Have you ever accidently discharged in your house or apartment?

[buck00]

I cleaned my pistol one day and left it empty-empty magazine and empty chamber. Left it on my nightstand. Went to work. Came home and picked up the pistol. Aimed it at the floor, cocked it, and pulled the trigger. BOOM! My father had loaded it while I was at work for some unknown reason.

I was reading this on another thread and it brought up the question- have you (or anyone you know) accidentally discharged a firearm indoors?

The second question is: what are the legal ramifications of this? Let's say you accidentally shoot into the floor at your house. What do you do?? Of course, I think notifying the authorities has a lot to do if you live out in the woods vs on the third floor of an urban apartment....

Does anyone know someone who has gotten busted and/or lost their guns over an accidental discharge? Anyone here shoot off a round accidentally in their home and never tell anyone?

[qajaq59]

Duh, why would anyone cock a gun and fire it at the floor to start with. If it's empty there's no point in trying to fire it, and if it isn't, than it's really idiotic.

[Brian Williams]

Yep, Was going to do some dryfiring and emptied my S&W 13 and failed to count cartridges or look at the cylinder, and shot my TV, it is posted here some where or maybe on TFL.

Duh, why would anyone cock a gun and fire it at the floor to start withIt is called Dry firing for trigger and sighting practice.

[aufevermike]

I have. A 1917 30.06 Eddystone. I was getting ready to go hunting. The bolt was open and I decided to put the safety on in mid action. I then closed the bolt. When I took the saefty off the gun fired without pulling the trigger. It is still lodged in one of my logs.

['Card]

Thank goodness never in my house.

Year before last though, on a hunting trip, my Dad (who is honestly the safest guy I know when it comes to guns) had an AD that was a real wake-up for all of us.

We'd been hacking and beating our way through some really heavy brush, and our assumption is that a branch or something must have pushed his safety off - he hunts with a Remington 7400 in .30-06, and it has one of those push-button safeties behind the trigger. The gun was hanging from his right shoulder, and he reached around with his left hand and grabbed it near the trigger to take it down. It was around 5 or 6 degrees that day, and he had a heavy pair of gloves on, and apparently grabbed the trigger in the process.

Thank God the gun was pointing straight up in the air when it went off, but it was pretty scary. Dad's hat landed a good 10 feet away from him, and he couldn't hear much out of his right ear for a few days.

[Sungun09]

Yes, was clearing my Jennings J22, thought I had the last bullet out and pulled the trigger and it went off. thought I had killed the cat.

As it turns out, I have a funky kitchen table with splayed legs. I found the remains of the bullet flattened out. It had hit the legs.

I think its the only thing i ever hit with that pistol.

As least i wasn't looking in the barrel

[1 old 0311]

Dry firing my S&W 66. Didn't count the rounds that came out, before pulling the trigger. A 125 gr .357 makes a "bit" of noise when fired in a bedroom.:what:

Kevin

[enfield]

Nope, but I had a negligent discharge in my apartment in Georgia once. It wasn't an accident -- it was stupidity.

[Sindawe]

Just once, but it may not count since it was not a firearm but an old paintball pistol that had been loaned to me. I'd not used it in several months/games, and was gonna break it down, reclean and relube it prior to returning it to the owner. The 10 round magazine was empty, but I did not check the chamber since there was no easy way to do so with out breaking down the marker and that is dangerous if the gas charge has not been dissipated. I pointed it at the kitchen floor and pulled the trigger to discharge any residual gas in the mechanism.

POP!

Lime green paint all over my floor, the cabinets and the now fleeing cats. :what:

[Sharpdogs]

Not me, but my friend's brother accidently shot his .40 cal S&W Sigma through the ceiling of his sister's living room. He went to chamber a round with his finger on the trigger. I think he broke a speed record spackling and painting the ceiling before sister got home. As far as I know she never found out.

[Wastemore]

I never have, but was standing beside someone who has. I was hit on the side of my nose and it went numb. I kept thinking, "well, I'm alive and it doesn't hurt, so.. couldn't be too bad" I grabbed the weapon, unloaded it and quickly went to the mirror to see the damage.. it was then I realized I was hit with the brass.
Scared the heck out of me.

[ndh87]

YEP! I was shooting at my friend's house and had another friend with me, the .22 we were using had some firing problems. we were shooting out of the window of the house...yea, i know... my friend (the one who didnt live at the house) loaded the .22 and closed the bolt, when he did the gun went off and punched a hole through the side of my buddy's house. luckily no one was hurt, but we did find out that a .22 will go through the drywall, insulation, and wood siding of a house...and keep on going. fortunately my friend wasnt too mad about his wall, the hole and powder burn is still on the drywall, i'll try to get a picture and post it here.

['Card]

Rethought my response.

Have you ever accidently discharged in your house or apartment?

Yeah, but I was probably just tired. It doesn't make me less of a man or anything.



:cool:

[Shipwreck]

e I never have, but was standing beside someone who has. I was hit on the side of my nose and it went numb. I kept thinking, "well, I'm alive and it doesn't hurt, so.. couldn't be too bad" I grabbed the weapon, unloaded it and quickly went to the mirror to see the damage.. it was then I realized I was hit with the brass. Scared the heck out of me.

That's kinda funny, but I know that at the time, it probably was not :neener: :neener:

[Kingcreek]

I blew a .410 hole thru the front porch decking.
a rangy feral cat was hunting birds at the bird feeder so I quietly slipped out the front door with my old single shot. While thumbing the hammer back, my thumb slipped off and it discharged. I replaced the deck board with a matching piece from out in the barn, put the saw away as my wife pulled in the drive.

[Lawyerman]

Yes. Recently in fact. I had just installed an extension on a shotgun and wanted to be sure there were no feeding hangups. I loaded the gun and began to cycle rounds through it. I counted the ejected rounds, there were 7-that's normally how I keep my guns-empty chamber and a full mag tube.

I actually put my finger physically on each of the rounds that I had put on the table, counting them out loud as I did it. I pointed the gun at the window and pulled the trigger and heard the loudest sound I have ever known! There was flying glass and a dead window shade.

Somehow I had loaded an extra round into the gun, still not sure why or how. That will teach me to do a physical chamber check before dropping the hammer. That's also what dummy rounds are for, I now have a set!

[pax]

Here's how to avoid that: http://www.corneredcat.com/Safety/dryfire.htm

pax

[Vitamin G]

I never grew up around any kind of firearms, other than the occaisional treat of shooting BB guns at my uncle's cabin up in the woods a couple weekends a year. When i was 18, i had a .22 ruger mk II gifted to me. I've been safe with it, and all of my guns and have never had a ND (and I don't believe in AD's) with a firearm...

However... I've had NUMEROUS negligent discharges with paintball guns in my early-mid teenage years. I'm thankful that I learned hard lessons, in what i considered to be the hard way, back then... It was definately hard lessons... No teenager likes repainting a ceiling or wall (never considered that had it been a real gun, i'd have been filling holes in said ceiling or wall).

[Mr_Dictionary]

Not sure if this counts, but I put a pellet into my parent's ceiling as a kid.

My pellet rifle had some interesting issues. If you were to load it, engage the safety, and then pull the trigger, the trigger would release but the safety would prevent the rifle from firing. However as soon as you disengaged the safety, the rifle would immediately discharge. Knowing this safety issue, I always stored the rifle unloaded with the trigger pulled. (I also had dumb friends at the time who took great pleasure in pulling the trigger on my air rifle.)

However, my father used the rifle to control our blackbird population and liked to keep it loaded. Well, one day he used it and put it away loaded, but on safe. About a week went by and I had friends over and one of them must have pulled the trigger during that time.

We had more birds, so I got the rifle and was going to load it. In order to load it, you have to disengage the safety, so as I was walking out of my room, I slipped the safety off, which was followed by the pop the rifle.

I believe the pellet is still there in the ceiling over 15 years later.

[Yakko]

Yep!

Marlin .22 semi auto rifle with a tubular magazine. I was 12 or 13.
My Grandfather asked me if I'd unloaded it. I said "Yes.", he said "Are you sure?" I said "yes" and pulled the trigger. That .22 bounced off of a rolled rug and lodged itself in the wall.

My Grandfather left the .22 in the wall and never patched the hole. He didn't want me to forget.

I never will.

[deus_sol_invictus]

A buddy's 91/30 Mosin Nagant, right into the brick wall of my apartment facing outward. Luckily, it was cheap Indian ammo, so the bullet essentially broke to pieces inside the brick and mortar.

[Karla (Threadbndr)]

This one isn't on me. (I tend to subscribe to the "never point at what you don't want to shoot" and "it's loaded, even when it's not" school of thought.)

But my son - now a Marine - had his very first pellet gun. He was not supposed to mess with it in the house. Ever. So I come home one day and turn on the b**btube - and notice an nice round shallow 'ding' in the upper corner of the screen. Boy swears himself blind that he didn't do it. I confiscate the pellet gun based on incontrovertible physical evidence.

Hubby (who is a cop) is at work. When he comes home, he gets the spousal rant re the boy. He looks at the TV, grimaces, says, "Honey, you'll have to give the boy his BB gun back." Me, "????? NO. WAY.!!!!" Him, "Baby, *I* was messing around with boy's BB gun trying to fix the problem he had with the trigger yesterday. I didn't realize it, thought that stray shot hit the plaster, but that must have been my fault."

