ASM826
September 1, 2008, 03:07 PM
I got a reminder about the 4 rules yesterday.
I had gotten my 1911 back from the gunsmith. It is my regular gun for single stack IDPA and action pistol shooting, and gets a fair amount of use. So, I sent it in for springs, inspection, etc. While it was there, I had aNovak lo-mount rear sight installed, which involved having the slide milled. It was gone about 3 weeks.
No problems. It had been test fired, functioned fine. Except...
1911 open, at slidelock. I load a magazine. Factory 230 gr. ball. Insert the magazine, and depress the slide stop. Slide goes forward. Hammer follows.:what: BOOM.
My shooting buddy, who had come along to try the gun and shoot some test loads over a chrony, turns to me after a pause and says, "Sure glad you didn't do that at home."
I had done every function check, dropped the slide, checked the grip safety, checked the thumb safety, tried the trigger, everything except load ammo. In fact, it only did it if I had a round in the magazine. Drop the slide on an empty chamber (I know, I know, but it had to be tested) and it didn't happen. The trigger only followed when it was loaded.
So.
#1 All guns are always loaded
#2 Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy
#3 Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target
#4 Always be sure of your target
I was at the range. I knew the firearm was loaded, I had loaded it.
During the entire process, the firearm was pointed downrange.
My finger was nowhere near the trigger.
I had a high berm in front and on both sides, and again, the firearm was pointed downrange.
So the gun is back in the hands of the gunsmith. He is a fine, professionally trained, smith and armorer. He feels much worse about this than I do. All of us know that these are mechanical devices and as such, they can fail. I am not even claiming it was anything he did, it's just what happened.
The gun malfunctioned. The rules worked.
I had gotten my 1911 back from the gunsmith. It is my regular gun for single stack IDPA and action pistol shooting, and gets a fair amount of use. So, I sent it in for springs, inspection, etc. While it was there, I had aNovak lo-mount rear sight installed, which involved having the slide milled. It was gone about 3 weeks.
No problems. It had been test fired, functioned fine. Except...
1911 open, at slidelock. I load a magazine. Factory 230 gr. ball. Insert the magazine, and depress the slide stop. Slide goes forward. Hammer follows.:what: BOOM.
My shooting buddy, who had come along to try the gun and shoot some test loads over a chrony, turns to me after a pause and says, "Sure glad you didn't do that at home."
I had done every function check, dropped the slide, checked the grip safety, checked the thumb safety, tried the trigger, everything except load ammo. In fact, it only did it if I had a round in the magazine. Drop the slide on an empty chamber (I know, I know, but it had to be tested) and it didn't happen. The trigger only followed when it was loaded.
So.
#1 All guns are always loaded
#2 Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy
#3 Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target
#4 Always be sure of your target
I was at the range. I knew the firearm was loaded, I had loaded it.
During the entire process, the firearm was pointed downrange.
My finger was nowhere near the trigger.
I had a high berm in front and on both sides, and again, the firearm was pointed downrange.
So the gun is back in the hands of the gunsmith. He is a fine, professionally trained, smith and armorer. He feels much worse about this than I do. All of us know that these are mechanical devices and as such, they can fail. I am not even claiming it was anything he did, it's just what happened.
The gun malfunctioned. The rules worked.
