How did your Unintentional Discharge happen?

[MinnMooney]

I was loading my .30-06 bolt action after climbing into my 16' high deer stand. It was absolute darkness and I didn't want to telegraph my location to any bedded dear in the area so I was very quietly loading my magazine and chamber. The bolt wouldn't close on a cartridge so I unloaded that cartridge from the chamber and tried a different cartridge with the same result. This time I unloaded the entire gun and started over. I put the 5th and final round on top of the 4 that fit into the magazine and proceeded on closing the bolt only to have the gun go off. So much for my stealth walk and climb to my stand! The rifle was pointed toward the dirt so no injuries but what a surprise. I unloaded, reloaded and it worked perfectly. It has never don't it since. (?)

 

[ED21]

Interesting thread

Sure lots of interesting replies. Makes one wonder how many are true or "doctored" half truths . Anyway, my parents gave me a .22 bolt action rifle with a detachable magazine for my 8th birthday. I shot that rifle a lot and knew everything about it. Now this is an important part of my story concerning my one and only AD/ND. When I was 9 I was allowed to go mule deer hunting with my dad. He let me carry a .22 rifle. My Mom's! I carried Mom's rifle because it had a tube instead of a detachable magazine so I wouldn't lose the mag of my rifle. Good thought but this switch of rifles about cost my Dad his life due to my negligence. We were walking down a hill and I carried the rifle with the muzzle up and away from my Dad. As I was walking along I got tired of carrying it in that position and switched carry sides. FIRST mistake. I was fiddling with the safety and could not remember if safe was up or if safe was down. SECOND mistake. (This safety was different than on MY rifle which was a lever which shifted left for safe and right for fire.) As I said, I was "playing" with the safety and could not remember if it was on safe or not. I pulled the trigger and "Bang" right near my Dad's head. THIRD mistake. Scared the whit’s out of both of us. We stopped and discussed it. I carried the rifle with the ammo in my pocket for the rest of that trip. I have been very, verge of obsessive, conciencious about firearms safety ever since. GOOD things come out of the learning process.

 

[jak]

I'm honestly not even sure what I did. After thinking on it, my best guess is stupidity magnified by mechanical troubles. The trigger was locking up on me, and I was getting frustrated. After a few failed attempts at firing, I got frustrated and started to bring the gun back. With my finger still pulling on the trigger....:banghead: Needless to say, the range ceiling has one more hole in it, to complement the thousand of other dimwits

 

[GhostlyKarliion]

you didn't include a category for "Never"

I havent had a Neglient Discharge nor an Accidental Discharge, guess I can't vote. heh, I won't complain.

 

[PistolNewbie]

Thank god I've never had one and will do better than my best to see that it never happens. Unfortunately no human being, including myself, is infalible and guns aren't either.

 

[Eyesac]

Cheebis people, you guys drop babies by mistake too?

 

[Tom Servo]

I've never had an ND (yet), though I came very close once. I've also had one honest-to-god AD.

Funny thing is, both were CZ pistols. The almost-ND was a CZ75 I'd just finished cleaning. The slide was still shiny, and my hands were a bit oily. When I was decocking (which, on the 75 means pulling the trigger and riding the hammer down), the hammer slipped loose from my fingers and fell. Fortunately, it was close to being down when it happened, so the firing pin didn't strike. Still, it was close. Really close.

Oh, and did I mention I work at a range? I'd never have heard the end of it. Gun was pointed in a safe direction.

The real, bible-truth AD was an old CZ52. Again, gun was pointed downrange. I slapped the magazine in and released the slide. Normal procedure, right?

Turns out, the firing-pin had begun to drift, and the gun discharged. My first thought was, "you #$&* idiot, what did you do?" However, my finger had never entered the trigger guard. I repeated the process again, with the same result. Darndest thing.

 

[ProficientRifleman]

It was the "Just one more..." syndrome, after dry-firing at the TV for a while. I had loaded it back up and set it down.

Then, shucks, whadda-ya-know, there's a loud noise and a hole appears in the wall next to my TV set.

 

[Charles Foxtrot]

A massive short between the ears...

Playing with a friend's HK 91 (.308 or 7.62x51 for you Euros). I ignored one of the cardinal rules of gun safety and kept my finger inside of the trigger guard. I shot five rounds and stopped to talk to the owner. I was commenting favorably about the trigger -- when I gently squeezed one off. Fortunately, I was still observing the other three cardinal rules, and the round safely flew downrange.

