I had my ND tonight

[JKimball]

Medmo,

Then one day I "took out" a frozen chicken from about 12 paces while making a shot across the kitchen and through a closed freezer door.

Pointing that pistol and squeezing the trigger towards something I could live without forever and not suffering any consequences saved my bacon. It is a good rule and I'm glad I followed that one.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I could live without chicken, but bacon....thank goodness you didn't shoot the bacon!

 

[Guitargod1985]

In all seriousness, though, this has had a profound effect on me. I haven't so much as touched a gun in the past 24 hours and today was the first day in months that I didn't carry. One thing is certain: I can not afford EVER to have this happen again. When they say that the four rules must be followed AT ALL TIMES, that is exactly what it means. I believe that because of this experience I will never again make a dangerous assumption such as the one I did.

 

[alex_trebek]

In all seriousness, though, this has had a profound effect on me. I haven't so much as touched a gun in the past 24 hours and today was the first day in months that I didn't carry. One thing is certain: I can not afford EVER to have this happen again. When they say that the four rules must be followed AT ALL TIMES, that is exactly what it means. I believe that because of this experience I will never again make a dangerous assumption such as the one I did.

I understand that how you might feel. I also know that the reason you havent touched a gun in the past 24 hrs is because you feel you cant trust yourself any longer. This is obvious since the gun didnt do anything wrong, or malfunction in anyway.

So I have one question, If you cant trust yourself who can you trust? You need to learn to get back on the horse, as long as you learned your lesson you will be ok.

 

[Bix]

Find some old soft body armor and use it as a backstop

I got a kevlar panel on the cheap and tape my targets to that for dry fire practice.

Alternatively, I've seen Safe Direction products used in a live-fire demo and they certainly work as advertised:

http://www.safedirection.com/ballisticcontainment/compositearmorboard.html

 

[Mainsail]

When they say that the four rules must be followed AT ALL TIMES, that is exactly what it means. I believe that because of this experience I will never again make a dangerous assumption such as the one I did.

I think you’re highlighting an important point. Being able to recite the ‘four rules’ is not the same as actually knowing them (I’m not saying you don’t, but your thread reminded me of this). After all, if you “treat every gun as though it were loaded” you would never dry-fire or clean it, right? Rote knowledge is just a starting point, or merely a reminder of an overall concept. Treat every gun as though it were loaded unless you are absolutely sure it is not.

When I was a young Flight Engineer, the old guys teaching me would have a saying, “You gotta be smarter than what you’re working with”. It means you better have a good knowledge base before you start messing around with dangerous and potentially deadly equipment and systems. The hydraulic pressure in our flight control systems operates at 3000 psi! If you crack the line while it’s pressurized, you can kill yourself or someone else, not to mention that misting hydraulic fluid can be explosive. Airplanes is dangerous stuff.

My point is that dry-firing your guns is perfectly ok, but you have to have a mindset that says “safety is paramount”. Every time you pick up your gun, check to chamber and feed system for live rounds. Not just, “is it loaded?”, but consider how it could have gotten loaded since the last time you put it down. Before your finger goes into the trigger guard, ask yourself again, and if you have the slightest doubt check it again.

I’m pretty stunned at the results of the poll in another thread. There are a lot of people having NDs; that’s scary. There are two ways to learn this lesson, the easy way (someone else makes the error), or the hard way (you make the error).

It’s a one-mistake system folks, don’t get comfortable, don’t get complacent, and be respectful of the equipment.

 

[iiibdsiil]

If your neighbor is cool with it, fix it up and shut your trap. Buy him a dinner or something, explain that it will NEVER happen again, yada yada yada.

There is no reason to turn your life upside down if the only person it affected besides yourself is okay with you.

 

[RPCVYemen]

Then one of the three began to lecture me about how it was "weird" and "creepy" that I had guns "lying around" and that I had so much ammo. I almost said something I would have regretted - that Marxist pig.

I have to be honest and tell you that he was right. I think it's "wierd and creepy" when someone has lots of ammo lying around and doesn't follow the simplest gun safety rules.

Nothing personal, but if I walked in after you shot a hole though my wall, I would sure as heck not want you to live next to me.

Mike

 

[noops]

+1 for Safe Direction. I use one as well.

 

[gunfire876]

First and most important glad you or nobody else got hurt.
Second I had a ND at my dad's gunshop while it was full of people. Nobody got hurt that time as well I feel like since nobody got hurt it was a good thing for me. It humbled a cocky young gun salesman and taught me a lesson that I will have for the rest of my life. Good luck with the apartment thing.