I went home to my parent's house today. My dad has bean fields, and therefore groundhogs. I was on the phone with him discussing wether or not we were going to take the scope off one rifle and put it on another one. I got the guns out and put them on the couch next to each other to compare the sizes of scopes. For whatever reason I opened the bolt on one and out pops a Hornady VMAX varmint round. I was just like W...T....F. It got pretty quiet over the phone.
What had happened was when I picked them out of the safe, I opened the bolt to check that they were not loaded, even sticking my pinky up to the breech face, as is my habit, to make sure a round wasn't stuck in the chamber due to a faulty extractor. I'm thorough like that, when it comes to gun safety. Then I closed the bolt.
However I did not actually LOOK at them. Guns are always empty in the safe so it's a formality anyway, right?
Apparently he had left one of the rifles in 'condition three', because groundhogs sometimes show themselves within range of the house and having a gun already loaded is a good thing. Plus my mother doesn't have to worry about getting the right ammo for the rifle (rifle rounds can look quite similar to someone not familiar with guns) and so he leaves that one 'loaded' for her. So I had opened the bolt, checked the chamber, and unknowingly slammed home a fresh round. The safety was not on either.
I was not treating them like loaded guns. I had set them down on the couch and flipped them over several times. Who knows the things I had pointed it at. I could have, at any point, dryfired it because I thought they were empty. I was just sick.
I actually remember the reason I opened the bolt, was that I was preparing to dryfire it. I actually had my finger on the trigger. I had just 'checked' it. But the little paranoid voice in my head said are you sure it's empty? and went and popped the bolt to make double sure. It's a good thing!!!!
Moral:
Make sure your gun handling habits are sound, and there's no way something can slip past you. Also, even when you know guns are empty, make it habit to treat them like guns regardless. If I had failed to double check the chamber and 'dryfired', the round would have gone relatively harmlessly into the log wall of the house. Which is good in a way.
Remember, guns are no joke and pay attention whenever you are handling them.
What had happened was when I picked them out of the safe, I opened the bolt to check that they were not loaded, even sticking my pinky up to the breech face, as is my habit, to make sure a round wasn't stuck in the chamber due to a faulty extractor. I'm thorough like that, when it comes to gun safety. Then I closed the bolt.
However I did not actually LOOK at them. Guns are always empty in the safe so it's a formality anyway, right?
Apparently he had left one of the rifles in 'condition three', because groundhogs sometimes show themselves within range of the house and having a gun already loaded is a good thing. Plus my mother doesn't have to worry about getting the right ammo for the rifle (rifle rounds can look quite similar to someone not familiar with guns) and so he leaves that one 'loaded' for her. So I had opened the bolt, checked the chamber, and unknowingly slammed home a fresh round. The safety was not on either.
I was not treating them like loaded guns. I had set them down on the couch and flipped them over several times. Who knows the things I had pointed it at. I could have, at any point, dryfired it because I thought they were empty. I was just sick.
I actually remember the reason I opened the bolt, was that I was preparing to dryfire it. I actually had my finger on the trigger. I had just 'checked' it. But the little paranoid voice in my head said are you sure it's empty? and went and popped the bolt to make double sure. It's a good thing!!!!
Moral:
Make sure your gun handling habits are sound, and there's no way something can slip past you. Also, even when you know guns are empty, make it habit to treat them like guns regardless. If I had failed to double check the chamber and 'dryfired', the round would have gone relatively harmlessly into the log wall of the house. Which is good in a way.
Remember, guns are no joke and pay attention whenever you are handling them.
