Worst mistake during a training session.

[Firepower!]

Hi
What is the worst mistake you have made or have witnessed during a training session that you like to share with us so that we may be aware of pit falls out there?

I have seen quite a few. However, the most common I see is among novice shooters who dont seem to under 'point in safe direction' element of the safety advices. I have seen at least three people getting hurt because some idiot fails to listen to directions and squeezes trigger thinking the weapon is empty.

I will share more as we roll...
Regards.

 

[MTT TL]

Strange I just mentioned this in another thread.

- I saw a Turkish Officer shoot an M4 with a BFA still attached. Knocked that puppy down range about 20 meters.

- My biggest mistake? Fell asleep at the range awaiting my turn.

Somebody woke me up and I grabbed my rifle out of the rack in a hurry and range walked to the firing point. Could not hit squat. The rifle was reliably shooting too high and to the right. Very confusing since I had just zeroed the dam thing. Of course it was not my rifle I had grabbed in haste....

But you are probably talking about common mistakes not worst mistakes.

 

[SouthCali]

*witnessed* a fellow training mate barrel sweep us entire line of shooters

Oh and a guy do the gangster tilted gun fire LOL (during a training course i may add)

 

[Naterstein]

Watch a guy try to clear a jam by hitting the handgun on the bench, then he proceeded to sweep some of us for good measure.

 

[smince]

I didn't witness this, but it is pretty bad:

YAVAPAI COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
255 East Gurley Street
Prescott, Arizona 86301
Media Relations Office
(928)771-3275

May 6, 2010
Man Unintentionally Shot during Training Exercise
at Gunsite Academy
***
On May 02, 2010, at approximately 10:15 A.M., Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office
deputies were dispatched to the Gunsite Academy in Paulden, Arizona, to assist
Central Yavapai Fire Department (CYFD) with a shooting victim. Deputies learned that
a 50-year-old Florida man had been unintentionally shot during a routine training
exercise.

The training course, which began earlier in the week, involved the victim and three of
his colleagues. The prior evening, this group went through night shoot training and
was then provided instructions for the next days training scenarios. The Sunday training
included a live fire course involving various shoot/don’t shoot scenarios.

On Sunday, the victim had just completed his indoor shooting scenario and was
standing on a “catwalk” above the training area to observe his colleague. The next
student entered the room and fired two rounds into a target. As the student prepared to
engage the next target, he noticed a black silhouette in his field of view and fired a
round. The silhouette was actually his colleague who was watching the training
exercises from the “cat walk.” The “catwalk” area is designated by a red line and
students are told not to engage anything above the line. The round struck the man in
the abdomen. The round was a frangible bullet type used to avoid ricochets.
Gunsite instructors began first aid and notified CYFD, who in turn, contacted YCSO.

The victim was eventually transported by helicopter to John C. Lincoln Hospital for
treatment and surgery. His current condition is listed as good. No charges are expected
against the student.

Gunsite has fully cooperated with YCSO during the investigation. Gunsite Operations
Manager Ed Head said, “This is the first accident of this nature in Gunsite's 34 years of
business.”

http://www.co.yavapai.az.us/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=56208

 

[1911rocks]

Sighting In in IN

I saw an older gentleman several months back at Atterbury range in Edinburgh IN sighting in a Rem. 700 in 30-06on the 50yd line. It went like this.

1) fire round,
2) look through spotting scope
3) CHAMBER ROUND -NO SAFETY APPLIED
4) Point LOADED,COCKED weapon up toward Glacis Plate
5) Adjust Scope
6) Sweep line to Right of him
7) repeat from step 1

The first time I stated " Excuse me are you aware that you have a live round chambered and no safety on?" His reply " Yeah, it's okay" I stated " You just swept the firing line!" His comment was "I didn't have my finger on the trigger."

I left, after explaining to the RO the story. The gentleman in question was leaving, not on his own volition, just behind me...not a happy camper! This is another reason why we should reinstate the draft. Oh, the horror!!! I can see the 6 count MFs now with some DI screaming at you!!!! That's what happens when you leave a finger in a trigger guard!! NO it wasn't me!! I prefer others to make my mistakes for my learning pleasure!

