OT - Gun rules

R

richardallen

Joined
Oct 15, 2002
Messages
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A gun is always loaded - this one seems to be the best one ever.

I had forgotten it - very late at night, tired as hell, I decided to fire some more shots with my airgun. Forgot it was previously loaded. Now I know that target bullets are not able to go in deep, only about a couple of millimeters into the skin :( still hurts like a beatch.

I am lucky I didn't load it with hunting bullets, would've caused some damage. I know it's only an airgun, but still, I am embarrased that I'd forgotten this simple rule. The bullet is now taped to my door so I will see it every day and remember the rules.

Just thought it might be a good idea to share it, it's just a reminder for those who might forget about it.

Go ahead now, call me stupid :rolleyes:

Keno
 
I've done worse, and late at night too. Never when you're tired, Richard. I'll always remember confessing my own gun lapses on the HR and having a few smart cookies weigh in and tell me what an idiot I was. They seemed to do it to make themselves feel better.


munk
 
I remember someone telling me that if you handle guns long enough, you are going to have an accidental discharge. The only thing you can do is try to control the direction. Unfortunately the advice came too late for me. Just be glad that it was an air gun and not a .45acp.
 
I've done worse too. You know how on Glocks you have to pull the trigger to release the slide for cleaning....yup, a round was still in the chamber. :eek: Fortunately I was in the basement and no one was home. The gun was pointed in a safe direction, but I was mortified by my error. It took several weeks before I could even bear to touch the gun again. I had thought that I was always so careful with firearms. What a lesson.

Anyway, it could have been worse and you can learn from the experience.

Jeff
 
Everybody's done it, or they will, glad to hear you weren't badly hurt. Sounds like you also need to follow the whole safe direction thing too. The 4 rules are redundant for a reason. You can get away with breaking one and sometimes more, but after that it starts to hurt or worse... Let's be careful out there.

Edit: I'll come clean with my 3 negligent discharges:
1. Perhaps 10 years old, single-shot .22 rifle out on the farm. Let the bolt slip down when loading, it either slam-fired or I had my other hand on the trigger. Right into the ground. My dad was right next to me and I shudder to think that I may have been close to his feet or worse at times that day, since I wasn't in the gun culture then and didn't explicitly know the rules.
2. 21 years old, first 1911, first trip to the range with it. Fired a couple shots, then pull the trigger and got nothing. While examining it I ended up firing a shot at a 45 degree angle into the baffle above the range, that gets your attention. I don't know if it was the new unsmooth internals, or not getting the grip safety in the right spot, but I was pulling the trigger and Hey whaddya know it eventually fired. Not in a safe direction either, but this dummy is saved by good range design.
3. First IPSC match shooting a revolver. At the end of a stage I had to reload for the final 2 shots. I was out of speedloaders and loading by hand, so I put in only 2 rounds. As I closed the cylinder I saw the rounds I put in were right next to the chamber, so I thought I would have to dry fire 3 times before getting to a live round. Wrong, the cylinder rotates the other way. The bullet goes right into the berm.
What's the common thread here? Unfamiliarity and fingers on the trigger/unconscious pulling the trigger. Following the other rules saved any pain. Now besides the rules, when I work with a new firearm I go over every bit of operation, not afraid to ask questions, and I don't try to learn it during a match.
 
hum, safe direction. I know that one. I just think that 'A gun is always loaded' is the most basic one - you don't 'play' with loaded guns. which was my mistake. and probably the time [late night] as well - which is still no excuse, but an explanation.

oh well, I hope this was the last bullet that I took.

regards, Keno
 
Lucky is indeed a better word, however I bet you won't make that mistake again huh??




James
 
Glad the accident was not worse. It is something that may happen if you handle guns - and is a valuable reminder. I like the idea of taping the bullet to the door.

It does not really fit the serious topic but
we had a shooting accident last week too.
with a recurve bow...
The archer (a 17 year old boy) wanted to test if he could shoot while kneeling in front of the target. He used a 70" 35lbs bow - so he nocks the arrow, draws, aims, releases the string and falls over on his back holding his balls. As you can imagine the bow got longer (to the full 70") after release. the lower limb hit the dirt and bounced back - right where it hurt... :rolleyes:

Andreas
 
Richard:

Everybody needs some reminding; thanks for having the guts to post your experience, and I'm very glad that no one got seriously hurt.

Noah
 
I would add one more rule...

You cannot bluff with a firearm...if you pull it out, you can either be prepared to use it or you can hand it over.

Don't pull it until you have to, but when you do, be committed to doing so (even if you get lucky and don't have to).

.
 
Only fools brandish a weapon. Nasty is right. With serious people, you may never even know they have access to a firearm.



munk
 
I've been rather fortunate here. No negligent discharges yet but one close call that I remember very well - during a qualification shoot, I neglected to safe my weapon prior to holstering. I was very surprised to find the safety off and hammer back upon drawing for the next string. Following the other rules is what saved my bacon. Still, had something gotten into the trigger guard during the pistol's journey to its holster I would've had a bit of a limp and a lot of embarrassment.

There's never any harm in admitting a mistake if you learn from it, Keno. I'm very glad to hear that you weren't seriously injured. Some airguns are incredibly powerful.

Somewhat off topic, but I recently got into airgunning - what kind of airgun were you shooting?
 