Till the day the poor man died, boy and I gave him grief about the time that he shot the TV. LOL

[Bob F.]

yep

[Thefumegator]

How funny that I should bump into this thread today...

I had a negligent discharge 2 years ago TODAY. The thread is here (http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=82303).

I was dry-firing in my bedroom (in the basement). I finished, loaded the pistol for the night, and set it down. My brother's dog came downstairs to maul me for a minute, and then went back upstairs. I thought, "What was I doing? Oh, I was dry-firing." I picked up the pistol, and pointed (not aimed) it at my bedroom door, which covers my closet when opened.

I was concentrating on a slow, steady squeeze when it went off. The strange thing is that I didn't hear it -- complete auditory exclusion -- but I did see the fireball at the end of the barrel, and the hole that developed in the door. The bullet lodged in a stud inside the closet, where it has remained.

The gun was an FEG Hi Power in 9mm.

I'm absolutely anal about double- and triple-checking that guns are unloaded now.

Wes

[xring44]

[B]This might be worth noteing for those of you with winchesters 9422 rifles!


Yes, I live in a rural area, I had until recently, a 100 yard range in my yard, I was sighting in a winchester 9422 Magnum for the approching squirrel season, when I completed the sight-in, I pulled the magazine tube, dumped the cartridges into the bench, jacked the one out of the chamber and casually pointed the gun downward and pulled the trigger-----I never thought about the cartridge rideing on the carrier,,,,,,a sudden awakeing I assure you, fortunately no damage was done other than ego!

[Baecht]

I had just bought a Security Six and I was reading a book on how to shoot. I decided to practice dry firing like it said in the book. I unloaded it and sat in my lounge chair and aimed at the gas valve handle on the fireplace. It clicked four times and then fired. I was so shocked that I couldn't move for a few minutes. Fortunately, the gun shot a little low and to the right and I just missed the valve. It went though the tile and the dry wall in the closet in the next room. It was loaded with a 38 special. Now I look into every chamber in my revolver and stick my finger in the chamber of my 1911 before I do anything. I left the hole in the tile to remind me.

[Hyunchback]

My accidental discharge was over 20 years ago. The circumstances were stupidity, pure and simple. No excuses. I was stupid. Luckily only some inconsequential property was damaged, no one got hurt.

I'm older now and hopefully a bit wiser.

[Dacoda]

Here's an amusing one for ya.

I was eight years old at the time, my uncle (former NYPD officer, and still a nutcase) brought his bb revolver over to my house. He decided he wanted to discharge the C02 cartridge in the gun, so he shot this thing repeatedly, I mean, repeatedly at my moms legs, at the neighbors legs, into his hand a few times... then he asked me, "ya wanna feel it?" I said "Heck No!" he's like.. why not? I say to him, "cause I don't trust your crazy a$$!" (haha, imagine, an 8 year old saying this.) So he shoots the gun into his hand ANOTHER time to show me, it's just air! Fine!, I put my hand out, he shoots it.... BANG! I'm screaming at the top of my lungs... crying like a baby. he looks at me like I'm faking it. until I pull my hand away to reveal the massive amount of blood pouring from the palm of my hand. my mom jumps up like super woman, carries me to the sink to wash my hand under warm water. still bleeding like a faucet. she tries to wrap it til my dad gets home. not really sure of what to do. so at this point I'm fading in and out of conciousness, I just remember her yelling at my uncle the entire time, "you're an idiot! keep your d@mn guns at home!" etc...

so finally my dad gets home, and he looks at it, and begins sticking automotive magnets into the bleeding hole that's now home to a .177 calibre piece of (non-magnetic) copper.

but here's where the story gets better. so after searching up and down on the porch outside, sure enough they find a bb. so they patched me up, and called it a night.

18 years later, about two years ago, I was injured at work, I hyper-extended my thumb on the job, so naturally my company sends me to the workers comp doctor to get x-rays taken on my thumb. this beautiful, petite x-ray tech comes into the room I was waiting in, (trying not to make it obvious that I'm totally checking her out) she asks me "what do you have in your hand?!?" so I look at my hand and with confusion reply, nothing? see? empty!... "NoNoNo, what's IN your hand?!" hmm.... "IN my hand?! lemme see those!"

now, when you look at x-rays, it doesn't show skin, so, I'm thinking this little round ball is sitting between my fingers. I tell her... your machine is messed up! then it dawned on me, after putting my hand up to the picture... palm of my hand. wow... after all these years.. I still had that dang thing inside my hand. I thought.. How Cool Am I?!?!

So I ran out of the office, told her... gotta make a phone call... be RIGHT back! called my dad, hey dad!!! remember the time when such and such shot me with the bb gun?!?!
Dad: "yeah"
Me:"well guess what?!"
Dad: "it's still in there"

hmm... as if he'd known it all along. Parents! I swear!

in any case, the doctor told me there's so much scar tissue built around it, it makes no sense to take it out, it'll never bother you.

I'm thinking, Bother Me?!?! Hell, I wanna name it!


- Dacoda -

[aufevermike]

Here is a sickening feeling of one. i was about 17-18 and was messing around with a guitar. A friend of mine found a .22 revolver that I had on my headboard. He was sitting in the middle of the bed and me on the edge. I told him it was loaded and figured he wouldn't do stupid things with a loaded gun. All I remeber is seeing him with it near the side of his head. then i looked down at my guitar and hear "BANG" and glass shattering from a light globe from a ceiling fan and immediately say him limp over with his head between his legs. I for sure that he shot himself. he didn't move nor respond to me saying his name........probably cause his shorts were full......... then I grabbed him and he was white as a ghost. I don't think he has ever touched another gun..

[Boom-stick]

About 16yrs ago, a buddy of mine, that had only used BB guns up until this point asked if he could borrow my air rifle, thinking it would be about the same kind of power (it wasn't!!) he line up a target on his bed and shot it right then and there!! the .22 slug went through the target, then his duvet, then the mattress, then the bed base and finally into the central heating radiator on the wall which then proceeded to spray water all over the room.

[TheArchDuke]

Not inside and not with a firearm but this is a very good lesson.


I was standing out in the street with my friends, we were looking at his new pellet guns (some sort of revolver.) He was holding it and pointing it straight down when I asked "uhh...is it loaded?" He said, "i dunno" and pulled the trigger. It chipped the asphalt and bounced right into my other friend's crotch. Very very very painful. It could easily have been his eye instead. Very good lesson.

[Matt King]

Never, I hope I never will. I was taught to check and double check every gun that is handed to you, to see if it's loaded.

[AJAX22]

only one accidental discharge,

My buddy found a mini 14 in a river, was rusted solid, no magazine.

I looked at it and said, I can make that work.

flipped it over, pulled the trigger guard appart (releasing the hammer)

POW put a nice hole in the celing

I carry the empty shell around with me as a reminder. Always treat it like its loaded, even if there's no possible way it could be.

but on a positive note, I did get it to shoot.

[CNYCacher]

Dacoda:

Here is a similar story about my uncle:

A long time ago, he had been splitting wood with my father. One of them was holding some type of splitting tool and the other was hitting it with a hammer. I guess the hammer came down a little wrong, and there was a strange sound and my uncle felt something hit him in the leg. He found a cut on his leg about half an inch long, and an identical slice in his pants. He put a bandaid on it and went back to work. They found a chip had broken off of the log splitter.

Fast-forward 19 years!

All of a sudden one day, my uncle's knee suddenly swelled up to about twice normal and got really stiff and painfull. He went to the dr who found a foreign object in his knee with X-Ray. As soon as he saw the x-ray, my uncle realised what it was: That chip off the log splitter! It had actually lodged in his knee 19 years ago without doing any damage. And there it sat for all that time. For some reason, it eventually moved and touched something that his body didn't like, and his knee just blew up like a balloon.

They removed it orthoscopically, and we took it to my dad's garage and matched it to the depression in the edge of the splitter. It was about the size of a dime cut in half, but about twice as thick, and the rounded edge was razor sharp.

[fordfan485]

Never have had it personally happen but when I was in Army Basic Training we had an AD happen in the barracks while cleaning rifles. It was at the end of the cycle and we had to clean all of the weapons to to an asine level of cleanness so every weapon in the arms room was up there. Well one of the weapons that was issued to a soildier that got chaptered out somehow had gotten turned in a round in the chamber thankfully only a blank(though it sounded like a regular round w/o the blank adapter on the rifle. So one of the guys in my platoon pulled the trigger before he started to take it apart and that weapon went bang needless to say everyone looked like they had **** themselves and the drill sgt was in his office and looked like he was going to ****ing kill someone when he came out yelling.

[buck00]

These are all great stories. More people have accidently popped off a round than I thought.

However, my other question is this: if you accidently shoot off a round in your apartment (not in a house) do you call the cops? All it takes is some cop to show up and throw the book at you for reckless endangerment, etc etc. Then you might lose your right to bear arms in a hurry.

My question is: has anyone here shot off a round in an apartment or suburbs... and not contacted the cops... hoping no one else heard the gun shot? Does anyone here know someone who accidently discharged, has been charged... and thus lost their right to buy/own guns??

