I had a negligent discharge today...

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I am 49 but only started getting into guns this last year. The first time I racked a pistol I thought was empty and a cartridge popped out it really got my attention and scared me.
 
I just checked the chambers of the two guns in the room. I knew they were empty but this thread made me want to check. No more tough guy poses with the shotgun in the mirror for a while eh? :) Glad to know no one was hurt.
 
I am very glad you had this happen to you and not me. Hopefully it won't because of your posting this as a reminder for the rest of us. Thanks.

I also find it very interesting that the shot didn't go through the wall. It makes me wonder about these claims of over penetration. I have a good friend that is an A class shooter and one day he was practicing his draw. He had a mag full of bullets loaded with a spent primer and no powder but with a bullet in the case to give the magazine the right weight for practice. Well one day he grabbed the wrong magizine, thinking it was the dummy rounds, and started his practice. And we all know what happened. He put a hole in his wall. This was with a 38 super firing major jacketed loads. What really surprised me was it didn't penetrate the wall. There was a nice 38 size hole on one side of the wall and nothing on the other. Not even a dimple in the sheet rock. He now has bought practice mags that all all plastic that weight the same as fully loaded mags. They are bright blue and you just can't mistake them for regular mags.

I wonder how many other have shot the wall and had it not penetrate?
 
Since questions have been asked about the age of my home and the construction, I will answer them.

I think the house was built in 1907 and like people were saying before the walls were plaster and lath.

The shot penetrated my mirror went through the mirror and into the wall. For about an inch it went straight into the wall but right after that the shot pattern moves to the left diagonally. It goes about ten inches and hits something very solid.

The buckshot did not penetrate the outside wall, if it would have it would have gone through the house to the outside and then I would have had a new porthole in my bedroom.
 
A lesson learned .. Don't beat yourself up.. I believe all things happen for a reason whether we can explain them or not.. And I feel that you have definitely learned from it ..
 
There are two types of people, those who have had an ND and those that will.

Again, I will say that this is an ignorant point of view. Yes, ignorant (I mean this in the classic, not-thought-out sense). It is much the same as saying "There are two kinds of drivers: those who have caused an accident by their own negligence and those who will." I am certain that people will take issue with that one. Remaining vigilant and cautious as you drive will prevent your causing of an accident, and remaining vigilant and cautious with firearms will prevent NDs.

Just because the majority may have had a ND does not mean that it is inevitable. There is no need to excuse them saying "everyone has had one" since that is patently false. Be careful EVERY time, and you won't hear BANG instead of click.

Learn from your mistakes and from the mistakes of others. There's also no need to be judgmental and derisive of those who erred, since it CAN happen to those who have not. There but for caution go we.
 
A lesson learned .. Don't beat yourself up.. I believe all things happen for a reason whether we can explain them or not.. And I feel that you have definitely learned from it ..
+1
Thanks for posting your "mistake" for all of us to read and see.
It takes alot of gutts to admit when we do something like that. I think sharing it on this Forum for all to read might benefit some who aren't as carefull as they should be when handling firearms.
Very sobering story and pictures - thanks for sharing :)
 
Just because the majority may have had a ND does not mean that it is inevitable.
This sounds like a poll!

Something like:

* I have never had an ND (owned gun less than 5 years)
* I have never had an ND (owned gun 5-10 years)
* I have never had an ND (owned gun 10-20 years)
* I have never had an ND (owned gun 20-30 years)
* I have never had an ND (owned gun 30+ years)
* I have had an ND (in first 10 years of gun ownership)
* I have had an ND (in 10th-20th years of gun ownership)
* I have had an ND (in 20th-30th years of gun ownership)
* I have had an ND (after 30+ years of gun ownership)


if we could get 300-500 responses like the Background check thread polls, it might show something meaningful about accidental discharges in the law abiding pro-gun community.
 
