How many of you done something stupid?

[CombatArmsUSAF]

Picture this- Me up in front of a full 21 person class teaching the M9 Beretta.

#1- Teaching disassembly and reassembly

#2- Get to the final step of sending the slide forward and function checking

#3- Sending the slide forward and it flying halfway across the classroom

#4- Me trying to regain my composure to finish teaching

PS- I had just finished telling them to make sure that the disassembly lever was back in the upright position.

 

[PAULIEWALNUTS]

Doesn't beat the TASER self test but kinda funny

Hello everyone - newcomer to this board and thought I would add a funny dumb thing that I have done. If you saw the original Indiana Jones movie where the SS or Gestapo guy touches the red hot medallion and it burns his hand. I did the exact same thing by grabbing my new Russian SKS barrel after we shot several hundred rounds. Grabbed it by the very tip and had the distinct burn mark of the barrel and front sight on my hand for about a week. Almost as dumb I bought my wife one of those pepper sprays and wanted to test and see how far it shot out. Yep you guessed it. I sprayed and the wind blew it right back into my face. At the time I was wearing hard contact lenses. Pepper spray is not to be messed with. I couldn't see or breath for what seemed like an eternity.

 

[psychophipps]

I was out shooting my P97DC with a friend who was giving me some pointers as I shot. I had just started the draw, acquire, sights, fire sequence of the session and was doing pretty well for myself. Staying safe, shooting decent and getting speeds of around 3-3.5 seconds from rest to shots downrange from my IWB under a t-shirt.
Then I got a bit cocky and decided to try to really let this draw rip to see how quick I could get it going. I pulled up my shirt, gripped my weapon well, drew it from the holster, started bringing it to bear in Ayoob-approved fashion and promptly put a 185gr Hornady XTP projectile into the ground about four inches in front of my right foot. Man, that would have been messy...
Dan just looked at me with a bland expression and said, "Back to basics?"
Chagrined thoroughly I replied, "Back to basics."

Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )

 

[Dravur]

besides marrying my first wife?

Well, one day at a range in the mountians, kind of an informal place to shoot. I was using the back end of my pickup as a workbench and place to stage guns. Well, I was shooting a 10/22 with a carbon barrell and a Fagen stock. Nice gun, but the magazines were jamming.

Well, I was shooting and got to what I thought was the last round. So i took the rifle back to my truck. I actually had the stock off the gun and was working on removing the magazine, when what must have been a ghost or a poltergeist wandered up and tripped the trigger. Well, the gun happened to be pointing right at the cab of my truck. Fortunatly, there was about a dozen or so people there to witness this, otherwise, I might not have been mortified. The .22 cal bullet went through my truck box, rear window and smashed the rear view mirror where it stopped.

I looked around and no one seemed to be watching, so, I quickly loaded up my gear and made a hasty departure, donkey ears flapping in the wind.

Here is a pic of the offending gun. It is still one of my fave 10/22s.

 

[magnumcarry]

All I'm going to say is I shot my bed the other day. The round went through two matresses and went through a rolled up and bunched up blaket and comforter and come to rest in the box spring part of the bed. After I sh*t myself I made the bed and have made the bed ever sence, wife is proud of me. If she only knew I really shot the bed and I don't want her to see the holes my .40S&W left behind, she would kill me. Oh by the way, me son knows and I have to bribe him on a regular basis.:banghead:

 

[AJ Dual]

Oh man... Where to begin?

Luckily, I got it all stupidity out of my system with bb guns, air rifles, and model rocketry as a kid.

- Balanced a raw egg on the muzzle crown of my vertically held Daisy Powerline 880, then shot a pellet through it. Messy.

- As a boy, I had seen a book that had a picture of the Krumlauf device for the German Stg44 assault rifle that allowed shooting around corners. I had the brilliant idea I could do the same with my friends Daisy Woodstock bb gun, and a scrap of clear heavy gauge vinyl tubing that had taken a permanent 90 degree bend from the spool it came from. It actually worked pretty well, of course, only until the "mounting system" (my hand) failed, and I shot myself in the thumb point blank.