Having the rifle jump unexpectedly was one of the truly AwShi'ite!!! moments of my life.

 

[starboard]

It was the "Just one more..." syndrome, after dry-firing at the TV for a while. I had loaded it back up and set it down.

Then, shucks, whadda-ya-know, there's a loud noise and a hole appears in the wall next to my TV set.

So.. you not only had a discharge, but you missed the TV from across the room?

 

[Torque]

For the love of God! What kind of damn gun owners are you? 41% of you "pulled trigger on purpose (thought gun was unloaded)"

Didn't any of you 41% take any kind of gun safety? Very, Very, and I mean VERY 1st rule!, RULE number UNO, is to check the chamber on any gun soon as you pick it up (or are handed it) and continue to check it to make sure it is UNLOADED!

Next, Why would you dry fire a gun in the first place??

I thought I was in the presence of the smarter half of the population until I seen that!
Well I hope you learned your lesson!

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Next, Why would you dry fire a gun in the first place??

You own 7 guns for home defense and don't know the value of dry-fire practice?

 

[Torque]

You own 7 guns for home defense and don't know the value of dry-fire practice?

Jorg,

You weren't one of those people that didn't check their chamber are you? Notty, notty.

If you don't protect your firing pin, and you dry fire your gun, your firing pin is sure to be damaged. (or is this just a very old wives tale?) If your wanna buy new firing pins often, then by all means....
dry fire practice all you want. Dry firing a semi automatic weapon isn't really a valuable practice anyways.

I usually practice with live rounds. I guess thats just me.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

If you don't protect your firing pin, and you dry fire your gun, your firing pin is sure to be damaged.

Yikes, wherever did you get that idea?

 

[Torque]

My grandpa and then my old man. Now if they are wrong and they could be ONCE outa their combined years, I suppose I will just do a google search to find out. Here is just one (the first one on the page): http://www.building-tux.com/dsmjd/tech/is_it_safe_to_dry_fire_my_gun.htm

There is alot of force behind that firing pin making a abrupt stop without the coushin from the bullet primer.

You seriously never were taught this or thought about it?

Whatever, I don't care really because I don't dry fire any gun of mine. Go ahead and dry fire yours.

Guns weren't made for the purpose of 'dry firing'.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

From the link you supplied:

Whether or not you can safely dry fire a gun depends on the particular gun. E.g., most centerfire guns made in the last 40 years or so are safe to dry fire.

Many people who are much wiser, better marksman, and more experienced than me whole-heartedly endorse dry fire practice. I see you are new to the board, I'm sure you'll pick up a lot of useful tips here.

 

[Torque]

I got this one today on this board from someone who knew what they were talking about but was a new member:

"I may be new here, but I wasn't born yesterday". And that was after I gave a compliment.

If you read down further on that link, they make mini cartridges to make sure your centerfire gun will be safe. Now why would they do that?
Plus it says you should NEVER dry fire a rim shot gun. Were you ever taught at least this?

Like I said I don't really care because I don't pull the trigger without checking my guns chamber and I don't dry fire my guns (sorry, except when I reach past the end of mag on my AK-47).


Guns weren't made for that purpose.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

It seems no amount of posting by me is going to reverse three generations of ignorance when it comes to the value of dry fire practice or its effect on firing pins and this thread just isn't the place to discuss it. If you'd like to continue bouncing along blissfully content with the fact you know it all, feel free. But if you'd like to find out why so many people believe it is an invaluable training tool and would scoff at statements like "Guns weren't made for that purpose", go ahead and start a knew thread asking "Do you dryfire practice and why?" Then again, you could always use the search funtion or Google for "dry fire practice". There are things that one can learn from dry-fire that no amount of live firing will reveal. You may find there is something new to learn here. Hell, some of us learn new things here every day.

 

[Torque]

It seems no amount of posting by me is going to reverse three generations of ignorance when it comes to the value of dry fire practice or its effect on firing pins and this thread just isn't the place to discuss it. If you'd like to continue bouncing along blissfully content with the fact you know it all, feel free. But if you'd like to find out why so many people believe it is an invaluable training tool and would scoff at statements like "Guns weren't made for that purpose", go ahead and start a knew thread asking "Do you dryfire practice and why?" Then again, you could always use the search funtion or Google for "dry fire practice". There are things that one can learn from dry-fire that no amount of live firing will reveal. You may find there is something new to learn here. Hell, some of us learn new things here every day.

