Did you ever?

I have forgotten ammo for one or two guns, but never every gun that I had with me that day. So I still had fun at the range, just not as much as planned.

But another time my Dad and I headed out there with just our shotguns to throw some clays. Get out there and cant find the box of pigeons. Ended up having to drive back home. Checked a couple hardware stores on the way back too. No dice. A half hour trip turned into nearly two.

I had 600 rounds of 9mm ammo that I had loaded for a gun that I ended up selling. The gun that replaced it would not chamber the rounds. They were rather warm loads so I did not feel comfortable simply reducing the OAL. I pulled them all. With a kinetic puller. Not all in one shot. Several sessions worth.

Did you ever drive to the gun range only to discover that you left your ammo behind? It only took me the one time to learn that lesson.

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Went dove hunting once and forgot to bring a shotgun.

Forgot...

...Stapler (no problem; had some masking tape with me)...

...Targets (made due)...

...To check and make sure the range was open before I got there (that one was a show-stopper).

I'd like to add the most frustrating firearm related thing I've ever done was build a LR 308 upper.

Things have gone pretty well up to a point. I used one manufacturer's free-float handguard that uses a proprietary barrel nut. I had the complete upper assembled and it looked great. I took it to the range and after 12 rounds the handguard, tightened to mfg's recommendation, became loose. I felt I couldn't trust the handguard so I returned it and ordered another manufacture's product which also used a proprietary barrel nut.

The new handguard uses a barrel nut that tightens down with a 1 3/8" crow's foot socket...and that's where the trouble started. I checked six different local hardware stores, including the biggies - Lowe's, Sears, Auto Zone - and could only find small socket sets that were all under 1 inch. I gave up on the local shops and went to online merchants, still not much luck. Finally I settled on a cheap China made 14 pc set just so I get the right crow's foot. Yes, I did find some individual crow's foot sockets at some merchants but they were more expensive than the set was. It's taken a week for the vendor to ship.

Next, I needed anti-seize compound. I didn't use it with the first barrel nut and regretted it when I had to remove the nut. That search went about as good as the crow's foot search went. I even went to an industrial pluming supply store. They knew what I wanted; they just didn't have it. "why don't you go to Lowe's?"

Arrived at the range week before last all excited to dial in a newly freshened AR15 upper. Too bad I'd forgot to reinstall the buffer and spring in the lower

A friend of a friend who was there that day let me borrow his lower so the trip wasn't a total loss

Have taken cap&ball, forgot powder. Took .22s, forgot ammo. Took brand new AR pistol build to test, on the first day of a 4-month closure of the only free range within 2 hours. Some people are just born lucky, I guess.

Took a new AR to the range, with a newly mounted scope, had gun, had ammo, ...............no mag.

It took four stores and an hour to find a store with a mag......I needed a five rounder anyway for deer season so....

Carried an empty holster thinking it was a gun.

Forgot ___ when going to the range (ammo, targets, gun, whatever, yes).

Running a drill at the range and the magazine falls out.

Slide locks back, slam a new mag in, slide shuts, aim, pull trigger, empty chamber.

Fire a round of 9mm in a .40.

Insert a magazine for gun X into gun Y.

Dry fire with a live round in the chamber...


And I'm sure there's more. 11 years is a lot of opportunity. I wonder what this list will look like in another decade or two.

Forget to fix a broken rear brake light. Got ticket driving to the range. Does that count?!

A friend went deer hunting for a week. Forgot his rifle.
Divorce was shortly there after.

Went to an outdoor range to try out a just-acquired pistol (literally, from the store to the range) an hour away, to find it was closed for a law enforcement shoot.

Went out for a walk with my then-infant daughter, armed with a Bersa Thunder, minus the magazine (mag-safety would not have even allowed one shot should the dog that threatened us not have backed off.)

Dropped a S&W 659 from a makeshift carrier on my truck's door onto the ground in front of a bank, in the town I was a cop in.

Forgot ear protection the day I took my first larger-than-.22 firearm out to shoot (my brother and I each took one shot from the 20 gauge, then set it aside.)

I never, ever, ever had anything like that stuff happen to me in 65+ years of shooting. Ever, ever, ever. Nope. Never. On my oath and honor, I so swear.