- Too impatient to wait for shooting to make empties, I was emptying Crossman brand CO2 capsule/canisters (for an even stupider "project" I won't even discuss here...) with a pin. I soon got bored with the slowly hissing capsule that froze, and wanted to release the gas more quickly, so I tried a larger implement, this time, a nail.

The CO2 capsule bounced off the living room window, somehow miraculously failing to shatter it, and then rocketed straight into the wall, making a hole about 6" away from the head of my friend who'd been watching from the couch. I knew that I had to own up to the hole, and that to be plausible, the cover story had to be almost as stupid, or it wouldn't be believed.
So I said that the friend and I were sparring with broomsticks and I parried into the wall. (We survived the super-stupid secret project that the CO2 capsules were for as well.)

- I had several extra "D" model rocket engines, and after all my misuse and misadventures, no rockets to launch them in, so I began lighting them off sans-rocket. The first one I simply laid on the patio spun and hovered about six feet in the air in a most entertaining fashion, making a corkscrew of smoke.

The second I tried, but this time with the cardboard tube peeled off wasn't so great. The molten gunpowder residue that splattered everywhere really burns, and scrubbing the sulfur stains out of my parent's patio with a brick was a chore too...

The third D engine worked in pretty spectacular fashion, because I had stuffed it into a 10' long piece of scrap gas pipe I had found in the garage. It flew straight into the air for about 100 feet before it tumbled, making a twisted little contrail just like a failed NASA launch.

The fourth was put to some "use". I found the pointed half of a replacement rake handle in the garage scrap pile that was left over from some ad-hoc repair my father had effected on his small sailboat. It went into the gas pipe. The D engine went in behind it. The pointed stick went about 150 yards in a beautiful arc like an Olympic javelin throw, right over the tree line where I lost sight of it.

When the leaves fell that fall, I could see where it went. Sticking at a 45 degree angle of a neighbors roof, where it had been impaled all summer. I guess it was in there so tight it didn't leak.

 

[foghornl]

I have a stoooopid small game hunting story....

Several of us teen-aged hunters (The Usual Suspects) are out trying to put Rocky Squirrel and/or Roger Rabbit in the game bag. Nothing much happening in the woods that day, so we head back to the cars. Well, it starts raining, and we get to the creek crossover.

The crossover is a couple of large boulders on each side of a 5-strand barb-wire fence going through the creek. I am the last guy, so with the rain and others going over, the rocks are fairly wet and slippery. I pass my gun over, and swing one leg over the fence, and WHOOOPS. I stradle/fall on the top strand, with both feet dangling in the creek. Top stand sags [under my ahem large Physical Presence] onto strand 4...BZZZZT OW! BZZZT OW! BZZZT! OW! Nobody mentioned it was an "ELECTRIC FENCE" BZZZT! OW!

One of the guys finally grabs a large fallen branch, and gives me a shove to get me clear of the fence...but he pushes me strait forward, instead of to the side. Feet clear the water, but my forehead smacks the T-post...So now, I am still getting buzzed, and bleeding profusely from the T-Post shaped dent just above my nose. Finally, I just sort of roll off into the creek.

Now, I have had my battery charged, bleeding like the proverbial stuck pig, and I am soaking wet. And they want ME to ride in the back of Jerry's truck. Something about I am too gross to ride up front......

 

[Fly320s]

Had my most recent stupid moment yesterday.

I shot myself... with my recoil spring cap from my Kimber (what is that called, anyway). Took it right in the forehead; it left two nice little cuts.

 

[mordechaianiliewicz]

I was at the range with a newbie (so I looked real good too), and had my Beretta, a Ruger p95, and a range rental Ruger Mk2.

Anyway, we're done shooting, and I still have the Ruger Mk2 loaded. As I lock open the slides on my own pistols as I leave, I'm almost out the door in the range when I open the slide on the Mk2 and out pops a .22 round. I drop the mag, and clear the gun, but not exactly the best of moments.

