Accidental Discharge

[azmax]

I thought it would be interesting to hear about Accidental Discharges. We all try to be as safe as can be , but hence the term, thing do happen and maybe we can all learn something from each other to help prevent a bad situation occur.

[gburner]

Shooting a Ruger .22 pistol and, while trying to clear a jam, kept my finger on the trigger and placed a round in the dirt inches from my foot. The 4 rules are most important. Be careful out there.

[Vilkata]

One time I was plinking with my FIE E15 .22 single action revolver. I fired off 2 rounds, then pulled back the hammer again. It wouldnt cock all the way back, no matter how hard I tried. I aimed the gun into some bushes and started messing with it, squeezing the stuck trigger, fiddling with the stuck hammer, and -boom-, the thing goes off into the bushes. No real danger, but I wasn't exactly expecting it.

In short... $50 cheapo import crap guns from 12 years ago can still be lots of fun, and worth owning. But fully realise that theyre $50 cheapo import crap guns, and fully expect their shortcommings.

-Ben.

[mete]

They're now calling it Negligent Discharge rather than accidental discharge since they really are negligent.

[azmax]

They're now calling it Negligent Discharge rather than accidental discharge since they really are negligent.

Pardon my lack of Political Correctness on the matter at hand, although I will say that Negligent is a much better descripton.

BTW: My AD or ND experience happened recently at the range, It was'nt much. I shot a round clear at the ceiling drawing my gun at the target. Very stupid, I know , but it happened and it scared the crap out of me. It really made me think !

[fastforty]

I shot a round clear at the ceiling drawing my gun at the target.

Huh?

Ok, I got it. You were laying on your back with your head toward the target, the gun discharged 1/2 way through the arc starting at your holster & ending with the target. Man, you almost had me there for a second

[IZinterrogator]

Convoy live-fire training, January 2004, right before I left for Iraq. I am acting as a safety for a Humvee. The passenger riding shotgun is left-handed and has his barrel pointed towards 4:30 and towards the ground. I am riding in the seat behind him with my legs hanging out of the side and a dummy strap holding me into the vehicle as I face 3:00 looking for targets. After we had dropped the prior set of targets, I called for the shooters to safe their weapons until the next pops up. We hit a bump and the guy in front triggers a three-round burst into the ground inches from my left boot. He was so suprised when his rifle fired that he offered no resistance to me grabbing his barrel by the handguard, ripping it out of his hands, safing it, clearing it, and then stowing it next to me where he couldn't reach.

What part of "Safe your weapons until the next target" is so difficult to understand?

[BillCA]

One time, after a long, chill & windy day at the range we retired to a friend's apartment whereupon we cleaned our guns. We'd were up at 6am and started at the range around 2pm, finished at 6pm, wind & sun burnt. Stopped for dinner at a good restaurant and ended up cleaning guns (3 guns each) until midnight.

Just before midnight it was "gun trivia" time with questions like "how many safety devices on a 1911?" and "How many variants of the S&W Model 19 can you name?" I'd finished cleaning a Model 28 Highway Patrolman and before putting it back into it's holster asked "How many screws in a S&W N Frame?" Then pulled the trigger and *wham*! sent a 125gr JHP up through the ceiling! I was running on 4.5 hours of sleep and it'd been a long day, so I'd loaded the gun just before returning it to the duty rig; then decided to ask that question; my mind blanked on the fact that I had just loaded the damn thing!

Lucky for me that we were in the upstairs apartment!

Lesson Leaned:
I now rigidly enforce the rule that no ammo should be in the room when you are cleaning your gun!

[xmastree]

I didn't see this one, but the guy told me himself.

His Para Ord P16 (.40) jammed, slide was stuck. Normally to fix this we grasp the slide with the left hand, and hit the back of the gun just below the hammer with the right hand.
When he did this, it fired. The only reason we could think of was that the shell was so badly aligned that the ejector hit the primer...

[xmastree]

They're now calling it Negligent Discharge rather than accidental discharge since they really are negligent.

Not if it's a fault of the gun... A friend was about to shoot a competition stage.
He inserted the mag, racked the slide (wich his finger out of the trigger guard) and when he released the slide it fired.

[HighVelocity]

The odds of a gun firing without the trigger being pulled are extremely remote.
If this happens then there is something stuck or broken.

I have seen 1 gun fire without the trigger being pulled and it had a broken firing pin spring (slamfire).

[mete]

xmastree, yes there is a difference AD means there was a gun malfunction and ND means it was operator malfunction. However the great majority are NDs.Of course many who have an ND instantly claim "there's something wrong with the gun!" That doesn't fly with me if I've seen him screw up or I [gunsmith trained] inspect the gun.

[brickeyee]

At one point Gunsite was having a rash of NDs when students cleaned guns at night.
The rule was made that any ND was cause for throwing the person out of class. No refund. No nothing.
One of the onstructors described a .308 ND in a room that went through multiple rooms. He sttod with the Prescott PD and the hotel manager ass they went through the rooms looking for entry and exit holes. No one was hit, but the guy who let it off was apparently white as a sheet waiting to see of he was going to jail.

[Edward429451]

I had three a couple weeks ago at the range. With an unfamilier Sig GSR that had a light trigger. I was used to my stockish Series 80 with its 4.5 lb pull and muscle memory of the Colt trigger unconciously transferred to the Sig, and taking up the slack in the GSR trigger made it go bang three times when I didn't want it to. No rules were violated, it was pointed downrange. No harm no foul. I hesitate to call them ND's but it shows what can happen with an unfamilier gun!

