BluesBear
member
"I didn't mean it man, I didn't know it was loaded."
Not my ND but I was associated with it for years.
I was set up at the Hartford City Indiana gun show about a month before the infamous Commander muzzle drop test.
My carry gun at that time was a Colt Lightweight Commander outfitted with the then new Colt ambidexterous satety. I had a regular customer who was interested in buying one and when he handled mine he commented on how much nicer the flat mainspring housing felt. Remember this was back around 1980 when only the Gold Cup came with a flat MSH.
I told him that so-and-so over in the corner from Missouri had some for sale.
He came back about 10 minutes later with one and asks if I can install his mainspring into the new housing for him. I tell him sure since it was that slow time in the early afternoon when most of the waiting for the doors to open guys are leaving and the after lunch crowd has just started to arrive. If fact I'll do it while he watches so he'll know how to do it incase he ever wants to switch it back.
He goes outside and gets his Colt Government. He takes it out of it's gun rug, drops the magazine and racks the slide. He then hands the gun to me. I check to make sure it's unloaded and he puts the mag back into the rug.
I field strip it. Which means the slide and barrel are off. It's definately unloaded. I swap out the mainspring housings. So far so good.
I reassemble the pistol. I check the bore out of habit.
Never know when you can sell a new barrel.
It's fine so I finish reassembling.
It's still unloaded.
I rack the slide a few times to make sure the hammer strut has seated and everything feels smooth. Since I have dry fird it about 20 times I KNOW it's unloaded.
Oh yeah there's about a dozen lookie-loos hanging around since most of them have "never seen nobody fancyin' up a pistol before".
When I feel it's A-OK I start to hand it back to him. He has a wad of bills in his hand and asks me "How much for your time?"
I tell him "how about five-bucks". He hands me a $20 as I hand him his unloaded pistol.
I am getting his change as he's putting the pistol back in the rug. I think he popped the magazine back in about that time but I really wasn't looking since I was counting money.
One of the lookie-loos asks, "Does that make it shoot any better?"
"I say, ask him, it's his pistol."
It is only then that he realizes that he hasn't tried the feel yet. So he pulls it out, points it at the floor right in front of the table while I'm trying to find a five dollar bill to go with the ten.
He says, "Yeah this feels a lot better." and proceeds to cock the hammer and dry-fire.
Well friends and neighbors he dry-fired a round of WCC73 230gr FMJ right into the floor.
The bullet bounced up under the table to the right of me and ended up in a cardboard box holding some other dealers empty soda cans. The funny part was that the ejected case hit me square in the chest. All I was aware of was a very loud boom and a flash of metal hitting me. They say I emitted a slightly high-pitched and very loud OH! and fell backwards into my chair. The dealer next to me on the left screamed, "He's been shot."
I now know how Moses felt back there at the red sea.
It seems that ½ of the people in the room were running away from my table while the other ½ were running toward it. I sat there for a moment trying to figure out why I wasn't bleeding profusely.
He stared at me, white as a ghost, and pleaded, "I didn't mean it man, I didn't know it was loaded."
Two deputies grabbed him and began to "escort" him away. I yelled at them to wait a minute.
"Hey buddy, you forgot your change."
Did y'all know that a .45 is so powerful that even the empty case will knock you down?
Not my ND but I was associated with it for years.
I was set up at the Hartford City Indiana gun show about a month before the infamous Commander muzzle drop test.
My carry gun at that time was a Colt Lightweight Commander outfitted with the then new Colt ambidexterous satety. I had a regular customer who was interested in buying one and when he handled mine he commented on how much nicer the flat mainspring housing felt. Remember this was back around 1980 when only the Gold Cup came with a flat MSH.
I told him that so-and-so over in the corner from Missouri had some for sale.
He came back about 10 minutes later with one and asks if I can install his mainspring into the new housing for him. I tell him sure since it was that slow time in the early afternoon when most of the waiting for the doors to open guys are leaving and the after lunch crowd has just started to arrive. If fact I'll do it while he watches so he'll know how to do it incase he ever wants to switch it back.
He goes outside and gets his Colt Government. He takes it out of it's gun rug, drops the magazine and racks the slide. He then hands the gun to me. I check to make sure it's unloaded and he puts the mag back into the rug.
I field strip it. Which means the slide and barrel are off. It's definately unloaded. I swap out the mainspring housings. So far so good.
I reassemble the pistol. I check the bore out of habit.
Never know when you can sell a new barrel.
It's fine so I finish reassembling.
It's still unloaded.
I rack the slide a few times to make sure the hammer strut has seated and everything feels smooth. Since I have dry fird it about 20 times I KNOW it's unloaded.
Oh yeah there's about a dozen lookie-loos hanging around since most of them have "never seen nobody fancyin' up a pistol before".
When I feel it's A-OK I start to hand it back to him. He has a wad of bills in his hand and asks me "How much for your time?"
I tell him "how about five-bucks". He hands me a $20 as I hand him his unloaded pistol.
I am getting his change as he's putting the pistol back in the rug. I think he popped the magazine back in about that time but I really wasn't looking since I was counting money.
One of the lookie-loos asks, "Does that make it shoot any better?"
"I say, ask him, it's his pistol."
It is only then that he realizes that he hasn't tried the feel yet. So he pulls it out, points it at the floor right in front of the table while I'm trying to find a five dollar bill to go with the ten.
He says, "Yeah this feels a lot better." and proceeds to cock the hammer and dry-fire.
Well friends and neighbors he dry-fired a round of WCC73 230gr FMJ right into the floor.
The bullet bounced up under the table to the right of me and ended up in a cardboard box holding some other dealers empty soda cans. The funny part was that the ejected case hit me square in the chest. All I was aware of was a very loud boom and a flash of metal hitting me. They say I emitted a slightly high-pitched and very loud OH! and fell backwards into my chair. The dealer next to me on the left screamed, "He's been shot."
I now know how Moses felt back there at the red sea.
It seems that ½ of the people in the room were running away from my table while the other ½ were running toward it. I sat there for a moment trying to figure out why I wasn't bleeding profusely.
He stared at me, white as a ghost, and pleaded, "I didn't mean it man, I didn't know it was loaded."
Two deputies grabbed him and began to "escort" him away. I yelled at them to wait a minute.
"Hey buddy, you forgot your change."
Did y'all know that a .45 is so powerful that even the empty case will knock you down?