Because of following the rules of gun safety, I was of course still okay, but not clearing a pistol coming off the range, STUPID!

 

[tenbase]

Back in the early 90s, I had my first and only ND (knock on wood). A buddy and I were heading back from a shopping trip in town, and I was the passenger in his nearly-new truck. Now, "town" was about an hour drive from where we lived, so we stopped at a quik-e-mart to get some snacks for the road. While waiting for him to return with the goodies, I began dry firing what I had ASSumed to be my empty Glock pistol. As it turned out, it was not empty, but fortunately I had the pistol pointed in a safe direction.

That is, if "safe direction" is defined as "Through the floorboard, right between my feet, while parked at a busy convenience store in the middle of the day."

The truck windows were rolled up and let me tell you, a .45 going off inside the sealed cab of a Ford Ranger is quite freakin' loud. Evidently the Ranger makes a dandy silencer, however, as nobody outside seemed to have noticed. One would have thought a 230 grain Hydra-Shok pulverizing itself on concrete at 850fps would have made a little bit of noise, but what can I say? As I sat there like , there was not a single turned head in the vicinity.

I properly unloaded the weapon, nonchalantly exited the vehicle, and did a quick "extraneous orifice" check, first on myself and then the truck. I determined nothing vital - human or mechanical - was struck, and the damage to the vehicle was insignificant.

Not knowing what else to do, I got back in the truck and lit a cigarette, which served the dual role of calming my nerves and masking the cordite smell. I was chastised for it upon my buddy's return to the vehicle. "Dude, I told you not to smoke in my new truck."

"Sorry, man."

Fortunately the end result was merely a perforated floorboard and a dented ego. Lesson learned.

I never did tell my buddy about it, but I don't feel so bad now, having read some of the other tales in this thread

 

[Sylvan-Forge]

I have been around firearms my whole life. Never had any problems (well, once with a bb gun when I was 6, and once with a dart pistol when I was 7, but that's another story
I qualified Expert in boot, and have carried for years. I would always stick the ammo away when dry firing, and always check the chamber. When I pass a weapon to someone, I drop the mag and lock back the slide. I was "always" safe, until a couple months ago...

I'd taken up a new (and unsafe) procedure for dry fire exersizes by dropping the loaded mag and racking the slide to clear the chamber. and instead of using an empty mag, I'd re-insert the loaded mag, dry-fire, drop the mag out a couple inches, rack slide, verify chamber as it goes into battery, dry-fire, repeat.

This went fine for about a week..
I'm sitting there at my desk in my home office doing some dry fire practice with my 'Darwin Award' winning new protocol while simultaneously surfing the web for some reloading info. I found what I was looking for and went to my garage to grab an old fired case and my calipers, and returned to jot down some notes. Satisfied with what I had found, I started down some other tangent, and while waiting for the page to load-BANG! After some nonsensical and primative yelp, heart banging in my throat, I opened my eyes and witnessed the spider-webbed and blackened screen of my 15" moniter, a smoking hole where the 'go' button should have been displayed-right where I was aiming at least and some blue electrical sparks and buzzing-frying sounds-until I reached under and pulled the power cord. I went straight to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt to see if I caught a ricochet and to check my eyes. My face was covered in micro-fine glass particals, but my eyes where okay-pure luck! Needless to say, I'm back to my older and safer ways of dry firing, and I have (once again) been humbled by the consequences of my stupid actions. :banghead:

Bullet fired was a .40SW 150grain Nosler JHP moving around 1000 ft/s- It struck some rather robust steel CRT shrouding at an obtuse angle, making a huge dent and shattering the bullet..I found about 4-5 pieces of jacket material on my desk between me and the moniter.. the distance was about 18" from the muzzle to the screen. No exit wounds found. It looks like the largest glass fragments near the hole got sucked in, and only the lightest powdered glass got ejected towards me.

 

[Rumble]

Well, not too long ago I found out that if you shoot yourself in the leg with an airsoft from about 6 inches away, it hurts real bad for about 5 minutes.

