Negligent Discharge

I have had accidental discharges before. It happens. I suspect anyone who handles firearms daily has had it happen at least once. We learn from it. Balderclev has humbled himself to confess the details that we might learn. My occurrences were so utterly stupid I would be too ashamed to admit them.

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This is ridiculous. If you ever come to my area give me a few days notice to vacate. There is NO EXCUSE for a negligent discharge and the consequences are severe.

I have only seen one and it was by a cop trying to demonstrate her proficiencywith an XD9. Scared the crap out of me. However I was much more angry than scared.

HB

I guess I've had two unintentional discharges on a SKS. The rifle stove piped and jammed the empty between the bolt and chamber. I tried to retract the bolt, no luck. Safety moved to safe position and got a pliers to pull the fired case out. Rifle pointed down range, gave a forceful tug on the case and out it came but when the bolt slammed home it fired with the safety on. It happened again some weeks later, same thing. Detailed inspection showed the gas valve under sized which resulted in FTE but chambered a round. Replaced the gas valve and it runs fine.

"S**t like that stays with you; I've been a safety "Nazi" ever since." We can't say that here. However, you are correct. My "mishaps" were stupid and negligent and irresponsible and whatever negative term one might want to apply. When I say, "it happens," it doesn't mean that we should adopt that mindset and not be careful. I only mean what I said; that it really does happen. I'm certain it will never happen to me again, but it did, and it will again, many times over, to others. It even happens to on duty professionals. Trainers, soldiers, police. It happens. Some people (I'm one) have handled a firearm or firearm daily for 50 years or more. It happens.

From the OP

However, when I looked down, I saw a large hole in the floorboard, smoke, and several holes in the inside of my pants legs.

I closed the door and went up to our room. Several people had been in the lobby looked at me funny.

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I know this isn't a funny topic but.... c'mon now.... that's kinda funny! (in hindsight and knowing no one was killed )

holy cow!

And where did all the shot end up?!

Accidents happen, people fall, murphy strikes. To say that a ND can never happen to you is not a High Road response. To say what I really think about people who think a ND can never happen to them would not be a high road action. No one is above Murphy and no one is better than Murphy.

If you never get off the concrete with a firearm you greatly reduce the chance of a ND. If the only place you shoot is a range with 9 zillion safety rules. The only thing you do is shoot a static target at 15 yards it is hard to have an ND. But people who get out in the woods to hunt have a much greater chance of having an ND. When you are in the woods you have inclement weather, rough terrain, sit in trees with a loaded firearm all kinds of factors to help murphy along.

For the high and mighty, remember, the only perfect person died 2,000 years ago, and look what they did to him.

Good thread to read as a safety refresher.

Friend of mine from work just bought his first firearm last weekend, a Mossberg 500. His wife took a picture on his phone of him and his new purchase. He sent me the picture announcing his purchase. On Monday I complimented him on joining the firearms community but I did ask him "why was your finger inside the trigger guard?" A lot of people get hurt with "unloaded" guns.

My dad taught me everything I needed to know about gunsafety and it started with a Crossman 760 air rifle......

We have a lot of new gun owners - please try to pass on your safe habits.

Thanks

Thanks for the lesson learned.
Happy for you that you were not damaged more than you were.
Loaded shotgun in a car....nuh-uh.

Also....a bit of praise to all the fellows who have responded and, while critical, have been civil. It ain't always so.
Pete

WestKentucky said:

I had a grand total of 1 ND myself. Pretty similar results to yours, but mine was while actively squirrel hunting. Henry 22 levergun. Squirrel kept going around the tree. I kept going around the tree chasing squirrel. Several times I got as far as hammer back, and aiming when squirrel would move. Thumb on hammer, hammer down then move...except the time my thumb slipped with the gun pointed at my foot. Through the toe of the boot, between my big toe and it's neighbor, stuck in rubber sole. Lost a pair of boots, left the rifle in the woods, went home frustrated, mad at myself, and wondering how stupid a company can be to introduce a safety - less rifle in a world that is lawsuit happy. I sent dad for the gun and he sold it for me.

