Poop! So much for "it can't happen to me" ND

[iamkris]

First let me state that I am a NRA Rifle Instructor. I drill safety into everything I do. I'm obnoxious about it. This is what is mounted on one of my safe doors



I have a Zavasta .22LR rifle that is scary accurate with little changes except adjusting the trigger down to a nice crisp light pull. The problem is that the last round of the mag won't feed properly. I've been noodling on it and tonight I finally figured out that the last round doesn't have something under it to "oomph" it into the dual extractors.

Empty brass wouldn't feed to test my theory. I have some dummy rounds that I made with fired cases but the bullets have gone cockeyed from being used in the classes I hold. I used live rounds (mistake #1) to test my solutions. I did notice that I was holding the muzzle up (I'm in the basement) and quickly moved it horizontal so it wasn't pointing at a living area of the house.

I every-so-minutely took a bit of metal off the bottom edge of the extractors so the round would slide up in there better...I was getting close and it only took a bit of a shove to get the round chambered. On the last round of the evening, I gave the bolt handle a solid rap with the heel of my hand (mistake #2) when...POP!! The rifle discharged!

CRAP! Was I dreaming? What just happened?

Then I saw a hole in a crappy leather chair that I keep in my "cave"



A hole in a pine wood closet that I keep the less valuable guns that don't fit in my safes



And inside, a big chunk out of the buttstock of a Mossberg 46m(a) rifle...not an expensive rifle but it was my grandfathers. The first rifle I ever shot



Here's what's left of that "little 40 grain slug" ...I'm going to frame it with my message and hang it in plain sight



How in heaven's name can an instructor that would quickly correct a student for a safety infraction do something so stupid? There is a reason that we keep live ammo out of the basic classes.

Takeaway #1 -- No one was hurt, except for my pride
Takeaway #2 -- .22LR cartridges go through stuff
Takeaway #3 -- I have a "real life, first person anecdote" to use in my classes

 

[jlbraun]

Did you actually pull the trigger? If not, it might really be an accidental discharge stemming from a mechanical malfunction.

 

[pcosmar]

You have repented, Go and sin no more.

Thank God for forgivness.

 

[iamkris]

Finger was off the trigger. Combination of 1) trigger adjusted too light and 2) sharp rap on the bolt handle.

There's a reason many of us say "the best safety is in your head". Mine was apparently switched off. I think we'll be "heavying up" that trigger a bit.

 

[mnrivrat]

That's why there is more than one rule for safe gun handling - if you make a mistake on one, the next rule should help keep anyone from getting hurt.

We all make those mistakes - the last guy I heard of that was perfect got chased down, nailed to a cross, and hung up on a hill.

At least you don't have to face the embarassment of thinking & saying out loud that you are the only one qualified to handle a gun.

 

[DirtyBrad]

Thank you for sharing your story. In my opinion, you weren't negligent and didn't violate the four rules. Sorry to hear about your damaged rifle (the chair is probably better for having a good story).

If I'm cycling live rounds to test something or to figure something out, I face the safest direction in my aparment, which starts with a washing machine, ends with a brick exterior wall, and has several other layers in between.

I don't expect slam-fires or mechanical failures and I'm certainly not keen to punch a hole in my washing machine, but if it happens, I'm facing something I'm "prepared to destroy."

I think it's best for an instructor to have some firsthand knowledge as you say. You can bring the bullet and your granddad's rifle to class to drive home your point. No one scares me more than those that "KNOW" they'll never have an AD/ND.

Couple of those rules aren't about the gun not going bang, but dealing safely with it if it does when you didn't mean for it to.

Glad everyone is safe. You'll be that much more diligent the next time and so will we.

 

[SoCalShooter]

My MKIII has a very light trigger also. Glad to see you and noone else got hurt and nothing importante got damaged but you still screwed up but atleast you will learn from this.

 

[XavierBreath]

First, glad to hear you are OK.

Second, thank you for sharing you story. That takes a lot of guts.

Third, does anyone else find humor in this statement? An ironic play on words?

And inside, a big chunk out of the buttstock of a Mossberg 46m(a) rifle...not an expensive rifle but it was my grandfathers. The first rifle I ever shot.

 

[X-Rap]

If you took it to a smith he probobly would have the same thing happen only they are prepared with sand boxes or water tanks to catch bullets. When ever chamber and action/trigger work is done and round feeding must be tested the final step has to be the live round.

 

[GunNut]

Unfortunately and fortunately, I've been there done it and learned a huge lesson with no one getting hurt.

Steve

 

[iamkris]

An ironic play on words?

Dang, Xav, you've uncovered my complete mastery of the nuance of the English language. You sly dog you.

grumble, grumble, wishing I had thought of that little trick of the tongue

 

[TimboKhan]

Hey, it happens. I have never had a ND yet, but I know two guys who have. Both of them are safe gunhandlers, and I wouldn't have expected it to have happened to either of them, but it did. Thank your lucky stars no one got hurt, realize that you made an honest mistake, and move on. I don't mean to sound blase about the incident, but if your as safe a gunhandler as you claim, it wasn't negligent, it was an accident and dammit, accidents happen even to the best of us from time to time! I am sorry it happened to you, but you can use this as a teachable opportunity, and I think it will reinforce what you are saying about gun safety.