My Firearm Genius Award moment happened a couple weeks ago, when I got hit with a ricochet from a .357 Magnum round...from my own gun. You see, I was not aware--because I was ignorant--that it's not a great idea to shoot jacketed rounds at metal targets. Nor is it a good idea to do that while standing 15 feet from the target.

But I did these things anyway, because, as I said, I was an ignorant little Firearms Genius. So I aim at the target, I squeeze that trigger, the gun goes BANG, the target goes TINK, and my ribcage goes THUMP. In wide-eyed astonishment, I look down at the ground to see a shiny lump, resting on the ground after plonking against my chest. I pick it up, and it's hot.

And verily, I made a little cheeping noise like a mouse, and packed up for the day.

 

[dakotasin]

my greatest moment ever: a friend and i were out looking for a likely place to hunt coyotes. suddenly, there was a 'target of opportunity', and no time to swing the rifle into place. i grabbed my 357 mag and because of the angle was forced to shoot from deep inside the car. i'm pretty sure my hearing is not as good as it was 2 seconds prior to that moment of brilliance.

a friend of mine went to check the safety on his 270. 'course, he did it the smart way: by pulling the trigger. the bullet went thru his leg, thru the truck door, and exited the truck without disabling it. he very nearly died (and would have if his bullet had disabled the truck), but kept his life, just sacrificed his leg. unfortunately, he never was able to warm up to prosthetics, so he hops around on crutches and 1 leg now...

another friend of mine didn't think it was necessary to clear the chamber before getting into the truck. the bullet from his 30-06 destroyed his transmission. a 30-06 going off inside a truck is loud. his truck was disabled, and because we were a half-day drive from work w/ a working vehicle, we were 3 days late to work.

last golden moment w/ a firearm i'll ever be around: was hunting w/ some friends, and we managed to knock over a few deer. we designated 1 guy to be the gun bearer, and every body else would drag deer. so, everybody cleared their chambers, and started piling rifles on his shoulder. yep, one smart feller thought the extra safety move was unnecessary, and wanted his rifle ready in a hurry in case we saw more deer (he hadn't punched a tag). so, my friend shrugged into the rifles, and boom! 2, maybe 3 inches from his ear, a 30-06 bucked and roared. burned his ear, singed his hair, destroyed his hearing, and made him mad...

 

[M.E.Eldridge]

I once shot a squirel with a deer slug. There was literally nothing but blood,fur and a tail left reconizable.

I also shot a woodchuck at about 30 feet with a 30-30. That was pretty messy too.

I've never been stupid enough to discharge a gun without the intent of shooting. When I worked for the DNR they began issuing pistols in our district for the first time in 20 some years. Yes, day after I was given it I left it at home. I didn't even put the holster on my belt that day.

 

[jaysouth]

A few years ago, my cousin Booger and I went down to the Bayou to shoot some snakes and drink some beer.

Booger had been working on a job that week blasting beaver dams that had messed up a watershed project. He brought home two 8X1 sticks of DuPonts finest.

He broke the first one in half and buried halves in mud by the side of the Bayou.

He shot one with a .22 and got one hell of a bang with dirt and water geyersing 50 feet up in the air. I shot the other one with similar results. After talking this over and drinking a few more beers, we decided to shoot a whole stick.

Booger buried it half way in the mud. We flipped a coin to see who got the honors. I won and shot it with my scoped Marlin 39A.

In that part of Arkansas, there is no rock within 50 feet of the surface, except the one about the size of a softball that the blast blew into the side of my father's pickup that he had loaned me for the day. Booger and I and the pickup also got covered with about 6 inches of mud and water.

The impacted door of the truck would not open, the window was shattered and my Marlin was covered with a thick coat of goo. I like to think that we were a sadder buy wiser crew when we got enough courage to face my father.