[joab]

I bought a $10 .22 rifle from a pawn shop 25 years ago for some reason the round would not chamber so I bumped the bolt with the palm of my hand and the round went off. My finger was no where near the trigger.
About an hour before I was doing the same thing but my wife kept walking in front of the gun and making stupid comments so I put it up.
From the angle from where I was sitting to the bullet hole in the wall and her height the bullet would have hit her in the forehead if she had been standing there.

The other time was at the range so I'm not sure if it counts.
New pistol + finger on exceptionally light trigger too soon = bullet hole in range floor a few feet form the line and slightly irritated RO

[k_semler]

My father shot his ceiling once with an "unloaded" .22 rifle. First he pointed it at his foot, but he wised up, (somewhat), and decided to point it at the roof instead before pulling the trigger. BANG goes the rifle. My sister and I look at him like he's a dumb fscker, look at the hole in the ceiling, and laugh our asses off. If I recall correctly, he filled it in with toothpaste, and painted over it when the toothpaste hardened. My step-mom still dosen't know about it to this day, (this was over 10 years ago).

The closest I have come personally to a ND was when I was at my friends house when I was 15, and he let me look at his shotgun. He didn't tell me it was loaded, so I worked the action to find the feel, and I saw a cartrage pop up to the bolt. Not knowing how to stop it from feeding, I racked the round, and couldn't figure out how to dump the chamber, (I never handled a shotgun at that point). So I just turned the safety on, and handed it back to him, saying "here you go". Darn I felt like a fool.

[Azrael256]

Dad shot a hole in his headboard with a PPK once. It was the first (and last) time I saw dad work the action of a gun with his finger on the trigger. I remain convinced that he was actually trying to shoot mom in the butt when it happened.

She divorced him shortly thereafter. Wonder why.

[The-Fly]

Thankfully this was at the range, and not at home. I dont quite count this as an AD for the following reasons.

2 months ago i was at my local range firing my G26. When i was on my last magazine of the day, i decided to strip the gun and clean it. I removed the magazine, and foolishly forgot to rack the slide. I pointed the muzzle downrange, and squeezed the trigger. To my surprise, the gun went bang. I was a bit startled (thankfully i did have my ears on) and then embarrassed when i realized my mistake.

Fortunately, the only safety rule i violated was not verifying the gun was empty. I kept my muzzle downrange, checked my background, and only put my finger on the trigger when i was ready to fire it. This saved me from something more embarrasing or dangerous. Lesson learned: the 4 rules are there for a reason !

[crofrog]

I dont quite count this as an AD for the following reasons.

You're right it wasn't an AD it was a ND (negligent discharge).

Any time the gun goes bang when you don't want it to his an ND. Specificly in an adminstrative task like preparing the gun for take down.

Chris

[The_Shootist]

Pulled the mag from my Glock 19 pulled the trigger in preparation to dissassembly for cleaning and...you guessed it BANG!. Total stupidity on my part.

Fortunately, WHENEVER I pulled the trigger on any pistol at home for whatwever reason, I had gotton into the habit of pointing the pistol away from me at the ground. The only good part of this experience was a) to imbue a fresh sense of care and caution in handling firearms (no more ND's since then and this was the only one in 10 years of pistol ownership) and b) renewed respect for the 9mm round :evil:

That round went through both upper and lower mattresses on my bed (along with sheets, comforter, blanket), through 1/4 inch of carpet, another 1/4 inch of rubber beneath the carpet and burrowed at least 1/2 inch into the concrete below that, where it fragmented. I figure if it could do that (and this was WWB 115 JHP Wal-Mart ammo) it would likely serve me well as a self defense round :D

But the REAL scary part was the fact that despite the loud BANG in close quarters, no commotion happened in my apt complex. No neighbours wandering around, banging on my doors no cops summoned....NOTHING! we're talking a mainstream apt complex not located in a gang banger haven either.

However it was as if a round going off was routine - or else the walls/insulation were so good alot of the sound (tough to believe based on the ringing in my ears) was soaked up to the point that adjacent or two apts over, maybe it just sounded like a piece of furniture or dishware crashing.

[AlaskaErik]

All my pistols are kept loaded and ready to fire but I have never had had a negligent discharge. Before I disassemble a pistol I remove the magazine, rack the slide and remove the chambered round, visually inspect the chamber and magazine well, rack it three more times and inspect the chamber and magazine well one more time. Otherwise I keep my finger outside of the trigger guard. Do that every time and your chances of a negligent discharge should be zero.

[Byron Quick]

I've had negligent discharges. I've never had an accidental discharge. The vast majority of the 'accidental' discharges I've heard of, sure sounded as if the action descrbed was a negligent discharge.

I've never reported a negligent discharge. I have examined where the bullet went. When I verified that the bullet had not exited my quarters and no one was injured, it wasn't any business of the authorities. On the other hand, if a bullet did leave my quarters or property and I could not verify where it went then the event would be the authorities' business. And I would notify them of my negligence.

I haven't read all of the posts on this thread. I did read where one poster kept all of his weapons loaded. I once did this. And it led to a negligent discharge. I unloaded the weapon and visually checked that it was unloaded. A few minutes later, I had a negligent discharge and shot the central air conditioner unit. What happened? I have several revolvers that are exact duplicates of other revolvers I own. Thinking I was handling the unloaded revolver, I picked up its loaded twin. The event convinced me to do two things: only load weapons intended for immediate use, carry, or home defense...and to check the status of any weapon every time I pick it up...no matter how many times I've already checked.

[zahc]

I came very close.

My father had put a rifle away in the gun safe, with the box magazine full, but the chamber empty. This is because he needs it for quick access to shoot groundhogs.

Under the assumtion that guns are generally unloaded in the safe, I pulled it out, opened the bolt (noting the lack of a round flying out), and even stuck my pinky in the chamber to verify a round was not stuck in the chamber (extractors can fail...I picked up this habit from my 10/22 that had a failing extractor).

Then I shut the bolt and put in on the bed. Of course, this stripped a round from the magazine and loaded it:what:

I later went to dryfire it, and actually had my finger on the trigger, when my psychotic safety tendencies forced me to double check the chamber. What do you know, a Hornady Vmax sailed across the room, and and I about wet my pants.

Be careful.

[hso]

Yes, I have. And I'm not proud of it either.

[Andras]

I had a brain fart a couple days ago.

I was working on a 1911, got out my Taurus automatic, set it aside and finshed working on the 1911.

Grabbed the Taurus, pointed it at the floor, racked the slide and ejected the chambered round, which I knew was in there.

What I forgot to do was remove the magazine first! I realized the slide sounded funny when it closed, so I racked it again and another round came out, that's when I saw I had left the magazine in it.

Since I had pointed it at the floor, I couldn't see that the magazine was still in the weapon.

:banghead:

[mountainclmbr]

I have not, but took a firearms safety class in FL where the deputy was assigned to teach the class as punishment because he shot his TV with his duty pistol. And had to admit to each class what happenned!

[Sam]

Had a defective safety on a P38. Ended up with a hole in the floor when i applied it.
Never carried a DA/SA auto since either.

Sam

[Justin]

Have you ever accidently discharged in your house or apartment?

No.

[crofrog]

+1 Gun's aren't toy's don't treat them as such and you'll be fine. When I handle a gun I first thing asses it's state. Both with my fingers, and my eye's.



Chris

[Battlespace]

My first and only AD was when I was 12 and hunting ducks with my dad and using an Iver Johnson 16 ga single shot, which I still have. I had pulled the hammer back and did not shoot so was going to lower it. It was colder than blazes, so I had thick gloves on. The muzzle was pointed down and right in front of me and my dad. When the shot pattern appeared in the dirt, he simply looked at me and said something about "that is why you never point a loaded gun at something you do not intend to kill." A lesson that has stuck with me for over 45 years.

[lowracer]

Never

Before dry-firing I visually and manually check to be sure it's empty. Three Times. Every Time I pick it Up.

[Matthew748]

I never have and I intend to keep it that way. I do not practice dry firing and I never put my finger near the trigger unless I intend to shoot or need to for field stripping reasons. At home, my guns are always either locked in my safe, in a holster, or disassembled and being cleaned.

[NukemJim]

My question is: has anyone here shot off a round in an apartment or suburbs... and not contacted the cops... hoping no one else heard the gun shot?

The noise of a single shot is extremely unlikely to be called in to LEO's. A single shot/firecracker for whatever reason (hard to locate single noise that does not repeat, maybe people are not sure what it is) RARELY gets LEOs called, and even if they are it is extremely difficult for them to locate where it came from.

The above is presuming the projectile (if there is one) has not left the house/apartment and noise/smell are the only consideration. If there is a projectile that someone has been hit with, seen hit something, or left bullet hole on something all bets are off.

