Okay, it's time to fess up on YOUR ND or AD

Well, this isn't a story of my own, but one told by the instructor of my hunting safety course.

He was in his room as a teenager, cyclying rounds out of a bolt rifle containing a blind magazine. Somehow he lit one off, and it went through his bed, into the basement, and back up elsewhere through the floors of the house. He was lucky that nobody was hit.

...

Can't help ya out in the AD/ND department, as I'm too "afraid" that any gun I handle may be loaded, so I'll remain an educated coward..

Glad you lived thru it, that's for sure..


Ls

Hunting by myself once when I was 12 or so (pheasants in the cattails). I was walking with my finger on the trigger of an old Stevens single-shoot 20 ga. I tripped and shot the ground right in front of me. Darn near blew the ass off of a perfectly good hunting dog.

Feral cat had taken up hunting around our bird feeders. unacceptable behavior. One afternoon happened to spot the offending feline and figured the old H&R single 410ga would do. I slipped out the front door and was thumbing the hammer back when my thumb slipped off the hammer before coming to full cock. Blam! barrel pointed in safe direction but blew a hole through the front porch decking right outside our front door.
I had a perfectly matched scrap piece of deck planking (trex) in the barn. I repaired, put the mitersaw and screwgun away and was just finished sweeping up when my wife came home with 3 of her garden club lady friends.
Whew! a self inflicted wound would not have been as bad as my wife catching me at the scene of this crime.

My ag teacher was unloading a tube fed pump .22lr and somehow let one go into a wall.

He knew it was loaded and was pumping it to empty it. ND or AD depending on where his finger was.

Four of us were in the room with him and no one was hurt.

I repaired, put the mitersaw and screwgun away and was just finished sweeping up when my wife came home

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talk about lucky!

I was at the range and my thumb slipped off the hammer while cocking a SA .357mag. I had it pointed downrange, of course. It still scared me.

I have not had one, but I won't be so arrogant to say i'll never have one. I am pretty anal about safety. I've been shooting for about 10-12 years but we never had guns around the house (pro-gun family, just not terribly interested in owning) When I got to college and started buying, I was still well versed in the rules but I would occasionally slip (like letting the muzzle drift to a friend's leg while clearing). My shooting buddy always put me in line and I learned pretty quickly. Now I clear a weapon 3 times before dry firing and always point it in a safe direction. I conditioned myself to strict trigger and muzzle discipline and still practice it. I know most of us do, but I like to think I'm doing all I can to prevent AD/NDs short of never touching my guns.

On second thought, do slam fires and double fires count? I know my SKS did a double tap once and a slam fire (I've learned to clean the bolt and firing pin since then) but both were at the range and I was either firing or about to.

I'll contribute to this one. I own one .40 cal which has an extremely light trigger. Accurate as all get out, but touchy when it comes to the trigger. I was just starting to get used to it and was shooting at my local gun club (indoor range). I had a box of loaded bullets on the counter in front of me, and was going to bring the target in to look at it. I had the gun in my right hand and reached across my body to hit the retrieve target switch with my left hand. The awkwardness of that manuever caused me to tighten my grip on the hadgun and it went off.

Just missed my left elbow and blew the box of ammo off the counter onto the floor. Talk about lucky. Bad part was I couldn't retrieve the ammo since it was on the other side of the counter.

I have never had one.
However if I had I would be unable to talk about it as it is crime that makes someone a prohibited person in the state of CA and removes thier RKBA.

"discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner (246.3 PC)"
(listed as a prohibiting offense)

There's only been one time a weapon in my hand has fired a bullet when I didn't expect it too. I was at a range firing an old Iver Johnson revolver. I thought it was empty ... for reasons I will never figure out, I pulled the trigger, and it fired one more round. I was still pointing it down range, so no harm ... no foul.
Now ... how is that embarrasing???????


It was only a 5 shot revolver .......

Never had one, thank goodness ... BUT ...

I had a buddy in the mid'70s who worked the morning shift after I covered graveyard. At the time of his almost ND I was carrying a .45 Colt Combat Commander, C&Led. When (let's call him Bob) Bob came in, I would inform him that my pistol was locked in our shared desk and that I was heading to the john before packing up and going home. I came back into the office one day and saw him drop the hammer on the loaded chamber, merely slowing the hammer by letting it flip his thumb out of the way. The hammer made an audible SNAP. My heart was in my throat ... I grabbed the piece, dropped the mag and ejected the cartridge ... the primer was dented. He confessed that he had done that once with his granddad's 1911 and put a hole in the floor.

