[tnieto2004]

:mad: Yes, I am an idiot.

As you guys told me I should, (http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=253988) I picked up a new S&W 22A today at the Houston gun show. I took it over to a buddy’s house and I was going to clean and oil it before I take it out to shoot it. I was putting the barrel back on and thought it had fully snapped into place (IT HADNT!). It popped off the frame and fell about 18 inches onto the concrete (I was in a small yard chair). I was sick to my stomach. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, it’s only a 200 gun. But dang! I haven’t even fired the thing. It hit at the very front bottom of the barrel. It scratched it up a lil but it’s not too bad.

On a lighter note, I like the gun and am taking it out first thing in the morning to shoot it!

[RNB65]

Last summer I bought a new XD9. Took it to the range for the first time to give it a try. Range safety rules require the slide to be locked open at all time when not being fired, so after removing the gun from my bag I attempted to retract the slide and lock it. The gun slipped out of my hand and crashed to the concrete floor leaving a nice scuff mark on the left side before I even fired the first shot. I had given it a thorough cleaning the night before and, as far as I could tell, there was enough CLP on the outside that the polymer frame was a bit slippery and shot out of my hand as I pulled the slide back.

Oh, well, no big deal. I buy guns for use, not for display. It's been 100% reliable from the first shot onward.

[tnieto2004]

Ya, like I said its a S&W 22A .. Nothing I would brag to someone about .. but I keep my guns in EXCELLENT condition and I am wierd about stuff like that.. Thanks for admitting it has happend to you also!! I know MANY people drop guns.. stuff happens!

[aaronrkelly]

I dont worry much about a few nicks or dings. I carry quite a few of my guns and it only takes a few days before they have a few marks on them.

[ArchAngelCD]

I tested a lot of different ammo in my 22A and found that CCI's Standard Velocity .22LR (Part #0032) works the best. I didn't see any difference between it and their Pistol Match ammo (Part #0051) so I see no reason to spend the additional money on it. Winchester Wildcat 22 works well in my 22A also. I would suggest staying away from Federal and Remington.

[frez]

Does it cost a lot really to take it to someone for repair a few dings/scratches?

[CajunBass]

Bahhh. Give it character. I've got a Smith & Wesson 39-2 with scratched grips from a motorcycle accident. Just make up a good story to go along with the scratches.

"There I was, holding off the Martian hords with my 22......."

[jeepmor]

So you dropped it, now that's out of the way.

It's like a new car, go kick it, scuff it or otherwise put a small blemish on it before some disrespectful boob does it with his car door for you. Me, i could just let the dogs jump in an out for like two seconds and shake their coats.

The first dings are always the most painful, but their easier when they are self induced, you know who to blame that way.;)

I wouldn't worry. I've taken great care of my pistols, never dropped them, and still find little dings I can't explain.

....I was holding off the martians, when they were getting close and I pistol whipped one in the mouth...see this nick right here, their teeth are quite tough.;) ;) ;)

[mscott]

I think Chevy has a commercial that applies here... "It's not a scratch, it is a scar".

[10-Ring]

I like getting that first 'scar' out of the way then the next ones aren't such a big deal. I remember once I was putting my back pack on before a camping trip & my USP 45 flew out of the pocket I thought I had zipped up :what: No biggie, it'll still outshoot most other NIB guns I've seen :D

[mattw]

I'm always banging the top of my 28" barrel on the top of a doorway or something when I bring my 870 in from shooting a little trap.

I've dropped my 1911 once or twice onto the end of the slide and onto the grip safety while cleaning or handling it. Thankfully I had carpet in the house at the time.. now i've got to be more carefull, we have hardwood floors now!

Don't sweat it. It happens to the best of us. Not even the most elite tacticool mall ninja navy SEAL vet has NEVER dropped a firearm.

Probably the worst thing I've ever seen happen as far as dropping a weapon is when my brother's idiot friend came over when we were shooting trap. I had just bought a new remington 870 express for my brother because he wanted to shoot trap with me and my friends. So I took his money, picked up the shotgun, got home and he cleaned it up. We went out to the back yard to bust some clays and his friend shows up to watch. My brother offers the shotgun to his friend so that everyone can experience the new shotgun. The friend hits maybe 2/6 clays that we throw and gets tired of it. My brother holds his hand out for the shotgun and the friend (who is about 5 yards away) gives the shotgun a nice friendly toss into the air. My brother was not expecting this and his friend's stupidity caught him off guard and he was unable to hold onto the large shotgun with one hand. The BRAND NEW 870 hits the mud of a shallow ditch and I have to commend my brother for not beating the crap out of his friend.

