Safe habits

[mhdishere]

A while back I was telling someone that, at my old gun club (I left because I moved away) I had a reputation for being "anal" about safety. I'd take my revolver out of the locked box I transported it in and open it up to make sure it wasn't loaded, despite the fact I also checked it when I put it IN the box.

I began thinking about this reputation and the more I thought about it, the more I concluded that I'm really not "anal", I just developed a habit of safety. Whenever I pick a gun up, the first thing I do it open the action to see if it's loaded. I don't have to think "I checked this an hour ago when I put it in the box, it wasn't loaded then, it's been locked since and I have the key and the box hasn't been out of my sight since then". I just check it. It's become a habit for me. If it's an unfamiliar gun I ask first to be shown how to make sure it's unloaded even before I touch it.

I have similar habits with my trigger finger (I've been asked why I keep my finger off the trigger of my cordless drill), etc.

So I offer this to my THR buddies, am I anal? Even if I am, I doubt ANYONE here would be afraid to go shooting with me!

 

[DelayedReaction]

Sounds smart and normal to me.

 

[P95Carry]

To some yeah - you will be ''anal'' ... so am I to some no doubt. I wrote the local paper a week or more ago re safety with firearms, hunting etc ... and have little doubt the letter received comments from some guys like'' what's his problem''? Those folks would be usually - the complacent ''it can never happen to me'' camp!

I doubt there is too much safety possible with firearms ... it only takes one slip-up to go from happy carelessness to abject tragedy - why take a chance.

In my book - despite the fact that many of my guns are loaded .... ANY gun, ANYWHERE .... IS loaded as far as I an concerned ... even if just checked clear by me!!!

So - any ''anal'' label you are given should be worn with pride more than embarrassment ... because it is way better than having a badge that says ''I killed someone by mistake''!

 

[Greg L]

If it is out of my sight then it gets checked when I come back to it. This applies to both weapons that should be empty & those that should be loaded. The last thing I want to hear is a click because somehow Mr. Murphy got the combination to the safe & played with my carry gun (actually, if I needed, it might really be the last thing I hear ).

I'm so bad that I'll still check the chamber of a weapon that I just had taken apart for a detail clean. I would rather check the chamber of a weapon that I know is empty than get complacent & not check it the day I decide to do something stupid.

Greg

 

[mfree]

Well, I figure this way.

If a trigger/lever/button/knob does something, and does something that'd possibly be bad if it did that something when I least expected it (like drilling through my thumbnail or getting a wire brush caught in my clothes), then hands off till I intend to use it.

'tis that simple.

 

[Mikul]

That's just good practice. It only takes 2 seconds and there is no reason NOT to do it. Those unwilling to check thier firearms are lazy fools with overblown egos who think they can't make a mistake, and they're willing to play with your life to prove it.

 

[Top_Notch]

When I started driving my dad taught me to check my blind spot before a lane change even though I "knew" there wasn't a car there. He insisted to do it even when you "know" so that it becomes habit. Well, over the years I ingrained that habit and there have been times when I checked my blind spot (out of habit) and lo-and-behold...where did that guy come from? It has saved me more than once.

I take the same philosophy to firearms.

 

[SkyDaver]

Good thread. If you ALWAYS check, you'll .... always check. It's one more layer of defense against accidents.

Isn't Cooper's first rule "All guns are loaded."?

On the other direction, though, you made me start thinking.

I lock up my carry pistol in the car when I get to work. I don't unload it. When I come out to the car, I don't check to see if it's still loaded.

Is making sure a weapon is still loaded a useful exercise? (in this type of situation)

Of course, I could always unload before I lock it up, but then I need to reload, etc.

 

[El Tejon]

Personally, I'd rather be anal than remorseful. However, that's just my gun skul training coming through, so what do I know.

 

[Greg L]

SkyDaver,

For me it would really depend on the parking situation. You wouldn't want to be seen every day out in the middle of the lot making all sorts of movements that most people don't make while getting into their car. If it was a revolver you could just glance at the case heads while reholstering. For a semi auto I would probably just assume that it was still loaded (as I had checked at home before going to work). If someone wanted to (without leaving signs of doing so) break into my truck and then break into the vault under the seat for the sole reason to unload the pistol then the black helicopter gang is really after me & I'm screwed no matter what .

Greg

 

[SkyDaver]

Greg, we're thinking along the same lines.

1. I almost ALWAYS park out in the periphery of the parking lot ... I still try to avoid parking lot dings, and there are some better spaces that help.

2. Enough folks are putting away knapsacks, briefcases, whatever, that some motion inside the cabin isn't going to be a giveaway.

3. I check around me before I re-holster to make sure no one nearby can see.

4. It's a semi-auto, and it's real easy to see that the mag is still in

5. It's pretty unlikely that someone will be able to break into the car, unload the pistol and leave it there.

So, my current thinking is that not checking is OK. After all ... all guns are loaded

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Whenever I pick a gun up, the first thing I do it open the action to see if it's loaded.

Doesn't everyone?

 

[PinnedAndRecessed]

Yea, ignorant people call it obsessive/compulsive. But one can never be too safe when it comes to firearms. My son thinks I go overboard about guns, even to watching other people at the range. And if someone is not practicing ultra responsible gun safety, tell him about it!