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I vehemently disagree that the problem here was the manufacturer not including a safety.

Hey Balerclev,
Glad to see that you survived. I went to college at Southern State College in Magnolia just a short drive from Eldorado. The first week of my freshman year I was in gym class where the coach was giving us boys a lecture about gym safety. He recounted an incident of a student in the gym parking lot who was leaving to go deer hunting and pulled a loaded shotgun from the back seat by the barrel and caught a load of buckshot in the guts. It may not have been an issue of gym safety but it certainly made an impression on us kids and I think that it may have scarred him somewhat.

Stay Alert and Stay Safe!

balderclev said:

Found a picture of the inside of the truck floor. You can see the road underneath the truck through the hole.

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I think that floorboard & sheet metal saved you a lot of medical bills.

No one said learnin was painless. Glad you're alright. Kudos on having the guts to post your safety reminder for the rest of us.

A little duct tape and it will be good as new, ya think.

Wow, are you a lucky man! I'd say you should've bought a lottery ticket, but I suspect all your good fortune got used up.

I knew a guy years ago that shot the auto transmission out of his Chevy pick-up not once, but twice in one winter coyote hunting.

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Happens more often than people realize.

We had one just like that, bullet hole through the transmission tunnel, into the bellhousing and torque converter with a .300 mag.

Another guy put a round out of his 8mm mag through the passenger floorboard near the kick panel. Through the tire, through the wheel, into the caliper.

Thank God the OP wasn't more seriously injured or killed. At least he learned a good lesson and had the guts to admit his mistake. About 15 years ago I mounted a 2-7x scope on my 10/22, lined everything up with a collimator and took it to the range a few days later to finish sighting it in. Had other guns with me and shot the 10/22 last. About the time I was almost ready to stop shooting, pack up and hit the road, I wound up talking with a guy I see there occasionally. Packed up the guns and gear; went home and took everything into the basement. Took the 10/22 out of the case and shouldered it to look through the scope again to see what things looked like in the dimmer light of the basement as opposed to the bright sunlight outside. Had the crosshairs on a spot on the cement block wall with a slight pressure on the trigger when the thing went off! That's when I realized I had been distracted talking to that guy and forgotten to clear the gun before I pulled it off the bench and put it into the case because it was getting late and I was in a hurry. So far that's my first and hopefully the last screw-up like that. I'm now REAL paranoid about picking up a gun even if just to put it away without first making darn sure it's 100 percent unloaded. P.S. I hit that spot on the wall exactly but it's a real lousy way to check your zero.

balderclev said:

Found a picture of the inside of the truck floor. You can see the road underneath the truck through the hole.

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Thanks for sharing.

22250Rem said:

Thank God the OP wasn't more seriously injured or killed. At least he learned a good lesson and had the guts to admit his mistake. About 15 years ago .... when the thing went off! That's when I realized I had been distracted talking to that guy and forgotten to clear the gun before I pulled it off the bench and put it into the case because it was getting late and I was in a hurry. So far that's my first and hopefully the last screw-up like that. I'm now REAL paranoid about picking up a gun even if just to put it away without first making darn sure it's 100 percent unloaded. P.S. I hit that spot on the wall exactly but it's a real lousy way to check your zero.

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Good story that speaks to me.
Yesterday I was going to add the following to Virginian's list,
which was:
"#1 - alcohol
#2 - gross stupidity
After that negligence, laziness, carelessness; take your pick."

- loss of situational awareness through distraction or interruption.
I've come really close because of distraction.

Glad the OP is well and thanks for posting the story.

Compliancy & Familiarity can get the best of us all sooner or later.

One of the best gunsmiths I ever knew picked up a customers 22-250 rifle of the counter and shot a hole in the barrel of a Winchester Model 52 target rifle in a gun rack on the wall of his shop.


