Famous Firearm Follies

[Kodiac]

Go ahead - come to the firearm confessional... confess your sins and seek forgiveness.

We have all in our learning years made a big mistake with a gun. Lets get it out in the open and let the healing begin.

When I was 16, I had a .22 revolver - the Ruger Single Six I mentioned before. I had unloaded it, pointed it at my reflection... and blew a huge hole in my reflection. that hole looked like a fifty cal wound in my forehead. And the ROAR was DEAFINING!

Also while in the servive... I was fishing the links out of the reciever of a badly jammed M-60. Then suddenly the bolt slammed forward... loading my PINKY into the chamber. OUCH.

Then a month later I was in the field, and was handling an AT-4 Simulator, a Viper... Well thank heavens it was a simulator. I accidently fired a round... In LAZER LIGHT - that set of my PLATOON'S miles gear. I vertually killed my entire PLATOON. I still can not live that one down.

So go ahead and share your black moments. I FEEL YOUR PAIN.

 

[Bill Mitchell]

I pulled a Charter Arms AR-7 out of the gun cabinet for the first time in a couple of years and pointed it at a mirror. Thought about pulling the trigger,but I pulled the bolt back first. Out pops a .22 Long. Sweated
for awhile after that one.

Bill

 

[ShadedDude]

I have been very fortunate so far...
but a friend told me a story that fits here.

He had gotten home from the range, cleaned his 1911, put an empty clip in it, and leveled it at his stereo. He eye'ed his stereo for a moment, then droped to a trash can about 2 feet to the left. Then dry fired.
Imagin his shock when there was an extremely loud bang, and the trash can exploded! The bullet went throu the floor of his 2nd story room, blasted through the celing and stoped in a window frame, just short of making it out of the house.
I think that was the last time he ever dry fired a gun.

Shoot safe =)

 

[longhair]

early one sunday morning a bunch of us were
going rabbit hunting. i was going to use my
s&w 19a pump 12ga. this is the gun i leave by the bed, so i was removing all the buckshot out of it so i could put in my rabbit load.well, i "thought" i had removed all the rounds, jacked the slide to look in the chamber and didn't see anything. i pointed the gun at a door squeed the trigger to release the hammer and BOOM!!!. needless to say, i woke up the ol' lady, the dog was crawling low, and i was white as a sheet. still had one round of 000# buck in it. it went through the hall door to the front door,
and into the screen door. from then on i make sure i have good light am fully awake when i'm checking out a gun. if i wasn't awake before, i sure was then!!!!

 

[Kodiac]

Yup... the healing is going on. These things can happen to anyone. All it takes is a moment if unclear thought and BANG. Even combat veterans are not imune. BO GRITZ has victimized himself. Shot himself out in Idaho week before last. Last I heard the hospital would not confirm or deny as to his condition. Bo was a presidential candidate a few years back. He was also a Green Berret in the Army. These things can happen. Lets hear some more...

 

[Rich Lucibella]

There are two common reasons for ND's. Walt Marshall warns us against the "one more shot" syndrome in dry fire practice. longhair demonstrates the "looking" without seeing syndrome.

I've been guilty of both...did the mirror thing once and shot my kevlar dry fire target once. Here's some suggestions for prevention.

1) Solution to the "one more shot" syndrome:
Gunsite training includes the setup of a bucket for all loaded mags and bullets before dry fire. This is moved to another room. The weapon is rechecked and the dry fire target *then* goes up as a flag of "all safe" for training. (Gunsite sells a small kevlar practice target for this. Perhaps others do as well. Neat toy.) When done with practice, the dry fire target is stowed and we go and reload. No target is a mental reminder that we're hot.

2) The looking without seeing syndrome:
I had occasion a few years back to be alone with Col and Mrs Cooper in the Armory at their home. During conversation, Col Cooper casually pulled a bolt action rifle off the bench, opened the action, looked in and put his pinky into the breech end of the barrel. He then began to practice bolt cycling.

I never asked him why he put his finger in there; perhaps there was just a bit of dirt in the action. But I've taken to using this method when press checking a weapon to confirm unloaded. It's a good redundancy trick that forces the hand to *feel* what the mind thinks it *sees*.

