Mistakes hurt

[doh_312]

My XD40 shoulder hoslter was very uncomfortable last time I wore it, must be from all that time at the gym.

Last night I decided to adjust the holster. The wife was out, I was home alone so I put on a firearm movie, Targets (gave me the heebie jeebies) and poured a nice glass of ice cold Crown.

Before I had a drop of alcohol I unloaded the firearm, double checked, then placed it in the holster so I get a good feel with it. I watched the movie and played with the holster and enjoyed the drink. I had a magazine in the firearm for proper weight distribution.

After the movie I went to put the firearm away. I reached to draw the weapon and instead of hiting the thumb break, I hit the mag release. The full magazine dropped square on my bare toes. Dang that smarts. Even an unloaded weapon is dangerous if you have a drink.

 

[Onward Allusion]

When I used to drink, I made it a point to not have a single alcohol drink whenever I handle firearms. Too much can go wrong... Glad you weren't seriously hurt...

 

[Bart Noir]

Hmmm, I'm starting to see where you got your forum name

Bart Noir
Who simply cannot help seeing Homer S. at this point.

 

[doh_312]

That was not my intention when I chose the name. It's simply part of my name mixed with the random numbers. But that is rather ironic now that I think of it.

 

[Mal H]

The full magazine dropped ...

Hold on a second there! By "full" do you mean full of ammo? If so, you are about to be chastised by many, many members here, and rightly so. When you unload a firearm it means completely unloaded, no ammo in it anywhere. In fact, it's best to not even have any ammo in the same room if you are dry firing or practicing drawing.

If you mean something else by "full", please explain.

 

[CWPinSC]

Drinking and playing with guns - As Ron White says - "You can't fix STUPID!" I'm glad you learned your lesson (I hope) with only a sore toe. You had enough Crown so that you couldn't even grip the gun properly. Your last statement, "Even an unloaded weapon is dangerous if you have a drink." Is not correct. The weapon was NOT unloaded by any means. If you had absent-mindedly racked the slide, you'd have had a live weapon in your alcohol-infused hand. I refer readers to my first statement.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Try explaining to a policeman at a traffic stop how your fully-loaded magazine inserted into the weapon does not make the weapon loaded! What you actually did was have a loaded but unchambered firearm on your person while drinking.

 

[Jbar4Ranch]

Try explaining to a policeman at a traffic stop how your fully-loaded magazine inserted into the weapon does not make the weapon loaded!

It's a traffic stop, why would he care if my firearm is loaded or not??

 

[Evan Thomas]

It's a traffic stop, why would he care if my firearm is loaded or not??

Because in many states, it's legal for someone who doesn't have a carry permit to carry a firearm in a vehicle only if it is unloaded and cased, usually in the trunk or otherwise out of reach, with any ammunition stored separately.

The officer may ask, "Do you have any weapons in your vehicle?" Now you say, "Yes, officer, I have an unloaded pistol in a case in the trunk." If he asks to see it (which he might, and I don't want to start an argument about whether he should), you are, realistically, going to comply.

If he finds a loaded magazine in the pistol, it's not unloaded, and you're potentially in quite a lot of trouble. (Think "felony" here.)

Not a fun date...

 

[FiveForSure]

The full magazine dropped square on my bare toes. Dang that smarts. Even an unloaded weapon is dangerous if you have a drink.

I think the $64,000 question here is: Which one of these is the truth? Bullets in the magazine, OR unloaded gun?

 

[KingEdward]

if this is how you handle firearms when home alone,

then you are fortunate to just have sore toes.

 

[Mal H]

He hasn't returned to TFL since his post on Friday the 21st. Let's not start piling on until he has a chance to clarify the statement. This is an educational opportunity - either for him concerning when a firearm is truly unloaded, or for us concerning a new definition of "full". If something drops "full" on your foot, it can also mean it dropped squarely on your foot as opposed to a glancing drop. So let's hang on a bit.

 

[doh_312]

Sorry, I meant full as in the full weight of the magazine hit square on my toe. The thing dropped straight down with out rotation, so the whole weight hit my toe, not like just half the mag on my toe with the other half on the carpet.

And it had snap caps in the magazine to try and get the proper weight distribution for the holster testing. Magazine was loaded with dummy rounds, chamber was empty. I consider an unloaded gun to be completely empty of live amo in feeding chamber or firing chamber.

Snap caps do not weigh as much as real rounds but they add enough weight to a magazine to make it hiting your toe hurt all the more.

 

[CWPinSC]

If that's the case, my apologies. I'm sure you can understand how your original post could be misinterpreted.

Still: drinking and handling firearms is a no-no.

 

[fyimo]

I guess your point is don't play with any gun when you have been drinking even an empty one. Got it and knew it before.

 

[Mal H]

Thanks for clearing that up, doh_312. It had us worried.

 

[armoredman]

There was a company making blue dummy mags, filled with sand, that locked in like real mags to use for mag change practice, that might be a good idea. That and shoes...

 

[imthegrumpyone]

 

[Jbar4Ranch]

It's a traffic stop, why would he care if my firearm is loaded or not??

Because in many states, it's legal for someone who doesn't have a carry permit to carry a firearm in a vehicle only if it is unloaded and cased, usually in the trunk or otherwise out of reach, with any ammunition stored separately.

The officer may ask, "Do you have any weapons in your vehicle?" Now you say, "Yes, officer, I have an unloaded pistol in a case in the trunk." If he asks to see it (which he might, and I don't want to start an argument about whether he should), you are, realistically, going to comply.

If he finds a loaded magazine in the pistol, it's not unloaded, and you're potentially in quite a lot of trouble. (Think "felony" here.)

Not a fun date...

Good Lord, I really gotta get out more and learn what the hell is going on outside of the free states.

 

[berettaprofessor]

And it had snap caps in the magazine to try and get the proper weight distribution for the holster testing. Magazine was loaded with dummy rounds, chamber was empty. I consider an unloaded gun to be completely empty of live amo in feeding chamber or firing chamber.

I'll take your statement that they weren't live rounds, but I wouldn't have said snap caps= dummy round. I think of dummy rounds as bullet inserted in casing/no powder/no primer....much closer on weight than a snap cap.

It's the last part of your statement that still has me a little worried. By a "feeding chamber" are you referring to the magazine?