Accidental Discharge

[DARE]

I want to talk about three accidental discharges. One happened to me, one happened to my dad, one happened to Bill Jordan. For me the number one rule of gun safety is to check that the gun is unloaded. Obviously if you have a discharge that rule was not followed. I think rule number two is to point the gun in a safe direction. In my family we had gun safety drilled into us from an early age.

My discharge occurred in Pottsboro, Texas in the 90's. I was home alone and messing with a Colt SAA in .357 Magnum. I had unloaded the gun and cleaned it. Reloaded it and set it aside for a bit. Picked it up later, pulled the hammer back, pointed it at a gun case on the floor and pulled the trigger. Was very surprised when it discharged! Pier and beam foundation. The bullet went through the gun case, through the floor and lodged in the dirt under the house.

My dad owned a gun store in Dallas. Think this happened in the mid 80's. He was unboxing some guns that had just come in. One was a Marlin lever action in .22 Magnum. He opened the action and saw that the chamber was empty. Unfortunately the magazine was loaded. He closed the action and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the 10 inch thick masonry and brick wall at the back of the store. No damage done.

The Bill Jordan story is from the 50's and did not have a happy ending. The gun in question was a S&W .357 Combat Magnum. Had someone in his office and they were talking about guns. He had unloaded the gun and dry fired it some. Had then loaded it and put it in a drawer in his desk. Later took the gun out of the desk, pointed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the wall and struck and killed a Border Patrol agent in the next office. Tragic. If it can happen to Bill Jordan it can happen to anyone.

 

[quinn]

An AD killed forum and SWCA member Charlie Sides when a loaded gun fell out of his safe. I really miss that guy.

 

[Tijeras_Slim]

My habit to avoid such is to check every gun immediately if it’s been out my sight, even if I’m the only person in the house.

 

[MelvinWalker]

It can happen...After tens of thousands of rounds and decades of shooting, it happened to me a few years ago.

I had a 12 gauge riot gun that I had put in the safe months earlier. I always unload the chamber on everything, but I neglected to notice there was a round of 00 buckshot in the tube....I racked it and pulled the trigger to clear the tension on the firing pin and blew a hole in the wall, adjacent room wall and into the ceiling. The ceiling joists caught everything and no roof damage. My wife was standing there and screamed like the apocalypse.

Good thing it wasn't a slug.

 

[Hair Trigger]

With handguns, I have three practices that are inviolable. 1- Once I have loaded a handgun, it goes in a holster and is secured. 2- I never holster an unloaded gun. The holster is a reminder to me and an additional step when I draw the gun from it that it is loaded. 3- Whenever I pick up a handgun or draw one from a stored holster, the first thing I do is check its status, even if I drew it from a holster or knew I just unloaded it.

All three of these events describes above were not accidental discharges, they were negligent discharges because the first rule of firearm safety was violated.

 

[dben002]

Old saying.....No such thing as an accidental discharge, only negligent ones.

 

[tlawler]

My habit to avoid such is to check every gun immediately if it’s been out my sight, even if I’m the only person in the house.

Yep…muscle memory habit. Just like I always flip the deadbolt lever down when I come back in the house. As soon as I pick up a firearm, I immediately eject the mag and open the action, or swing open the cylinder.

 

[mrcvs]

I was home alone and messing with a Colt SAA in .357 Magnum. I had unloaded the gun and cleaned it. Reloaded it and set it aside for a bit. Picked it up later, pulled the hammer back, pointed it at a gun case on the floor and pulled the trigger. Was very surprised when it discharged!

If you reloaded the revolver and then proceeded to pull the trigger, why was there any surprise that the revolver actually discharged???

 

[Rob613]

There’s no such thing as an accidental discharge, there is always negligence involved. (Unless it’s a P320)

 

[Model19man]

My grandfather who died in 1970 had many sayings. One that I remember well is when he told me the floor was easier to patch than the ceiling. I was dry firing my unloaded .410 shotgun that he gave me at the time. A wise thing to remember.

 

[DEF3]

I was always told a time or two. A firearm is the very very patient. It will wait forever for you to F…. Up.

 

[bdGreen]

My grandfather who died in 1970 had many sayings. One that I remember well is when he told me the floor was easier to patch than the ceiling. I was dry firing my unloaded .410 shotgun that he gave me at the time. A wise thing to remember.

"the floor was easier to patch than the ceiling."

I like that.

bdGreen

 

[Model29-26.5]

Every time you pick the gun up, Assume it’s loaded. Even if you just unloaded it and put it down.
I’m a newbie to this and I’ve only been shooting for a year, But the last thing I wanna do is get too happy and confident.
There is still an element of fear I have for these things, And I never want to go away.
I never keep a loaded gun in the house Because mine are strictly for collecting and shooting for pleasure.
However, If I did ever have a loaded gun in the house for self defense, It would be kept exactly the same place all the time and I would know exactly which gun it was to never shoot it for pleasure, And never unload it Except when being oiled and tested, maybe once every couple of years. That way, it is treated unlike any other, Which should be treated as loaded weapons anyway.
I guess I’m saying this out loud, or typing it rather, as a reminder to myself as much as anything.
My buddy, that first took me shooting, told me when holding a gun, Think of it as a laser that is always on, so wherever you are pointing it, it is burning a hole.

