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Old May 26, 2002, 10:12 AM   #1
Redleg
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I'm an idiot! Unintentional discharge!

I feel like an *ss! I was clearing my father-in-laws PPK/S which I borrowed to see if I wanted to get one for concealed carry. After dropping the magazine I racked the slide to empty the chamber. I THOUGHT the round fell down the mag well and onto the floor. I was wrong. I let the slide go and it slid foward without a hitch. Then, luckily with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction (outside concrete wall) I squeezed the trigger to let the hammer fall rather than using the decock/safety as I should have. POW!! The unexpected recoil threw the pistol out of my hand and halfway across the room. My ears immeadiatly began ringing and the resulting impact of the .380 bullet into the block wall sprinkled my arm with little chips of concrete. The sting was a sharp reminder off how much WORSE this could have turned out. I was totally shocked! Amazingly, I calmly picked up the gun, placed it back in its case and sat down for about twenty minutes thanking God I had been alone and had pointed it in a safe direction. Then I proceeded to cuss myself for the duration of the afternoon. I tried to blame it on the gun. No slide catch made it difficult to clear properly. I tried to blame it on my years in the military where lazy handling of weapons is almost taught outright! I tried to blame it on my father-in-law for not warning me that his gun liked to shoot itself from time to time. In the end, I can blame nothing and no one but MYSELF. I was lazy. I was careless. I was stupid. I WAS LUCKY. Be careful guys and gals. We enjoy a wonderful and fulfilling sport/hobby/lifestyle. But it's an inherently dangerous one as well. I reminded myself of the awesome responsiblity we have as gun owners/enthusiasts when we handle our weapons. I just pray it's the only reminder I'll ever need. Be safe!
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Old May 26, 2002, 10:27 AM   #2
C.R.Sam
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Well, you got one important part right......pointed in a safe direction.

I look in the chamber and down the mag well, even if I have to hold the slide back.

Looks like you have reflected on the assorted mistakes, glad you and all others are unharmed.

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Old May 26, 2002, 10:30 AM   #3
Edward429451
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HEY!

Aren't you supposed to inspect the chamber visually while clearing a weapon? I always do. Extractors break sometimes.

Glad no one was hurt.
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Old May 26, 2002, 10:46 AM   #4
Redleg
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Absolutely Edward!

You are absolutely right. My only answer is that years of handling guns in the military and now as an LEO had made me complacent. You can bet that from now on I will!
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Old May 26, 2002, 11:11 AM   #5
Hal
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Coincidentally, I had an AD or ND if some prefer with my father in law's Walther. It wasn't anywhere near as dramatic since it wasn't loaded at the time. Still the hammer fell when it wasn't *supposed* too.

Details:
I'd just gottn done cleaning it for him. First time I'd ever handled a D/A semi auto. The D/A trigger pull is around a jillion pounds. I expected the S/A trigger pull to be about half a jillion pounds. It isn't. It's closer to a pound and a half.
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Old May 26, 2002, 11:36 AM   #6
Bud Helms
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You guys are making me breathe hard remembering mine.


















Oh. I'm not telling.
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Old May 26, 2002, 11:53 AM   #7
KSFreeman
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All guns are always loaded! Not only do you visually check, but you check via feel as well, just like a press check. Use your pinky, stick it in the mag well then the chamber. Who says there will be guaranteed light?

TFL Chorus, ready? Red, you lead us off:

Rule #1--All guns are always loaded.
Rule #2--Never point a weapon at something you do not intend to destroy.
Rule #3--Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target.
Rule #4--Make sure of your target and its backstop.
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Old May 26, 2002, 12:30 PM   #8
Blackhawk
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Redleg, I agree with you.

I greatly prefer pistols with manual slide locks. Otherwise, I have to unload a magazine to lock the slide open after supposedly clearing the chamber since I'm a coward about sticking my pinky in front of the "ready to slam home" slide and a coward about depending on a brief glimpse at the chamber while holding the slide open.

I'm also a coward about trusting loaded chamber indicators or trusting a gun to stay unloaded if it ever gets out of my sight once I've absolutely determined that it's unloaded. I've had too many "lost" items turn up right where I'd been diligently looking a few minutes earlier to not believe that inanimate things sneak around when I'm not looking.

They don't call these things autoloaders for nothing you know!
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Old May 26, 2002, 12:57 PM   #9
Kaylee
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Quote:
They don't call these things autoloaders for nothing you know!



.. found a round in a chamber I thought was empty the other day myself... thankfully didn't drop the hammer on it. eeek!

-K
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Old May 26, 2002, 01:47 PM   #10
riverdog
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Not to make folks relax on the rules, but did you ever notice how you really need to break more than one of the rules to get in trouble? Breaking Rule 1 while pointed in a safe direction, the gun doesn't go Boom until you also violate Rule 3. Breaking Rule 3 alone is called dry firing, we do it every day. Always triple check for Rule 1 compliance and never ever violate Rule 2.