 

[ranburr]

I have seen lots of things in CHL classes. There are many novice shooters and deer hunters vs serious shooters in those classes. I have seen very few issues in actual defensive training classes that I attend. The secret to not being subjected to a lot of craziness in training courses is don't attend basic courses (unless you are at that skill level). Just about all schools try to make you go through their basic course. Once you get to a certain level, anyone's basic course is a waste of your time and money. Most places can be talked into letting you into an advanced course, (especially with today's economy). Let them know what courses you have had, offer proof,and I always tell them that they can kick me out if I can't keep up. I have been through a lot of advanced courses and never been kicked out. Go to the advanced courses, size up your fellow students and decide who you want to be around during drills and you will probably never have an issue. Incidentally, you go to enough courses around the country and you will be surprised how many of the same people you will run into at classes.

 

[raimius]

(Not me)

Range has been called "cold" for about 5 minutes. A new group of shooters is brought up for dry fire. "Ready. Dry-fire." BANG!

That saying about the two loudest sounds in the world...it's true!

 

[Skans]

I dropped a gun out of my gun bag once in front of a training instructor - it wasn't loaded. Other than that, I have a Ruger Mark II that, unknown to me at the time, fired only intermitently when it got real dirty. I'd press the trigger....nothign happens....press it again....nothing....again....nothing....then rappidly tapping on the trigger in frustration......BANG! By then I really wasn't expecting it to fire - glad it was just a .22.

 

[EdInk]

Not really firearm related but still training.....

Judo: I had my collar bone broken by a big fat guy who I was practicing throws with, rather than letting go he held on to me land on my clavicle.

Jiu-Jitsu: Had in newer guy in a triangle choke. Couldn't get out rather than tap, he stood up and spiked me on my neck. Had to wear a trauma collar for week and my neck is all messed up around the C4 and C5 points.

Firearms.... I've seen people get muzzle swept sometimes but that is about it.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Let's see... back around 1999 or so, I took a class at the Texas Pistol Academy (my first formal Gunsite-like class) and saw probably the two biggest mistakes I've personally seen in about 10 years of taking training classes.

The first one was me personally . We were packing up for lunch and the instructor asked me a question about my pistol (unloaded at that point). I took the pistol out of the holster and basically pointed the muzzle right at him in the course of discussing the pistol. He was particularly gracious about it and did nothing more than take my arm and pull me forward in front of him and onto the firing line while giving me the "Are you really that retarded?" look?

The second one was during dryfire practice. A local newspaper guy was there learning about pistols. He had a Glock. The instructor explained how to reset the striker on the Glock in order to dryfire it. Attempting to reset the striker, the guy chambered a round and fired it during dryfire. Luckily noone was injured because we were following all of the other safety rules - just a little ear-ringing.

Those are really the only two major safety issues I can think of in formal classes that I've taken - now if you add informal range time or just general oops like "Went to firing line with magazine not properly seated in rifle and no magazine in pistol" - then I've seen dozens of those types of mistakes.

 

[JonnyP]

I had recently purchased a new Sig P226R. Went to the range to check the sights and get a feel for it. Had an oops.

I had already fired a couple of mags worth and loaded a fresh magazine full of rounds. The hammer was still cocked in SA mode. Kind of tough to explain, but after I loaded the mag into the gun and moved my left hand from the butt to the gun, I sort of pushed my arms forward subconsciously in an effort to adjust the sleeves on my jacket. I'm sure we've all done this many times (think of washing your hands with your jacket on).

As I did this, I unintentionally pulled the trigger. The trigger on this Sig is very light in SA, so it didn't take much pressure to fire a round. The bullet went down range but up at about a 30 degree angle from horizontal. Scared the crap out of me...and got me to thinking.

I immediately thought "cease your actions," dropped the magazine, cleared the chamber, put the gun down, and analyzed what just happened. It's amazing how much more attention I pay to the four rules since this incident. In a way I'm glad it happened. I am extremely trigger conscious now.

