Gun safety- mishaps?

[ironworkerwill]

On very few but memorable occasions I have been witness to gun safety mishaps. So, in response to Sentryau2's post http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=784052 I would like to know if anyone else would like to share such experiences.

I'll go first:
I was particularly proud of a trigger job I'd done on a Savage 110 many years ago. The trigger broke at a creepless and clean 4lbs. I couldn't wait for my next hunt as the rifle performed well at the range.

On my very next hunt, the rife had a chambered round and the safety was engaged as soon as I sat on my stand. I noticed that while rustling around to get comfortable tang safety slipped down to the FIRE position!! I then re-engaged my safety pointed the rifle into a mud bank and squeezed the trigger-BOOM! My ignorance had led me to believe that as long as the safety was engaged the rifle would not fire.

More recently:
We were at a local rifle range and a group of people were test firing a shotgun. They where shooting at log the forest service cut. This was the groups target apparently someone forgot to bring a target. The first shooter shot the but cut end of the log and peppered 3 or 4 other shooters with bird shot, myself included. A little common sense would have went a long way!

 

[Lord Teapot]

On very few but memorable occasions I have been witness to gun safety mishaps. So, in response to Sentryau2's post http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=784052 I would like to know if anyone else would like to share such experiences.

I'll go first:
I was particularly proud of a trigger job I'd done on a Savage 110 many years ago. The trigger broke at a creepless and clean 4lbs. I couldn't wait for my next hunt as the rifle performed well at the range.

On my very next hunt, the rife had a chambered round and the safety was engaged as soon as I sat on my stand. I noticed that while rustling around to get comfortable tang safety slipped down to the FIRE position!! I then re-engaged my safety pointed the rifle into a mud bank and squeezed the trigger-BOOM! My ignorance had led me to believe that as long as the safety was engaged the rifle would not fire.

More recently:
We were at a local rifle range and a group of people were test firing a shotgun. They where shooting at log the forest service cut. This was the groups target apparently someone forgot to bring a target. The first shooter shot the but cut end of the log and peppered 3 or 4 other shooters with bird shot, myself included. A little common sense would have went a long way!

would have sued him, he shot you.

 

[Drail]

Safeties should treated as a cosmetic item - and never ever be trusted. Kind of like a computer - it's great when it actually works. The only time a gun is safe is when it is unloaded - and you know this because you just checked it - and you still handle it like was loaded.

 

[gspn]

I store my black powder rifle empty and standing up. What this does is allow oil to flow down the barrel and plug the breech hole...which can cause a mis-fire.

My procedure before shooting it is to push a dry patch down the barrel, leave the patch and the rod in place, and then shoot a primer to blow the oil out of the hole. It gets blown into the patch and then I can load and start shooting/hunting.

My father in law and I were sighting in rifles one day, and I handed him the black powder gun and explained the procedure. He was standing behind me and I turned to get more stuff out of the truck when BOOOOOOOOMMM!

I turned around fast enough to see the gun still arcing through the air and land on the ground next to him. He had a look of total shock on his face (rightfully so).

This happened over 20 years ago, but I can see it in my mind like it happened yesterday.

I had left it loaded at the end of the prior season, and I hadn't checked to see if it was loaded when I handed it to him. Luckily he followed the gun safety rules and had it pointed in a safe direction. It's the worst thing I've had happen, and thankfully I'll never forget it.

 

[ironworkerwill]

Safeties should treated as a cosmetic item - and never ever be trusted. Kind of like a computer - it's great when it actually works.

RULE #3: Don't rely on your gun's safety:banghead:

 

[PJSprog]

Back in the late 1980's, some friends of mine used to shoot with me on occasion at a now-closed indoor range in Collinsville, IL. One day, I was in a lane with them in lanes on either side of me. We were all shooting either 9mm or .357s. The guy to my right started making surprise noises, and eventually started yelling "Ouch!" and "Hey, What the ...!" Something kept hitting him around his belt and hip area. Turns out that the guy to my left was cross shooting at our targets, and shards of his bullets were making their way back to the firing position. Every time Dave would shoot my target, Rick would get hit with flyback. Fortunately, no serious damage was inflicted.

We learned two lessons that day:
1) Don't screw around at the range, and
2) Don't shoot at an old run-down range with a backstop in disrepair.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Just about everything bad I've seen/experienced happened at the Ocala National Forest range ("Floriduh").

I got hit in the cheek with shavings form a guy with a badly timed antique (and cheap at the time) revolver. That was not fun. Fortunately it was a guy who knew nothing about guns and was completely open to coaching.

Hot steel "brass" from an UZI all over my face and neck, some went down my shirt and caused small burns.

