Double check everything when you are training...embarrassing story

did your mother ever tell you not to play with guns?

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I really don't want this to sound like a flame, but young 14 year-old JD has a point. This sounds much more like playing than training. One piece of advice I learned 20 years ago after a stupid ND; fully clear the weapon EVERY TIME YOU PICK IT UP. If it leaves your possession for even an instant since the last time you cleared it, clear it again. Even if you just set it down for an instant. I cannot count the number of times over the years this well learned discipline has unnexpectedly tossed a live round onto the floor. Be safe---

A few years back when I had first gotten into handguns I made a very serious mistake that could have ended horribly. After shooting at the indoor range I was using at the time, I put everything in my box and went into the small cleaning/locker room that they provide. Striking up a conversation with a gentleman who was there he asked to handle my Kimber. Neither of us opened the slide, and I had lowered the hammer manually. Upon getting home and racking the slide, a live round ejected, I'm not quite sure how it was still in the chamber as I always shoot to slide lock, but alas it was. I locked everything back up as-is and didn't touch it for a week. I was fortunate enough to not have a ND related to it, but it is always a chilling reminder of the importance of safety habits. Now, when handling any auto, mine or otherwise, I'll drop the mag, lock the slide back,visually check, and stick my pinkie in the chamber. If you're going to insist on using a real pistol to do clearing drills, snap caps are a cheap investment compared to patching walls.

Dropping the Mag, and racking the slide several times with a lock open for inspection takes less than one phone ring.... the phone could have waited, n you need some snap caps and to practice keeping your sights on target during the pull.... remember the rule no live ammo in the room during practice.....

Well if it's any consolation.... your not the first guy to do it. This type of thread comes up with an alarming regularity. So much so, that I hadn't read but the first four words and I knew exactly what the story was.

I really don't want this to sound like a flame, but young 14 year-old JD has a point. This sounds much more like playing than training. One piece of advice I learned 20 years ago after a stupid ND; fully clear the weapon EVERY TIME YOU PICK IT UP.

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This seems to be the root cause of many of these incidents. I'm not being critical.... but rather, stone cold serious.

Training happens with deliberate planning and purpose and uses dedicated time, prioritized to avoid or ignore trivial distractions. Expecting an important call? Not a good time to attempt training. This kind of 'carpe diem' event may seem like training, but I'd have to catagorize it as "dinking around".

Though it certainly is tempting, I try to resist the temptation to dink around with guns. On the few occasions when I do, I'm extremely cautious.... check, double check... remove all ammo. from the area, check again, etc...

Either my paronoia or the Grace of God, has prevented a similar first hand experience.

I do know this.... if it happened to me, like it did to you.... I'd have the rock spackled and the door wood puddied with an ciche sign hanging over the hole in about two minutes flat .

Aprons, what aprons? They must have gotten lost in the move.

Pick up a gun, check the status of the chamber - EVERY TIME

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Ditto! I go so far as to check the chamber with my finger and not trust my eyes. If I do that and hand the gun to someone else to examine, I check it again when they hand it back. This is second nature by now.

The other thing is KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER. Every negligent discharge (EVERY ONE OF THEM) has this failing in the mix. Loaded, unloaded, it doesn't matter. Keep your finger off the trigger until you intend to fire.

I'm not trying to be morbid but there is one question that didn't seem to get asked.
Did you figure out where the bullet stopped? How deep was the bullet penetration within the house? Would a missed shot aimed toward a BG cause secondary overpenetration problems? Could you have possilby shot somebody in another room by accident? I'm hoping the bullet stopped well short of being a problem.

Did you figure out where the bullet stopped?

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+1 on that....
You are accountable for every round that leaves your weapon. Did you find where that round stopped? Because it sure didn't stop inside an interior wall... I'd be tracing that trajectory and praying it didn't end up in my neighbor's house...

gearchecker and 23Glock, calm down and real at least all the posts from the OP.

Start with #20

Sorry bout that, I thought I had read every post from top to bottom. Somehow I missed that one. NO sweat, at least I have the answer to the question.

An old friend got his Dad's service revolver, unloaded it and shot out their window and their neighbor's window. This was 65 years ago in Laredo. His Dad was a Customs agent. No one was hurt, but his Dad was pretty mad. Bill learned a valuable lesson that day.