Why do I sound so positive about the above? I used to hang with some guys who started out a bit wild and ended up being totally nuts. ( I stopped hanging with them after an incident on the way to totally nuts that involved LEOs and fisticuffs )

NukemJim

[evan price]

I pulled up to a rented cinder block garage one night and saw the outside light was off. So I got out of my car and stuck my key in the lock switch to open the automatic opener, making a note to put in a new light bulb. My car was still running and lights were on so when the door rolled up it clearly illuminated the scumbag trying to shove my table saw out the back window. I grabbed my Glock 19 from by the car seat (door was still open) and turned back around, the scumbag dropped my saw when he saw the gun (it stuck, blocking the window) and realized he had blocked his avenue of escape, ran right for me, grabbing a tool off of the workbench and throwing it at me as he ran, I automatically threw my arm up and deflected the tool and >pow< discharged a shot... perp kept running and vanished into the night. Street was one-way the wrong way and I didn't want to leave my car sitting there running in case he had buddies so I shut off motor and by that time he was long gone.

Went into garage, found he has shut off power at the circuit panel disconnect on the back of the garage (Now always put a padlock on them!) flipped power back on to find I had put a nice ovalled 9mm sized hole through the left quarter panel of my 84 Ford Mustang drag race car parked in the garage. Bullet lodged somewhere, never did find it.

Never bothered calling the cops, it was a rough neighborhood. Bolted Uni-Strut over the window with 3/8" lag bolts into the block. Welded punched steel over the unistrut.

Wound up putting a "JEG'S" sticker over the hole in the car. Sold it a few years later, the new owner probably peeled the sticker off one day and wondered, WTF?!?

[mountainclmbr]

No, never in over 25 years of handling guns on a daily basis. But I did attend a CCW firearms safety class taught by a county sherriffs deputy who was placed in this position because he accidentally shot his TV with his duty weapon. Don't know what show he was watching. I would like to speculate, but not here!

[Capital Punishment]

I have never AD/ND'ed, but I did do something stupid once.

I used to keep my ruger 22/45 handgun in my room because i liked to shoot at squirrels/birds with it from my back porch. I didnt keep it loaded but i kept a loaded mag next to it.

One day i grabbed the mag and gun, went out on the porch, loaded it and shot at a squirrel ( i missed :neener: ). Took out the magazine, racked the slide to eject cartridge and put it back in its holster in my room.

A couple of days later i went to shoot at another squirrel. So i grabbed my gun and put the magazine but didnt rack the slide. I went out on the back porch and went to rack the slide. I pulled it back, let it go and it only went forward about 1/8th an inch and stopped. Wierd, i thought, must of stovepiped. Tried again. Until I actually looked at the chamber and found a round already in the tube and a round right behind it that i was trying to feed. I sat dumbfounded for a few seconds until i realised what i had done. The day before, I didnt visually inspect the chamber to ensure the round ejected. My ejector had failed.

Easy lesson learned: ALWAYS visually inspect the chamber. :banghead:

[AJ100x100]

NEVER by accident.

[AJ100x100]

Just ONCE on purpose.

[bruss01]

Couple of years ago I attended a 1 day NRA Handgun Safety course (primarily to get the certificate as qualification for a CMP purchase). This real cute little gal showed up with her boyfriend to take the course, and surprise, they hadn't brought any pistols with them since they didn't own any. No matter, between the 3 instructors they came up with a couple of loaners, and the gal was loaned a Ruger .22 pistol.

After a morning of typical classroom safety instruction, we headed out to the range for the "live fire" portion of the class. I was having a bit of a problem with the brand-new Springfield XD I was using (turned out to be an ammo issue) and I was in the process of putting it away during a ceasefire to swap it out for my GP-100 when suddenly I hear a "BANG!" so I'm thinking, whoever that was just got into deep squat with the RO instructor. Well, guess who? It turns out the cute lil' gal with the Ruger .22 was having a problem/question so one of the big, brave, knowledgeable instructors was helping her when he cut one loose on accident. Fortunately the other three rules were being followed and no one was hurt, but he sure got some looks.

That is the ONLY ND I have ever witnessed, and done by an "instructor" who was no doubt "distracted" while handling a loaded firearm.

[HankB]

Sounds like I'm almost the only one on this forum professional enough to handle a Glock Forty . . . :neener:

Seriously, I had safety drilled into me at an early age (Thanks, Dad!) and the closest thing I've had to an AD or ND is a round going off at the range when I touched the trigger on a neighbor's gunsmithed Colt revolver and learned the meaning of "hair trigger." (The round DID hit the paper, though not in the black, so I guess it doesn't really fit the AD/ND definition of this discussion.)

Second closest was a mechanical flaw - a friend's HK4 (Heckler & Koch's cheap sheet metal stamping ripoff of the Mauser HSc) took to doubling and tripling unexpectedly and unpredictably.

I have loaded guns all over my house (well, that's a slight exaggeration, but there are no little kids to worry about in my home) so I just don't dry fire; I know it would be good for my marksmanship, but there's just too much risk of picking up a loaded gun and putting a hole in something I don't want to, so I just follow the premise that "all guns are loaded" all the time.

[BrianMajors]

I was unloading my Winchester 1890, my backyard squirrel gun. We had company coming over and he was a hunter, so I thought I'd show him my guns, so I was unloading this one before they got there. I had just helped my wife lotion her back, so my hands were a little slippery. Add to that, I was rushed and not thinking. Instead of taking out the magazine tube and dumping the .22s out first, I was racking the pump slide for every round, then lowering the hammer with my thumb. Well, after 2 or 3, my thumb slipped off the hammer. It lodged into the bottom of the baseboard, just where it meets the carpet, about 3 or 4 inches from the sliding glass door.

Here's what really shook me up about it. My wife was on the couch to my right, and my daughter (2yr old) was walking up behind me to see what I was doing. It took me about 20 years of gun handling to become complacent, but it got my attention for sure!

[Carl N. Brown]

2. NEVER let muzzle cover/sweep any person or animal not a target.

And when dry firing, use a backdrop that will safely receive a forgotten round.

[Big Larry]

Not in the house. Knock on wood,(my head for one), the only AD I've had was when I was 15 (I'm 48 now)and rabbit huntin with my BIL. I had an old Mossberg 20 gauge, bolt action, with 2 round magazine and adjustable screw on choke. (It's since been stolen). Anyway, I couldn't remember if the slide safety was up for safe, down for fire, so I put it where I thought it was safe, and had the gun pointed down. Pulled the trigger and dang near blew my bil's foot off. He's about 6 years older than me, and short of beating the snot out of me, he got his message across pretty good. It was good lesson for me. Thankfully no one got hurt.

[cnyankee]

never. i always make sure i clear all guns before i leave range or woods and i never have a loaded weapon in my house. guns are locked in the safe and ammo in another part of the house. i have a teen that i dont trust (more her friends than her). she doesnt know i have guns.

now i have shot the ceiling of the indoor range i go to. i was embarrassed when it happened but then didint feel as bad when i looked at the ceiling and noticed many holes in it.

as for calling leo i would only call if i knew it hit someone or i knew it went trhough a wall to the outside and coudnt locate it.

[Templar223]

NO! Follow the 3 rules!

If I had one where I live (condo): A very real possibility of a criminal charge. If I ever had a neighbor have one, I'd give him or her a stern talkin' and if I wasn't satisfied, I'd call the law.

John

[jeepmor]

We were in Hunters safety course and the high dollar Fenwerkbau pellet gun discharged as I closed the breech. Another new hole in the ceiling tile. Instructor was mad, guy next to me saw the whole thing and told the teacher I did not have my finger anywhere even near the trigger and was simply closing the action. One hand was on the forend of the stock, the other on the long pump like arm that closed the breech and pumped up some air I suppose. Bottom line, both hands were at least 1 foot away from the trigger during discharge. Good safety lesson, bad gun. Got a demerit for that one that I honestly did not deserve.

The fact that a fellow student witnessed it was all I needed for a clear conscience. The fact that the instructor did not inspect the gun thoroughly was disappointing. The person vouching for me was not a friend who would lie for me, he was actually one of the guys who would normally not miss an opportunity to roast me. But him sticking up for me on that one really did bring us to a common moral ground, it was kinda neat. He did not fail to roast me on further occasions in other classes, we were only 12.

This is probably why I check a firearm so many times while handling it. I mean I check my pistols every time I pick them up while cleaning. A good nervous habit that reminds me of this event above nearly everytime I open a breech.


jeepmor

[psychophipps]

I've heard that the main different between an Accidental Discharge and a Negligent Discharge is wether you hit anything. Negligent means you were a gooferoo and fired your weapon when you didn't mean to. Accidental means you shot yourself, someone else or something important when you were a gooferoo with your weapon.

Might be wrong to some of you guys own definitions, of course...
Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )

[1911 guy]

When my Dad was a kid he had a bolt action .410. It's in my cabinet now, hasn't been shot in ages. Here's why. Dad was getting ready to go bust some bunnies and tree rats, figured he'd just top off the mag (detachable box) before putting on the gloves and stepping out into January weather. He works the bolt, BANG! upon closing. He'd put so many rounds through it that the sear is worn WAY beyond safe limits. If I take it out of the cabinet now, work the bolt and put the safety on, I can drop the firing pin by tapping the trigger SIDEWAYS.

My near ND was shortly after returning stateside from the service. Single life as a civilian was agreeing with me, had a job and apartment all to myself. Shotgun by bedside, out of habit. One night I'm laying in bed, sound asleep, when I here a "Whump!" and I come up with the shottie, I actually really woke up when the bolt went foreward. That's when I saw the laundry I'd stacked up had fallen over. You know, single guy, last pair of skivvies, 8 baskets of clothes to do all at once. Stacking them up gives a Tower of Pisa effect.

