STUPID,STUPID,STUPID!

[sniper]

I was loading some ammo for my revolver, and decided to check a few rounds at random, to insure proper fit.

About a week before, I had done the same thing. I opened the cylinder, to find ONE round remaining! WHERE did that come from?

I absolutely KNEW I had cleared the weapon before I put it away the last time.

Obviously, I had not!

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

I KNEW that gun was unloaded. It is just a good thing I didn't do some dry firing!

Like they told me in Journalism school, NEVER ASSUME NOTHIN!

I know this will receive least several well-deserved "aw ****!" comments, but NOBODY can say anything I haven't said to myself multiple times. Turns my insides to water, just thinking about it.

BE CAREFUL! Be Safe! It co$t$ nothing to re- check.

I might have injured someone, or worse!

Thanks for allowing me to rant at myself!

 

[sniper]

I was loading some ammo for my revolver, and decided to check a few rounds at random, to insure proper fit.

About a week before, I had done the same thing. I opened the cylinder, to find ONE round remaining! WHERE did that come from?

I absolutely KNEW I had cleared the weapon before I put it away the last time.

Obviously, I had not!

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

I KNEW that gun was unloaded. It is just a good thing I didn't do some dry firing!

Like they told me in Journalism school, NEVER ASSUME NOTHIN!

I know this will receive least several well-deserved "aw ****!" comments, but NOBODY can say anything I haven't said to myself multiple times. Turns my insides to water, just thinking about it.

BE CAREFUL! Be Safe! It co$t$ nothing to re- check.

I might have injured someone, or worse!

Thanks for allowing me to rant at myself!

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Sniper,

I was an Emergency Room Nurse for 15 years and treated a boatload of gunshot wounds - intentional and accidental. The most amazing thing is that all of the accidental gunshot wounds were caused by the famous "unloaded gun." Thanks for sharing - it is a good reminder to us all. I would recommend buying a case length gauge from Midway:

http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/BrowseProducts.aspx?t=8...731***8868***9505***

They're not that expensive and would avoid this type of mistake in the future.

Best of luck,

Dave

 

[38-44HD45]

Great example of why I always say I'm afraid of unloaded guns. Glad you caught your mistake.

 

[cbpotel]

As an Instructor I have said so many times that it is not a matter of if but when you have an unintentional discharge. If the gun is pointed in a safe direction nothing is damaged but your pride. At some point in time we will all have a mental lapse. As long as we never let our muzzle cover anything we are not willing to destroy.

 

[peterd]

I'm happy you had your rant - it will help you remember from now on. I can still remember trying to explain to my wife why we had to buy a new crock pot many years ago!

 

[Sgt Preston]

Sgt Preston here. I think we've all experienced something like this. I have found a way to both clean & clear my guns at the end of my range sessions. It's a real simple habit to develop. With my autos, I rack the slide, drop the magazine & pull a bore snake thru the barrel of each gun 5 times. With an auto that more or less forces you to drop & hopefully look at the magazine. At the point where I've finished cleaning my auto the gun is still cocked. I re-insert the magazine & point the gun down range & squeeze the trigger. With my revolvers, I go a step further & push a brass brush thru each spot in the cylinder several times. When I've finished my guns are empty & a lot of the debris is gone. Hope this helps. Sgt Preston USMC LLA

 

[Paul5388]

I use a simpler method. I leave all of my handguns loaded and that way I don't have to worry about which ones may have a cartridge in them. It also makes it much easier to know which one to grab for serious social work.

 

[Jellybean]

I know this will receive least several well-deserved "aw ****!" comments,

If you wanted fewer comments you should have said "How many people have never done anything like this?".

 

[cptdco]

I always thought I did a very good job of clearing every weapon every time I picked one up. I thought I had that down pat. So imagine my suprise when I pulled one of my K22s out of the safe, opened the cylinder to check it, and found a live round it. It really scared the heck out of me.

 

[TAC]

Did you just open the cylinder and dump the rounds, vs using the ejector?

 

[robertrwalsh]

many years ago i almost killed Howard Cosell (on the tv, not in person). i had "emptied" my ruger speed 6 and dry-fired four rounds at Howard on the tv, then i looked down and counted only 5 on the bed spread. opened cylinder, sure enough one had not dropped out. i had NOT stroked the ejector rod, i just counted on the weight to dump them. i almost got bit in the ass BIG TIME on that one.