Months later, while he was cleaning the Walther PP that I had sold him, he did the same thing and managed to put a hole thru one of his living room windows AND the neighbor's roof.

I've had two AD, ND, whatever you want to call it!

First was with a High Standard 20ga. shotgun. An older pump shotgun, was out hunting and the safty just didn't feel right? I pointed the muzzle in the air, and reapplied the safty. Began pulling the trigger just to see if it would go off. About the third pull, the shotgun let fly..BOOM.. scared the crap out of me. I promptly got that fixed!

Years back, long ago, had been hunting with some of my high school buddies. Was cleaning the junk out of my pickup the next day, and found a JC HIggins bolt action 12ga. left in my tool box! Wasn't mine, wasn't sure who's it was.

I called my friends, and nobody claimed the gun!? I thought "what the heck", and tried the shotgun out on some starlings in a tree. Worked fine for the first couple shots. Starlings came back for me, and I prepared to give it to them. Worked the bolt on the JC Higgins and KA-BOOM!! Gun goes off as soon as the bolt closes. Another scare the crap out of me incident that involved the gun pointing in a safe direction!

I've been lucky, my two incidents were nothing. I've been involved in a couple other ND incidents that could have been more than awful!

Was living in Louisiana and had a couple coworkers come over to drink beer after work. One of these guys had just bought a .357 mag revolver. He went out to his car and got his new revolver to show us. My coworker and I were sitting on the sofa, and the new gunowner was in a separate chair to one side. He was scoping out his new gun and just as the two of us leaned forward to pick up our beers, his gun goes off! Bullet went behind both of us sofa sitters and passes through a wall to slam into the side of a kitchen stove! Bullet stopped at the stove, but put a huge dent in the side, plus enamal kept popping off around the bullet crater for 20 minutes afterwards to virtually de-nude the entire side of the stove! He got ran off to never enter my house again. Scared me real bad, would have likely killed us both if we hadn't reached for our beers at the same time!

Another incident involved myself and a friend stopping to visit one of my friends friends. Talk turned to guns and the homeowner went to get his new Winchester model 70 in .270 Winchester. We chatted a bit and admired the rifle, all good. The fellow had placed his rifle with the muzzle against the floor and the gun's butt on the sofa, like you might travel in a pickup with the gun. The rifle must have been loaded, because the guy pulled the trigger and KA-BLAM!!! We all go deaf!

The carpet on the floor rose up like a sudden volcano from the blast. Almost tipped over the coffee table! The homeowners cat literally ran around the room on the wall!! and busted out the front door! We left as the guys wife started eating his ass! Enough of that crap!

I had a hangfire once. I don't think that really counts though.

A friend of mine told me that when he was living in the UK, he took a person that he knew to a shooting range who was new to firearms. After explaining what to do, this person shakily pointed the gun downrange and fired one shot. He then placed the gun on a table and it went BOOM! After making sure that everyone was okay, my friend told this person not to put his finger on the trigger unless he is ready to shoot. They let him try again. Again this person was unsteady and nervous. After firing once more, this person put the gun back on the table again. Again, it went boom. They didn't let this person shoot anymore.

Z71,
Guns don't just shoot on their own, But I always treat them like they do. Glad to hear you survived all your encounters.

Nothing yet for me but I have repaired some drywall for an LEO friend
(those shotguns leave some interesting patterns!)

i shot my aunts washing machine with a 22 revolver one time in my dumb younger years, try telling your uncle he has to wear dirty underwear until his washer is replaced. man its still hard to set down when i think about it.

AD, ND, or defective gun?

Over 20 years ago, I had/kept a Ruger Security Six for HD. One day while out on the range, the darn thing “went off” in my Ex’s hand. Fortunately I’d always taught her to keep guns pointed in a safe direction, so no harm, no foul (had it pointed at the ground). I kinda laughed and asked her what she was doing, and she swore she didn’t pull the trigger. Yeah…OK…
I used to make her handle the gun every so often (when we hadn’t gotten to the range in a while), having her load, unload, etc to make sure she could/would handle safely. After she got through with her practice drill, I wiped the gun down with a silicon cloth (cylinder open) and when I finished wiping all the fingerprints/oil off, I closed the cylinder and gave a quick couple of short wipes on the cylinder where my fingerprints were. I swear I didn’t have my finger on the trigger, only gave it a couple of short back and forth swipes on the cylinder to get those last couple of prints, and BOOM! I see no way the rag could have snagged the trigger or hammer-had the gun in my right hand with finger NOT on trigger (I swear!) and when I closed the cylinder I gave really short back and forth strokes with the left hand.