[Working Man]

Up until recently I had not had any sort of mishap in 25 years of
shooting/handling a firearm. I had become complacent, lazy, although
I thought I was being safe and knew exactly what I was doing I obviously
did not or else I would not be posting this now.

A high velocity Remington .40 is rather loud when it goes off in a small room.

I was getting ready to go to the store to buy some groceries, my CCW is the
last thing I add when I head out the door. I have an IWB holster that I
altered to carry my HK .40 upside-down in a cross draw manner down the back
of my pants. I put it in place and tightened my belt but something did not feel
right.

Mistake #1., I drew my HK (adhering to the 4 rules) adjusted my
holster and re-holstered my HK without loosening my belt.

..... the holster should have been removed, adjusted and reseated with the
HK holstered.

Mistake #2., I did not check my decock when the HK was re-holstered.

The HK still did not seem to sit correctly so I unholstered it again (adhering
to one less rule than before) and a ND occurred.

Mistake #3., repeating previous mistakes.

Mistake #4., My finger was not held out of the trigger guard.

It was an odd feeling when it went off. I automatically hit the decock and do
not even remember it. I was pointing it at the dresser draw I kept it in when
I discharged it.

Here is the interesting part. The high velocity Remington .40 JHP cut through
2 pairs of Haines underwear, the base of the top draw, then gouged at a
slight angle through the front of the 2nd draw (solid oak). At the point of
exit of the draw front the round was off course by about 2 inches where it
cut through a shoulder holster then through the bottom of the 2nd draw.
It continued through at this angle into my 3rd draw which contained a large
home made med kit. It shattered a section of the top of the kit and smashed
some thin stainless steel tools before exiting the box and bottom of the 3rd
draw. At this point it is approaching the back of the dresser and enters the
4th draw. It penetrates the 4th and final draw at the back bottom corner
and enters the dresser casing blowing out the framing since it no longer has
enough velocity to punch a clean hole.

I move the dresser and find the head almost 3 feet to the right of the exit
area (opposite angle it was traveling). No marks are found on the floor and
the HP has collapsed and reshaped into an oblong shape. I tryed to use the
head to trace the rout and find after it exists it begins to tumble through the
other draws.

I placed the head back into the spent casing and it is now kept on my
dresser as a reminder (along with the hole I can see in my second draw) that
I look at every morning and every night.

[crofrog]

I live on a boat, an ND could become a very interesting exerpince for me. That's why I'm extra vigilant. It's easy to want to check the gun a few more times. When a ND could mean your house sinks.

[dfaugh]

Was shooting at the range, with my Marlin Model 60...Bolt locked back (normally meaning its empty)...Put it in the case, and loaded up to go home. Later that evening, I was cleaning it. Released the bolt once, then locked it back again. cleaned the barrel and as much on the chamber area as I can (patch on little finger. Closed the bolt again. Removed (tube) magazine follower, and put a light coat of oil on it. Dry fired it so I could put a drop of oil in the trigger mechanism. Pulled the slide back once again, so I could put a couple drops of oil in there. When I did this, I heard the sickening sound of a round dropping on the floor... I have NO idea where that sucker was hiding.

[old4x4]

Nope. Never happened and it never will.
I know many people who are shooters and it hasn't happened to them, either. The sheer number of those who have done it frightens me to the bone. Those rounds can and do pass thru outside walls and out to where innocent people are (or those in the house itself). I'm more careful than that. Ain't happening.

[bruss01]

2 kinds - those who have, those who will. Never say never, it tempts the fates.

[Working Man]

I firmly believe with the proper precautions that it will not happen.
I apparently did not take the proper precautions but that being the case
does not equal it happening to everyone.

[gunsmith]

my last one was a doozy.
Thank God I had it pointed in a safe direction, I live in a nice neighborhood in Reno,NV... I hear other peoples ND's and they hear mine and no one bothers the police...they got lots of drunks to get off the road.:evil:

[bruss01]

I firmly believe with the proper precautions that it will not happen.
I apparently did not take the proper precautions but that being the case
does not equal it happening to everyone.

Agreed, some may be lucky and never have it happen to them. The key to your statement is "with proper precautions it will not happen" . That's true, but that's like saying if everyone obeys the rules of the road and good judgement there will never be a car crash. What are the odds on human beings performing perfectly every time without exception? People are human, no one is perfect and if you think you are, guess again. The unexpected happens. You may have good habits, you may be diligent, heck you may even be well-above-average in the rule following department. But eventually, everyone slips up - they are tired, distracted, relied on habit instead of conscious thought, even the mind plays tricks sometimes making you "see" an empty chamber where there's actually a round in there. No joke, it happens to people every day, and thinking you're above making that combination of errors is the first step in causing it to happen to you.

I applaud the posters in this thread for their candor, confession is good for the soul even if it is hard on the reputation. Their stories are a reminder that it can happen to the best of us. It's never happened to me, thank my lucky stars, but my day is coming no doubt. So is yours. And if you live your life in that attitude of humility, maybe, just maybe, you'll be one of the lucky few who prove the exception to the rule.

[SSN Vet]

ND....never
AD....never

But after reading all of these stories....I'm taking AlaskaEriks advice.

A little paranoia goes a long ways.

........................

Now for a story from 1980, visiting my former neigbor and friend who moved to FL, over spring break. I was 15 and he was 17. I was very happy to hang with his older friends. Consumed a lot of beer that week and came home with a tattoo.

Charlie was going into the Marines after graduation and we went out with his buddies to go "blasting", "jump the car" (literally) and shoot an alligator (which we never found). Loading up at the friends house, the friend says "Charlie, it's loaded now so don't screw around anymore". Not more than a minute later, Charlie picks up the .45 and takes aim at the bed (which I am sitting on) and says "Take this you ba$t@%d" and pulls the trigger.

After the very loud BANG, the next sound was a girl screeming histarically. The bullet had gone through the bed, the carpet and the plywood floor, but apparently hit a floor joist and stopped, as the ceiling below was not damaged. The friend's sister was freeking out in a major way, but was somehow sworn to secrecy.

The hole in the bed was ~3" from my hand!

How I survived adolesence is a wonder.....purely the Grace of God.

[bruss01]

SSNVet:

You lost me - you wrote:
Loading up at the friends house, the friend says "Charlie, it's loaded now so don't screw around anymore". Not more than a minute later, Charlie picks up the .45 and takes aim at the bed (which I am sitting on) and says "Take this you ba$t@%d" and pulls the trigger.


Your story isn't quite complete without explaining the reason Charlie pulled the trigger.

A. He didn't hear the person telling him it was loaded.
B. He didn't believe it was loaded, thought it was on safe, or for some other reason didn't believe it would fire if the trigger was pulled.
C. He just thought it would be "cool" to shoot a big hole in the bed and scare the bejezus out of you, with no concern for who or what might be downstairs.

We'd also like to hear about his immediate reaction:
A. Laugh like a jackass
B. "OMG guys, are you OK? I'm so frickin' sorry!"
C. "Yeah, whatever..."

[2lucky]

I fired my Glock .40 (Hydroshock round) into a pair of $250 binoculars that were about 12" from my foot. I was impressed that the slug didn't exit the vinyl binocular case. It was 7 AM. I'd been up all night and was in a hurry.

Any pirates out there need a good deal on Swift 10X50 binoculars?

[SSN Vet]

FYI...this is a true story AND we were young and extremely stupid!!!

What exactly was going on in Charlie's mind, I can't really say for sure. My speculation was that he was excited about "playing" with the "toys" and either didn't hear or heard and quickly forgot the friends admonition that the .45 was now loaded. He thought he was dry firing the gun in play.

Immediate reactions...
White as a ghost, fearful expressions on all faces present.
Charlie's friend called him a couple of choice explatives and ran down stairs to his sister.
Charlie was extremely embarassed and shamed by the pure stupidity of the ND and apologized profusely.
I don't think I said anything at all.....just kind of sat there freeked out thinking "oh my ___.....I almost just lost my hand".

We covered our tracks by changing the linins on the bed and then went out to do more reckless and stupid things.

As I recall, the "freind" had a live hand grenade in his "collection". But fortunately we left that at home.

So goes the lives of rebelious teenagers without adequate parental supervision. In hind sight, I was a statistic waiting to happen, that somehow (God's grace) didn't happen.

I pray that my own kids (and I their father) do better.

[PCGS65]

Geeeez guys!! I can see it now how the anti-gun lobbyists are going to take things here in or out of context and eat us alive..............:uhoh:

[GrOuNd_ZeRo]

I will admit I had a AD/ND today, I hit the wall in my bedroom.

I am not a 100% Sure how it discharged since I sure as heck didn't pull the trigger! it was a .40S&W Hi-Point, I was cycling the slide to test it for reliablity of feeding JHP's for home defense...

I was completely dumbfounded after it went off.

I yelled and cussed when it went off, my wife checked up on me to see what happened, she thought that my BB-Gun or Pellet rifle went off at first after realising her ears were ringing and asked me if I was ok, I did the same thing at the same time.