A couple people took 5 mentally challenged folks shooting (commendable but too many for supervision--should have been 1-on-1) and one opened fire when we were downrange changing targets. I just dropped into a front ukemi (fall). A lot of yelling and the "R-word" going on from others.

Arrived once at said range and saw a blood trail from the bench back to the parking lot.

Mike

 

[guyfromohio]

Definitely very minor in comparison.... I was wearing my CZ PCR OWB in a decent holster while crawling through my crawl space looking for something. When I emerged, I found my hammer to be fully cocked as it had snagged on something. Again, it was holstered and the trigger covered but it started me on some bad hammer-check habits.

 

[SSN Vet]

All of the incidents I have personal experience with (and thank goodness they are very few) fall into the "playing around with guns" category.

Petty Officer of the Deck on a fast attack submarine moored at Naval Submarine Base, Groton, CT, was playing "quick draw" on the mid shift with the 1911 .45 acp pistol issued to him for his watch, and shot himself in the foot.

At that time, the standing orders were for POOD watch standers to carry their side arm condition 4 in the canvas holster on his web belt, with two mags on the belt in canvas pouches. (pre-9/11).

He knew he was in deep kimchee and tried to conspire with the top side sentry to not say anything, and to go to the civilian hospital later in the morning... but the relieving POOD would not sign for the duty belt, as one of the mags only had 6-rounds in it, and the attempted cover-up evaporated.

The Commodore (Submarine Squadron Commander, a rear admiral) was so ticked off that he insisted no NJP and convened a courts martial (which was quite rare in the sub. force). Somebody was made an example of.

I was the duty officer at the adjacent Naval Submarine School when this went down and heard about it from the squadron duty officer.... We just shook our heads and cited one of the maxims of the sub force... "the stupid shall be punished"

 

[SSN Vet]

When I was young and dumb (Jr. High age) all the guys in our neighborhood would spend the summer days in the woods..... camp outs, fishing, snake hunts, tree forts, etc...

One summer (this is before paint ball) we played "BB Gun wars!" Yup... we actually ran around the woods shooting each other with BB guns. Some guys wore goggles and some motor cycle helmets, others just had sun glasses... all wore jeans jackets and sweat shirts for padding.

Rules included:
1. must aim chest level or below
2. pump guns limited to 3 pumps
3. cease fire when someone calls it quits

One team went down the trail and my team followed 15 min. later to find them. Sure enough we were ambushed, and in the melee that followed, my friend Charlie called "cease fire" with blood trickling down his cheek just below and outboard of his eye. We concocted a story for Charlie's mom that he got a stick in the face riding dirt bikes and no one got in trouble.

Years later, in High School, Charlie discovered that he had a small round hard bump under the skin ...... By his ear!!! That BB penetrated about 2" down along his cheek bone and came to rest in front of his ear :^o

 

[guyfromohio]

SSN Vet.... Reminded me of my dad. We grew up marveling at the BB lump in my father's Palm. He used it as an example of gun safety for years. Claimed to be a wound created when his BB gun went off while cleaning it. We bought the story of course. My father took ill at 56 with aggressive pancreatic cancer. He went fast! However, in the 45 days between diagnosis and death, he made his peace with nearly everyone in his life. He received a letter one day, about a week before death, from a childhood friend. The letter apologized and joked about the time he shot him in the hand during the great BB War. Busted! We had some good laughs with him about that. Sorry for the derailment.

 

[ironworkerwill]

Arrived once at said range and saw a blood trail from the bench back to the parking lot.

That's a powerful visual!

I talk to an old timer at work that's been with the company for 30years. The company we work for has the mentality that someone doing his job for that long is as big of a safety hazard risk as a first year greenhorn. He sites that the comfort-ability factor of routine tasks in an already hazardous profession.

"Routine" is a double edged sword. Good habits pay off and poor ones may not get you hurt... the first time.

 

[ATLDave]

Once, when I was a kid, I was shooting with my father, my uncle, my brother, and a cousin. My uncle had an old Colt Woodsman .22lr pistol. It discharged on me upon loading. I didn't think I had touched the trigger, but the gun went off - fortunately, in a safe direction/downrange. I felt bad about it for years, but then read one of Ayoob's books which noted that Woodsmans are known for slam-fires.

The other surprise discharge that I have had was after making an adjustment to the pre-travel on a trigger. The trigger, which re-set just fine on the pistol in dry fire, didn't re-set after the first shot of live fire. Dumbfounded, I pulled the trigger a couple more times, and it still wouldn't re-set. I turned the gun on its side (still pointed downrange) and wiggled the trigger again... this time the gun went off! I had just given up on the idea that the trigger would work and was trying to visually inspect it, so the gun going bang was a real surprise. Even with the gun pointed in a safe direction, it was surprising enough to give me the shakes. Had to go sit down for a while. Learned a lesson about intermittent mechanical failures and guns that day!