 

[Muley Gil]

Every time you pick the gun up, Assume it’s loaded. Even if you just unloaded it and put it down.
I’m a newbie to this and I’ve only been shooting for a year, But the last thing I wanna do is get too happy and confident.
There is still an element of fear I have for these things, And I never want to go away.
I never keep a loaded gun in the house Because mine are strictly for collecting and shooting for pleasure.
However, If I did ever have a loaded gun in the house for self defense, It would be kept exactly the same place all the time and I would know exactly which gun it was to never shoot it for pleasure, And never unload it Except when being oiled and tested, maybe once every couple of years. That way, it is treated unlike any other, Which should be treated as loaded weapons anyway.
I guess I’m saying this out loud, or typing it rather, as a reminder to myself as much as anything.
My buddy, that first took me shooting, told me when holding a gun, Think of it as a laser that is always on, so wherever you are pointing it, it is burning a hole.

Well, I would hope that you would practice occasionally with a self-defense piece.

 

[Tijeras_Slim]

I always say that firearms and motorcycles can punish the slightest mistake all out of proportion to the initial error.

 

[tlawler]

The Bill Jordan story is from the 50's and did not have a happy ending. The gun in question was a S&W .357 Combat Magnum. Had someone in his office and they were talking about guns. He had unloaded the gun and dry fired it some. Had then loaded it and put it in a drawer in his desk. Later took the gun out of the desk, pointed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the wall and struck and killed a Border Patrol agent in the next office. Tragic. If it can happen to Bill Jordan it can happen to anyone.

Not a lot of solid intel on the web about Jordan’s ND, just anecdotal stuff on forums that I’ve found. The stories are all somewhat similar, in that it took place in his office and he killed a fellow agent in the adjacent office. The story I’ve most heard is that he was practicing quick draw at his desk and the fellow agent he killed was actually his beloved boss and mentor. Similar stories, but with details muddled like playing telephone.

I had an ND myself. I’m not ashamed to talk about it because it needs to be a learning experience. Mine happened in 1986 and here are the details:

Dad had always been a revolver guy, so naturally I grew up around them and learned to shoot them first. The only semi auto pistol I had ever fired until I was an adult was an old warhorse 1911 that a friend of Dad’s owned. I became pretty familiar with it and learned to field strip and clean it when I was a teenager. When I joined the Navy, it was pre-Beretta 92, so I was right at home with the 1911 when we had the chance to shoot them. When I returned home after six years in Hawaii, I was eager to add some guns to the collection…actually Dad’s collection
I was in a gun shop and a little automatic caught my eye. It was an Astra Constable in .380 ACP and I thought it looked a lot like Bond’s PPK. I brought it home with a box of ammo and was playing around with it(unloaded, of course…I hadn’t even opened the ammo box yet), becoming familiar with the controls and disassembling it. I put it back together and had to make a head call. I took it and the box of ammo with me intending to load a mag and cycle the slide to see how easily the rounds fed and ejected. Things get a little hazy at this point. I can’t say exactly how it happened, but after I thought I ejected all the rounds and dropped the mag, I pulled the trigger with the muzzle pointed between my bare feet. Glad I was where I was because it scared the out of me! It made a sizable divot in the tile floor and my insoles looked like they got stabbed dozens of times with a small sharp object(all the tile shrapnel). No one else was home and no damage other than my pride, bloody feet, and the tile floor. Dad laughed his butt off when I told him and Mom was really pissed that I shot a hole in her bathroom floor. Got the tile fixed, sold the pistol, and decided to stick to revolvers and 1911’s for awhile. In the end, despite the humbling experience, Dad commended me on at least following rule #2, which always gave him a chuckle considering where I was and what I was doing when it happened.

My ND happened mainly because of my unfamiliarity with that particular firearm, but I disregarded at least a couple of safety rules as well and take full responsibility for that. To me, being familiar with a firearm I’m using is very important. If I were to add a #5 to the list of 4 rules of gun safety, it would be: know your firearm and become familiar with its operation.

 

[22hipower]

I've had just one. I have a Benelli Montefeltro that I use for dove and occasionally sporting clays. It has a bad habit of not always releasing the round in the magazine in to the receiver when unloading the gun. So pull back the bolt a second time and nothing pops out we assume it is empty. Took it out of the safe one day, bolt open. Let the bolt drive home and then pulled the trigger to take the tension off the firing pin (as someone said above) and created a hole in the carpet in my office. As someone else said above, the floor is easier to patch than the ceiling. It happens.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[lihpster]

"the floor was easier to patch than the ceiling."

I like that.

bdGreen

Unless you're in a boat.

 

[sigp220.45]

Bill Jordan’s fatal AD.

Border Patrol Inspector John A. Rector, United States Department of Justice - Immigration and Naturalization Service - United States Border Patrol, U.S. Government

Rector’s daughter chimed in on another forum. She didn’t blame Jordan, and said he was so distraught he had to be heavily medicated.

 

[Beemer-mark]

At an early age my Father and the NRA at Camp Perry taught me all about gun safety. When I was around 14 my Dad came home with the sad news that his co-worker and friend had accidentally killed his 17 year old son while cleaning his rifle. The Father had went upstairs to clean his hunting rifle, the rifle discharged through the floor and killed his son. The son was setting next to his mother on the couch watching TV. This was in the '60's. Later on in the mid '70's I was working and would interact with the father. He would never smile and would discussions would be yes, no, what ever. I think that probably made a bigger impression on me than any safety talk.