 

[Dr. Dickie]

Thanks Kris.
Every time I hear a story like this, it reminds me to NEVER let my guard down.
Just recently I was working up some .30-'06 loads and I wanted to test the sizing of the cartridge in my different rifles. I contemplated just pushing a round into each and closing the bolt, but then relented and took the time to remove the firing pin from each and every one (7 in all) before I ran it through. You just provided the reason why.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

If only I could resurrect my uncle and brother in-law from the grave to read the four rules that I post into my signature below and what you posted. Thank you for your story. They both thought that the gun was unloaded on separate occaisions.

 

[sacp81170a]

When doing the range safety brief for CCW classes, I always say, "everyone who has never had an accidental discharge, raise your hand." I conspicuously keep my hand down. It makes a good point when the students can see that the instructor is human too. Then I go into the 4 rules and show how they support each other so that you really must break several at once for someone to get hurt. You now have an extremely useful teaching tool.

 

[shooting time]

I had a scare the other day also.I had purchased a shotgun from a guy who lived a few hundred of miles away and had a friend going to that town to do a job and had him pick it up for me .he gets back with it and i take it out of the case first thing i do is try to move the slide back but it was in the ready to fire stage so i thought about hitting the trigger for a split second then thought no use the slide release good thing because it had 2 live rounds in it and the saftey off !!!

 

[Sistema1927]

The first rifle I ever shot

In more ways than one.

The first rifle I ever shot is my Winchester 1906. (At age 8.)

The first rifle I ever SHOT? Hasn't happened yet, and I will keep this story in mind if I find myself in the same situation you experienced, and make sure that the '06 isn't in the line of fire.

Glad there weren't any human casualties, other than your pride, but I think that will be just fine also based upon your candor in this thread.

 

[TexasRifleman]

The first rifle I ever shot

That's one of the funniest things I've read in a while, sorry


Well honestly I don't think you can be too hard on yourself here.

You obeyed all of the 4 rules really and had a mechanical malfunction of the firearm.

That's why the rules are written the way they are.

You pointed it in a safe direction while working on it.

Sometimes using live ammo is not an option.

There are times I have to load my carry weapon in the house, and this exact scenario worries me, so I obey all 4 rules; point the thing at the mattress, and hope for the best.

Glad there was minimum damage.

 

[1911 guy]

AD vs ND

You had an AD. There was no finger on the trigger, and no negligence. You took steps to deal with the discharge if it happened (not pointing up into your house). Still sucks and you realize after the fact that the trigger pull may be too light. However...sooner or later, everyone is going to have that brainfart moment. It may result in a discharge, it may not. You prevented anyone from getting hurt, though. As was already said, go and sin no more.

I load and unload my CCW in my bedroom. When loading, I point the handgun at the matress and at an angle that will put it into the bottom of a doorframe if it should happen to fire. It hasn't yet, but that's why they call them accidents. Negligence is another matter.

 

[hankdatank1362]

Hey... don't feel down. No one's hurt. I had my first a few months ago. (Ironically, it turned into a 5 page thread on this forum) There were guys telling me that I shouldn't be allowed to own guns.

Hell, yours is more of an AD than a ND anyway and anyway.

 

[ny32182]

Negligence leads to accidents. The two are not mutually exclusive. An accidental discharge is always caused by some level of negligence by someone.

Any time you fire a round without intending to do so, you performed a series of actions that caused a round to fire when you didn't intend for it to happen. This is never acceptable, but there are things you can do to minimize the risk of negligence leading to a *fatal* accident, such as always having the muzzle in a safe direction, which, obviously you did.

I'm still confused as to how exactly the round fired. You didn't pull the trigger, but did the hammer fall due to an extremely light trigger that could be tripped by nothing more than a slight vibration of closing the bolt? Or was it a true slamfire in the sense that bolt momentum alone was enough to transmit sufficient energy through the firing pin to fire the round?

 

[springmom]

The first rifle I ever SHOT.... now THAT was funny.

Kris, you had an AD, not an ND, and while it really is rare that there isn't some level of negligence in an AD, I just don't see it in your situation. OK, you could have used snap caps, I guess, instead of live rounds. But mechanical malfunctions happen, and they are one of the reasons there are more than one rule. If all it took was "keep your finger off the trigger" for a gun to never fire, we wouldn't really need the other rules, would we? But because you obeyed the OTHERS, your rifle and chair and cabinet are the only "casualties" apart from your pride.

Everybody's alive and you know to tighten up a trigger. Thanks for sharing.

Springmom

 

[iamkris]

extremely light trigger that could be tripped by nothing more than a slight vibration of closing the bolt

Combination of light trigger and smacking the bolt hard (see my text), not "slight vibration".

thanks all for the comments...this is more cleansing than going to confession! (and I'm not even Catholic)

 

[TexasRifleman]

this is more cleansing than going to confession!

After thinking on this a while, I'm more inclined now to think this was a GOOD thing in reality. As a matter of fact you might be a very lucky person.

1) It happened when you were practicing the 4 rules, as many have said

2) It happend and no one got hurt, letting you know of a potential safety problem with your weapon. Imagine this happening somewhere else?

3) It gives you a VERY real story to relate to your students on the 4 rules.

"Here is an example that I personally experienced where following the 4 rules prevented any problems, and this could happen to any one of you. Guns are mechanical and mechanical things fail. It's the guy holding it that must not fail, and did not fail in this case."

 

[Walkalong]

Always point your gun in a safe direction!!

I shot a hole in my floor with a .45 that I knew was unloaded. I pointed it in a safe direction and pulled the trigger even though I KNEW it was unloaded . Thank God for safety practices. It was my only incadent but that is all it takes.