Anyone here ever have a discharge of the negligent kind?

Yup. Thankfully nobody was hurt, nothing was damaged, and it was a real long time ago, so hardly anybody I know now knows about it... lol. True to the name... it was negligence.

Nope...mine was accidental...

I shot a light out in my basment with a Powerline airgun at about age 12... my parents made sure I’d never do that again!

I also shot one into the floor at a national match at about 17 years old. A 6oz Anschutz trigger and a lot of nerves. I was the only one that noticed. For better or worse I didn’t say anything and we came in 3rd. If I had dropped that 10 points I don’t think our team would have made top 10....

Current procedure is no unholstered loaded handguns inside the home and no long guns are ever loaded indoors.

Theres a reason the rules are layered.

Yes, a few decades ago. I was about 17 a friend and I had been hunting. Unloaded his shotgun and pulled the trigger, blew a hole in his wall. No horseplay or goofing off involved. I was accustomed to my shotgun being limited to three rounds (duck hunting) and ASSUMED I had ejected all his shells.

Needless to say, I have been very anal about counting rounds, checking chambers and magazines ever since then.

OP, we just finished a thread on this very topic ... ran six pages.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/whos-had-a-negligent-discharge.871385/

Old Dog said:

OP, we just finished a thread on this very topic ... ran six pages.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/whos-had-a-negligent-discharge.871385/

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We're here now

When I was 12/13 years old I had a negligent discharge and almost killed my best friend. I became ABSOLUTELY ANAL about firearms safety because of it. Guns scare me a little and as long as they do I'll stay safe.

There were two other incidents that happened while I was shooting on the range that I'm not sure exactly fit the definition but they scared the Hell out of me.

Both times I had finished shooting. I dropped my magazine, racked the slide, pointed the gun down range at the berm and pulled the trigger to decock the striker and BANG!!!!! I still don't know what happened. I think it was a failure to extract(?). Either way the gun isn't unloaded until I see daylight in the chamber. Every time I inspect the chamber I hear Kathy Jackson saying "Physically check the chamber your eyes can lie!".

The only other ND I was even tangentially involved in was an NCO at NTC who accused me of putting a blank round in the chamber of her M16. While she was ranting at me I told her that if she picked up that weapon without checking the chamber it was 100% on her. She was doing the fish out of water thing while I was walking away and I never heard another word about it

KarateHottie93 said:

It seems that while talking to people in real life about such a topic, it's not as uncommon of an experience as I always imagined. I was telling an FFL about one I had years ago that set me straight, and he told me about his friend shooting a hole in his wall and busting a main pipe. He jokingly brushed it off as "it happens". Of course he knows the actual severity of the situation.

Obviously a negligent discharge is never a joke but it seems they definitely happen more than you'll ever read about on the internet. Everyone I've personally known to have had one was an experienced gun owner being irresponsible.

Mine was from decocking a revolver and my thumb slipped. There was a transfer bar but I guess timing was just not in my favor that day. Fortunately I had it pointed down and in a safe direction but it was still inexcusable nonetheless.

Just wondering if anyone else has had an avoidable experience that they're comfortable acknowledging online.

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Yes, it happened to me too. I suspect many others as well, but they won't admit to it or talk about it because of the holier than thou types.

I put one though my floor a few years back while slowly dropping the hammer. I still had trigger pressed as I lightly lowered the hammer on a revolver. Scared the crap out of me when the gun went off. The hammer didn't even slip out my fingers or anything or a sort.. I learned the hard way that I was supposed to let go of the trigger immediately after the hammer is released to re-engage the safety. I'm just glad that I at least had the gun pointed in a safe direction. I had to do some Googling and YouTubing to figure out what I did wrong.

From the other thread:

I am quick to mention this one because a lot of people are not aware of slam fires. In simple terms, don't release the bolt with a round in the chamber. Ease it forward and push the bolt to get the extractor to go over the rim.

Simply releasing the bolt may result in the bolt stopping. However, the firing pin may continue to move due to its own momentum. This is the cause of slam-fires.

Not yet.
But I am extremely anal about checking a firearm.
Double, triple check before handling it.
I am a realist and realize that it could happen, and do everything to avoid it.
People I am around laugh at me when I go through my "ritual", but I am deadly serious about it and have taught my kids and grandkids to be diligent.
I am proud to say that everytime they pick up a gun, they follow the "ritual" to the letter to verify it's not loaded.

KarateHottie93 said:

My apologies. I never really check General Discussion and all the responsible gun owners on YouTube have led me to believe that ND's never happen with anyone but the lowest members of society.

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Hey, if Bill Jordan can kill another Border Patrolman by ND, it can happen to anyone.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/bill-jordan-an-ad-and-coopers-four-rules.821605/

Thumbing down a hammer on a Henry 22. Squirrel was running around the tree and every time I thought I could get a shot he would run again as I started to take the shot, so each time I dropped hammer and moved to get a shot at him again. Thumb slipped as I lowered the rifle and eased the hammer down. Shot through my boot, right between my toes. Burnt me but nothing more than a scratch. I refuse to own a long gun now that has no safety, am leaning that way on handguns as well.

Hasaf said:

From the other thread:

I did, it was back when I was in High School. I was finishing cleaning my M1 Carbine and, for some stupid reason, I put a round in the chamber and dropped the bolt. The term is "slam-fire," even though my finger was nowhere near the trigger, it fired. I patched the hole in my wall and on the outside of the house before my father got home. Fortunately, it was in a very rural area.

I have seen others have accidental discharges that involved pulling the trigger.​

I am quick to mention this one because a lot of people are not aware of slam fires. In simple terms, don't release the bolt with a round in the chamber. Ease it forward and push the bolt to get the extractor to go over the rim.

Simply releasing the bolt may result in the bolt stopping. However, the firing pin may continue to move due to its own momentum. This is the cause of slam-fires.

Click to expand...

Is there any possibility the firing pin channel had crud in it and the pin was stuck forward? With the M1 carbine it is perfectly normal for the bolt to slam forward as it chambers the round, and carbines in good shape (and many other semiautos as well) don't slamfire just because the bolt flies home.

I agree with not chambering rounds just .... "because." If there's a need to check function, dummy rounds should be made up and used, or A zoom snap caps or other brand dummies should suffice.

Styx said:

I put one though my floor a few years back while slowly dropping the hammer. I still had trigger pressed as I lightly lowered the hammer on a revolver. Scared the crap out of me when the gun went off. The hammer didn't even slip out my fingers or anything or a sort..

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I don't get this. If the hammer was lowered in a controlled , slow and soft manner , what caused the primer to detonate?
When a hammer is released in normal function it develops momentum , which in turn yields sufficient striking force to effectively dent and ignite the primer. If the hammer is lowered slowly no momentum is generated ...

Perhaps the key word was “dropping” not “ lowering”

As an afterthought just what’s the difference between AD and ND.

I am ashamed to admit that I had one at the shooting range. Fortunately no one was injured except my pride. I learned a valuable lesson.

6 or 7 years old, I put a BB in the ceiling. Lost BB gun privileges for a week. It seemed like a year, the BB gun was hung on the wall in plain sight to me and everyone else.

Has another month gone by?

It must be time for another lube thread too.

We already had a thread. No need for another one. Go back to that one.