 

[tbury]

My Daddy (an MD) always taught me that there is no such thing as an unloaded gun. Always point it safe and never pull the trigger with the gun pointed and something you do not want to shoot. Only once in the 45 yrs I have been shooting have I not followed his teaching. I think I still have the suitcase in my attic that was under the dresser I put a .22 LR through with my browning challenger. It fires with out the magazine in place, the Buckmarks do not. Hopefully, that is the only time I will forget that lesson. Now I also make sure dry firing is done with snap caps in place.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Originally posted by Paul5388:
I use a simpler method. I leave all of my handguns loaded and that way I don't have to worry about which ones may have a cartridge in them. It also makes it much easier to know which one to grab for serious social work.

I'm singing in that choir, Brother!

If I never unload them except to clean them I expect them to have bullets in them!

Once I went to show a friend of mine my carry gun. 5 shot revolver. I opened the cylinder, dumped the rounds into my hand and closed the cylinder. My son hollered "WAIT, there's one still in there!" He was paying attention cause there was one!

Could of been bad but wasn't.

A journalist that shoots, kind of odd in today's age. Except for a select few!

 

[leon riverrat]

Dry firing is very often the forerunner of an accidental discharge. It seems our mind becomes conditioned to the fact that the gun is empty while we are dry firing. Dry firing session ends and gun is reloaded and ready for use. The gun is aimed and fired in a moment of inattention. It has happened to a lot of people including competative shooters and police officers.

 

[user]

Originally posted by tbury:
My Daddy (an MD) always taught me that there is no such thing as an unloaded gun.... Now I also make sure dry firing is done with snap caps in place.

I absolutely agree with that, and make it a ritualistic observance to load the gun with snap caps prior to dry firing - loading is part of the dry firing ritual, so that I can't forget to be sure there are no live rounds in the gun.

Sort of like making sure your gas cap is in place before you put the nozzle back in the gas pump - if you have to put the nozzle down before you can drive away, then you must replace the gas cap. Or, at a restaurant, put your credit card back in your wallet before signing the receipt. There's all sorts of stuff like that. So I make it a ritual, load snap caps, dry fire, unload snap caps. No loading snap caps, keep finger outside the trigger guard.

I also put a lock on any unloaded gun, either through the cylinder of a revolver or a cable through the action of a semiauto.

I also agree with those who leave the guns loaded all the time. Any gun under my immediate control has a round in the chamber. And I always assume that a gun is loaded, no matter what. Especially after I killed a box of National Geographic magazines in my basement with a gun I was getting out to clean.

 

[davemuzz]

My grandmother (God rest her soul) was a plain woman and a damn good hunter. She also baked one fine apple pie and made the best turtle soup on the planet!

But....she always said "More people get killed by unloaded guns than any other kind". Then she would always say "Pick up a gun and always check the chamber....and if you don't know how....don't pick up the gun."

Wise words from a simple woman.

I wish I had half of her common sense ten percent of the time. I would be twice the man.

Dave

 

[Sgt Preston]

Sgt Preston here. An indoor pistol range that I used to frequent, had 2 bullet holes in the lounge area of their facility. One was in the wall behind the gun counter at eyeball height, the other was in the desk where the attendent used to sit. Both were fired from unloaded guns by Law Enforcement Officers. One of the Officers was a State Trooper, the other was a County Sherrif's Deputy. These guys are professional & also should have known better. Always check any gun when you first pick it up. "Shoot" Happens! Preston.

 

[uncle norman]

Originally posted by leon riverrat:
Dry firing is very often the forerunner of an accidental discharge. It seems our mind becomes conditioned to the fact that the gun is empty while we are dry firing. Dry firing session ends and gun is reloaded and ready for use. The gun is aimed and fired in a moment of inattention. It has happened to a lot of people including competative shooters and police officers.

Amen! I've unloaded my revolver to dry fire, then reloaded and before reinserting in my ankle rig thought, "I ought to point and press the laser" before thinking what a stupid, dangerous idea that was!" I'm so used to pressing laser, pulling trigger at the range I almost went into auto mode.

 

[DonD]

I have a Ruger GP100 that I use for CCW purposes. It's pretty smooth as it came from the factory.

I quickly found out that just opening the cylinder and letting gravity work so as not to fling loaded rounds around as one or more usually gets out of my hand when I briskly use the ejector rod usually left one round in a chamber.

Didn't cause an accident but it was disturbing. Don