some reason that was the only thing we remembered to talk about instead of how incredibly stupid I was for attemted something that was done on TV.

Another incident-
After 5 years of convincing my "guns are bad" wife to go to the range with me...We had been once without incident, the second time we weren't so lucky. She was firing, me right behind "coaching". Ejected shell out, off the stall and down the front of the shirt and stuck between skin and cloth. My first reaction was to keep the gun pointed down range, she had slammed it down on the bench and did the funniest dance I've seen at the range. I'm thankful she slammed it to the bench. Apparently she is so right handed she had to free it so she could dig out the case of her clothes. I think this probably happens once to a woman before she wears closed neck shirts at the range.

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xpun8 wrote:

I think this probably happens once to a woman before she wears closed neck shirts at the range.

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Yeah, it seems to be a standard rite of passage for women at the range. Happened to my wife, too.

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Come on, HankT, say it, you know you want to: what are these guys? Say it!

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First off I was taught muzzle control from about 5 years old. So muzzle never points at anything you don't mind putting a hold thru.

AK-47 (the real deal) was getting ready for a mission and some dumbass (yeah you know who I mean)put the mag in and charged the damn thing. As I picked it up off the bunk, pointed at the ceiling, and it slipped. I grabbed at it with my left hand and BANG. One round thru the roof. The same dumb jackass had forgotten to move the safety lever to the safe position. Ended up with several M-16s and AKs pointed in my direction. A great reminder for never do that again. BUT.......................

Must be a slow learner, because about 15 years ago had the wife's backup purse gun,a cheapo 380auto, I pulled the mag and forgot to jack the slide. Took the safety off so I could pull the slide, dropped the hammer and holed my loading bench (2X4 glue lams so there was no pass thru). Not paying attention will bite you every time.

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Tomahawk wrote:

Come on, HankT, say it, you know you want to: what are these guys? Say it!

Click to expand...

Observant?

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HankT wrote:

Tomahawk wrote:

Come on, HankT, say it, you know you want to: what are these guys? Say it!

Click to expand...

Observant?

Click to expand...

Starts with a "G", yu know, your favorite phrase, come on...say it!

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I'vehad afew close calls, owned a ruger .45 auto (probably the worst quality pistol I've ever owned) anyway the darn thing had a quirk... the last shell in a mag never failed to eject directly to the rear of the gun and hit me in the forehead, I learned to avoid it, anticipating the ejection and moving my head to the right, let my friend take a few shots, friend was a girl, and yep... round bounced off her head into the "sweet spot" in the center of her shirt... she was well endowed, andshe was dancing and crying, but luckily it was the last round... I admit it, I laughed pretty hard

At a range, I was shooting my brand new Wilson Combat 1911 and enjoying life... an army buddy of mine showed up with his AK and Sig, after some begging, I allowed my buddy to shoot the "baby" after about four shots, he decided to de-cock the pistol without clearing... his thumb slipped and BANG round through the shooting bench... range officer was not happy, and after some seriously creative butt-chewing, my friend went to leave the range in shame... at his vehicle, another loud bang was heard, his eyes were as big as dinner plates. Upon a little investigation, a hole was found in his el-camino. In his rush to leave the range and save what face he had left, he holstered the sig without clearing it. At his vehicle he dropped the mag AFTER ejecting the chamber... thus loading another round. I hope he learned his lesson(s) that day, but as for me I never saw him at a range again.

Final story... Somewhere in Iraq, sometime in June '04 a Staff Sergeant had just returned from a mission, moving to the clearing barrel right before me, for those of you who don't know at most bases there are barrels painted red and filled with sand with a hole cut in the top so when you clear your weapon and attempt to fire, if there is a chambered round it goes into the sand and not a foot or fellow soldier. Anyway the trooper dropped the mag on his beretta 9mm and without hesitation, pointed it into the barrel and pulled the trigger, he suffered a face full of sand and some UCMJ trouble but luckily made it home in one piece.

Moral? Accidents do happen, even to professionals, gun safety is the most important aspect when carrying.