 

[EIB0879]

When I went through Infantry Officer Basic Course in 1979 we were running through a platoon live fire course. Our platoon went through with no incident. The next platoon was going through and we here "cease fire" rather urgently. It turns out that one of the guys had been hit in the helmet by a 5.56 round. It had gone in the back and apparently gone partially around the rim before coming out the front.

I never heard who did it but we figured someone had dropped to the ground on their knees with the rifle in front of them and had the safety off and finger on the trigger. The guy who got hit was uninjured. They wouldn't let him keep the helmet. The guy spent a year in Vietnam with the 101st and never got shot and almost bought it on a range at Ft. Benning.

 

[gspn]

The guy spent a year in Vietnam with the 101st and never got shot and almost bought it on a range at Ft. Benning.

Life is indeed crazy at times.

 

[Coyote3855]

I was carrying a Ruger .357 flattop in a Tom Threepersons style holster. The strap crossed the trigger guard, not the hammer. We were horseback working cattle. At some point, I looked down to see the Ruger on full cock. Apparently my lariat caught the hammer. I began using a different holster at that point.

 

[CajunBass]

Arrived once at said range and saw a blood trail from the bench back to the parking lot.

I had something like that happen to me at the range, but I was the one bleeding.

I had cut my thumb with a knife the day before, and the bandaged wound opened up while shooting. I dripped blood all over the bench and floor before I could get it wrapped up and bandaged again. I told the RO and cleaned up the mess. I told the RO I'd hate for them to find it and think someone had gotten hit by something flying back (it wasn't bad enough to think someone shot himself really).

But...the original question. Back in my IPSC days, "everyone" was modifying 1911 magazines to hold one extra round. So naturally I had to do it too. I did one, just to make sure I knew what I was doing.

Came home from the range, dropped the loaded magazine from the gun, and stripped off the rounds. One, two....eight...that's all of them.

I pointed the gun at the bookcase and dropped the hammer. BOOM. I had forgotten that was the eight round magazine and that there was one in the chamber.

With the magazine out, the gun went back to batter so fast I didn't even realize what had happened for a few seconds. I didn't hear any sound. I didn't feel any recoil. I just stood there staring, and wondering "What just happened?"

Then it hit me...HOLY (BLEEP)!!! It WENT OFF!!

The eight round magazine went away after that, and you can bet I never made that mistake again.

 

[joem1945]

I had 2 slam fires on a SKS with the safety on. Stove pipe was jammed with the bolt forward. As I could not pull the bolt back, I took a plier, grabes the case neck and ripped it out. bolt went home and fired the round that was chambered. firearm was pointed down range. I replaced the gas valve to eliminate stove pipes.

 

[Bigdog57]

Some years back, a few fellers were getting ready for hunting and were sighting their rifles at the local range. One young man had his muzzle loader, had just loaded it and took aim. We saw and tried to stop him, but too late!
"BOOM!" The ramrod goes flying downrange and goes sideways through the plastic target holder/2X4 frame and on into the 110 yard berm. He had a nasty cut on his head from "scope eye" and a bloody nose. The rifle was okay.
LOTS of recoil from that huge 'projectile' had slam-dunked him.
Worse thing was, he was getting married next day and his wife-to-be had told him that morning to "be careful"!

PS.... the ramrod did NOT survive. It was rather bent...... all over.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

the ramrod did NOT survive. It was rather bent......

So much for the honeymoon!

Mike

 

[splattergun]

When I was young and dumb (Jr. High age) all the guys in our neighborhood would spend the summer days in the woods..... camp outs, fishing, snake hunts, tree forts, etc...

One summer (this is before paint ball) we played "BB Gun wars!" Yup... we actually ran around the woods shooting each other with BB guns. Some guys wore goggles and some motor cycle helmets, others just had sun glasses... all wore jeans jackets and sweat shirts for padding.

Rules included:
1. must aim chest level or below
2. pump guns limited to 3 pumps
3. cease fire when someone calls it quits

One team went down the trail and my team followed 15 min. later to find them. Sure enough we were ambushed, and in the melee that followed, my friend Charlie called "cease fire" with blood trickling down his cheek just below and outboard of his eye. We concocted a story for Charlie's mom that he got a stick in the face riding dirt bikes and no one got in trouble.

Years later, in High School, Charlie discovered that he had a small round hard bump under the skin ...... By his ear!!! That BB penetrated about 2" down along his cheek bone and came to rest in front of his ear :^o

our group of hooligans did the same thing. One day, some idiot brought a .22. The fun instantly evaporated without any shots fired, and the game never came back