How did your Unintentional Discharge happen?

[SaxonPig]

I've had two ADs. One when I was about 15 and I picked up a 22 auto and made the classic stupid mistake. I dropped the magazine, saw it was unloaded, slammed it back in and spun the gun on my finger like in the western movies. Boy was I surprised when it when off through the wall, across the hall, through another wall, across the room and into another wall. Just a 22 and it went through 2+ interior walls.

About the age of 21 I was lowering the hammer on a loaded 1911. I knew it was loaded and I was careful and the hammer did not slip. But as it seated the gun discharged. The gunsmith who examined the gun suggested a sensitive primer from being loaded and unloaded many times. It finally went bang. Shot a hole in the carpet and the slug bounced off the cement floor and was laying in the open.

In the past 31 years or so, nothing. Hoping to keep it that way.

 

[Guzzizzit]

One vote for, NEVER HAD AN UNINTENDED DISCHARGE

 

[Phyphor]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=170191& <- My own ND experience.

 

[McCall911]

About the age of 21 I was lowering the hammer on a loaded 1911. I knew it was loaded and I was careful and the hammer did not slip. But as it seated the gun discharged. The gunsmith who examined the gun suggested a sensitive primer from being loaded and unloaded many times. It finally went bang. Shot a hole in the carpet and the slug bounced off the cement floor and was laying in the open.

And that is exactly one of the reasons I never do that with SA autoloaders, and do not like at all doing that with DA autoloaders where you have to manually lower the hammer onto a loaded chamber. (CZ I know is a really good pistol, but it has that negative feature.) Even when I'm decocking a DA, I make sure it's pointed in a safe direction in case the decocking mechanism doesn't work right.

 

[Rick's BFR]

When I was in the military, training with the M16 using about 4 clips with 6 rounds in each from a prone position in a timed execise, I lost count. So when I was getting up I accidentally fired a round into the ground and I received a dirty look from the "gun plumbers", lol.

 

[sed6]

My one and only AD was decocking a friends Para P10 years ago. My left hand was within inches of the muzzle..scared me ****less. I'm a DAO man now!

 

[bensdad]

I was 13. I was negligently walking through cat-tails, pheasant hunting, with the safety off on a single-shot 20 ga. I tripped, pulled the trigger by accident, and almost blew the ass off of my lab.

 

[W.E.G.]

ummmm....which one do you want to hear about?

 

[streicherr]

I might tell about a Highway Patrol trooper that I knew, he shot his testicles off with a 45 acp.

The officer involved was a very experienced shooter, known for giving shooting demonstrations and for fast draw demos, he was always extremely cautious when doing a show. He was at a local police department pistol range practicing his shooting with a 1911, for some reason he wasn't thinking, he put his cocked and loaded 1911 on half cock, and shoved it in his belt in front, the pistol discharged, he got that ball of flame in the lower abdomen, shot his testicles off along with a lot of other serious injury, he got back in his patrol car, radioed to the dispatcher that he had been accidentally shot and was driving himself to the hospital, he drove to the hospital, walked into the Emergency Room, laid down on a gurney, they took him to surgery and he was in intensive care for a couple of weeks, but he did live and was able to return to duty.

He doesn't understand why he did what he did, he knew that half cock wasn't safe and the 1911 can fire if the hammer slips off of half cock, that was a pretty high cost for a moments lapse of common firearm safety rules. He has been dead for a number of years now, I know I won't ever forget that story.

I have to wonder what sort of colorful nickname one might acquire after an accident like that.... Nothing comes to mind right away, but I know if I put my mind to it....

Randy

 

[TimboKhan]

I have never had an AD (knocks on wood), but I have been the victim of one, and it was because he pulled the trigger thinking the gun was unloaded. It truly was accidental, but if anything approaching safe gun handling would have happened, I would still have two kidneys.

Two of my buddies have also has AD's, and in neither case was it due to poor gunhandling. One was, we think, a frozen or stuck firing pin that essentially caused a slamfire when he closed the bolt on a live round. The other remains a mystery to all concerned. My buddy was hunting and had a live round in the chamber with the gun on safe. He slung the gun over his shoulder, and it fired. He confirmed that it was on safe when he took it off his shoulder (in shock that it happened), and took it to a gunsmith when he got home. Nothing was found wrong with the gun at all. In both cases, safe gunhandling was practiced and no one got hurt, and in both cases it happened to guys that I would have never thought it would have happened to. Also, in both cases, they were in the field, not at the range or at home.

 

[Cannonball888]

I've owned 11 guns during my life. I've never had an accidental discharge. Although I personally knew 2 people who did and it resulted in deaths.

 

[Dr. Dickie]

I have had one ND.
In IDPA after you shoot a stage, you drop the magazine, rack the slide, show the RO that there is no cartridge in the gun, then point downrange and pull trigger before re-holstering weapon.
I was with two friends practicing some IDPA. After I shot a stage, I dropped the magazine and since there was no RO to show clear, I simply pointed the gun downrange and pull the trigger--BAM!
Scared the heck out of me; although, my friends never even knew that I did not mean to do that.
It was reflexive training that made me pull the trigger, but it was also training that made me point the gun in a safe direction.
Lesson learned (RO or no RO, rack the slide you idiot!!), and I hope that 20 years from now that is still my only story of a NG.

