peacefuljeffrey
member
Three for me, actually pretty minor, but good learning lessons.
1) I was still a teenager, didn't own a handgun of my own, had never fired them before (that I can remember). Bro was in the army, home for a spell and with some of his handguns. I was firing some old .380 Beretta but didn't know jack about how to hold it, really. I got the webbing of my (weak) left hand behind the slide and found out how effective it is at slicing flesh when a round is fired! Didn't cut structurally deep, just superficially, but man it stung bad!
2) I was new to my Mossberg 590 Mariner (and my friend had a 500 Mariner). We were at an outdoor range on Long Island, shooting clay discs that we were each throwing for the other (dunno if that's called trap or skeet or which, as I'm not full on into that at this point). My shotgun had come with a shoulder stock as an accessory, but mounted was the pistol grip. Yes... I was trying to shoot the pigeons with the pistol grip... Duh. He was having much better results than I was, since his 500 came with the stock mounted. In an effort to be more accurate, I brought the butt end of the pistol grip closer... closer... closer to my face with each shot.
I don't have to tell you what happened after that but I will anyway. I fired one off, and the recoil sent the butt right into my upper lip. It split my lip pretty nasty, and I was VERY happy to discover that I had not loosened, cracked or knocked out any teeth. I was extremely lucky, because it was a hard enough hit that broken teeth would not have surprised me.
3) I was with the same friend at the same range, on the 100 yard rifle section. I thought we had gone hot and I fired a round, but we were cold and there was a guy down by the targets at the 200 yard section which was directly adjacent on my left. I was told to leave by the range officer, who was mildly pissed off.
I stopped by the bench of the guy who had been downrange, told him that I was the buffoon who had fired while not realizing he was downrange, and apologized sincerely.
I believe that no lesson is ever learned as thoroughly as one that costs you big-time. Short of that, a screwup that you realize could have cost you big time has a helluva punch, far more than just reading of a safe practice.
- I would rather not learn such lessons by accidentally shooting someone. Cost too high.
- I would rather not learn such lessons straight from a book, video, or someone's mouth. Not a strong enough impression created to really serve as a warning.
- I would rather learn such lessons from a really close call that drives the point home with a good balance of terror but low overall cost. There's no surer way of learning that lesson deep in your brain and heart both.
-Jeffrey
1) I was still a teenager, didn't own a handgun of my own, had never fired them before (that I can remember). Bro was in the army, home for a spell and with some of his handguns. I was firing some old .380 Beretta but didn't know jack about how to hold it, really. I got the webbing of my (weak) left hand behind the slide and found out how effective it is at slicing flesh when a round is fired! Didn't cut structurally deep, just superficially, but man it stung bad!
2) I was new to my Mossberg 590 Mariner (and my friend had a 500 Mariner). We were at an outdoor range on Long Island, shooting clay discs that we were each throwing for the other (dunno if that's called trap or skeet or which, as I'm not full on into that at this point). My shotgun had come with a shoulder stock as an accessory, but mounted was the pistol grip. Yes... I was trying to shoot the pigeons with the pistol grip... Duh. He was having much better results than I was, since his 500 came with the stock mounted. In an effort to be more accurate, I brought the butt end of the pistol grip closer... closer... closer to my face with each shot.
I don't have to tell you what happened after that but I will anyway. I fired one off, and the recoil sent the butt right into my upper lip. It split my lip pretty nasty, and I was VERY happy to discover that I had not loosened, cracked or knocked out any teeth. I was extremely lucky, because it was a hard enough hit that broken teeth would not have surprised me.
3) I was with the same friend at the same range, on the 100 yard rifle section. I thought we had gone hot and I fired a round, but we were cold and there was a guy down by the targets at the 200 yard section which was directly adjacent on my left. I was told to leave by the range officer, who was mildly pissed off.
I stopped by the bench of the guy who had been downrange, told him that I was the buffoon who had fired while not realizing he was downrange, and apologized sincerely.
I believe that no lesson is ever learned as thoroughly as one that costs you big-time. Short of that, a screwup that you realize could have cost you big time has a helluva punch, far more than just reading of a safe practice.
- I would rather not learn such lessons by accidentally shooting someone. Cost too high.
- I would rather not learn such lessons straight from a book, video, or someone's mouth. Not a strong enough impression created to really serve as a warning.
- I would rather learn such lessons from a really close call that drives the point home with a good balance of terror but low overall cost. There's no surer way of learning that lesson deep in your brain and heart both.
-Jeffrey