If you going to violate remember that concrete walls make good back-stops
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Old May 26, 2002, 04:46 PM   #11
GMR
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HMMM I guess not all branches of the military are the same because in my experiance there was nothing lazy or complacent about weapons handling in the Marine Corps. God help you if you wanted to act like a fool with an firearm because you would find yourself in an extremely humiliating and sometimes very uncomfortable situation. I saw some nasty nasty things happen to morons who were careless about muzzle discipline even though we had no ammuntion! Before we could even touch an M-16 a whole day was spent preaching about weapons safety. Safety on the range or during live fire was paramount because what good is it if you are the best marksman in the world if you are an idiot and kill your own guys??
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Old May 26, 2002, 11:19 PM   #12
joeislove
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Glad nothing was hurt but your pride.

When I clear a handgun, I always look to make sure I can see the floor through the top of the gun. Then I check again.

You should see me when I dry fire. I dump the mag, check the chamber, aim, check the chamber again, aim, put my finger on the trigger, check the chamber again, aim, check again....

It's neurotic, I know. I'm just scared there might be an invisible cartridge in there, or that one of those "magic bullets" might have materialized after I closed the action.
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Old May 27, 2002, 01:50 PM   #13
guyhammond
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Both of my brothers had discharged guns in the house, when i was a kid.

MY dad never fixed the holes, they were their until he sold the house, as a constant reminder.
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Old May 27, 2002, 10:28 PM   #14
Ledbetter
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I would have done that

but what would I watch NASCAR on?

Glad everyone's OK.
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Old May 27, 2002, 11:48 PM   #15
Waterdog
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Unintentional?, let's call it what it is.

A NEGLIGENT DISCHARGE!. I have had it happen to me, as have many others. It is the epitome
of DUMBASS mistakes, that a gunhandler can make.

You pointed the weapon in a safe direction?

Pointing a weapon at a concrete wall, is not a
SAFE direction.

This mistake could have cost someone their life, you were very fortunate today.

IMHO

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Old May 27, 2002, 11:53 PM   #16
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I am glad no one was hurt... but also glad you decided to tell us so that all may learn...

Thanks!
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Old May 28, 2002, 01:27 AM   #17
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A NEGLIGENT DISCHARGE!. I have had it happen to me, as have many others. It is the epitome
of DUMBASS mistakes, that a gunhandler can make.


Yep, me too. Kick yourself in the butt a few times for doing something stupid-I did. Now, learn from it, and relate to others, so they can too. Thanks for passing it on here, reading this just might make someone else check that second or third time and avoid doing the same thing, or much worse. I know I never figured that I would do something that dumb. In my case the only damage was to a window and to my self-respect.

Bri
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Old May 28, 2002, 01:42 AM   #18
blades67
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Don't sweat it. An idiot would have pointed it at a friend, child, or a pet, and then pulled the trigger. You just learned a lesson the loud way is all.
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Old May 28, 2002, 02:27 AM   #19
swingset
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Happened to me 2. I was young, 18 or 19, handling a friend's Mac11/9 that wasn't feeding right. We went into the garage to mess with it, and I loaded up a mag, pulled the slide back and let it feed one. I KNEW it was loaded, but I wanted to see it clearly under shop lights (it was kinda dark out), so as we turn to walk outside to let a round go, I catch the thing on the bench somehow, and it flops out of my hand, onto the ground and POW!! I knew where my mistake(s) were, but I was just careless and clumsy.

It shot into a large piece of wood RIGHT between me and my friend - and we were but 2' apart. We sat their with our hearts beating for a while wondering how we could have been so stupid.

Never forgave myself for that, and never an AD since.
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Old May 28, 2002, 07:42 AM   #20
ajaxinacan
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Welcome to the club.

When it happened to me, I was in the Marine Corps, and rule #2
kept me from killing someone. Thank God.

ND's don't happen to idiots. They happen to smart, experienced, professional gun handlers. They happen to Marines, LEOs, and candlestick makers. They can happen to anyone, and my own ND causes me to be a better and safer shooter. In a way, I wish every shooter could have an ND that didn't kill anyone just to be convinced that this can and does occur to intelligent people who handle guns every day.

Shoot safely.

Last edited by ajaxinacan; May 28, 2002 at 12:48 PM.
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Old May 28, 2002, 08:22 AM   #21
Yakko77
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Been there, done that

Yeah, I had a ND a couple months ago myself with a .45 1911. My post on it was called "stupid ass" because that's what it was, a stupid ass mistake. However, both of us have been given a second chance. No one was hurt/killed and we can both learn from our experience and never do it again. I still have the book case that I blew a hole into and the brass of the round that I made my ND with as a reminder so I don't make that mistake again. Learn from it and move on is about all I can say. Go to your local shooting range and shoot a hundred or so rounds to get yourself comfortable again with your firearms. I found that to be the most helpfull. I forgot where I saw this "sig" but it went, "Just because you don't hold your gun with your ears doesn't mean you can't use your head when handling guns."
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