How many times have you dropped a firearm?

Was still hunting with my Ruger Super Blackhawk and working my way through a cedat thicket. Thought I saw a buck so had removed it from the holster. Got my toes under a tree root and went down in a pile spreadeagle, had not cocked it and managed to keep the finger off the trigger as well. Never have outright dropped a firearm yet.

mcb said:

Several times over the years, both with and without me attached to them.

Click to expand...

Yup, falling while hunting....

burrhead said:

I don't know, probably less than a dozen times. More importantly, I've never tried to catch one on the way to the ground. If you DO drop one, just let it go.

Click to expand...

I was once standing on a rock ledge above a pond.
Had my Super Blackhawk loaded with the hammer pulled back.
Decided to move on and as I made that move I fumbled, dropping the .44 revolver, but with my then Kung-Fu quick reflexes caught it with my left hand before it hit the rocky ground.
Damn, that hurt!!!!! Cylinder gap was about centered in my palm and my ring or pinky finger snagged the trigger..............

Hung on so no dings to the firearm, not so true to my hand! NOT .

I've dropped one. Not happy about that.
I have fallen with many but I was taught to land under dropped furniture since I was 10. Always keep the firearm on the side of you that won't smash it.

I don't think I've ever done it. I suppose now it will happen to me tomorrow.

Dropped, or thrown down in disgust?

I have never dropped or had a firearm topple; firearms require a deliberateness that I respectfully give them. Safety is always a concern but damage to some of my special firearms would make sick. However, I am old and getting older so I still have time to do a drop.

Grumpy_old_Fart said:

I've dropped one. Not happy about that.
I have fallen with many but I was taught to land under dropped furniture since I was 10. Always keep the firearm on the side of you that won't smash it.

Click to expand...

?????

Oh, gosh - I've had more than a handful hit the ground in the last 40 years. The latest was a Sig Cross that tumbled off a bench at the range; somedood wanted to talk to me about something and I put the rifle down too hasily before turning around, and the next thing that I know the rifle is bouncing off the concrete. <sigh> These things happen.

Does falling with one in one's hands count as dropping? Asking for a friend trying to come up with a tabulation...

A few times. You lean one against the car, and it slides over, or you stumble and fall in rough terrain. There has been a couple times I just stood there and let one fall. Hey, if one slips, you don't try to catch it. You may end up grabbing the trigger. Once in Iraq my driver bumped the throttle as I was climbing down out of the truck during an engagement. I tumbled out landing on my weapon. Only got to fire the round in the chamber that day because the BCG got stuck back in the bent buffer tube. Luck for me it was a short fight, (no casualties) and we were on the way home from the mission. Went to the armorer for a new buffer tube straight away.

Only a few times ....though one is quite memorable! I was whitetail hunting with my new (at the time) 629 S&W. I was hunting on a hunting club lease that I was attempting to join. I was using a very old, structurally weak tree stand about 12 or so feet above the very deep banked, clear running, very shallow, creek overlooking some very inviting appearing habitat! I had barely gotten onto the stand platform when it collapsed from under me. My handgun was in my hand as the stand collapsed, and I quickly attempted to wrap my arms around the tree to, very unsuccessfully, stop my free-fall.

Once firmly planted upon “terra firma”, and regaining my breath which I lost upon contact.....I began to search for my handgun. It wasn’t in the immediate area around the tree, so I began to expand my search around the tree. After several minutes, I located my pistol. It was standing, stuck barrel first in the sandy creek bottom about 10 feet below where I was standing. Not exactly the way to “break-in” your new S&W on it’s first hunt!

Now, some one should start a post .....Has anyone lost, left behind, or was unintentionally been separated from their firearm? My answer is yes.....and it was on it’s first hunt as well! That story involves a face-plant and a firearm left to “fend for itself! memtb

Has anyone noticed that the most common denominator in these situations involve a handgun? memtb

earlthegoat2 said:

I must be a klutz because I have probably dropped a gun twenty or more times. It goes with the territory when you still hunt without a sling. Climbing over logs and squeezing through thick growth with everything grabbing at you.

I have dropped my J frame taking out of my pocket a few times. It is in a holster and as I take it out to place it somewhere in the house I sometimes fumble it.

I dropped my 1894SS when my hunting partner snapped a tree branch back in my face (accidentally). I dropped the gun to protect my teeth.

Click to expand...

Maybe not a klutz, maybe older, and carried a firearm more hours than many. I have lived the vast majority of my 68 years carrying a firearm, often in inhospitable situations....a fall or drop will happen! memtb

I'm going to say maybe a dozen actual drops. Thats not counting trips, slides, tumbles, where a gun and i both ended up on the ground. Throw an excited gundog or two in the mix, and that number doubles.

My first .357 blackhawk took a beating. It is a testimony for a rugged gun. I lost it once while hunting handgun only deer season. I decided to run about a quarter mile (yeah, it was years ago!) To intercept and get into position for a shot. When I got in position...no gun! It had jumped out of my holster. Luckily there was about six inches of snow on the ground and I could backtrack myself. Whew! I finally found it under the snow.