Technosavant said:
Again, I will say that this is an ignorant point of view. Yes, ignorant (I mean this in the classic, not-thought-out sense). It is much the same as saying "There are two kinds of drivers: those who have caused an accident by their own negligence and those who will." I am certain that people will take issue with that one. Remaining vigilant and cautious as you drive will prevent your causing of an accident, and remaining vigilant and cautious with firearms will prevent NDs.

Just because the majority may have had a ND does not mean that it is inevitable. There is no need to excuse them saying "everyone has had one" since that is patently false. Be careful EVERY time, and you won't hear BANG instead of click.

Learn from your mistakes and from the mistakes of others. There's also no need to be judgmental and derisive of those who erred, since it CAN happen to those who have not. There but for caution go we.
I agree 100% If I thought it were only a matter of time before I blew a hole in the wall, I would sell off all my guns today. Where I live I simply cannot have a negligent discharge. That means none, zero, zilch.

tnieto2004 said:
A lesson learned …Don't beat yourself up…

Yes, beat yourself up! It was a foolish and potentially deadly mistake; don’t sweep it under the rug. There are two ways to learn things in life, through mistakes made by you or mistakes made by someone else. You just get to be the person we learn from this time. If you didn’t know it was loaded, then you didn’t know what it was loaded with. A slug may well have gone through the wall.

The error was in your methodology. Yes, you knew to point the gun in a sort-of safe direction, and you may have even been positive it wasn’t loaded. Where you failed was in your methodology of determining the condition of the gun. In airplane accidents we look at the chain of events that led to the crash. We often find that several ‘links’ in that chain were apparent but ignored. The one link that was screaming at you was that you didn’t visually inspect the firearm prior to dry-firing it.

Thanks for posting, but don’t listen to the well-meaning folks who are attempting to minimize this error.
 
"The worst sound is when you hear a bang instead of a click"

Too right it is. That is a sound that changes the way you handle safety for the rest of your life.

When I had a ND, I would have been willing to bet my life it was unloaded (obviously or why would I pull the trigger). I locked all of my rifles away, and didn't touch them for a three months afterwards. I put my family in danger, and could have killed someone in the house. For that I can never forgive myself. I thank the Lord that the four rules saved me from pointing the gun anywhere but the floor, otherwise who knows...

I am sure no one can be as hard on you as you are on yourself (and rightly so). I never have or will let myself forget. I actually still carry the .22lr shell in my wallet to remind me that you can never get complacent when it comes to safety.
 
I applaud you as well. I view your story as a success story. Because you followed the rules of gun safety, there is a wall with a hole in it rather than a dead child at your house. [Or insert your own unthinkable alternative.]

First and foremost I don't know how you people can actually say "I applaud you" for doing something careless and stupid. A High Road is one thing, riding that road to this level is silly.

He didn't follow the rules. If he had followed the rules this wouldn't have happened. Period. End of discussion. Welcome to reality. He just happened to be pointing it in a safe direction when he didn't follow the rules and you people are applauding him for that?

Wow. Just wow.
 
I am going to deviate a little from the popular opinion

You should be very hard on yourself

You should beat yourself up

You should feel so incredibly lousy about yourself that you never....ever...even come close to doing anything like that again

Lessons are supposed to be painful ....that is how we learn

Acting like it is ok and/or inevitable is how we achieve complacencey

And that is not where we want to be

Good for you for admitting it.....that is a good start

Praise Jesus you followed the rules

No...I have not had a ND........

But I remember every other stupid thing I have ever done.....and it keeps me careful

I visually and physically check my chamber before dry firing any weapon

Every Time

You obviously get it....hopefully others will learn from you
 
ND happens -- twice

Yes, Negligent Discharges happen. They should be the source of pain, embarrassment, and a determination to never ever let it happen again.

I've been shooting since I was 8 years old, and it has happened to me twice.