Rich

 

[Kodiac]

That is a very good point Rich. "FEEL" the chamber.
This is why the Army has two proceedures on the Ranges.
1. is a cleaning rod inserted down the barrel, all the way to the bolt, which is locked back.

2. is a Clearing Barrel. Red Painted 55 Gal drum filled 2/3 with sand. Mounted on an angle, with a nice heavy lid. You simple clear the weapon then dry fire into the barrel. Once in awile there is a *POP* into the barrel... then we all know who is on KP for the rest of their lives.

Any FUNNY foul ups?

 

[4V50]

Never had an unintentional discharge, though my brother did once. Thought his rifle wasn't loaded. I heard a bang and ran into his room. He wore an expression of shock. Well, he never did that again.

My dumb act was trying to remove a sight off a rifle. Thought it was the drift type and was pounding on it while my friend held the rifle down. After several attempts, by the both of us, we decided something wasn't quite right. Sure enough, there was a screw which had to be removed first. After removing the screw, the sight fell right off. Did we feel dumb.

Rich, concerning Col. Cooper's finger sweep, I teach that to all shooters. "Visually and manually inspect the weapon." The latter came from the academy and as was explained to us, if you recover a firearm in a dark environment, secure it and make it safe (conditions permitting). Since it's dimly lit and you probably can't see the chamber, use the finger to sweep the chamber opening. What you can't see you can feel. Works then, works now.

[This message has been edited by 4V50 (edited 10-24-98).]

 

[Kodiac]

Just had an E-mail from a lurker who wished to remain a lurker...
He told me that he was at an informal shoot with a couple of buddies. All bragging about skill and accuracy.
The time to shoot came to him and in a brisk all in one motion drew forth his weapon and promtly ejected his hicap magazine into the gravel. To add insult to injury, the magazine unzipped every round into the air, in a brass fountain of riddicule.
LO_TECH... It is okay... We know...(pat on the back)

snicker

 

[longhair]

finger sweep, finger sweep, finger sweep,
i think i'll remember that from now on!

 

[ShadedDude]

Just found another one....

a Gunsmith friend of mine had built a XP101 style .308 pistol, bolt action...but it had this nifty electronic trigger...you put a 9v battery in it...push the little button...and BOOM. Worked very well, until one day when we was hunting in the rain....and it shorted.
He was sitting against a tree with the pistol across his lap. All of a sudden it went off. Scared the daylights out of him. He wasnt hurt, but man...the muzzle blast must bave been horrid.

Needless to say, he used the action to build a rifle for his wife.

 

[Rob Pincus]

Okay, I'll fess up.....

One day I was holding my G30 in my off-hand. dropped the loaded mag, got distracted by the phone and started walking around the room, talking to a buddy I hadn't talked to in a while. After about ten minutes of conversation , I was sitting on the couch with the gun in my hand. I was sitting next to the mag and *remembered* unloading the gun, I casually pulled the trigger without really aiming at anything (at the time, I was working on learning how to shoot with my off hand, I would regularly sit around practicing smooth trigger pulls. So needless to saw in this thread ..B-A-N-G.. My buddy says something like "damn, do you ever stop shooting?".. so I tried to play it cool and got off the phone, then I started thinking about it... funny thing was I would've expected my ears to ring like mad after a short barreled .45 Golden sabre shot inside a room, but I had no sensation except "damn, that was stupid!"... the round went with 2 inches of the DVD player and Dolby Reciever.

If any of you ever get to go backstage at the westbury music fair, the main dressing room has a hole that measures about 9 milimeters in the wall. At least it did, for years. It was left as a tribute to an Exec. protection buddy of mine who put a .380 into it, with his client 2 feet away. He swears it was the Mustang's fault and he bought a Sig P230 for his 380, I bought the mustang from him and love to remind him that I have not had any AD's with it..(yet?)

(he kept the job for years afterward...)