Terry, 230RN

I leave 2 1911 mags in my bag all the time cuzz I always take one with me whether I shoot it or not. Same with 50 rounds of ammo.

Now, the other guns? Have forgotten ammo and or mags for 1 or both at one time or other.

Pocket carry? Couple times pocket carry on a short walk at night with the dog. Other than that, I am always holstered. I got enough crap in my pockets without adding a gun. lol

Went hog hunting in Texas in January. One of our group forgot his gun at home. Good thing I brought my Model 94 30-30 along as a spare...

I forgot to save some ammo at the range once and had to leave with nothing for my carry. Ever since, I either leave a box in my trunk at the range, or leave a couple loaded magazines in the trunk.

In states where "No Guns Allowed" signs do not carry the force of law, I forget to look for those signs.

Regarding other people, I've had two incidents in which a fellow officer has arrived to assist me on a call without his sidearm (different officer each time.) Each time, it was an officer who was busy handling a prisoner, but interrupted processing to come out, dashing out without retrieving his weapon.

In the first case, I handed him mine (identical agency-issued gun, so I knew he could shoot it), moved my BUG to my holster, and retrieved my shotgun. In the second, I had learned to have another service weapon stored in my trunk so, again, I handed off my agency-issued and retrieved my personal.

In both incidents, we were clearing a banking office building at night after finding an unlocked door (this one obscure door was known to us to be frequently neglected, and we used the opportunities to practice clearing.) It was a smaller town; usually only two or three of us on at night during the week.

The only thing that I can in all the years think of is having FMJ 223 and forgetting the JSP for the hunting trip. Didn't see anything to shoot at that day anyway.

You mean like traveling 200 miles for a dove hunt and taking buckshot and slugs instead of bird loads?

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Never forgot ammo, but last year I had just bought a new 38 special. When I got to the range I found that I had brought a good supply of 357 instead of 38.

I had had sporadic incidents of forgetting things.

In a parallel situation I had done a deal which scored me some boxes from the Ft Pok surplus auctions. One of those boxes was an exelent deal, is was full of OD nylon bags with six exterior pockets. These make spiffy range bags. So, I nabbed two, distributed some of the rest to buddies, and flogged the rest online.

One bag I designated as the pistol bag; each of the pockets wound up with all the extra mags for every pistol in my inventory. Found room for an mtM box to carry spare screwdrivers and hex keys of appropriate sizes, too. Interior volume of the bag is plenty large enough several boxes of ammo (from idle testing, the inside volume will hold 6 MTM .45acp boxes 4 deep if a person wanted to.

Other bag has at least one (if not two) rifle mags of each type, and an mtm box with en bloc clips, too. And a mini multitool for those tinge a rifle might want adjusting.

Both bags have a box of foam plugs, both bags have a carabiner to collect up a set of muff, both bags have a First Aid Kit, Individual (Notice a pattern here? )

This has prevented some uh-ohs at the range. (Although the gimme bag with the spotting scope, benchrest, sandbags, etc., has managed to not get included a time or two--sigh.)

Warp said:

Carried an empty holster thinking it was a gun.

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I thought I was the only person who'd ever done that. By the time I realized it, I was a hundred miles from home.

My son called me and wanted to meet at the range I belong to. He had just bought a new 22. When he bought it, it was the last one on shelf. Got to range. No keys with new gun to remove trigger lock. Glad it was plastic. Cut it away with a pair of tin snips I had in trunk. Took a good 20 minutes to get it removed without damaging trigger or guard.

I have never forgotten ammo on a range trip. However, I did drive well over 200 miles one way to visit an uncle and go quail hunting. When I got there all I had was my shotgun and my ammo was still at home. Fortunately Uncle Pat shot a 20 guage like I do and the hunt went off as planned.

When I first got into shooting and still lived with my parents, I used to keep my firearms with gun locks on them and ammo locked separately in a tool box. Just in case, because friends' kids frequent the house regularly. One time I went to the range with my brothers and I remembered all my gear, but forgot the darn keys to unlock the gun locks and ammo box... I had to borrow some of their guns while they were shooting others, and got no practice with my own that day.