The only range time I've ever had was for a firearms training class I had to take last year for school. We were training on Sig 9mm pistols. There was one girl in the group who really didn't take it seriously enough, and never mastered the fundamentals. She was constantly changing her grip, and was finally rewarded with a heck of a good bite from the slide. She reflexively DROPPED the loaded weapon, and started running around holding her hand (which was bleeding).
I've been guilty of some stupidness myself. My grandpa gave me an old DB 12GA he'd got from his dad who bought it used on a sale God know's how many years ago. It's a battered old farm gun, complete with dinged and pitted barrels, oily furniture, and very loose lockup but it's a dream to shoot. When I got it, I knew how to shoot well enough, but I didn't know the first thing about old guns. Over the first few years I had it, I took excellent care of the gun but shot every manner of nasty 2-3/4" shell you can imagine through it including heavy high velocity magnums, buckshot, a GREAT many deer slugs, and countless cases (not boxes, cases) of heavy target loads (Winchester 3DR 1-1/8oz). Eventually, I did some research on the old SxS, and found out it's a Remington model 1882 grade 3 with 32" DAMASCUS barrels. I took it to a local gunsmith to get his opinion as to whether it was really safe to shoot, and (naturally) he said it was never designed for fast-burning modern powder, and he'd be hesitant to shoot even light target loads through it for fear of having a barrel burst. He about swallowed his tongue when I humbly mentioned that I had put "a couple" slugs through it over the years. Needless to say, it's in semi-retirement now, but I've got to wonder if those damascus barrels are really as weak as people say they are...