I just knew it was going to be just a matter of time before you became the 'Senior Member'

Like I said before, I really don't care. You can do whatever you want to do.

And, I don't care. I am not going to dry fire practice. I would rather throw rocks!

All I started this with is everyone should check the damn chamber. If they don't they are noobs. That was your 'ignorance' when you had unintentional discharge, I bet. Dry firing a gun was something I also thought was a poor thing to do.
If for any reason, unintentional discharge!

 

[flynlr]

a what if

after a long day at the range. having shot about 500 223 rounds 75 762x54R rounds. 400 rounds of 40 and a really ticked of attempt to get my brand new ruger 10/22 running "it was in a very old folding butler creek stock"
I came home and started cleaning all the guns.

all was fine until I got to the 10/22. after breaking it down from the stock I pulled the bolt back and to my surprise a live round was ejected.

*** mate?. after thinking about it a bit. while shooting the 10/22 that day I kept getting 1 round out and having to recock the bolt . so I was having nothing but problems with this gun so I set it aside after the problems and kept on shooting the others.
after having my surprise of the live round at home . I determined that the trigger pin was moving to the left after each shot due to my old ass stock being wore down in that area. so lesson learned. I have dry fired many rifles and pistols at home and I am just glad I had the common sense to check the chamber of the 10/22 before moving to the clean phase.

 

[Justin]

If you read down further on that link, they make mini cartridges to make sure your centerfire gun will be safe. Now why would they do that?

• So you can be sure that your firearm isn't actually loaded with a live round.
• So that you can practice techniques that require something to be in the chamber, eg. how to clear a jam.
• So that you can practice techniques like reloading from slide-lock without having to intentionally thumb the slide stop down.
• So you can effectively practice reloading a revolver with speed loaders and/or speed strips.
• To make it easier to practice quickly loading a magazine into a semi-auto handgun.
• So that you can visually demonstrate to new shooters how a firearm functions.
• Not strictly a handgun-related thing, but it's nigh impossible to safely practice reloading a shotgun without dummy rounds/snap caps.

 

[Cosmoline]

Most shooters I know have had at least one ND (I don't consider it an AD unless the firearm itself malfunctions). A friend of mine had quite a spectacular one. She made the classic mistake of forgetting about a chambered round in a semi, then clicked the trigger while holding the pistols sideways. She got some minor burns, but it so happened that the bullet hit square into a cabinet full of propane bottles! The resulting explosion snuffed out all the open flames in the cabin, which is really just as well. Thankfully the door was wide open so there was a good breeze and the pressure vented instantly.

My own ND was just stupid dry firing negligence. I had too many wheelguns in operation, and carelessly picked up a loaded one by mistake. BANG! You never forget how loud the .357 is indoors! I don't dry fire for practice anymore, just because even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance of a screwup, it's still too big a risk. I would only dry fire for practice if I had a nice solid backstop to dry fire into. IMHO dry firing should be treated like indoor range shooting, with the assumption that there are live rounds. Obviously, I still have to dry fire as part of cleaning and maintenance, but the revolvers are broken down at that point.

As far as dry firing hurting firearms, there are many threads on this. The short answer is--yes and no. For most wheelguns, though not all, dry firing is perfectly fine. A modern Ruger, for example, with the transfer bar and free floating pin, can suffer no injury from dry firing. Likewise, a classic revolver with a big pin on the hammer will generally be fine. But an expensive Colt with a frame mounted firing pin and notoriously difficult to replace parts might be another matter. I believe most rimfires are not to be dry fired, and some semis have more delicate innards than others. The stress of the pin punching empty chambers over and over again can crack it.

 

[asknight]

Torque, first off... welcome to the board newbie.
Secondly, if you believe you are immune to mistakes or accidents, you're a fool.

 

[SoCalShooter]

I usually end up underestimating the match triger on my model 19 but I always let the round go down range...perhpas with a little cross fire.

 

[ryoushi]

Only had one in my whole life. Back in '89 I dropped the mag on my 9mm Glock for some dry fire practice and neglected to check the chamber. I aimed at a picture on a wall and squeezed the trigger. Bang! the 115 grain hollow point shattered the glass went through the picture frame , clean through the wall and lodged in the fence about 10 feet past that. Thank god no one was injured.

I am now very very careful with unloaded guns.