Know your firearm.

[herrwalther]

Recently I have had two instances where my carry firearm had the potential for an accidental discharge. I know AD is a picky term for some folks but I use it in this instance for a reason. I carry a firearm daily and at home as many others here do, both instances happened at home, with different firearms, and no firing. Just some food for thought stories.

1) I was sitting in my chair at my desk, same one I am in now. It is a chair with massaging back support my wife bought me a few years ago. I sat down in it as I have many times before and slid my waist along the back. The firearm I was carrying at the time got caught on one of the massagers and disengaged the safety lever on the right side (it has ambi-safeties.) I immediately knew the sound of the safety being disengaged and fixed the issue. I now have a pillow covering the massaging heads to avoid this.

2) The other night I was laying my son down on my bed to take a nap during the day. I was carrying a different firearm than above, this one having no thumb safety. Just a DA/SA pistol holstered in DA mode. After my son fell asleep I stretched out on my bed before getting up. During the stretch I felt my firearm shift, possibly by a pillow exerting enough force on the grip to pull it slightly out of the holster. I reach back to slide it back in, and my finger lands right on the trigger. Knowing the particular way the trigger on this firearm feels such as the direction it bends and the stippling, I knew exactly where my finger was.

In both instances I avoided a potentially dangerous situation because I knew by sound and feel details about my firearms. It is important to notice the subtle differences in cases like mine to avoid accidents. Just felt like sharing some lesson learned instances.

 

[Skribs]

This also applies for if you ever need your firearm in the dark, or even really any real life situation (where you would need to keep your eye on your assailant instead of looking at your gun).

The interesting thing is this could be a good reason to have a gun with a safety or to have one without a safety. On the one hand, having a safety means you can have one control tripped (safety or trigger) without a discharge, whereas something like my M&P can go off if the trigger is accidentally pulled. On the other hand, a gun in a quality holster isn't likely to have the trigger pulled on accident, but your gun was rendered less safe by accidentally hitting the safety. Just kinda interesting that both options are "right" depending on how you look at it.

 

[tyeo098]

Change your carry clock.

 

[herrwalther]

On the other hand, a gun in a quality holster isn't likely to have the trigger pulled on accident, but your gun was rendered less safe by accidentally hitting the safety. Just kinda interesting that both options are "right" depending on how you look at it.

Yup. I swear it is the oddest thing. All my carry firearms are carried in a quality holster that protects the trigger. I have some DA/SA, DAO, safeties and non safeties. All safe firearms in their own right. I can carry a DA/SA in DA, but if that were to go into SA I feel "less safe." Likewise on any firearm that has a thumb safety, I feel "less safe" when the safety is off. All goes back to mindset I suppose.

Change your carry clock.

Meaning? Where I carry on my body? I carry my IWB at the 3 or 4 position dependant on many factors such as the firearm, the season, how baggy my shirt/pants are etc.

 

[Coyote3855]

I know my Ruger Blackhawk flattop and carried it almost always on horseback back in my ranching days. I was weak in the knees on one occasion to discover the hammer back over a loaded round. Apparently my lariat had snagged the hammer and pulled it to full cock. I changed out the holster to one that had the safety strap over the hammer.

 

[MartinS]

OK walther, stop stretching like a bloody cat and stay out of those infernal mechanical massagers. Just go out and spring for the HappyHappyLongtime like every body else.

 

[thedriver101]

I don't see how having a safety can be seen as a con (from a safety standpoint anyhow). If it somehow gets disengaged during carry, sure it's now "less safe" than designed but still equally safe as something like a Glock. So to me, no matter how you spin it having a safety is always safer than not having one.

That being said, knowing yours guns is always a good thing.

 

[GAF]

While walking in the woods and open carrying without the retention strap snapped I had the branch of a bush snag my CZ 75 B, pull it out of the holster
and cock the hammer. The gun took a nosedive into the soft moss . I stood there looking at the gun on the ground and thought how lucky I was that it did not go off. Never thought something like that would ever happen in a million years, b ut it did. Scared me quite a bit.

 

[berettaprofessor]

You might be a candidate for a nice R51 once they work the bugs out.

 

[herrwalther]

OK walther, stop stretching like a bloody cat and stay out of those infernal mechanical massagers. Just go out and spring for the HappyHappyLongtime like every body else.

Can't remember the last time I actually used the massager on the chair. Still a comfortable chair though.

You might be a candidate for a nice R51 once they work the bugs out.

I have been looking at one of those, either for myself or the wife. I like firearms with grip safeties like XD and 1911s that are instinctive to activate.