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Henry lever action negligent discharge

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misswired

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After Walking out the door for a squirrel hunt, loaded the rifle( Henry 22 lever action) ...then propped it in a chair while I retrieved some forgotten weather gear.

While slipping on gear I bumped the chair....rifle slid down between the cushion and arm rest striking the concrete porch floor butt first.... bang!!!

I heard the bullet whistle as it passed my ear....
My Dad said that would've been an unsolved suicide...head shot with own rifle by himself.... and friends/family never had a clue.

I now know what half-cock is for.
 
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misswired said:
After Walking out the door for a squirrel hunt, loaded the rifle( Henry 22 lever action) ...then propped it in a chair while I retrieved somue forgotten weather gear.

While slipping on gear I bumped the chair....rifle slid down between the cushion and arm rest striking the concrete porch floor butt first.... bang!!!

I heard the bullet whistle as it passed my ear....
My Dad said that would've been an unsolved suicide...head shot with own rifle by himself.... and friends/family never had a clue.

I now know what half-cock is for.
Click to expand...

No, that is what an empty chamber is for, never chamber a round until in the field or at the range.
 
22 shells have a propensity for going off on hard impact. I have had 22 rounds go off when accidently dropped on my tile kitchen floor. Are you sure that it was the gun and not the ammo?
 
What position was the hammer in when you placed it in the chair?
 
Maybe it's the result of a small sample size, but every ND that I have had reason to investigate, in which the trigger was not pulled, happened exactly the same way.

Firearm with chambered round, and hammer at rest, falls muzzle first onto a hard surface, inertia causes the hammer to partially, but not fully or half cock, then hammer falls igniting round.

Guess pretty much the same physics butt first.

Yes, that is what half cock is for, esp. when moving in terrain after loading chamber and or firing.

Glad you are ok.
 
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This is one of the reasons I never liked lever action rifles for youngsters. levering live rounds into the chamber in order to unload the rifle.

The only ND I ever had was once when my brother and I were hunting deer. We came back near camp, and there was a pack of wild dogs in the yard. We fired several shots, me with a Winchester model 94. When we were done shooting, I had the muzzle of the rifle pointing skyward, when I closed the lever and apparently had my finger inside or along side the trigger. Fortunately the muzzle was pointed in the air. Scared the beegezzus out of me.
 
TomkinsSP said:
Maybe it's the result of a small sample size, but every ND that I have had reason to investigate, in which the trigger was not pulled, happened exactly the same way.

Firearm with chambered round, and hammer at rest, falls muzzle first onto a hard surface, inertia causes the hammer to partially, but not fully or half cock, then hammer falls igniting round.

Guess pretty much the same physics butt first.

Yes, that is what half cock is for, esp. when moving in terrain after loading chamber and or firing.

Glad you are ok.
Click to expand...

Exactly... hammer was resting on a live round.
 
misswired said:
Loading in the field??? Dozen steps off the porch and I'm in the woods...
It was ignorant negligence at its best..
Click to expand...
I guess the point is to wait until you're going to be holding the rifle before chambering the first round. This can be done as soon as your feet hit the ground at the bottom of the porch steps.

I'm glad you're OK. That was a really close call.

raljr1 said:
This is one of the reasons I never liked lever action rifles for youngsters. levering live rounds into the chamber in order to unload the rifle.
Click to expand...
Absolutely no reason to chamber a round to unload the gun. Open the lever (takes any live round out of the chamber) and then remove the magazine tube and dump the other rounds into your hand. Easy and safe.
 
Rastoff said:
I guess the point is to wait until you're going to be holding the rifle before chambering the first round. This can be done as soon as your feet hit the ground at the bottom of the porch steps.

I'm glad you're OK. That was a really close call.
Click to expand...
^^^THIS^^^
 
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Thanks for letting us know....

It's good to know just WHAT can happen. I'd want to understand what went wrong. And I would talk to Henry. I wonder if it's a characteristic of ALL Henry rifles or all .22s or just your rifle.
 
Linejudgemick said:
We are all people and prone to mistakes. You've supplied a lesson for us all and I'm glad no one was hurt.
Click to expand...

Off the topic of lever action rifles, but feel need to respond about ND. Glock pistols require you pull trigger to field strip for cleaning. We had an ND at the range (outdoor) during qualification when an officer forgot to check for live sound in chamber after removing magazine during cleaning. Fortunately no one was hurt. A negative about Glocks and one of requirements for military contract is you don't have that feature.
 
misswired said:
After Walking out the door for a squirrel hunt, loaded the rifle( Henry 22 lever action) ...then propped it in a chair while I retrieved some forgotten weather gear.

While slipping on gear I bumped the chair....rifle slid down between the cushion and arm rest striking the concrete porch floor butt first.... bang!!!

I heard the bullet whistle as it passed my ear....
My Dad said that would've been an unsolved suicide...head shot with own rifle by himself.... and friends/family never had a clue.

I now know what half-cock is for.
Click to expand...

Glad you are OK. EVEN the Half Cock feature should NOT be used when a firearm is left unattended - not even for a minute! Guns have been know to go off even when left in half cock! The only safe way is to open the lever and leave the Bolt opened. One should NEVER EVER leave a lever action rifle in the cocked position unless it is shouldered and ready to fire at a target. To me, half cock position is almost never used, unless I am just pausing for a second to scratch my nose or something before firing the shot.
 
VaTom said:
...and one of requirements for military contract is you don't have that feature.
Click to expand...
Do you have experience with this or did you just hear it somewhere? I ask, because I know some military guys that have Glocks. It would seem their contracts don't meet that requirement. But I don't really know. Just know some guys that have Glocks.
 
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