 

[roo_ster]

Four Rules

1. All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.)

3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60 percent of inadvertent discharges.

4. Identify your target, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.

Rule #1 is in effect at Casa Ruser. (As are 2-4).

 

[hkOrion]

i wish more people were as anal. went to a range in florida while i was there to get married - and the guy renting the guns kept covering my best man and me. it was VERY irritating. I will never go back there again - almost left but my best man is a leftie, and I had to get him to shoot....

hkOrion

 

[Standing Wolf]

So I offer this to my THR buddies, am I anal?

Nope. Better too safe than not safe enough—if, in fact, it's possible to be too safe.

 

[boltaction]

I am an instructor. I do as I teach, and I would NEVER "pick up" a gun, or take a gun handed to me, without showing clear. Now, I once was in a room where someone picked up a pistol, did NOT clear it, and dry fired it, indoors (no, not during one of my classes: no loaded guns or live ammo allowed in my classrooms). Resulted in a .45 ND that pierced a cabinet and went through a wall. No one hurt, thank God. Any time a gun goes into my hand from another person, from a range bag, from the safe, etc., if it does not already have the action open, and is not fully demonstrated clear, I will open it and clear it (unless it is in coming out of my holster, and I am ready for live fire!). And then, even if I have cleared the gun, I keep the finger off the trigger, AND keep the muzzle pointed in the safest direction. With all three safeguards (which I call the holy trinity), we can all be safe. Anal? Brother, if you ain't anal about guns, I DO NOT want to be ANYWHERE near you!

Boltaction
http://www.individ.us

 

[Black Majik]

Sounds normal to me.

I'm really really anal when I check the chamber on my semi-autos.

I think I'm alone on this one since I've never heard it mentioned, but I drop the mag, locked the slide back, then go near a bright light and look down the chamber. I usually feel better if I can see light coming from the other side of the barrel.

Then of course there is the visual check, along with the visual light check, then the physical sticking the pinky in the chamber to see if its empty.

And I do that every time I pick the gun up.



Now, for HD guns, you're suppose to check to see if its loaded or unloaded. A quick presscheck on my 1911 will easily show that it is loaded when it is suppose to be. Loaded and holstered.

 

[CGofMP]

Black, yer not alone

I do not do the light test, but I sure as Heck make sure the chamber is visibly clear. I will also cycle the action a few times POST chamber check with mag out and look again. Yea its overkill... no pun intended but beter overkill than killing.

I have ingrained myself with a habit in the true sense of the word that any weapon I hold gets checked each time I pick it up.

There are exceptions like when I am actively cleaning thenm or somesuch, but if it gets set down in a pile of other guns, then yea it gets checked again even if I am sure that its the same one I was messing with only 10 minutes ago.

I also hasten to add that instilling this stuff in kids is a VERY important thing as well. FAR better to overingrain safety and respect than to be even a little derelect in training them to do the right thing.

We have an absolute rule (with BIG consequences for failure) that they STOP, DONT TOUCH, LEAVE THE AREA and TELL AN ADULT. But we also teach the older ones the proper handling including chamber checks for when they are authorized to handle by us or go to the range with us.

Proof? My kids even play soldier with their fingers outside of the trigger guard until they are 'on target'... with their toys!

By the way, we regularly use a well checked and safed weapon to test the stop dont touch ...tell an adult rule. The kids have come across the real thing not knowing we were watching and in each case reported it to us without touching. Very proud of that.

Charles

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I lock up my carry pistol in the car when I get to work. I don't unload it. When I come out to the car, I don't check to see if it's still loaded.

Neither do I. THAT would be anal. It's pretty safe to assume if your vehicle is still locked and your pistol is still in the same place, (not stolen) that somebody hasn't unloaded it. But then what is anal? Nothing to be ashamed of, especially the above safety items. I'm anal about one of my trucks, my guns, much that is in my life. If it's important to you, who cares what others think?

 

[ProactiveReactionary]

you know who bitches about the circular saw blade guard and how it gets in the way? the guy with three missing fingers.

i'm a safety freak, i learned its better to be safe than sorry. i used to work on cars and after hearing all the stories about guys having wedding rings welded to their finger, hair caught in fan belts and all kinds of "accidents" that could have been avoided with a little but highly important forethough towards safety i have learned through other people's screw ups its better to check it than to assume something and be proven wrong. only an idiot wouldnt check, only an idiot would assume the gun isnt loaded.

whats next? its a good idea to use a lighter to check for gas leaks when you replace your tank on your grill?

tell these people who call you anal that you'd rather be anal than dead, or worse, someone else be dead because of your carelessness.

ask them if they'd minded if you dryfired a gun without checking it to see if its cleared first while its pointed at them? guarantee every one of them says they wouldnt let you, and if they say yeah its ok, avoid them like the plague, they will get themselves or more than likely someone else hurt eventually.

 

[Waitone]

You simply can not be too careful. Remember this. Every time you drop a hammer on a primer the impact area of the projectile is yours for the rest of your life. You are responsible. You may legally be ok, but morally it is yours. Don't know about others but I want the impact area to be of no consequence to me and anyone else.

My gunshops policy is to open the action of a handgun you want to fondle and hand it to you. My policy is to check it also both the chamber and the mag well.

I make NO assumptions when it comes to firearms.