I don't know how to blame it on, my self for cycling the action or the Hi-Point pistol! anyway I feel really really stupid!

sorry for bumping this thread ;)

[GrOuNd_ZeRo]

Well, if you don't mind i'll be bumping this thread once more.

I really would like to have some input...but I do realise it was 99% operator error...

I learned my lesson...

[dch1978]

I would not cycle ammunition to find out if it is going to cycle properly. It is not the same as a discharge caused cycle, there are more factors involved when the weapon is actually being fired.

There are also too many factors for me to positively diagnose a malfunction of the weapon. I could randomly suggest anything from a rock was in exactly the correct position, to the firing pin being stuck out. So I am afraid that you will not be able to gain insight into this particular problem from members of the forum. Simply too many possibilities.

Sorry

DCH

[pax]

Ground Zero ~

No, if it fired when your finger was nowhere near the trigger, and if nothing important was destroyed because you had the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, it wasn't operator error. That's a mechanical failure, which is a truly accidental discharge.

Get that gun to the gunsmith, posthaste.

pax

[Heckler]

Growing up as a child it was not uncommon when getting up early in the morning to find a coyote lurking near the chicken coop. Dad used to keep an Eddystone 30-.06 in the cab of a farm truck so it was handy if he stepped out and saw one.

I think I was about 5 years old, didnt know anything about guns except not to pull the trigger when it was loaded. One day I hopped in the and saw that gun. I was fascinated by it. The look, the feel, the smell. I opened the bolt and didnt see any bullets. I would open and close the bolt, flip the safety back and forth, pull the trigger, etc. What I didnt notice was that there were bullets down in the magazine.(didnt know what a magazine was at that age).
Eventually I opened the bolt far enough for a round to come up and closed the bolt and continued to fiddle, not knowing I now had a round chambered.

The windows were rolled up on that old 49 Chevy truck, the doors closed. When I touched that thing off I briefly thought that the world had come to an end. I jumped out and ran like hell, the only thing I could hear was my rasping breathing as I headed for the shelter belt to hide in the trees. It was 30 minutes before my ears began ringing, replacing the muffled numbness. They rang until I fell asleep that night.

Dad never said a thing. He had to know, the bullet barely missed the fuel tank behind the seat, punching a neat hole through the drivers side corner of the cab and a deep furrow in the steal frame around the bottom of the truck bed. Thirty years later I finally asked him why he hadnt tanned my hide over it. He turned white, he thought Grandpa had done it, had given him hell for years over it.

Can't blame Dad for it because I KNEW better, even at the age of 5.

I triple check my chamber before dry firing or storing a weapon.

[XDKingslayer]

No, I've never done it inside.

I did have a very cheaply made but NIB .25 semi-auto (can't remember brand) that AD'd on it's very first round. Dad had bought it for mom and we took it to the range to test it out.

I ran it through function checks as I'm used to with any weapon. Ensure it's unloaded and mag removed, cycled the slide, put the weapon on safe, pulled the trigger and it didn't fire. Undid the safety, pulled the trigger, weapon dry fired. Pulled slide back and locked it, inserted emtpy mag, dropped slide and weapon didn't fire. Just your usual order of checks.

Loaded up a mag, inserted it into the pistol, racked the slide with the weapon downrange, and when the slide went home, it fired. Wasn't exactly expecting that and was kinda glad it was a .25 and not a .45 or I would have probably filled my pants. I made the weapon safe, inspected everything again, field stripped it looking for something broken, but found nothing. Assembled the weapon, loaded the mag, loaded the weapon and had the same result.

Every time you put a loaded mag in this thing and sent the slide home it always went off, but only on the first round. It would function flawlessly after that first AD of the magazine.

Suggested to dad that we send it back for repair, dad did one better. Took it to work and cut it in half with a torch. But it's the only AD/ND I've ever experienced.

[sm]

Have you ever accidently discharged in your house or apartment?

NO.

I was in fear of my life, and /or others when I have discharged firearms in a structure / elswhere.

The first time I was not yet a teenager. I used MY nine shot High Standard Sentinel. That gun was waiting for me to be born, and I learned to shoot that gun starting near age 4.

Riots, front door brick- batted in...

That was around '68. I too this day do not ever remember hearing the shots I fired. I can smell the acrid Remington .22 ctg I fired, I can taste the coppery taste in my mouth from the blood as I type this. Not My blood...I also recall being told my groups - each could be covered by a "two bit" piece [ quarter].

Thankfully NO ADs, No NDs, and I hope to never again to fire for fear of my life or that of another in a serious situation against two legged varmits.

Sometimes I still get a chill relating that first time...just did again.

<shiver>

[leadcounsel]

My first experience with guns was a hand-me-down bb pistol revolver shaped like a .357 Colt. What a beautiful gun, back when they made bb guns to look very real. Wish I still had that gun.

NG #1

Anyway, my grandmother was teaching me gun safety before handing it over to me for the first time. The whole family was gathered. Thinking the gun was unloaded she pointed it at the TV and pulled the trigger and "ping" a bb bounced off of the TV and ricochet off a few other things in the room. It was quite humourous.

NG#2
A few years later I had a Daisy BB gun when I was about 12. Thinking I had shot all of my bbs, I aimed it at the house window and pulled the trigger. BBs make the coolest hole is a pane of glass. I was in BIG trouble for that.


Anyone seen the video of the FBI agent that had a NG while TEACHING a class about gun safety. He shot himself in the foot. It can happen to anyone that is inattentive.

[Mongo the Mutterer]

ND.

Yep, and only I knew I had one. Had my G19 at the range, and I like to let off just enough slack on the trigger after firing to reset the hammer, but not the safety.

I had paused, had the barrel pointed up off the target, started to reaquire the target and bang.

I did not want the pistol to fire, and no one watched would have seen the error, but I know what I did. Never again.

[SuperNaut]

Have you ever accidently discharged in your house or apartment?

Once I got some bad glazed salmon...

[silverlance]

well, except for the one or two times I fired a split second before meaning to at the range. those were instances of me trying to get myself to be "surprised" by the gun's discharge, and understandably led to several "surprising" discharges (i was practicing trigger and breath control).

HOWEVER

i saw a pretty scary ND last sunday at my range. some fat moron with a spas-12'd up mossberg has been blowing birdshot at MY target frame set at fifty yards because like a true idiot he had placed his own target out at about 100 yards. unhappy with the results of his first 30 shots, he had decided to simply switch over and start blasting my own personal target - my target which i had built personally, and paid for!

looking through my scope, i could actually see the impacts of the birdshot pellets, and so i turned around to ask the guy what the hell he was doing (btw, i am a pretty friendly range guy. this moron had, as a matter of fact, been borrowing my spooter scope between rounds... what nerve!).

he notices me looking at him with a grim demeanor, and lowers his shotgun. he's still looking back at me with an uncertain expression on his face and the shotgun is still moving downwards when.. BOOM.

he's surprised, looks at his gun like it did it all on his own (stupid finger on trigger behavior accounted for the ND), and pretends like it wasn't an ND.

the morons then proceed to haul out a plastic kid's giraffe and shoot at it with their rifles and shotguns from about, oh, two feet away. straight at it and down, into the rocks at their feet, about half a yard away from the concrete line. mind you, the ROs wouldn't let me zero in my scope at 25 yards, but either didn't see or choose to do anything about this behavior. one moron even stepped BEHIND the firing line by several feet to get a better shot at the point-blank giraffe.

i had been there for four hours, having a good time, but i finished my mauser's magazine, went up to the shack, reported that they had a group of morons who were sending up birdshot ricochets, and left.

[trapperjohn]

Any time the gun goes bang when you don't want it to his an ND.

That is the WORST definition of a ND I have ever heard. A ND is due to negligence on a shooters part, in other words the shooter does soemthing that a reasonably prudent shooter would not.

Sometimes there is a mechanical malfunction that causes the gun to go bang when the shooter didnt want it to. that is not a ND that is an AD.

I had an AD inside when i was about 14. I closed the bolt on an old remmington 22 single shot that i had shot lots previously. When i closed the bolt the gun discharged and took some tile off the concret floor. Scared the beejesus out of me.

[CAS700850]

Forgive me, THR, for I hav sinned. A long time ago, while practicing speedloading a Smith 586, I came up to point after loading and discarged a round in an apartment I once lived in. To this day I remember the sick feeling I got in my stomach. Still thank God that I was only using .38 ammo, not magnum loads. Also learned that day that plaster and shower tiles will actually stop a bullet. Still have the dummy rounds I got for speedloader practice, some 14 years later.

[30-06 lover]

Nope...God willing it will remain that answer forever.
-Mike

[GrOuNd_ZeRo]

Yeah, I most definitly had that sick feeling...

God I felt like such an idiot...I don't know what i'm more upset about, not remembering if I DID touch the trigger or if it was truly a AD...:banghead:

[Lou629]

I would definitely get the gun in question thoroughly checked-out by a gunsmith. Not only will you likely get an answer to your question of whether or not it was an accident or negligence, you will also know whether or not the gun can be trusted in the future, if a defect is found and corrected.

[alex_trebek]

Once there was a AD in my appt. It wasnt my fault, it was the fault of my two roommates. One roommate left his bolt action 8mm rifle loaded, but what he did was push the rounds down while he pushed the bolt forward, therefore not chambering a round. Roommate #2 comes along and starts playing with the rifle, he cycles the bolt and pulls the trigger. He did this without:
1. paying attention to where the rifle was pointed.
2. checking the chamber.