 

[GLV]

The reason Jeff 'felt' the chamber is the same reason every instructor teachs visual and physical inspection of the chamber -- lighting can fool anyone, and has. Jeff also shot his hot water heater once if memory serves me well. He has a neat gun room, and his library is nothing to be sneezed at either. As for me,The one last practice shot managed to put one thru a steel door, and dented a file cabinet ( 125 gr .357 ), and simulating weight+brain fart+stoppage drill put a 40S&W into the safe dry fire wall in basement. Sure was loud! The key to UDs is to have the gun pointed at something to contain the bullet safely. I even load the chamber into and old vest. GLV

 

[SKN]

To clarify Rich's post, ND = Negligent Discharge.

(From the pulpit, as a armed professional and absolutely NOT meaning to flame anyone):

FACT:
Only two ways a firearm discharges: #1 intentional, per four universal rules; or #2 shooter/operator error = negligence. Can you spell L-A-W-S-U-I-T ?

FACT:
There are two categories of shooters in the world, those that will have an ND and those that have. (Me, to date?; the ____er.

 

[Bubba]

As a youngster, I got a colt peacemaker .22 as a gift. Of course it REQUIRED a western quick draw holster. I had to become Mashall Dillon.

One draw was done with hands that were a bit moist. As I thumbed the hammer back, it slipped. The peacemaker had not yet cleared leather and was still pointed down my leg.

BANG.

I was a bit un-nerved but thought I was ok. Until I felt my right calf throbing a bit. Looked down and saw a one inch gash in my jeans. The round had bounced off my leg due to the angle. But it did tear up the jeans. I kept those jeans for many years as a reminder of how stupid I could be. Rule number 2 & Rule number 3 became firmly engrained into my behavior from that point on.

Bubba

[This message has been edited by Bubba (edited 11-02-98).]

 

[TABING]

There is nothing like an accidental discharge to make one check the chamber again and again and again. My stupid move involved a .308 with a 150 gr. hollow point out of an 18" barrel (Rem 788) out a window, I swear the hand of God must have come down and directed the round into the steel window frame, as it would have gone out to a city street. The bullet expanded quite nicely, with little pieces bouncing off everything and several bits of the copper jacket in my face. The noise was deafening to say the least. I was lucky.
I now keep a copy of Jeff Coopers 4 rules taped to my desk at work to remind me.

 

[cornered rat]

At least, with bolt action rifles, the bolt can come aout and the sights stay...can practice holding steady and aiming

 

[Jim V]

OK, I'll tell my stories:
I replaced the standard hammer on a 1911 with a Commander hammer. Worked the slide a whole bunch of times and everything worked just great. Locked the slide back, seated a magazine and released the slide stop---K-A-BOOM time. The hammer stayed back when the slide cycled. Anyway, the original hammer went back into the pistol.
------
No A/D or N/D with this one. I was back up with another officer on an alarm at the local high school. We found a door open and were going thru the building. I was in the Home Ec. class room and opened a door. Standing in side the door was a real ugly sumab****, I made a record time draw and was about to do something (I ain't sure what at this distance in time) when I realized I was looking at a mirror. It did one thing, I sure changed the way I opened doors on searches.

------------------
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum

 

[KNIGHT]

The single most frightening moment in my life was finding a Ruger single six in a drawer. I opened the loading gate and spun the cylinder, nothing in here I said to my self. Then I(not knowing much about guns at the time)spun it on my finger and played cowboy! I did a quick draw and cocked the hammer pulled the triger and BANG! The lone .22lr shell went off and missed a 4ftx3ft plate glass window by 1 inch!!! The window was right above a friend sleeping in a hamock. I have never just looked once after that. Please forgive my gross negligence.

[This message has been edited by KNIGHT (edited March 09, 1999).]

 

[jimmy]

This is not a folly of mine, but I was nearby. My brother and I had just returned to his apartment from the rifle range. He'd been shooting his SAA .357. He started cocking and uncocking the hammer just to try the action. Sure that it was unloaded, he hadn't checked it. He handed it to me. On instinct I opened the loading gate and clicked through the chambers. There was a lone, live .357 in one of them. We were pretty shocked, but not nearly so shocked as we could have been. The difference between safety and a terrible accident was just a little presence of mind.