 

[eric.cartman]

My People!
Guns go off when you pull the trigger, right?!?
Never happened to me. Although I've been shooting for only a year or so. Putting the finger inside the trigger guard "feels" wrong. And I ALWAYS check the guns before I fiddle with it; aka is it loaded or not. Often times, I'll open and close the cylinder few times or pull the slide back few times. JUST TO BE SURE.

There is no excuse for ND, except mechanical gun malfunction of course.

 

[Sniper X]

Only AD I have EVER had was on the totally safe Glock. On my G22, i was at the range and I had removed the mag and was going to do some drills while dry firing. I had removed the mag, and the round from the chamber and did the drills and when I re-inserted the mag, and let it go forward it slam fired. I have never seen this on a glock or heard of one dopoing it so it must be rare. I was pointing it downrange.....

 

[Mongo the Mutterer]

I think that many of us have had an ND when no one noticed.

I like to "short set" my Glock when shooting target, letting up the trigger just enough to reset the striker, but not the safety. Gives about a 2 pound pull instead of the 5.5 lb.

Welp, firing at the target one day and pulled up the trigger to short set, and "bang". To anyone looking I was firing at the target (and missing 2 foot high). To me I had an ND...

 

[fletcher]

Fortunately, my only unintentional discharge was a slamfire on the SKS. Good thing it was pointed straight downrange.

 

[S.P.E.C.T.R.E.]

My grandfather told me a story from his youth. He was about 10 (depression era) and had a holster and a .22 revolver, practicing quick draw. He put a furrow into the side of his boot and ended his quickdraw ambitions.

 

[Landlocked Pirate]

I was pumping and dry-firing an unloaded old Winchester 1897 off the back porch and on about the fouth trigger pull the danged thing went off! Still don't know exactly what happened (with the gun, that is. I know EXACTLY what I did wrong). It did get everybody's attention. though.

 

[WeThePeople]

I have been shot by someone else's ND but have never had one myself and hope that I never do.

I do a pretty good job of learning from other people's mistakes which works especially well when the mistake put a .22 through my foot from ~3" muzzle distance.

Some people think I am paranoid because I check chambers constantly. They say something like "hey Jim, I just checked that" or Jim, didn't you just clear that?" or "don't worry Jim, it's not loaded." I usually say something to the effect of "once you have taken a point-blank shot from a chamber that was 'clear,' you can tell me about clearing chambers."

In my mind, a chamber is NEVER clear. Even if I just checked it, it is loaded. I hope that my paranoia keeps me from ever having a ND.

 

[detcord]

when I was 10 or so I had a habit of constantly putting pressure on the trigger of my pellet gun to insure it wasn't cocked(didn't want to wear out springs/seals) and one day for some reason the trigger moved but i kept pressing, think the pellet is still stuck in my parents ceiling. never had anything happen w/ real gun tho.

 

[NickHTK]

Bought an Anschutz 64 that had ben set up for silhouette shooting by its former owner. Tested it out with a bit of dry firing in a casual way but when I got in the prone position on the range and wrapped my hand around the pistol grip it just went off.
He had set it for a 6oz pull. Luckily it was pointed downrange and even hit the target.
I will never trust the trigger set on a used competition rifle again...

 

[WoofersInc]

Was clearing my Bushmaster AR pistol. I dropped the mag and pulled the charging handle 3 times. I then pulled the trigger to drop the hammer and BAM. Upon inspection I found that the extractor had broken so pulling the charge handle did not clear the chamber. Fortunately I had it pointed in a safe direction so no damage to anything. Also learned to look into the chamber.

 

[ar10]

I'm not saying it's a good training method, but when it does happen you tend to think about it every time before you handle any gun.

 

[never_retreat]

I had a ruger mk2 go full auto when I dropped the slide. The only thing I killed was the dirt in front of me.

 

[Blackbeard]

I don't have a UD yet, and hope I never will. I do, however have a sobering tale of two UDs by local cops.

The first involved two cops who were training in disarming techniques, in which they used their service weapons, unloaded. Training went fine, but afterwards one of the cops in a playful manner grabbed the weapon out of another cops holster and stuck it into his chest, in a "gotcha" move. Unbeknownst to the the playful cop was the fact that the other cop had reloaded his weapon after the class. It went off, and the officer died.

Second incident takes place later that week on Halloween, where the same cop was talking to some teens about the incident. They were asking how it happened. During his reenactment, he ended up shooting himself. He tried to drive himself to the hospital, passed out, hit a tree, and ended up bleeding to death.

The first victim was actually a guy I knew from high school. Not well, just knew him kinda.

So, keep your finger off the freakin' trigger!