A couple of decades have passed and I sometimes wonder if we really got any wiser that day(if we had, we would have thrown away a couple of dozen empty beer cans in the cab and bed of the truck). Booger and I still have good time when we can get together without the presence of any young folks to set a bad example for. Some day I'll tell you about the time that my brother Bubba, Booger and I went "marlin fishing" in Costa Rica.

 

[Black Dragon]

I was showing off my 1911 Springfield .45 to a friend. I had pulled the mag
and locked the slide back. After we "played" with it I put the mag back in
and hit the slide locked to drop the slide into battery and shot a hole in the
living/family room floor.

At the range, the same friend asked to shoot my Marlin 30-30. I asked if he
had ever shot a lever action rifle with a scope. He said "sure I have". I should
have watched him to make sure. He put his eye right up to the scope and
pulled the trigger. He had a real nice black eye for a week.

My grandfather told me that "if you haven't done something stupid at least
once you haven't been shooting long enought. The trick is surviving the
stupid stunt to not repeat it."

 

[CajunBass]

Back in my IPSC days, "everyone" was modifying magazines for their 1911's to hold 8 rounds. The idea was that you could save a reload at times. And of course I had to do it too. I did one, just to see how well it worked. It worked just fine at the range, so I loaded everything up, and drove home.

Later when I went to clean the gun, I dropped the magazine, and stripped the rounds out. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. That's all a 1911 holds.

I picked up the gun, a Colt, series 70, pointed it at the bookcase and dropped the hammer. BOOM! Then total silence in the house.

What happened? I looked at the gun. It looked just the same as it had a second ago. What had happened? HOLLY (insert your own word here) The gun fired. Since the magazine was out, the slide had gone back to battery so fast I never saw it move. Obviously I had forgotten the one in the chamber.

Then it hit me. WHERE DID THAT BULLET GO? OMG had I killed someone? A quick check showed it had entered the side of the bookcase, clipped the tops of several books, out the other side, through the drapes, and hit the metal frame around the sliding glass door and made a dent as big as my thumb. I never did find the bullet.

A couple of days later, my mother-in-law, found the empty cartridge case in the kitchen.. "Did you lose this?"

 

[RS3RS]

At the range, the same friend asked to shoot my Marlin 30-30. I asked if he
had ever shot a lever action rifle with a scope. He said "sure I have". I should
have watched him to make sure. He put his eye right up to the scope and
pulled the trigger. He had a real nice black eye for a week.

I've done that before. Got a Savage 270 bolt-action with scope for christmas, went to the range to try it out. Shot the first round through it, and the top of the scope went straight into my forehead. Left a mark for a few days.

 

[CoachVince]

Okay, I'll chime in. I lived in South Carolina at the time, on some property I was the caretaker of (40 acres). I had a friend from work come over; not the nice reliable good ol boy, but the scary, "wanna shoot something different?" guy.
So, he showed me the MAC10 (or a clone, I don't know, honestly), and warned me to hold it securely, with a good grip both hands, 'cause the kick from the .45s. So, I took it, shifted my grip a little, and was ready.
But, for some reason, he kept telling me "No", even as I constantly interrupted him telling me to wait; after all, "It's okay, I've got it just right like this", meaning my grip. Eventually, my curiousity overcame my stupidity, and I watched him move my finger, since it was over the muzzle.

Of course, he was even more amused when I found out he "forgot" to tell me it was modified to full-auto. My neighbors, apparently, were more concerned than curious, I found out later.

I guess this wouldn't be a good time to talk about setting the lawn on fire, trying to get rid of a fire ant mound; or when my first wife basted the no-baste turkey, starting a fire in the oven/kitchen? Both of those were on Christmas Day. Found out that living in a rural area can be a problem if the Fire Dept. can't find your house, and then can't drive through the sand pit in the 90 degree angle in your driveway. Though, that sand pit made learning made learning to ride a cruiser motorcycle (CB650 Custom) very interesting...

 

[XDKingslayer]

I was going turkey hunting. I was on a mission. A week prior I was hunting spring gobbler and called in 3 young jakes and the biggest gobbler I have ever seen. However, one of the 3 young jakes mounted my foam female turkey decoy and his reaction to her collapsing under him caused me to laugh so hard I scared off all the turkey.

