Chicken defense mishap

[dayman]

So, I had an unusual learning experience the other day.

How it all started was that a fox got one of my chickens. I heard the commotion, and came out of the house in time to scare him off, but not before he mortally wounded one of the hens. As he wounds necessitated putting her down, and the only gun I had on me was my EDC .380 I used that.

After doing the deed, went back into the house, unloaded my gun, checked it for chicken debris, and refilled the mag.
At this point I should probably say that my BG380 does not seem to like being carried +1. I do carry it with one in the tube, but if I top the mag off it takes a lot of force to get it back into the gun, so I don't.
What I forgot to do - after refilling the mag - was to rack one into the tube.
About an hour later when I was out grilling dinner I heard a commotion at the hen house again, and ran over to find the fox was in the process of hauling off another chicken.
He was busy enough with the hens that I got within probably 5 yards, drew my .380, thumbed of the safety lined my sights up and *click*.
I figured out what had happened pretty quickly, but by the time I racked one into the chamber he had taken off. Sadly I'm not a good enough shot to hit a running fox with a pocket pistol, so I had to let him go.

Now, this wasn't that big of a deal. I'm sure I'll have plenty more chances at El Foxy, but it made me think.
Had it been an attacker running at me instead of a fox running away things could have worked out pretty disastrously.

Now I'm not trying to start another "discussion" about Israeli carry, but it did remind me how important it is to be consistent. Had I been anticipating racking the slide, I could have done it pretty easily, but hearing that "click" with all the adrenaline in my system was disconcerting, and a little confusing.
It made me realize that it's bad practice to carry different guns different ways - just one more thing to try to remember when you're mind isn't working it's best.

 

[SW40F]

Thank you for sharing this experience. Food for thought, indeed.

 

[Crow Hunter]

but it did remind me how important it is to be consistent

Very true.

Good example of why we should train to do the same thing every time.

When I load any automatic, I go through the same motions every time.

Insert mag
Tap
Rack

I press check before holstering or putting the gun up loaded. (There loaded guns scattered throughout my house)

I also do failure drills with dummy rounds at least 3 times every time I go out and shoot where I mix them in. If I get a click, instead of a bang, I immediately Tap & Rack without even thinking about it.

 

[LarryFlew]

+1 on the press check every time you holster or pocket.

Just as I check every gun I pick up to make sure it is empty, even if I checked it an hour ago.

 

[iamdb]

Solid advice crow. One should practice failure drills regularly.

 

[Mrgunsngear]

Stories like these are always great reminders. All of us, regardless of experience, are capable of making the same mistake.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[mes228]

Loaded

I work gun shows and recently met an FBI Agent. He had an empty holster with no pistol. In our conversation I happened to ask why he didn't bring the pistol in to the show. He made an interesting comment. Paraphrasing he said "it's loaded and left in the car. I never, ever unload a pistol unless for cleaning. If I pick up any of my pistols I know it's loaded and ready to go. I think it's a very bad habit to load and unload a pistol. Someday you may forget and have an accidental discharge. Or need it and find you forgot to load it. All my pistols are always loaded.". I thought it interesting. Don't know if this is something the FBI teaches or just a personal quirk he had.

 

[tulsamal]

All my pistols are always loaded."

Spoken like an LEO. So if you have 50 handguns, some of them you only shoot once every five years, you going to keep them all loaded all the time?!

I keep my CCW handgun loaded 24/7. And the little pushbutton handgun safe by the bed has three loaded handguns in it. There are two other sort of "deep cover" pistols stashed away with loaded mags in them but all the other handguns are part of the collection and don't have any ammo anywhere around them. If things get that out of control.... I'm moving into the rifles and shotguns!!

Gregg

 

[bedbugbilly]

Thanks for sharing . . all I can say is that it's a doggone good thing that fox wasn't armed . . . .

 

[AndyWest]

I keep guns in different states depending on how I'd intuitively use them in bad circumstances. My current nightstand gun is a chambered P226 and my light carry is a chambered LCP. "Oh s**t" and pull.

I keep unchambered guns in my car and living area where I'm less likely to need an immediate boom.

 

[Dashunde]

Good points and well said.

 

[a7mmnut]

Forget the guns. I'd put a trail cam up to find the right spots and trap the whole area. Dead chickens make ideal bait.

-7-

 

[huh]

I always carry plus one that way if I end up with a extra bullet rolling around I know I forgot something

 

[huh]

Deleted

 

[richardcorey]

There are at least 8 or 10 ways to carry and put away your auto pistol, and I agree with what Dayman is saying. No matter what YOU do, I might do a different way, but what matters is that we each follow OUR OWN rule, and that rule makes it work for me in my way, and you in your way, kind of making a habit of what works. And Dayman, welcome to the Human race, we all do things that we later say "Why did I.....??" Part of life, right?

 

[James K]

Also, IMHO, a good argument for carrying ONE gun (or one gun type). Some folks delight in explaining that THEY carry ten or more different guns at different times, and THEY could never get confused, but I always wonder if it is much fun to die pulling the trigger on a cocked and locked 1911 because you thought it was a Glock.

Jim

 

[LarryFlew]

It is the main reason I sold the only decocker I had. Really liked the gun (CZ PCR) but out of 9 pistols it was the only one not carried cocked and locked. Replaced with a Canick 100C which is basically the same alloy gun but with a safety.

 

[dayman]

I think the OP only unloaded his pistol to check for chicken carcass debris. He just forgot to rack the slide after he loaded the magazine.

Exactly - I have this thing where I don't like peering down the barrel of a loaded gun.
At this point I always carry with one in the tube. I didn't like carrying "cocked and locked" so as apposed to "Israeli carry" I just don't carry a 1911 any more.
But like I said, that's beside the point. I had more than enough time to rack the slide while I was running over there had I known that I had to.
I don't know if it was the heat, or the stress over dealing with a wounded animal, but there was a definite break in my routine.
I made the intentional switch to all DAO (or whatever the PPQ is) specifically to make sure I always do the same thing when I shoot, but that does precious little good when you neglect part of the preparation.
SO that was my big take away - double check to make sure everything is as you want it.

 

[HKFan9]

I opened this thread trying to find out exactly what predicament you found yourself in when you had to fire upon and ravenous and blood thirsty chicken.... only to my disappointment.. that this was not the case.

I carry condition 1, but i have lots of firearms at the house I keep unloaded. Generally my carry gun and my AR are used for HD as well so they stay loaded.

 

[BRE346]

Good viewpoints here, especially about consistency.

I learned about and decided to carry one in the chamber and safety on (Condition One) before I ever got a gun with a decocker. I believe that would be a good option for a hammer-fired piece. And then there are the revolvers and we face different options. As we advance from model to model we bring our training and habits along and apply them to that new firearm.

Interesting.