The first time was when I was 15 or 16, out rabbit hunting, unloading my 1903-a3 and the gun went off when I flicked off the safety. Moments before, it had been pointed at my father until a 3rd hunting companion pointed out my unsafe behavior.

The second time was 45 years later, 11 months ago, during an IPSC match. I've been shooting IPSC for about 24 years, so I should really know better.

At the end of a stage I went through the "If you are finished, Unload and Show Clear" but I didn't notice the last round leaving the pistol. I racked the slide 3 or 4 times, nothing happened. I peered into the chamber, couldn't see anything. Racked the slide again, nothing came out. After a minute, with the Range Officer peering over my shoulder, I pointed the pistol downrange and pulled the trigger. KA-BOOM!

Later we discovered that I had a broken extractor. It broke on the last round of the stage. And the base of the case had been marked with a black Magic Marker, to denote new brass.

Lessons learned:
  1. Always make sure the firearm is pointed in a safe direction
  2. If you're in doubt, use a squib rod to check the chamber
  3. NEVER darken the base of your ammunition.
 
There are only two types of gun owners; those that have had a ND and those that will have a ND.

I read this somewhere originally about a year and a half ago.

Thought to myself, nahh... it would never happen to me. Literally a week later it did. (I too intentionally was pointing the gun at a wall just-in-case... I suppose almost subconsciously thinking of what-if)

Big lesson learned: none of us are above accidents... all of us can be forgetful.... that's why when handling a firearm it should always be treated as loaded.

My procedure with my Glocks for taking one apart is:
With the gun pointed in a safe direction
1) Take out the magazine
2) Rack the slide removing the loaded cartridge
3) Rack the slide and hold it to inspect the chamber - empty? Good.
4) Rack the slide and hold it to inspect the chamber - still empty? Good.
you can do it a third time if you want... I sometimes do
then I take it apart.

For the AR..... it's nearly the same thing

Don't beat yourself up over it Glock22... you learned a lesson....

when it happened to us in the past.... so did we...

I say - even if you were really really safe before, resolve to be even safer now. That's all. Don't worry.... be safe.... go forth and sin no more. :)
 
how-to-fix-holes-in-drywall-2.jpg

trueblue1776 - That's for drywall.

He said his house was built in 1907. Drywall wouldn't come into existence for about another 40 years.
 
So I decided to dry fire it.

I know you've probably learned your lesson, so this isn't directly directed toward you...

Why do people feel compelled to dry fire their guns inside their home? The only time my firearms dry fired is when I lose count at the range :)

If I pull the trigger, it's cause I wanted the gun to go bang. It's not a toy, or something to take lightly for that matter.
 
Why do people feel compelled to dry fire their guns inside their home?

Because it is the most effective form of practice you can do without actually shooting.
 
Because it is the most effective form of practice you can do without actually shooting.

glock17.jpg
 
time for some soul searching

I strongly suggest you do some serious soul searching.

You can start by analyzing the frame of mind evidenced by your comments here.

"I had a negligent discharge today..."

You are not a passive object to which experiences happen.

You did not "have a negligent discharge."

You need to say, "I negligently discharged a lethal weapon today."

"I got complacent and forgot that I had put two rounds of buckshot in my HD shotgun's magazine tube."

Your problem was not complacency, it was disobedience.

Disobedience is when you DO something you are not supposed to do.

Complacency is when you do not do something.

You disobeyed rules which must never be disobeyed by anyone who wants the right to call himself responsible and who wants to retain his right to keep and bear arms and who wants to remain free (not incarcerated).

You need to get over whatever immaturity is in you that makes you see disobeying rules as something that is o.k.

As a keeper and bearer of deadly firearms, you're supposed to be a real grownup now.

Act like one.

Better yet, be one.

"I pumped it once nothing came out . . ."

I have not noticed that you have analyzed this event to ascertain how you could pump a shotgun in such a way that nothing would come out (when it was in fact loaded).

What did you do wrong in pumping that shotgun?