So I was out after this old gobbler. I was supposed to take a buddy with me to take over the calling duties when I got him in close. But he had to cancel and I wasn't happy about that. So I dug out my mouth call so I could call and still be able to have my gun ready if I called them in.

I got an early start. About 4:00 am so I could be in position before they woke from roost. I was sitting at the truck getting my stuff ready. I use a military issue load bearing vest for turkey hunting as it holds calls very wall. Box call, check. Two slate calls, check. Three different strikers, check. Orange strap for tree, check. Camo gloves, check. Camo facemask, check. Snuff, can't leave without my snuff, check. Shotgun, check. Shells, check. Toilet paper, check. License, check. Knife, check. Let's go....

I get to my spot and settle in, and wait for sunrise. Once the sun starts coming over the mountain I start purring and clucking. After about an hour I start calling. I get an answer WWAAAAYYY out. Figure that bird isn't going to come to me, I start calling again. No answer. This goes on for 10 minutes and GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE. Holy crap that's close. I can hear them behind me, coming in fast. So I get the gun up on my right knee and throw in my mouth call. I do some purring and around the tree no more than 3 feet away walk 2 of the 3 young jakes and that big honking gobbler. He's got to be at least 25 lbs. My concern is where that 3rd gobbler is, but he's nowhere to be found.

I sit and I wait and let the gobbler walk around, waiting for his head to get behind a tree so I can get the gun up and on request he walks around behind a hemlock tree and I shoulder the 12 gauge.

My heart is pounding. I'm trying not to breath heavy. Trying to control the handshake. This will be my first turkey on my own. My dad will be so proud when I bring him home. He walks out from behind the tree in full strut. It's a religious moment. I ease the safety off and the anxiety of taking the biggest gobbler I've ever seen and taking him in full strut sets in. God I wish I had a witness or a video camera. Breath and squeeze. Feel the shot. Don't blow this one...

CLICK...

I sat against that tree from 8:17 am until 12 noon just thinking about what I had done. Thinking about losing this exact same bird twice to stupid circumstances. I intentionally left the decoys home this time just to rule out another mistake. But leaving the shotgun shells in your pocket is inexcuseable.

Never saw that bird again.

 

[cidirkona]

Next time I shoot a gallon of water with an m44, I will definately be far enough away to not get soaked...

-Colin

 

[cidirkona]

Too bad Dick Cheney's not a member of this forum, he might have a thing or two to say in this thread...

-Colin

 

[Mooseman]

Wow do I feel dumb

Just got back from the range a few minutes ago. I learned 2 lessons about my Hi-Point. 1. The guy at the gun shop told me you slap the clip in when loading, I didn't and after the fifth shot the clip fell out. 2. later in that same box of 5o I decide to try a 2 hand grip, not a bad idea unless you let your other hand hit the slide release. Yep, clip fell out again. I felt like an idiot.
On a positive note-the Hi-Point continues to function well and I learned 2 lessons at the range rather than the street.

 

[KIDGLOCK]

Sharp eyed Pappy

At the end of a range session in Oregon I loaded all but one Ruger MK2 in the truck . Went back and shot what I thought was a full mag walked back to the truck Pistol in hand opened the door ass i was setting the MK on the seat I pulled the trigger Yup, BANG . Yes a .22 is load , well the bullet went through the seat ,door panel,but the door stopped it. No harm Major foul !!!

The next day I go out side thinking nothing of the shooting .... and theres the old salt from next door looking at my truck shaking his head . He says "So ya shot yer door ay,not much meat on them Dodges" I felt about 2 inches tall.:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

 

[LynnMassGuy]

Almost dry fired a pistol that wasn't dry. I could have sworn I checked it but I checked one more time before I pulled the trigger. Sure enough a round flung out.

Taking the top hand guard off of my SKS and replacing it with that metal grate thingy was pretty dumb too. I hate the way it looks.

Regards
John