My personal story

[bigc.r25]

Well I have been browsing the site for a while now. I ran across a few stories and thought I would share mine.

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I was borrowing a friends Beretta 92fs to take in to a gun store for him because he wanted to trade it. He carried it and shot it a few times before he gave it to me, so I told him I would clean it for him before I got the quote from the gun store. This was not a problem for me seeing as I was in the Army for 12 years so I know my way around the Beretta.

The night he gave it to me I watched him as he dropped the magazine and took out the carry ammo so he could put it in his other gun. I went inside my house, and started to get my stuff around to clean some guns. The problem with the Beretta was the trigger pull and some other things, so I thought I would test the trigger for myself and see if I might just want to buy it from him. Well seeing as I watched him unload the gun and magazine I cocked the hammer back and took aim at a random object which happened to be my surround sound speaker. Well seeing as you all can probably figure out what happened you can imagine my surprise when the gun went :shocked: BANG and my speaker had 2 new holes in it.

I learned an important lesson that night that you hear people tell you over and over. Complacency kills. All I can really say is that I am glad all it cost me was a $200 speaker, which actually still works just fine. The years of teaching people about guns and safety, and telling people that "unloaded guns shoot more people than loaded guns" went right out the door. 2 seconds to check the chamber on a gun I knew was "unloaded" was all it would have taken.
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Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope this helps save someone and if nothing else , helps save someones speakers.

[CyborgWarrior]

Great story.
I was present for a similar story involving a Sony Trinitron.
Really gets your heart beating when you screw up like that.

[TomE]

Good story, I remember a similar story involving a box of stainless screws :thumbup:

[Pyzik]

Scary stuff. I know the feeling. Glad no one was hurt.

[ductileiron98]

I rarely if ever dry fire any weapon. The trigger on a firearm is the least important thing to me. I can eaisly get used to any trigger on any firearm. This practice serves me well, while reading these stories of dry firing, I've seen adults get obsessive dry firing. Like real firearms are toys..

[RifleGuy]

I rarely if ever dry fire any weapon. The trigger on a firearm is the least important thing to me. I can eaisly get used to any trigger on any firearm. This practice serves me well, as reading these stories of the dry firing like real firearms are toys..
I dry fire my pistols often; it has proven to be an excellent for of practice for me.
That said, dry firing is conducted with the same care as firing the weapon when loaded. I have a solid backstop, the weapon is triple checked to assure it is unloaded, and then carefully loaded with snap caps. No ammunition is allowed in the area when dry fire practice is occurring, and all other normal safety rules apply.

I too can adapt readily to almost any trigger, but for precision shooting I benefit from the dry fire practice.

But NEVER is a weapon treated as a toy; it is always treated as a loaded weapon.

[AM1958]

You wrote it yourself... The weapon was never cleared... Simply removing the magazine does not make a "clear" weapon.

I arrived home tonight and removed my pistol from the safe. I cleared it, (magazine removed, cocked three times, chamber checked, weapon decocked, magazine returned but weapon remain not made ready). It sits on the table behind me as I type. When I get up to go out with friends in 30 minutes I will pick up the weapon and go through the same process. Until I have cleared the weapon on each and every occasion I handle it then it's made ready and therefore dangerous... It's the only way to handle firearms.

It's not complacency, it's bad practice... Make it habitual, you pick up a weapon - it gets cleared - every time.

[rdarabos]

always handle the gun like its loaded, if i want to practice i try and go to range, it just seems strange to me to wave a gun around the house pulling the trigger. whenever i clean my guns i go outside and point in a safe direction to unload. sorry just saying.

[Bobdobalita]

I DARN near had something like this happen to me on a COUPLE of occasions... fortunately, I fell back on my safety rules and did NOT have a ND...


I dryfire my glock a lot. Not like 1000 times a day a lot, but I might sit down and do 10-20 now and then... I sometimes fire at the fish tank because they are small, moving targets... also the TV.


One time I had been doing this, and set the gun down and did some other things. I must have thought I was done dry firing and put it back to ready... I came back, went to dry fire and squeezed the trigger a bit.... then realized (oh crap) I had not properly cleared it and was unsure if it was hot or not. Dropped the mag, racked the slide and sure enough.. out pops a round. CLOSE one. 100+ gallons of water in my living room would have SUCKED.


This was like a year ago.


Then, yesterday, I bought a new box of SD rounds... and I took my top round out of my mag to replace it (think setback). Then later on I was looking at that top round (the new one) and was comparing it to the old one. Well I had forgotten that I actually put TWO new rounds in there. I was not about to dry fire, but I was surprised when I went to clear the gun as I usually do.. Hickok45 style with a few racks... and was completely surprised to see a round pop out....


2x I have had sitautions that could have been bad. Fortunately, my head prevailed both times and I double checked.