That should have been the first question you asked yourself upon hearing the discharge.

Your self-analysis skills are weak.

You need to work on that.

Everyone around you needs you to work on that, so you don't shoot them.

" . . . So I decided to dry fire it."

Weak critical thinking skills are in evidence here.

There is a reason why the order goes "Ready! Aim! Fire!" and not "Ready! Fire! Aim!"

Your mind's sequential reasoning operations must be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT EVERY TIME YOU HANDLE A FIREARM BECAUSE YOU CANNOT CALL BACK A DISCHARGED ROUND.

From now on you need to clear your mind of every thought other than absolute perfect application of the four rules of gun safety.

"Seeing that hole and hearing that boom was the worst and most surreal moment of my life."

You're lucky that seeing a dead body which you unintentionally filled full of your 00 buckshot did not become the worst moment of your life.

"After it happened I wanted to cry, vomit and a lot of other things all at the same time because I did not believe what I had done. I am going to keep the empty shot shell as a visible reminder of what happened today."

You need to get a grip on yourself.

Your mind, your rational thought processes should have gone into high gear the second this happened.

Instead, your gut reaction was childish and emotion-drive.

You need to enter into a training program that will help you grow up.

Think about entering the military if you are not too old.

"I really thought that it would never happen to me."

Again, nothing "happened to you."

You caused it to happen.

The manner in which you articulate your thoughts here betrays how you see yourself in the world.

Unfortunately for you and those around you, you evidently see yourself as someone to whom "things happen" when he "happens" to be holding a gun.

Nothing "happened" to you or your gun--YOU "HAPPENED."

You really need to begin a form of mental training that requires pure clarity and the most extreme form of mental discipline if you are going to handle firearms safely.

You owe that to the people around you.

"But further possible tragedy was averted because I had the muzzle pointed in a safe direction."

Given what is already clear about your frame of mind, this pure luck--I would not congratulate myself about this if I were you.

"Afterwards I went for a drive to clear my mind."

Inappropriate response.

Your main concern was to soothe your feelings rather than to get down to business and do the hard, painful self-analysis required to figure how you could have pumped a shotgun in a way that caused you to wrongly believe that the shotgun was clear and safe to "dry fire."

Your underlying unconscious attitude is escapist.

I suggest you read less fluff (Oscar Wilde) and more Jeff Cooper.

"I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight because I am so keyed up."

Good.

I hope you were up all night thinking about it, and I hope you are scarred for life in such a way that you never do it again.

"I know I screwed up and I am forever going to be more careful."

That is only part of what needs to happen.

You need to know HOW you screwed up so that you do not screw up like this AGAIN.

Those around you have a right to expect you to safely exercise your right to bear arms.

If you can't do that, those around you have a right to take away your right to keep and bear arms.

"So that is my story..."

I strongly urge you to analyze where you went wrong so that you can determine how you could have pumped a shotgun in a way that caused you to wrongly believe that the shotgun was clear and safe to "dry fire."

Please follow all four of the firearms safety rules.

If you have some appreciation for Oscar Wilde, then you have some appreciation for paradox.

(A paradox is an apparent contradiction.)

Here is a paradox:

Freedom consists in, and depends on, obeying rules.

Can't figure out how this can be true?

Freedom consists in, and depends on, our obeying all rules that are beneficial for all of us to obey all of the time.

Stay free.

Obey the rules.
 
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I agree 100% If I thought it were only a matter of time before I blew a hole in the wall, I would sell off all my guns today. Where I live I simply cannot have a negligent discharge. That means none, zero, zilch.

That's something that rankles with me when people say that an ND is somehow inevitable.

I can't afford to have an ND. I live in the 'burbs, where the houses are maybe 30 feet apart. Especially with the rifles I own, an SKS and a Mosin. A bullet from either of those would punch through these flimsy sheetrock and plaster walls like nothing.
 
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