Boy, don't know why I am doing this knowing full well what is coming, but here goes, confession is supposed to be good for the soul...HUH!
About 1976 a friend stopped by and wanted to go shooting. This was way up in the mountains of Colorado in the winter and those of you who have lived in similar circumstances know there is a lot of 'spare' time available in the winter.
Anyway, I went into the bedroom and grabbed my Mod. 19. Since this was also my HD weapon at that time it was loaded. I opened the cylinder, dumped the rounds into my hand, pocketed them, closed the cylinder and aimed through the bedroom window at an old barn next door and dry fired the pistol. I had just spent days doing a trigger job on this gun and it was butter smooth. Dry fired a second time and a third when the window exploded. I was stunned and shaking so badly I couldn't control myself. My wife and friend who had been visiting in the living room came rushing in expecting the worst. My cardinal sin was not counting the rounds before placing them into my pocket as one had not fallen out of the cylinder as usual. When teaching hunter safety classes years later I always used this episode as an example of why you ALWAYS check and double check a weapon to be certain it is not loaded. At the time this happened I had been using firearms all my life, was well trained and knew better. So it can happen to anyone. I still thank the Almighty that I was dry firing at a barn.