What would you all call my type of ?D............? Not an AD, not a true ND either. ?

Ya gots to be careful with unfamilier guns.

I've never had an ND in my home.

[USP45usp]

AD = Discharge from a CZ-52 when testing out the decocker. Was out back, pointed at backstop. Decocker on this one (own two) didn't work. Fault of gun.

ND = GP-100 "fired" when I was bringing it down to aim. Fired about head level. Mistake mine, on two counts, one: I had the hammer cocked and finger on trigger. Two: I had been drinking.

The AD was due to gun malfunction. The ND was due to stupidity. (the ND was the only one that I've ever had and I was 21 or 22 at the time, while on leave, at the house in Florida where I grew up. I am 37 now).

Wayne

[TwoGuns]

Had an AD with a Remington 760 in .243. Was out on the ranch with a bunch of friends doing some distance shooting. Loaded and inserted the mag, pulled the pump back, pushed it forward and BAM. Round touched off. Freaked me out, I felt uneasy all day.

I took it completely apart, and haven't put it back together since. Couldn't find the right tools to get it completely apart so I just said to heck with it.

(anyone wanna buy a scary Remington 760? )

[k_dawg]

one AD incident was a delayed fire.

I was shooting my mauser with some old milsurp ammo ( 60+year old ). I thought I had a dud. The round went off a good 10 or so seconds afterwards.

Luckily, I had kept the gun pointing downrange, and had waited to unload the round!

It still scared the #@#! out of me.

[USP45usp]

k_dawg,

That is why I adhere to the "30 second rule" when it comes to hang fires. Never let me down since I started using it .

Wayne

[FrankDrebin]

He sttod with the Prescott PD and the hotel manager ass they went through the rooms looking for entry and exit holes. No one was hit, but the guy who let it off was apparently white as a sheet waiting to see of he was going to jail.

I believe some other braniac kilt his buddy while they were at a motel in Prescott during their time there attending Gunsite. Apparently, they were practicing their quick draws....at each other.

[USP45usp]

Frank,

I remember reading about that.

How stupid can you be to practice "quick draws" with a fully loaded weapon, and chambered?

Thankfully, this was retained within the shooting community and the main press didn't run with it.

Geez, I practice "quick draw" in front of the mirror, and the gun had only been checked three times to ensure that it is safe.

On an aside through, I did break a mirror by "quick drawing" an HP 9mm and losting control of it... crash, glass everywhere.

Unloaded though and no mag. It didn't go bang as it went crash.

Wayne

[MCIWS]

My buddy from out of town was staying with me. He is trying for a federal law enforcement job and only knows the very basics about firearms. He asks if I can show him a few of my weapons and maybe teach him a few things.

I was extremely safe all day showing and teaching different rules and tactics, but later on that evening he went to use the restroom and I thought I would practice my trigger control.

The weapon was a Glock 26. I have Shearer grip extensions on all my mags, so I wanted to get the accurate feel and weight of my carry weapon. With the Glocks one must reset the trigger after each dry fire. After my first "Click," I reset my trigger by racking the slide. I JUST CHAMBERED A ROUND! I did not realize this though and a slow and steady squeeze was followed by a sharp BANG!

A single Corbon 115gr. JHP 9mm bullet made an awesome looking hole in our mirror. The mirror did not shatter. Only by the grace of God did the bullet hit a stud and stay in the sub-wall. I know what a bullet can do to dry wall, I was just very lucky. I immediatly called the police and asked them to come check on my neighbors because I live in an apartment complex.

I was suprisingly calm, but still a little worried. What if I had just killed my neighbors kid? How do you say you are sorry for something like that? "I was stupid and now your son is dead" just doesn't sound right.

Needless to say, no matter how profficient you think you are, the second you disrespect a firearm is the second someone could die. I carry almost everywhere concealed and my good ole' Glock has become part of my everyday attire just like my cell phone or wallet. I now am very cautious and RULE abiding no matter what.

Lesson learned!

[Mr. Chitlin]

Good reading. I had a ND when I was about 12 (now 47) and still remember it like it was yesterday. I was playing with a BB gun in the house and unknowingly loaded it. I popped one into the wall. Was home alone at the time, but when my parents came home, they saw it and grilled me. I have never forgotten that lesson on gun safety. It is my only one, and hopefully last.

We had a guy at our local IPSC match have an ND on a draw a few years ago. ND'd just as he cleared leather. Shot off his middle toe on his right foot.

[xmastree]

IPSC competition a few weeks ago. We all went to the fumble zone when we first arrived, to limber up and do some dry firing.

Me, click. Next guy, click. Next guy, BANG!
No magazine inserted but he didn't check the chamber first. Of course, it was downrange, and in an area designated for that, so he wasn't punished. None of us were wearing eye or ear protection though.

[kjm]

I never had one thank God, but I know I could have. Something like that would scare the bejezus out of me.

[fastforty]

Edward, it's a "PD" (Premature Discharge). It occassionally happens when pushing the envelope for speed, preloading the trigger as you aquire sight picture. You fully intend to shoot, it just happens a few nanoseconds before you would have liked it to. Negligence is only invloved if the gun goes of way prematurely, like before it clears leather, or before it is up to target level- that's pushing the envelope too hard, before the brain & body have worked up to it in synchrony.