Learned a big leason today! Very humbled (long)

[Jim Watson]

sit up with the revolver cocked

Or train wrong. That is not good practice with a DA revolver. I know of two bump in the night ADs from cocked revolvers.

I sleep hard and the bad guy could be on top of me before I could react. Old age sucks.

Well that's what burglar alarms are for.

 

[Skribs]

I would caution those on this forum that you can train too much.

Looks to me like you were too focused in your training, and didn't include target identification in the process.

I too would be nervous about the gun under the pillow, no way I can know whether or not I might pop a round off in my sleep. The Ohai bedside holster from Crossbreed looks interesting, although I'd prefer to keep my gun hidden a bit better than that.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Just try to stay focused and make sure what you do do is done right and the same way every time. It's all about the fundamentals. It's up to you to know what's going on/the status/state of certain given things.
I remember one time my handlers wanted to show off some higher speed lower drag type to me. It was a hot range. He went to drill a seven yard target with a slung MP-5.. click, it was unloaded. Dropped it and went to his duty sidearm.. click no pows. Kinda surprised us by then not missing a beat and pulling out an ankle holstered J-frame. klickitynopow. Then this stud pulled out a fixed blade tanto and threw it at the target and cut himself pretty bad.
Missed the target too.
Anyway, to shoot a pump shotgun, it has to be loaded, the safety has to be off and it must by cycled very surely. Try to count the rounds/shots too.

 

[kwelz]

Very wise advice. I spent 11 years shooting. In the last 2 years training I discovered I didn't know anything. If I had ever needed to defend myself in those first 10 years at my house I would have been more danger to others than the intruder.

 

[skoro]

Just because you are proficient enough in one platform please don't think you will be proficient in another platform.

So true. And a valuable lesson learned.

The reason I favor revolvers for HD is their utter simplicity. The manual of arms for a double action revolver is so simple that if I'm awakened in the middle of the night, there's nothing for me to fumble with in the dark.

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid

That's where I live.

 

[splattergun]

I too have a Mossberg 500. It is my primary bird gun. But when at home I take off the goose barrel, remove the magazine limiter, and put on the 18" barrel. Locked, loaded and on safe every night.

 

[suemarkp]

I went through an analysis of what I wanted caliber wise and then the manual of arms for each category. I have DA revolvers from Taurus and S&W -- cylinder goes counter clockwise and the cylinder release is push forward. Colt and Ruger work different, so none of them.

First pistol was an AMT and then S&W, so all subsequent pistols have a safety you flick up to fire or have no safety (e.g. glock). No 1911's for me...

Rifles are Remington pump and semi auto. Shotgun was planned to be Rem 870. I'm a lefty and would like the lefty version, but I can't find a lefty trigger for the Rem 7400 and 7600. So when/if I get an 870, it will be the right hand version.

I now have an M1A and may get rid of the Remingtons. Anyone know of a shotgun with a garand style safety? A Ruger 10-22 and mini-14 would also work well with the M1A. Also thinking of a Mossburg 500 for the shotgun, but that will be a different safety position to learn.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

I found that when shooting clays, I would put the safety on when I'm shooting and take it off when I shoot. Do it enough and it becomes second nature and then you'll never forget it.

 

[Skribs]

That was always my attitude, Suemark. Hasn't worked out perfectly yet, but I'm starting with a new philosophy - one caliber and model for pistol (well, I'll get both the compact and full size), one for long guns.