[noob5,000,000]

I sometimes fire at the fish tank because they are small, moving targets...
This made me laugh for some reason :lol:.

As far as dry-firing goes, I do it quite often. I confirm that the weapon is clear before starting, and if my attention shifts to something else for a second (forum post, TV, etc), I re-confirm the clear-ness before pulling the trigger again, even if the gun never left my hand.

[shoxroxice]

Thanks for the story and the reminder to be safe. I feel it's better to be obsessive about ensuring a clear firearm every single time I pick up a firearm and look like a safety nut than risk the alternative.

[langenc]

At a public range someone will pick up their 'stuff' and head for the car. I have been swept and let em know. The answer is usually "it aint loaded".

I responded 69% of shootings are done w/ unloaded guns. Guess my number could be higher.

[wmfarnum]

A couple of years ago my hunting buddy shot a small buck he called for help when I got to him he was down at the bottom of a hill getting ready to clean out the animal, as we where getting started dragging it out I picked up his rifle he said it was cleared I DID NOT LOOK this was a short carbine semi auto so when I slung it up on my shoulder the barrel was about even with the back of my head. Now we drug this deer up the hill thru brush ect. when I handed him his gun, I noticed the safety was off and mag. in it yup round in chamber, Amazing two guys been hunting for years shot lots a deer but could make such a stupid, could of been tragic mistake!

[Michiganbob]

I was duck hunting in Arkansas with a friend while in the army. And we got back to his parents farm, it had been raining and our shot guns were drenched. So we unloaded them on the front porch, and went in the house to clean and dry them. Myself and his cousin were in the dining room breaking our shot guns down, when my friend (while talking to his parents in the kitchen) pointed his 12 gauge at the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The explosion was deafening. We were afraid to go in to the kitchen to find someone dead, but know one was hurt just angery (his parents and imbarassed my friend). And what a mess the old farm house had the old slat and plaster walls and ceilings.

[slowjeep]

Luckily I have not experienced a surprise like what you guys are posting about. My OCD nature has prevented an accident like that from happening. Its common for me to clear the chamber, then clear it again just in case a cartridge magically popped into the gun. Then I clear it again.

I do have a story though about the importance of gun safety even when using a non-firearm. Improper use of a squirt gun could have hurt me badly, perhaps even killed me.

For some reason, we have a very loud Robin that insists on perching in the dead tree next to our bedroom window. I think the bird is mentally challenged or some sort of mutation. It sings the same 3 note song continuously, very loudly, all freeking day and night. It does not eat, does not sleep, and does not stop. It is also at least 10 times louder than any of the other birds in the area. It has scared all the other birds off of our property. I love birds and robins as much as anyone, but King of the Robins had to go.

So I got the super soaker, its just a small pistol model, but it had the range and power to hit the bird. I carefully slid the screen out of the way, took aim, and luckily double checked the surroundings before I pulled the trigger. There were power lines running right between the bird and my squirt gun. That would have been a bad idea and could have been a very painful mistake.

Fortune smiled on me a moment later when the robin relocated to a lower branch. A well placed 1 second blast knocked him right out of the tree. It didn't stop him from coming back 30 minutes later. He is still out there. He sang through the thunderstorm this morning. I know I cannot stop him, but it felt good to knock him off that branch.

Just remember, always practice proper firearm safety even if you are just using a toy.

[usmcpaul]

My brother and I have always been taught gun safety by our dad. So here is the story. My brother had a Sig that had a de-cocker and he really liked it, but he won a 1911 in a raffle and decided to carry it.

He asked me about de-cocking it and I told him "NO...NEVER..they are meant to be carried locked and loaded with the safety on"

Well he hated that, and one time when he was taking it off, pointed it at the floor, turned away from his buddy in a safe direction, grabbed the hammer (to hold it back) pulled the trigger and ...(yep you guessed it) the hammer slipped and it went off. His buddy that was sitting 2 feet away on the couch (in the opposite direction) actually **** his pants. LOL

He called me very upset, asking what to do. I told him that he had to find the bullet to make sure it did not ricochet somewhere. He immediately crawled under the trailer and found the bullet in the dirt.

I got a GREAT deal on that gun!:hick:

[markopolo50]

My Brother in law is really into westerns, so he liked to dry fire his 38 revolver while watching John Wayne or Audie Murhpy shoot the bad guys. He always made sure it was unloaded. One time he opened the cylinder and dropped the 6 shells out in his hand, not counting the 5 that fell out. The cylinder hadn't opened all the way and one stayed in the cylinder. Needless to say he shot his furnace, his wife and young daughter were not hurt. The furnace got replaced and he doesn't do that anymore. Scared them all. Guns are not toys, treat them as if they are all loaded.