I handed a guy a Kel-Tec P3AT to show it to him two months ago, and racked the slide first to check it was empty.
Forgetting it had a loaded mag in it!

I felt the round chambering and went into Red Alert!!! Danger Will Smith mode until I turned my back to him and really cleared it.

No ND thankfully because no finger near the trigger.
But still embarrassing as heck to a guy like me!

But Just when you think it can't happen to you after 60 years of handling guns,
it does!

rc

Prolly best to not have it loaded if it is not under your immediate control. Also, a car makes for a poor gun safe, but sometimes that's the only option when traveling. Glad you're ok and it takes humility to share a story like that.

I manage a firearm store, and a negligent discharge happened one day when a customer and a clerk were discussing the customers gun. The customer pulled out his piece, cleared the chamber but failed to drop the magazine which was loaded, the slide went forward loaded A round in the chamber and he squeezed the trigger luckily pointing it at the floor. I told the customer this is not show n tell we do not unholster our loaded pieces unless there is a threat. Then a random woman in the store came over and gave him a good dressing down. It really bugs me to see people pull out their loaded sidearms and unload them in front of people in public places etc. how about doing that at home or in private?

I handed a guy a Kel-Tec P3AT to show it to him two months ago, and racked the slide first to check it was empty.
Forgetting it had a loaded mag in it!

I felt the round chambering and went into Red Alert!!! Danger Will Smith mode until I turned my back to him and really cleared it.

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This right here is why I have long ago decided that I don't rack a handgun, work a lever, or pump a shotgun "with authority" unless I intend it to be loaded. On an "empty" gun, I have made the habit to continue looking at the chamber while slowly closing the action. I realize I could have been distracted or absentminded or careless (not that I would go out of my way to do any of that) at some point in the procedure. And if conscious of that fact, I will start over. But when I clearly see an empty chamber while the action is slowly closing, that's pretty much the most "quintessential" safety check I feel like I can make.

The other thing is I don't pull the trigger as a final step to clearing a gun. That's totally a judgement call on my own part. It might make the gun technically "safer" or more clearly empty. But to me, I will continue to treat the gun as if it's loaded, after I know it's not. And pulling the trigger is what I do when I want a gun to go bang, not click. Another reason is I kinda want to know if I were to ever find one of my "empty" guns to have "gone off" accidentally. Or to go "click" if I were to carelessly pick one up. I would consider that to be a problem. So far, that has never happened.


If someone else clears a gun right in front of me and then drops the slide, I consider the gun loaded, even if I saw an empty chamber. I just associate the action and sound of racking a gun = loaded.

As for the original post, most shotguns and rifles are not drop safe, nor do they typically fit in a holster that covers the trigger. That's two reasons to keep the chamber empty, unless you have the gun in your hands. Long guns take two hands to use, anyway. It's easy enough to put a round in.

WestKentucky said:

I had a grand total of 1 ND myself. Pretty similar results to yours, but mine was while actively squirrel hunting. Henry 22 levergun. Squirrel kept going around the tree. I kept going around the tree chasing squirrel. Several times I got as far as hammer back, and aiming when squirrel would move. Thumb on hammer, hammer down then move...except the time my thumb slipped with the gun pointed at my foot. Through the toe of the boot, between my big toe and it's neighbor, stuck in rubber sole. Lost a pair of boots, left the rifle in the woods, went home frustrated, mad at myself, and wondering how stupid a company can be to introduce a safety - less rifle in a world that is lawsuit happy. I sent dad for the gun and he sold it for me.

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A "safetyless" gun was not the problem in your story.

balderclev,

Thanks for having the "stones" to post this experience here in an open forum. It serves as a good reminder that even the slightest oversight can result in terrible consequences. Glad your injury was not worse.

Be well

Thanks for sharing, despite knowing that half the respondents would be High-Roaders, and the other half High-Horsers..