I was in the other room and heard an explosion. I came running in to see him shaking. I immediately thought he was hit or something, but then saw the hole in the wall. The bullet went through the wall, but failed to penetrate the brick wall of the neighbors house ( thank God it was a expanding hunting round). Seeing as no one was hurt, we simply thanked our lucky stars and patched the hole.

The saddest part of the story is, the guy playing with the rifle is in the military. At the time I trusted him whenever he would pick up a rifle.

[Bix]

Not had one yet, but I am in the 'candidate' category as a result of the frequency with which I handle firearms.

So, I picked up an old Level III ballistic panel for $20, which I use for dryfire practice, clearing, cleaning, etc. There are commercially available products designed for this purpose which are much better:

http://www.safedirection.com/

I've seen a Safe Direction demonstration first hand, and the devices are very impressive - they work as advertised :) .

This kind of precaution will certainly not excuse an ND, but it will help to mitigate the consequences - which could mean alot.

[JMusic]

Yes I have and more than once.:what: Mostly pellet guns when I was a kid or high end pellet rifles with no safeties. Worst case I ever witnessed was 5 of us was riding in a Blaser going on a raid. The sniper was using a 700 Rem in 30-06. He put one through the roof while in route. None of us had much hearing after that and we cancelled the raid!:D
Jim

[jamz]

I haven't.







Yet.




-James

[brazz1]

One of my first lessons in the serious nature of guns...

A new friend showing me his guns up on the mtn.
After he explains some rules to me and we shoot his .40 and 9mm for a while he says "Oh! I got something to show you." We walk up to this cabin on the property and he's showing me this handgun, some sort of modified piece, a machine pistol. He's going through the action and all of a sudden it rattles off some number of times (alot of times).

"Whoa."
"Did you mean to do that man?"
"Uh, no."
"Is the safety on?"
"****, yeah."
"Hm. Remember that that happened."

Fortunately it wasn't loaded, that time.

[1911_CQB]

Nope. Not since I was 6 with a cap gun.

[Duach Laidir]

I've done it. ONCE.

I was modifying an SKS into a four shot capacity sporter and this required some changes to the mechanism.
Not having any dummy rounds in 7.62 x 39 I was testing the feed with a live round.

No problem for an old professional.:uhoh:

I fed a round from the magazine into the chamber and BANG.

The projectile hit a 6"x4"x2" piece of steel that I was making into a small surface plate....it is still in the workshop as a reminder and useless for its intended job.

In my ignorance I had made the rifle fully auto, thankfully I only loaded one round into the magazine.
I didn't pull the trigger, if fact it was not possible to leave the gun cocked as it went off as soon as the working parts went into battery.

The fault was, as I remember to do with removing/altering the mechanism that allowed the magazine to swing down for cleaning.

It was a very neat little rifle by the time I finished it (safely).
Now it is a bit of recycled steel somewhere after the Great Australian Gun Grab as all semi-autos, sporting or military, were banned for general use.

The projectile completely disintegrated and no other damage was done.
I was very very lucky as I was sitting down at the time with the rifle pointed down at about 45 degrees, the "surface plate"was about 4 feet in front.

Moral: No matter how long one has been with firearms it's always possible to make a mistake.

Duach.

[cassandrasdaddy]

when i was a teenager but old enough to know better i was out in the woods in a cabin with a dri=unk friend and my dog. friend was screwing around with a 22 rifle shot my dog. he was 2 disraught to finish her off. i hada do it. one of hardest things i ever did. took 3 shots i missed twice from 3 feet away. after i did what hada be done i almost put one between my friends eyes

[mapwd]

I feel so stupid. I just aquired a Glock 19 and like I do whenever I get a new gun, I have to figure out how it all comes apart. I finally figure out how to disassemble the magazines and clean the springs of crud from several trips to the range. I put everything back together and load one magazine for the bedside night stand. I ALWAYS leave the rest empty...Not last night. For some reason I loaded two of the three mags. I decided to do some dryfire practice and glaced over to the full magazine to confirm the gun was not loaded-Stupid mistake #1, and then proceded pull the slide back to see the empty chamber, but missed the full magazine due to the downward angle of the gun. I pointed it at the wall and pulled the trigger...BANG! put a round through the glass of my livingroom entertainment center door, missed the Theater reciever and the Satalitte receiver. Went through the outside wall, through the siding, across into the neighbors garage wall, through the garage, through the oppacite wall and into a dead space above their livingroom ceiling!!!!!!! I live in a bi-level so the round was very high on their property. They didn't even know it had happened. Felt so bad when I had to go over and tell them. I never, ever want to feel like that again!

Never say never-it can happen

[XD Fan]

One AD and one ND. Never inside.

Saw an interesting post recently in which a guy describe a "bullet catcher" he uses for dry firing. In his words it is just an extra protectection that allows him to never point a gun at something he could not live with destroying. He had half of a fifty gallon barrel filled with 24" of sand. I don't know if it would work but it seems to make sense.

[Lupinus]

never have had an AD

I have come close and done things I was tempted to smack myself for once or twice....but always caught any mistakes I made or was making before ADing

[CNYCacher]

oops
One of my first lessons in the serious nature of guns...

A new friend showing me his guns up on the mtn.
After he explains some rules to me and we shoot his .40 and 9mm for a while he says "Oh! I got something to show you." We walk up to this cabin on the property and he's showing me this handgun, some sort of modified piece, a machine pistol. He's going through the action and all of a sudden it rattles off some number of times (alot of times).

"Whoa."
"Did you mean to do that man?"
"Uh, no."
"Is the safety on?"
"****, yeah."
"Hm. Remember that that happened."

Fortunately it wasn't loaded, that time.


:scrutiny:

--------------------------------------------------------
This is a good thread guys, I think it's important to validate the 4 rules.

[doncol]

I blew a .410 hole thru the front porch decking.
a rangy feral cat was hunting birds at the bird feeder so I quietly slipped out the front door with my old single shot. While thumbing the hammer back, my thumb slipped off and it discharged. I replaced the deck board with a matching piece from out in the barn, put the saw away as my wife pulled in the drive.

If that counts then I am guilty as well. My dad got me a single shot 20 ga. shotgun for Christmas when I was 10 or so. We were out hunting rabbits not long after and my thumb slipped off of the hammer. I think that my dad would have been really pissed if he could have stopped laughing.

My oldest boy was handed that very same shotgun on Christmas of 04. Anyone want to guess what happened the very first time we went out to shoot it? That boy can shoot. Now I actually have to try to outshoot him.

[doncol]

Just remembered one more.

When my brother was in his very early teens he had a 30/30 out somewhere with my dad and mon. They had spent a few hours shooting and were over by the truck getting ready to leave. Mom and Dad talking about something by the front of the truck and bro. near the back getting ready to put the rifle away.

BOOM!!

My Dad turned just in time to see my brother hit the ground. He ran over trying to find the gunshot but could not see any blood or anything wrong other than him curled in the fetal position with both hands holding his groin area. He pulled my brothers hands away but again did not see any blood or anything.

It turns out that my brother was unloading the rifle and had the butstock resting on that special spot when it went off. Aside from a slightly higher voice for the next couple of days the only damage were two holes in my Dad's camper.

[10-Ring]

Well...:o yes...
I had gone shooting w/ a couple of neighbors and while we were getting stuff unpacked to start cleaning, we hear this huge..no.... HUGE! bang :what: Turns out one of the guys didn't finish off a mag before he put all his gear away at the range and while taking out this particalur handgun, he shot it off in his condo :what: Talk about a FAST response time from the local PD...
After they left, we found it pretty funny :D

[Chad]

My first...and hopefully only...was a couple weeks ago.

I had considered it an AD because it was a mechanical failure that caused it, but after reading a couple similar incidents in this thread I think that cycling live rnds to test a feeding problem makes it at least somewhat an ND as well.

I'm working on the ramp of a Colt 10mm that a 'gunsmith' recut badly, and have been hand cycling to test as I go...knowing it's not the same as fired cycling, but it gives me an idea how it's doing.
I was holding it in my left hand...I'm right-handed...with all fingers around the grip, and pulling the slide with my right hand, so I know I didn't have a finger in the trigger guard.

Halfway through the second mag the gun fired...through the wall(over 2" stucco), 3 sheets of 3/8 plywood, and into the 1/2 mile or so of heavy woods on that side of my garage.

I've reproduced what happened since...without any ammo in the gun.
Not every time, but ocassionaly the hammer follows the slide all the way down.
The 'gunsmith' also did a trigger job on this gun.

So now it's indefinitely retired until I get it to a good 'smith...

And I'll never hand cycle live rnds again.

Live(fortunately) and learn.

[Cousin Mike]

And I have never been more scared in my life. I'll never forget that feeling, and I hope to God it never happens again, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure that it doesn't.

I bought a Colt .38 not too long ago - been bitten by the revolver bug recently - and did the usual routine when I buy a gun. Get speedloaders, ammunition, take it home, clean it up, load it... I've owned auto's for years, and never had an accident, so apparently I had become complacent with safety.