My kids aften laugh at me because I'm so "standard operating procedure" as they say. The fact that this kind of thing happened to me, well, just means it can happen to anybody.

I have definitely learned from my mistake...

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I was at Thunder Ranch when the bozo next to me fired a round off during dryfire drills that had been going on for several minutes. Clint Smith was lecturing at the time while we were going through the drills and was quite ****** at the student whom he politely referred to as "numbnuts" and an "idiot" with detailed descriptions of why that student was qualified as such.

I was in a class with Ken Hackathorn when I watched a student being timed on his draw discharged a round not 12" from his foot.

I have seen numerous instances of shooters scanning their fellow students and instructors..

 

[Mike1]

Several years ago I was instructing a young shooter on firing a 1911. A guy pulling into the parking area hit and knocked over a trash barrel, causing me and just about everyone else to turn around and look. Unfortunately the fellow I was with also turned around, sweeping the entire line with a loaded 45 with the safety off.

Not pointing the gun at anything he didn't want to shoot was something I had emphasized several times prior to his shooting. Obviously it did not sink in. And my being distracted did not help any either.

 

[Shane Tuttle]

I'll stick my neck out there and tell a story about my foul-up.

My wife and I were in Michigan attending one of Randy Cain's courses. He's a disciple of Gunsite and has been trained by the, IMO, best there is. Cooper, Awerbuck, Tarani, etc. We were lined up shoulder to shoulder facing our target. The drill was to draw our firearm and execute firing at the target while moving towards it. Earlier, he was instructing us to be mindful of ones next to us and to stay even so no one steps in front of the now moving firing line. OK, no problem....except for my holster....

My holster for my XD was finished just in time by KD Holsters to take with me. I spent quite a bit of time to try and break it in as much as I could in the short time I had. Unfortunately, when I drew, my gun stuck in the holster while we were executing the said exercise. It wouldn't have been so bad but instead of moving with the line, I stopped and fiddled with getting it out. On top of that, I failed to make sure the magazine was seated when changing it out earlier. It fell out as I finally retrieved my gun out of the holster. Instead of keeping at low ready (not even safe since the line was forward of me at the time anyway) I had the gun pointing at an angle towards my left as I reached for a spare magazine on the left side of my belt. Keep in mind that the gun had one in the chamber, too. I swept fellow class members and placed them in immediate danger due to negligence of my surroundings and firearms safety. Randy ripped me up one side and down the other. It was extremely embarrassing and I deserved every bit of the chewing I received.

I've since learned my lesson and haven't so much as even think of doing that again but have, to this day, never truly forgiven myself. I've accepted the fact I probably won't and use it as a tool to prevent the same incident to happen again.

 

[Lokpyrite]

During basic training we had a bolt for an M16 stop working. The senior drill sgt
took the bolt out and tried to fix it with a flat head screw driver, well the screwdriver slipped and went through his hand, the tough bastardjust handed it off and walked away cool as you please.

 

[steveracer]

I had a female NCIS agent

point her loaded MP-5K right at my face.
we were doing a qualification shoot with them, and there was yet another of MANY malfunctions with the weapons, and she looked down at hers, turned it to look into the chamber, and pointed it right at my face. I tackled her, took her piece-of-crap MP-5 away, and sent her home unqualified.

 

[markj]

This is why I shoot at home, people with loaded guns kinda scare me, never know if they are adept or not. Was shot once, dont want to go thru that again due to something like these accidents posted here.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Saw a student come out of the restroom and walk right into a spinning heal kick. Knocked flat on the ground. His mind was NOT in class, yet is body was.

Shooting? Saw a guy have his 12 guage pump get a stuck round during a house clearing exercise. He kept trying to unstick it and it went off in the floor. Thankfully his feet were not in the way of the muzzle.

 

[Crosshair]

I let a new shooter shoot my .357 that had weak springs and would frequently misfire. He wasn't counting his rounds, fired 4, thought the gun was empty, put the revolver down next to his side and, while turned and talking with me, pulled the trigger. The 6th shot was not a misfire.

Thankfully all it did was put a hole in the gravel road.