Safety? sometimes

[Just Jim]

I was in a gunshop and looking at the Kimber 45s and I noticed one in the case that I had seen before. It was a early Kimber Pro carry and it looked brand new.

Well an event of bad safety had happened about three weeks ago where a member of our gun club had bought a Kimber pro carry from this shop. He took it and a friend of mine to the club to shoot it and all went well.

He gets home and cleans the new Kimber and loads it. Doing a press check he shot off his last two finger just above his knucles into his hand. It was a bad injury and it made the newspaper. Now he has had to spend $25,000 in medical bills.

I wonder if having a pro carry that has been all smoothed on the edges for carry might have attributed to this but in reality he had his finger on the trigger and shot himself.

Anyway when he bought the Kimber it sold to him for $900. When I saw it back in the store it was $995 so I asked the owner what the deal was. The owner kinda giggled and said "well it's one kimber we know works" then went on to tell me that the guy really needs the money for his medical bills.

It only takes a heartbeat guys to screw you up for life. Be careful with all your guns.

jj

 

[Feud]

Reminds me of a time I went shooting with some of my buddies this last summer. One of them was coming off the line with his 92f and I noticed the hammer was still back on it. I stepped out of the way quickly when he swept me, and asked him if he was sure it was unloaded. He replied, "of course, see..." and proceeded to drop the mag and lock the slide back. When he did out popped a live round, and he got a very confused and horrified look on his face as he realized how close we came to having a very bad day.

Like you say, it just takes a moment of carelessness for things to go horribly wrong.

 

[Just Jim]

One of my neighbors cleaned his carry pistol (45 auto 1911) and dropped the slide on a loaded mag to load the gun. Must of had his finger on the trigger cause he shot his patio doors out. It was summer and he had the door open so he got a twofur. Accidents are a heartbeat away.

jj

 

[Just Jim]

Guy in the newspaper had been duck hunting when he reached to the front of the barrel to clean it off. Shot two fingers off.

The best one was in todays news where a robber stuck his gun in his own pants and shot his testicle and his left leg.

Great care should take place when you cram a gun in your pants front.

jj

 

[Robert Hairless]

I wonder if having a pro carry that has been all smoothed on the edges for carry might have attributed to this but in reality he had his finger on the trigger and shot himself.

I had a Pro Carry for years. It never shot anyone nor did anything at all of any interest until I aimed it at a target and squeezed the trigger. Then it want "Bang!" When I took my finger off the trigger again it returned to its customary state of suspended animation and was absolutely boring once again. So my guess is that whatever went wrong was because your friend had his finger on the trigger and his now missing digits in front of the muzzle. I bet that if he did things just that way again the same thing would happen again.

 

[BobbyQuickdraw]

A friend of mine had an "almost accident" very similar to the Beretta 92F incident up there. Put a Sig-226 down on the table, I looked at it strangely, noticing the hammer back and the slide closed.

Picked it up, aimed it down range, decocked it. Asked him what was up, he said nothing its empty. I shook my head, dropped the mag and racked the slide and POP, out comes a live .40.

He swore he put it down with slide lock, but I assured him he didn't, as I'm not in the business of playing magic tricks on people.

 

[Old Fuff]

In my younger days I had an instructor that would inflict serious bodily harm if a student didn’t have their handgun either holstered, or in-hand with the magazine out and slide locked back or the cylinder swung out. Any exception would only be tolerated when the student was on the firing line actually shooting, and of course the muzzle pointed down range.

A pistol or revolver carried in the manner described above will not go off. In addition, anyone who press-checks a loaded pistol with their finger(s) in front of the muzzle should expect to get what they probably will.

 

[yourang?]

a little help, please

did some searching on the web but couldnt find anything
so i go to the source:

what is a press check?

thanks in advance

ps...forgive my ignorance, but if i dont ask, i wont find out!

 

[Old Fuff]

A press check is when someone wraps a finger around the front of the slide of their pistol, and pushes it back far enough so they can look in the ejection port to see if the chamber is loaded. For reasons under discussion in this thread it is something I wouldn't recommend. I presume that the chamber is always loaded (although it may not be) and act accordingly.

 

[the naked prophet]

Since he lost the tip of the last two fingers, and not the first two, I believe he was grasping the front cocking serrations and allowed his last two fingers to dangle off the end of the slide.

An expensive reminder that front end slide serrations are DECORATIVE ONLY.

Use only the serrations to the rear of the ejection port when moving the slide at all.

When checking a gun for carry, it may be necessary to check the chamber - for safety purposes, assume the gun is loaded - but not when an empty chamber could get you killed. Make sure it's loaded, but do so by grasping the slide in the appropriate place, and be sure no body parts are in front of the muzzle and no fingers are in the trigger guard.

 

[Just Jim]

No man plans an accident. He has them in an unthinking moment. The fellow with the kimber not only shot his fingers off but part of his hand. He had handled guns for many years and shot often. The gun he made a mistake with was new to him. The smootheness of the gun may have made him fumble it doing the same thing he had done for years with the old gun.

What he was thinking at the time isn't know but the regret for not thinking well will last the rest of his life. It is better that he shot himself than to have hurt another. We should all be as careful with our own stuff as we can and always watch the other guy.

I have seen people press check in different ways. I don't press check because I load my gun when I carry it.

jj

 

[Just Jim]

Oh and this was an early Kimber that had no front serrations.

jj