My favorite ffl and dealer has this move .....

... where he palms an uncharged, no-primer round in his hand and always checks every gun that comes to his hand, even if the last fellow has just checked it properly. You should see the jaw-dropping action he gets when he jacks that special round out of a "just-cleared" gun!! "You just can't be TOO safe!", he says.

KodiakBeer said:

Ditto! I go so far as to check the chamber with my finger and not trust my eyes. If I do that and hand the gun to someone else to examine, I check it again when they hand it back. This is second nature by now.

The other thing is KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER. Every negligent discharge (EVERY ONE OF THEM) has this failing in the mix. Loaded, unloaded, it doesn't matter. Keep your finger off the trigger until you intend to fire.

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That is something that I picked up in the military and still do religiously to this day. it will be one of the things my kids will learn too.

I read somewhere that it helps to verbalize the condition of your gun before and after dry fire practice. It should go something like this.

Unload firearm and clear chamber, double check all is clear, place mag (ammo if it's a revolver) in a seperate room then say outloud: This gun is clear.

Proceed to train by dry firing in one specific area of your home. After training, leave the practice area, reload gun and say outloud: This weapon is loaded.

The idea is that by verbalizing the condition of the firearm you reinforce in your mind the status of your weapon.

Adding this layer of protection could help but even that is no excuse for not following the 4 basic rules of handling a firearm.

Anytime you pick up a gun, even if you were the last one to touch it, you should consider it loaded and verify that it is safe before ever touching the trigger for dry fire practice.

Thanks for posting this and being honest about your mistake. It's good for all of us to be reminded of what can happen if we have a lapse in memory when handling a firearm. I'm glad there was no serious damage or injury to anyone.

Stay safe,
JOS

Hey Pal...glad no one was hurt and it seems like lesson learned. I've had a ND too so you are in good company on this thread with many of us. I personally make sure to take out the mag and retract the slide to visually look in the chamber every single time I pick up a semiauto (or push out the cylinder on a revolver)...if you do the same you'll be good to go.

I remember that once I was in a sporting goods store and asked to see a semi-auto, the clerk handed it to me with the mag in and the slide closed. I dropped the mag and racked the slide as soon as I handled it. The guy behind the counter let out a sigh and said, "Its unloaded." I replied "How do you know? You didn't check." He didn't say anything but rolled his eyes.
:banghead:

I had a loaded chamber incident with an American Arms PX-22 pistol I was going to sell for a friend.
It’s one of my biggest “Oh crap” moments in my life.
I was going thru my friend’s gun safe, cataloging a bunch of guns from her late husbands estate.
Near the end of cataloging all of the ammo and guns I pulled this tiny .22 caliber pistol out of the safe, dropped the magazine, pulled back the slide, and quickly checked to make sure it was empty. Everything seemed just fine when I looked into the chamber.
This pistol had been in a safe out in a barn for nearly 20 years. I never thought that the brass might have some corrosion or tarnishing on it. I pulled the trigger thinking the pistol was empty, and I heard a very familiar "CLICK" where the firing pin struck the casing on the round in the pistol. It had the same click sound you hear when you’re practicing with snap caps. I immediately knew something wasn't right.
After a very nervous "That was stupid” thought and a few minutes later, I pulled the slide back, looked closely this time and discovered a casing still in the chamber. The pistol had been loaded all these years and nobody even knew it. The casing had tarnished so badly it was almost completely black. I think the powder had picked up enough moisture from being in the barn all that time that it wouldn’t fire. The casing was stuck in the chamber too, and I guess that's why it didn't eject when I pulled back the slide. It took quite a bit of effort to get that casing out so I could clean the pistol too.
I was very lucky that nobody was around that time. Fortunately the pistol was aimed in a safe direction, directly toward an uninhabited mountain. Thank goodness nothing would have been hit if that round would have gone off. I've never had an occurrence like that before because I was always trained to check first. I check, but not well enough that time for sure. Now I’m even more careful taking an extra few moments to look closer now.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget - - It’s always loaded until you’re absolutely certain it isn’t.

Regards,
gearchecker