To this day, there is a .22 cal. hole in my Mother's kitchen ceiling. I had been squirrel hunting with a Model 550 Remington; tube feed. I emptied the tube, worked the bolt, & thought the rifle was empty. I thought wrong. My dad was sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee & asked me if the rifle was empty. I said "yes." He flipped the safety off, pointed that rifle straight up & pulled the trigger. It fired. I was 11 years old. Both of them have been gone a long time, but to this day that hole is still there. He would not repair it. He never said a word about that, just told me to climb up in the attic & see if the bullet had gone through the roof. Fortunately, it dead centered a rafter & stopped. I still squirrel hunt & sometimes I carry that rifle, but I have never let that happen again. Tubular magazines have a tendency to do that sometimes & probably the fact that I had the rifle loaded with .22 shorts didn't help. For the past 43 years, I have stayed really leery of tube-fed .22's & over the years have heard several similiar stories; fortunately none where anyone was hurt. After I was grown, he used to kid me about that hole in the ceiling, but he refused to cover it or let me.

After I was out of college & working, my dad told me one time that the reason he didn't need to say anything to me was it was something he knew I would never forget. It seems that right after he married my Mother, in 1946, he was teaching my mother to load & unload a 1911 Colt. He dropped the magazine out, & he said just completely forgot to check the chamber. He says his mind was out of gear & he was talking to mama. Anyway, with the magazine out, & the pistol supposedly empty, he cocked the hammer, raised the pistol & sighted on the thermostat on the wall. He said he about crapped in his pants when he squeezed that trigger & that thermostat jumped off the wall. That ended that little teaching session for the night. He never forgot it & neither did my mama. She went on to become a fair pistol & revolver shot herself, but that incident did for her what the Remington 550 did for me.
 
Just be glad that it was an air gun and not a .45acp.
Click to expand...

Speaking of ADs, my first AD was an old Essex 1911.
It went through the wall and into my parents closet.

My second was from a Makarov. It went through the couch, the wall and hit the High G on our piano.

I love guns but now I know that love is not enough. You must RESPECT WEAPONS.
If you dont respect weapons, they will kill you or your loved ones.
 
I'd bobbed the grip frame on a Ruger 45 Colt SA with a 4 5/8" barrel. It was SS so I could refinish it fine and you wouldn't know it was cut. I sanded the grips I'd custom made for it, as regular grips would no longer work.

The trouble was the gun was used for night protection. It was late, and I was tired. I'd already filled the chambers but then decided one more quick pull on the trigger. I wanted to see how the day's light sanding affected the balance. Back in those days I was always handling SA's, and the more I did, the better I shot. Anyway, the Lyman Case tumbler I'd aimed at had a hole in it. The slug went into the wall and stopped in the plaster. It was a light load- perhaps 900 fps with a 250 gr bullet.

I ran to my wife to tell her it was OK. She wasn't alarmed; she'd assumed a primer had gone off instead.

The real trouble was this was a bad neighborhood in Fontana Ca. My window was open to the wall and alley between our house and a burger joint and mini mall. The sound echoed off the walls in the still hot summer air. One of those quiet nights. I wisely turned off the house lights. Sure enough, a patrol car stopped across the street. I was afraid they'd knock on my door. Instead, they went into the alley. Must be the neighbor who reported the shot thought it came from there, as there was always a lot of punk kids hanging around.

My late great gunsmith friend had a hole in his ceiling. One of his friends let one go by mistake one evening. It happens. That's one very good reason why muzzle control is so important.

I've done a few other stupid things, but no accidental discharge like that again.
I decided my landlord, who was also the owner of the gun store I managed, would not appreciate a bullet hole in one of his walls. There was some crayony type repair filler I found that perfectly matched the wall paper. I don't think anyone will ever find that bullet.

munk
 
mistake:

Never, EVER, let a newbie to guns work the action on a Winchester 97 with the exposed hammer safety cock, no matter how many times you have shown him how to do it.

Never.

We arrived with 8 legs in the group, and almost left with 7.5 legs.
 
The good thing about the safety rules:
treat guns as if loaded,
never point at anything you're unwilling to shoot,
keep your finger out of the trigger guard until ready to fire, etc...
is that, all the rest will keep you safe if you just forget one.

It's been, oh, 16 years ago, I reckon. I had just come back from hunting with my dad's Rem 700 .270, which I had only used a couple of times. I should have unloaded before getting into the car to come home...

Anyway, while sitting on the living room sofa, I worked the bolt until rounds stopped coming out. I couldn't see into the chamber because of where the scope was mounted. I should have physically checked by sliding a finger into the chamber to see if there was still a round there.

Instead I put a 130-grain Remington SP through the ceiling. Since it was pointed in a safe direction, a little patchwork fixed everything but my pride.

Good lesson, though. I haven't had an ND since.

John
 
Satori, it was a Webley&Scott Black Nemesis, cal. .177 [4,5mm]. Nice pistol, it has almost no recoil. you have to load it each time though, it works via a cylinder which gets compressed every time you load it (most airguns use springs as far as I recall). Pretty accurate.

Pan Tau - here's one for you - when I was a kid, we always used to built bows and arrows - like every boy I guess. One day, I decided to find out if I could still fire a broken arrow. It was resting on my hand, and it seems I pulled to far or something, to this day I haven't found out how it happened: instead of going straight forward, to broken arrow decided to go straight in to my hand, right next to the metacarpal bone of my index finger. I never told my parents, but I couldn't use that hand properly for about 2 weeks. btw, you guys are not wearing any cups (tiefschutz) while doing archery, do you ;)

Keno
 
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