I had to look away from that one, it made my heart drop into my stomach. Had it been me I doubt I would have been able to control myself, but my brother let it go after a few choice words and an invitation to the road.

The shotgun cleaned up fine but as Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid!" Atleast yours was an honest accident.

[El Tejon]

That's why I kick all my new guns across the parking lot to the car.

I never feel sick about that first ding on the gun.:D

[Jim K]

Like the first dent in a brand new car. You lose sleep. You wonder how much it would cost to have fixed. You can't take your eyes off it. Then you don't notice it as much. Then you don't notice it at all. Then you forget about it and just drive the car, because it is no longer new. I went through the same thing, but with 160,000 on the car now, that eight-year old dent doesn't bother me.

Jim

[frez]

Honestly, does nicks and dents cost really that much to be fixed?

[hksw]

Heh, I've done that a few times and early on, it really did get me pretty angry at myself at times. But, as your collection grows, it isn't so much a big deal nowadays for me. Eventually, doing stuff like that won't bother you much in the future.

[tideguyinva]

i dropped my 1911 a few night ago getting out of my car. landed right on the end. put a nice dent in the frame barrel end. but oh well its not in a beauty pageant.

[vero1]

Bought my first new pistol years ago. Brand new stainless security six, fell out of issued front break duty holster. It hit on the concrete floor cylender first, bent it so bad it wouldn't turn. Took to smith who beat it back into shape with plastic mallet. Stupid thing shot better than before. "Just grin and enjoy it, Its broke in now!"

[dogloose]

Sorry to hear of the unfortunate incident. Couple of things... in my firearms training I have been taught that if your gun is about to fall... LET IT FALL! Do not under any circumstances attempt to grab it to "save" it. The chance of a ND is too great.

With that, I have also been taught that guns are pretty tough... and can usually take the fall and not get damaged... that is... damaged to the extent they will not function. I hope that is the case with you. To that point, please inspect your gun thoroughly and be safe when test firing.

End of the day... a little scratch here and there is nothing more than character. Lesson learned... always handle firearms carefully and above all... stay safe.

[Monkeybear]

I chipped my CZ75BD, my very first gun, just days after I got it. I dont even know how. Everyone told me "it gives it character" but everytime I see it I wish I haddnt dropped it.

It gets eaiser with time though.

[sm]

True.

Buddy of mine with a Citori 3 barrel set. On one the first outings, someone bumped his gun with the 28 bbl and scuffed up the side of the barrel and stock bouncing off concrete.
Fella that did this, felt awful , apologized, offered to pay to have it go back to Browning and all.
Buddy told this fella, well respected and total gentleman friend of ours "forget it, don't worry about it, something was going to happen sooner or later anyway".

Not long after this...

I get a Citori 3 bbl set. Brand spanking new and bring it out. I bring the Browning gun case to the table on the Skeet field and each barrel , one by one I "putted" the empty White Flyer boxes tossed out of the high house over to the trash area.

Buddy, fella that had hurt Buddies gun, and everyone else cracking up. I was getting the new worn off myself. I mean even taking a putting stance and doing this...

I even had <whispered announcer voice> "OKay, Steve really needs to make this putt to stay in this tourney..."
"Oh my, did you see that chip shot onto the green!" and all sorts of other comments. :p

[Rod B]

Just call it a "character" mark.:D

Stuff happens, it won't affect the functioning of the gun.

Rod.:)

[DogBonz]

Look at it this way, you got that first ding out of the way.

In highschool I was a motocross racer. I used to race with this guy who would take a new piece of equipment and bash it on the ground because he believed that a nice shiny new item was going to get dinged... There for, it could either happen then or when he was wearing it... Go figure

[SaxonPig]

After 40 years of gun handling I have learned to never work on a gun except over the bench, in a shallow plastic pan to catch any parts that fall out.

[mrcpu]

I do the same, except over a the disposal. Any small parts that drop out, I don't need.

[losoj30@yahoo.com]

i dropped my brand new carbon fiber barrel for my 10/22 right afer i installed it iknow the feeling, it makes you sick!!!!

[Viking88]

Don't feel bad, my buddy didn't lock the slide all the way back on his brand new Sig P220 and the slide flew off and hit the concrete floor!