I was also interested in fast-draw and of course, twirling. The forward roll back into the holster caused several drops.unloaded, of course. My el patron also was victim of a forward roll gone bad. There is a muzzle shaped ding in the wood on my bench at the back door.(don't tell Mrs farmer).

Lots of near misses; once out of a deer stand. When I climbed down to retrieve it I was relieved there was no damage. Up the tree again. Looked through the scope and had an “Oh Sh$+” moment. Scope had a perfect radius to it. Climbed down again, walked to the truck and had a cold one. Since then I’ve always taken a backup rifle when I hunt out of town.

Loaded? None, except for once one rolled out of a holster while I was on the can, fell an inch or two to the floor?

Unloaded? Dropped one off the table just the other day when I bumped it, and I've had a few in soft cases catch a wind gust and fall off a shooting bench.

Fallen a few times hunting, but never dropped my rifle, even caught my rifle when the sling snapped once, safely, when it was slung on my shoulder.

Once.

My Taurus 85UL slid out of my right pocket while I was laying on my left side while I was working on a machine. It only "fell" about 8 inches, but it still put a ding on the frame by the rear sight. No one else saw it happen.

I quit using that holster and those types of pants for work after that incident.

memtb said:

Has anyone noticed that the most common denominator in these situations involve a handgun? memtb

Click to expand...

I'm guessing handguns get carried more often than long guns by THR members.

I am probably going to jinx myself , but I have never dropped one hunting or pulling and lowering one out of a tree stand . I have never dropped a pistol . I did have a unloaded shotgun slide of a metal building that I had it leaning against at a turkey shoot . I have done something worst at home , I had a ND . Something that I thought I would never have . I am lucky that I can still walk without a limp .

Not yet. But I was shooting blackbirds back in the day with a couple of friends once during cold winter weather. There were millions of these birds, to the point they were a nuisance to the area. Two of us were shooting our Remington 3200s. My friend was wearing thick wool gloves due to the cold. He pulled the trigger for the 2nd shot on doubles and the gun didn't fire, didn't click/dry-fire, or anything. When it didn't fire he dismounted it from his shoulder, holding it at kind of a 45 degree angle upwards, looking at it wondering what the heck was wrong with it. He pulled the trigger again and it fired, the gun flew out of his hands due to the recoil, hit the frozen ground, broke a chip out of the toe of the stock and dinged it up elsewhere. We figured that with the thick gloves he hadn't allowed the single trigger to return far enough to reset. A painful lesson it was for him. The other two of us learned the easy way; if you're wearing slick gloves, be sure to hang on to your shotgun when you pull the trigger while the gun isn't against your shoulder.

The one I remember best was one of my first Bianchi style matches. The holster was a skelotonized aluminum thing which held the gun by a plug in the muzzle and a spring-loaded steel ball in the trigger guard. I finished a string and after the "load six and holster" call I put the gun *most* of the way into the holster. I was young enough that after I picked the gun up out of the mud, I shook it off and tried to he-holster. The RO told me to unload, walk to the rear, and check the muzzle. I still owe the guy a beer, as my next shot would likely have ringed the bore.

Probably had a couple instances where a long gun leaning against something tipped over. I know of one for sure, when crossing a fence. Shotgun leaning against the fence a couple of posts from where I was crossing, post I was crossing at broke and caused the shotgun to fall.

I've dropped my P238 twice, once loaded and once not loaded. When it wasn't loaded, I had to crawl under my Jeep for some reason. Took it out, unloaded it and tossed it on the seat. It bounced off, hit the threshold plate, bounced again, onto the pavement.
Other time, when it was loaded, I'd hung a tarp to catch brass with the bottom laying on the bench. I'd piled my bag, gun cases, etc on the bottom of the tarp to hold it down. At some point everything had been moved and the only thing still on the tarp was the .380 and it's box. Tarp caught some wind, flipped box and gun right off onto the ground.

Quite a few times actually, when I was much younger I had a desire to learn gun spinning, I used an old beat up Single Six for practice, unloaded of course. I also dropped a Glock 42 one time, I was very sweaty and both the grip and my hand were wet, it landed right in the gravel driveway and put a small scratch on it.

About ten years ago I was making a trek along a creek bank in search of old bottles, there was a stretch that had so many obstacles that it looked easier to climb up the bank and go around. I did so, and as I was climbing back down in the creek I slipped and slid down about ten feet of the bank and landed in the water. When I got my feet under me and checked the gun I realized that the strap had come unsnapped in the slide and the 85UL I was carrying was gone. I looked really closely at the place on the bank where I had slid down, no gun. I had a three pronged potato rake with me, I thought maybe...it took about 15 minutes but I finally found it laying on the bottom of the creek in waist deep water. I usually carry my pistol in my backpack now.

Never dropped one myself. I did have several rifles leaning against the car in those thick neoprene rifle racks with the magnet on the back. Stepson, goofing off, ran past the line of rifles and stuck his leg through the sling of one and knocked them ALL over, dinging up the guns and the side of the car. Growing up, his nickname was "Zero" for many reasons. Thank goodness he got better as an adult.

I've had long guns slide down when improperly placed. My only handgun drop memory occurred when I was RO, timing an IPSC shooter. My Springfield 1911 came out of my holster and landed in the gravel. No damage to speak of.