After what happened to my Ex at the range, and having the same thing? happen to me, I figured it was time to get rid of that sucker!
Being cornfused, I did a little digging and asked how the hell could a revolver go off if the hammer doesn’t fall on the round? Don’t remember all the particulars, but I was told it was possible…

Haven’t had any problems since I unloaded that Security Six!
BTW…we went to a .45 Colt Gold Cup for HD after that.

Can't help ya out in the AD/ND department, as I'm too "afraid" that any gun I handle may be loaded, so I'll remain an educated coward..

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Sorry, I'm a bit slow...But can you explain to me how this makes you a coward?

If you give me a good enough explaination, I guess I am a coward as well.

I was at the range and getting my .22LR pistol ready to field strip. I was kind of in a hurry and ASSUMED it was unloaded as I had finished shooting it a while ago. So I pulled the trigger to release the hammer and BAM! Fortunately while I ignored safety rules #1 and #2 (assume its loaded, and keep finger off trigger) I at least follwed rules #3 and #4 (point in safe direction and be sure of back stop).

No harm darn but scared the crap out of me. Got a case of the jitters afterward just thinking I could be so careless. Thank goodness I was at the range and it was pointed down range.

Lessons learned: when at the range keep every firearm not in immediate use bolt back with a range chamber flag inserted in the action; and follow ALL of the safety rules ALL the time.

The safety rules are mutually supporting so if you follow at least ONE of the first three then you will not likely hurt anyone. But the only way to guarantee you never hurt anyone is to follow ALL FOUR SAFETY RULES!

Worn out Jc Higgins bolt shotguns do shoot without touching the trigger!

Guilty of one each.

The ND was back when we were dirt poor and my HD gun was an RG .38spl, a total carp-pile! If you actually practiced with it, you had better clean it, and I mean a strip-down cleaning, or it may not work so hot the next time. (it was bad new and this was worn out too) Anyway, after cleaning it and checking function, I loaded it. For some stupid reason, I cocked it one more time, checked the lock-up and then proceeded to let the hammer down gently. Didja know gun oil is pretty slick and smokeless powder isn't? :banghead: I had it pointed in a "safe" direction and the wife and cat, who happened to be in the room, were fine but both pretty wide-eyed and had all their hair standing on end. We turned out the lights and sighted through the hole in the inner and outer walls of the mobile home we owned and saw that I didn't hit the car either and the round had dug into the dirt between the house and driveway.

The AD was with an Astra 400 9mm Largo. The wife had been shooting it and thought she had a round left yet it failed to fire. I took the pistol from her keeping it pointed in a safe direction. I had my finger OFF the trigger alongside the slide and grabbed the pipe-like slide IN FRONT of the ejection port with my thumb and first 2 fingers making sure my palm was clear so I could take a peek in the chamber. The instant I went to move the slide, the thing went off! I got some nice powder burns and learned not to operate the slide in that manner anymore. Never did figure out how/why it did that. I found no issues with the gun after a thorough disassembly inspection and cleaning. I GUESS it's possible it was a hang-fire but it was fresh ammo and it was SEVERAL seconds (maybe a minute or more) between the last trigger pull and the kaboom.

Dead weatherstripping ND

Had a Stevens single shot .22 rifle that I went squirrel hunting with surprise me.

I had seen only one squirrel that I cocked and readied on, but didn't get a shot. After waiting and waiting, it never reappeared, so I walked back to the house and went inside. Before I put it in the safe, I went to unload it. I pointed it towards the door and opened the bolt...POW!

I had forgotten to decock it. So I looked and looked for the hole. Strangely enough, it went through the crack between the door and the frame. The bullet had left a small black line on the face of the door, struck the weatherstrip and cut it, and left a small splinter hanging off the outer molding. I've made no repairs and nobody has ever noticed.

There was nobody else home but me, so nobody was injured due to my stupidity. I am so thankful of my ingrained sense of safety that I had reflexively pointed it in a safe direction. It saved the life of the innocent water heater, washer and dryer, and furnace that were standing nearby.

It did, however, scare the crap out of the windows in the door.