The next day, before work, I take it downstairs with me to show a friend I sometimes ride to work with. It's still loaded, as it is in my control, and while I was brushing my teeth, something possessed me to start manually cycling the cylinders. Complete stupidity at it's finest: thumbing down the hammer on a loaded revolver - one-handed - while brushing my teeth... Nice! :banghead:

Well, I never heard the shot actually go off, but since I was in the bathroom mirror, I saw it happen. Then my ears started ringing. I'm looking at the mirror, and wondering - why is there a hole in the corner of the wall?! And why the hell is the morror shattered on one side?! Then I smell gunpowder. I feel the gun heating up in my hand. Then it clicks in my head what just happened....

Where's my girlfriend?

"OH SH*T!... SH*T!! AWWW HOLY SH*T!"

I just kept repeating myself and walking around in circles. I live in a very nice apartment complex, and this happened at 7:00 in the morning before work... I think this was on a Tuesday or something. EVERYONE was home. Both neighbors on both sides are at home, and I just let off .38SPL+P in my bathroom... Mind you, the bathroom is on the end of the unit, connected to the neighbors bathroom. If my neighbor and I are in the bathroom at the same time, one of us can hear if the other bumps the wall. Very thin walls. And at this time in the morning, I'm 100% positive that the people next door should be doing the exact same thing I'm doing... In the bathroom, getting ready for the day.

"What if I killed one of the neighbors?"

Do I go over and ask if everyone is okay? Well, if I do that, then they'll DEFINITELY call the police. Besides, if someone wasn't okay, I would hear something going on next door, right?

Wait, what am I talking about? I can't hear sh*t as it is!

"I'm going to f*ckin' jail," I keep saying, in a moment of panic...

"The cops are coming and they're gonna take my @&#%!$* guns over this!"

My girlfriend keeps telling me to calm down. She also insists that I show her where it happened. We go, and look, and find that the bullet knocked a quarter-sized hole in the drywall after it pulverized the glass in the mirror, then knocked a quarter-sized hole in the corner posts, went through the 2x4 in the wall and lodged in the plywood about 6 inches back. Point blank, and it didn't go through the wall!

My friend comes. I let him in., I tell him whats going on. We wait for the police for over an hour. No one shows up. I watch my neighbors leave for work. They wave at me and say hello.

Get the HELL outta here!!! You mean nobody heard that?!?

Sure enough, no one has ever said anything about it, and I DAMN sure wasn't going to call the police on myself. I came here and posted a thread about it, and it's been slow getting over it. I bought another revolver yesterday ( a beautiful Taurus 608, 4" .357Mag with a ported barrel - range report coming later today), and I'm not scared of them anymore... so that's good. I'm just 10x more careful now than I ever was before. I figure that's all I can do - but the last thing I'll ever do is play with a loaded gun of any sort, ever again.

The colonels 4 rules... You know, they really do work if you just follow them. :D Never say never... I had considered myself to be extremely safe with firearms before that happened. The ONE time I got complacent and did something stupid, I had a ND.

It can happen to anyone.

[venerable yorgi]

as the man said. "there's two types of pilots, those that have landed wheels up and those that are going to land wheels up."::
I dont know about accidental discharges but some future remodeler will doubtless wonder someday why there is a 45 slug in the wall stud of my old house...

[GeorgiaGlocker]

Someone mentioned luck. It is not luck when you haven't had a ND or AD. It's called paying attention to what you are doing and proper gun handling procedures. That is how people get killed needlessly.

[Hazwaste]

I haven't had an AD/ND...yet. Came close last week due to both my son and me being careless (me being the most careless). He had been shooting his SKS in the back and left his rifle in the garage loaded and with a round in the chamber and safety off, and with the garage door wide-open for all the world to see.

I absent mindedly (i.e. STUPIDLY!!!) picked it up and allowed my little finger to encroach into the trigger guard. I was more focused on my annoyance over him leaving his rifle out in public than I was on safe gun handling.

*knocks wood to thank gnomes for saving my butt...thank you gnomes* :banghead:

[GodLibertyLife]

Once when I was a child, 7~8 years old. Rural home of my grandparents. Grandad had a 410 propped up against the corner in the bedroom. Curious, I looked down the barrel, cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. Needless to say the ceiling and roof required patching. Learned very early on, as I wiped proverbially the poopy from my britches, always regard a weapon as loaded until proven otherwise. :eek:

________________________________________________

NOTE: No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

[cyanide]

All the time

last count was like 22 A/D's

only have have the wife on my rear because we live in a rural area .



















































































































j/k

[bamawrx]

Couple lessons,

Once while looking at a semi-auto thompson for the first time in a year since my grandfather and I last shot it I found a live round in the chamber! We both just looked in silence at the round. It was a good reminder of why we always check the chambers before doing anything with a gun.

A friend of mine sent a .223 into the outside wall of his house recently. It did not penetrate the brick veneer, and scared the kids in the living room. Fortunately for him his wife was not home.

[limbaughfan]

NEVER

[dragongoddess]

Before leaving the range all mags are removed. All ammo is removed. Rifle is fired to confirm no ammo. Then the bolts are removed just to be sure and pistols are broken down after going though a similar process. That way when I get home my weapons are ready to be cleaned and are not capable of firing as they are in pieces. All this so an AD doesn't happen.

[Cork]

I have had my 'AD' and the police took a report, believed me and did not take me in. An experienced Sgt. is what kept me from a night in jail out of town. The first young officer was acting shocked like a armed civilian was always a crimmal. Happened in a rather public place. The number reason why you must teach your young people and never let a fireram point in a direction of another person is that something can happen. I still have terrible dreams about whoat could have happened but I still carry. I believe that if you carry long enough it will happen, so never be over confident.
Cork

[308win]

There is no such thing as an AD; careless (CD) or negligent (ND) but no AD.:cuss:

[Yeager]

I've had quite a few NDs with airsoft and pellet guns that can't be cleared without taking the gun apart. :uhoh: However I've never had a ND with a real firearm..

[TeachMe]

I disagree with a few things stated in a couple posts above.

1) "There is no such thing as an AD" - I would classify a mechanical failure of a firearm resulting in discharge to be an AD. Most people misuse the term, but I do believe there is a possibility for AD.

2) "If you carry long enough you will have an AD" - (I assume you mean a ND or negligent discharge, not a faulty piece of equipment) I just don't believe that. Maybe if you become overconfident and careless/negligent. However, no one is required to become apathetic towards gun safety. Just because you were careless at some point doesn't mean everyone else will be. I understand you may be trying to warn others from making the same mistake but the absolute statement "YOU WILL" just isn't so.

[Arcticfox]

when I was a kid, my best friend grabbed my 'empty' BB gun, pumped it once, and aimed and fired at my brother. ( there was one in the chamber.) Hit him in the ear! I was pissed that he could be SO stupid!

Whenever I pick up my revolvers for ANY reason, the FIRST thing I do is open the clyinder and carefully check for daylight in all holes.

[Doc2005]

http://www.letargets.com/html/traps.html

This is the reason that one leaves loaded rifles/shotguns out-of-doors. Too, the fact that bullet catchers are on the market is simple tesimony to the fact that (as already stated) if you carry long enough, you WILL experience an accidental discharge.

I just hope that when thbullet stopping device. Myself, I purchased a bullet resistent vest at the gun show. It hangs in the closest, two layers thick, and a solid brick wall behind it. When I load, unload, my pistols face that vest. To date, it remains untouched. One never knows. For me, I did this because I can strap it one after loading, etc. It serve two purposes.

Money can no longer legitimately be said to preclude safety.

Doc2005

[04SilverSCFX4]

I say we initiate a registry containing the name w/addresses of all of those who post a positive response to this inquiry....This way, the rest of us will now which walls to reinforce with blast shields first.:)

[kengrubb]

An example of an AD is when lightning strikes the gun causing it to go off. They can and probably do happen, but I suspect the vast majority (like 99% or more) are examples of NDs.

Never had an ND with a real gun, but had one once with a pellet gun in my room at home. Was about 15 or 16 at the time.

[308win]

An example of an AD is when lightning strikes the gun causing it to go off. They can and probably do happen, but I suspect the vast majority (like 99% or more) are examples of NDs.

Another example of an ND; should have know better than to be out in a lighting storm.

[Plink]

I haven't had one yet. I say yet, because it's always possible. I'm a stickler for checking the chamber before I dry fire, clean, or handle in any way. I never take for granted that the gun is empty, even if I personally emptied it earlier. It's easier to just get in the habit of always checking.

[Third_Rail]

I used to dry fire, I simply don't any more. I don't see the reason to; not except at a range, where just in case it remains loaded no harm done.

[learn2shoot]

About 5 years ago, this was an outdoor range, the type where you could shoot paint cans with tracers and make a huge mess, and as long as you cleaned up a bit nobody cared. There was about five people including one pain in the :cuss: @$$ chic who kept running around putting flowers in the barrels of the guns while telling us how bad guns were and basically being a distraction. Well we had replaced the 'targets' and four of us were back and I hear boom (12 ga), then one person yell hey! from down range.

:fire: :fire: :cuss: :fire: :fire:

I don't think I have yelled at people like that before or since. I now take a more authorative role when ever I am at the range, with new people.