[Black Majik]

It hit at the very front bottom of the barrel.

Might want to see how that thing shoots. I know it'll most likely be fine but take a look at the crown to see it might affect accuracy at all.

As far as having a gun fall, I had a SIG P226 fall off a shooting bench onto concrete floor with the gun in slidelock. Ended up bending the slidestop and had to get it replaced, along with a nice scuff on the rear of the slide. I know how you feel, but like most people you'll get over it. :o

[HiWayMan]

I dropped my carry gun on the concrete driveway getting out of my truck last year. I felt bad for it for about 10 minutes. Then I started to notice all the other nicks and dings and have know idea where they all came from. Hell.......it is a tool after all. I didn't cry the first time my new axe kissed a rock, so I can't cry about those scratches either.

[MD_Willington]

Is it a tool, or a porcelain doll ? :neener:

J/K

[Smokin Gator]

I haven't had a problem with dropping guns. But, if I buy a pair of sunglasses, I might as well just throw them in the street the minute I get out of the store. Somehow they always hit the deck soon after I buy them. The more expensive the quicker it happens. Once I had the hood open on my truck checking the oil, and after attempting to slam the hood shut half a dozen times, realized I had set the sunglasses down on a flat spot and had smashed them to smithereens. Not as expensive as a gun though.

[Geronimo45]

I was scared to death the first time I dropped my 1911 on a tile floor (now, I think I should've been scared that I might've chipped a tile). I was afraid I'd ruined the barrel (it's so thin and light - seems like it would be ruined easy) - we all know how finicky autoloaders are. :neener:
Another time, my CZ 70 when flying across a concrete floor. Being a used gun, I picked it up and didn't see a mark on it - with all the others, it would be hard to do. No problem with either one.

[billp]

22A fun gun.

Now that it has been fixed (http://www.prosefights.org/msd/wildhorsemesa/wildhorsemesa.htm#sandw)!

First time out chukar hunting (http://www.prosefights.org/msd/chukar/chukar.htm) in the Snake river breaks with my new Charles Daly 20 gauge sxs m/f shotgun in 1967, I returned tired to the bank of the Snake.

I stood on a large rock. It rolled. And I put a gouge in the stock.

Gun still works great for senior citizen

http://www.prosefights.org/funpics/soloclays/soloclays.jpg

on Saturday February 10, 2007 west of Los Lunas, NM.

[CAnnoneer]

There is no hero without a scar. Wear'em proudly!

[____hoot____]

Bought a Winchester 94 32 Special SRC that had been modified into a "boys rifle" with a great job of shortening the stock barrel and magazine adding a recoil pad and doing a reblue. Great little five and a quarter pound package. Only noticed later after I got it home that the serial # was 101xxx, meaning that it was made in 1898. Yipes! my oldest gun. After sighting it in it's first trip afield was a float trip down the big south branch of the P.M. river late in Michigan's 1994 rifle deer season. Well the river was a little high and a little beyond the skill set of my canoeing partner, I found out. We lost it and both guns in a eight foot deep hole. Three trips up there later I finally found the 94 in August of the next year. Nasty nasty nasty is not enough words to describe the condition; pited everywhere and the stock was beginning to oze away on the outside. Funny though the bore was clean; maybe the end got plugged with mud or copper fouling had prevented the rust. I cleaned and cleaned, and had to replace the extractor spring which had almost rusted away. I painted it with molycoat and then baked it. Took it out and tied it to a tree and fired it with a rope ten times. Still shoots great, but man does it look like it has been to gunhell! By the way there is still a 1906 CG Swedish Mauser somewhere under the Big South Branch, unfortuneately that was mine too.:banghead:

[Hardtarget]

No...thats not a scratch!...Its the beginings of the war map every gun makes during its travels! All of my guns have those "map pieces" on them. Its just part of their life.
Mark.

[hqmhqm]

S & W is very good about their lifetime warranty. Even if it's due to your goof, if there is something wrong, they will almost certainly fix it for you for free. They probably don't want defective pistols floating around. If it's just cosmetic, who cares...

[Sharpdogs]

My first handgun was a Glock 19. Bought in the store, walked the 50 feet to the range and proceeded to drop it on the concrete floor when I was taking it out of the box. I just froze in utter terror thinking that I ruined my first handgun. No real damage, just a minor little scratch that you can't see unless you are looking for it. The scratch is just a reminder for me to be careful.