Shot Myself/ Negligent Discharge

[KodiakBeer]

Thanks for having the courage to post this!

25 or 30 years ago I read a piece by Col. Cooper who advised not only the standard "drop the mag first" wisdom, but actually sticking your finger in the chamber face to double check that a round isn't left in the chamber. I've followed that advice ever since.

Even if you do everything right, you can't know if a round failed failed to extract unless you check. Check visually. Then check with your finger. Then close slide.

 

[Russ Jackson]

This is a prime example of someone that just does not know how to handle a firearm. Sorry this young man shot himself...However he broke just about every rule when it comes to handling one. He could have injured or killed someone else in this process. I have ran this scenerio thru my head several times since I read and viewed the video and I just cant fathom what happened. I hope you learned a lesson and plan on taking several shooting and handling firearms classes. Scary to think people actually handle firearms this way. If the basics of gun handling were used this would not have happened. Did anyone ever go over the basics prior to handling a firearm? Darwin Award Candidate...Russ

 

[Evergreen]

I do pray for your fast recovery. Thank God you came out if it with not something worse. I will say that I also had a negligent discharge of my AR-15 in my garage. Once again, Thank God that no one else or myself was injured. I did point it in a safe direction and dry fired it.

Here is a new rule that both of us will follow for now on:
1. Never dry fire in your house until you have checked the chamber multiple times with the mag out of the gun. Verify the mag is out of gun by sticking your finger inside the handle. This makes you use your brain, even though you think it is not in the gun.
2. Point gun in safe direction
3. Be very paranoid when pulling the trigger in a closed-in environment. Remember even if you think its not loaded, it can be loaded!
4. See rules 1-3 and review them a few times.

I never dry fire rifles in my house anymore and I only dry fire my pistols after checking them thoroughly. The first dry fire is always against a long stack of books.

May God help you heal fast and completely.

 

[TrakHack]

Russ Jackson, that's not the impression I got from this at all. Rather, it seemed to me the OP is someone who is perhaps *so* familiar with this gun that he was not paying strict attention to what he was doing and the order of actions. The OP knows he made mistakes, he had the courage to share his story with us as a stark reminder of what can happen.

(Note, I didn't watch the video; seeing human injuries is not something I can stomach.)

I'm a new shooter and very very careful. Years down the road I hope I will remember this story no matter how familiar with firearms I become.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

Ankle injuries are tough, I suffered a severe multiple break several years ago. BE SURE to religiously follow through with physical thereapy, it will make all of the difference in the world.

 

[PR-NJ]

Coincidentally, the current issue of Guns & Ammo (January 2011) has an article on negligent discharge on the very last page.

Also, for those who don't know, and as a reminder to those who do, here are the Four Rules of Gun Safety (attributed to Jeff Cooper, I believe):

Rule # 1. All guns are always loaded (i.e., treat all guns as if they were loaded).

Rule # 2. Never let the muzzle of a gun point at anything you do not want to destroy or kill.

Rule # 3. Keep your finger straight and off the trigger.

Rule # 4. Be absolutely sure of your target, and what is behind it.

 

[mustang_steve]

My method:
1) drop mag
2) rack slide and lock
3) leave gun at step 2 until ready to work on
4) inspect chamber to verify state
5) game on.

If you lack a slide stop, then you will have to rack it again and hold it open on step 4 to verify. No matter what, mag drops first.

Thanks for sharing that with us, it takes guts to admit mistakes.

 

[ka8yoh]

Glad you are healing and sharing that with others.

I once was clearing my 1911 that I had left loaded from the range...had several guns on the outing but left (forgetting I never attended the Colt), with the Colt loaded.

I keep my guns in a locker in my bedroom, it was there I noticed it was loaded. I dropped the mag and with my finger over but out of the trigger guard, pulled the slide to clear the chamber. Well, my hands were oily...the slide snapped forward, by reflex I grabbed the flailing gun, as I did that my index finger found it's way on the trigger and "BANG".

I just sat there and took it all in as my ears were ringing, then the big question...where'd the round go? As it turns out, through my closet door, clean through my Tommy Hilfiger windbreaker (I really liked that jacket), through the plaster/lath closet wall, out the livinroom plaster lath wall, into a wooden coat closet and came to rest just after hitting a leather bomber jacket.. It survived with just plaster powder on it...the FMJ round about the size of a dollar coin.

This was a JHP, had It have been a FMJ, it would have strolled a tad further. Lesson learned?...You Betcha! I (as most all of us) are very respectfull of any firearm. This would have been a disaster had it have been around a room full of people. If i'd just let the gun drop to the floor it would never have discharged.

As far as laws broken: 1: Transporting a loaded firearm without a permit. 2: Discharging a firearm within city limits 3: Reckless discharge of a firearm in a domicile...to name the ones I'm aware of!

I know there are other stories like this out there, it would be interesting to hear some of them. Really bad ones arent nice to read about, but close call stories can only help prevent a bad situation...as we are all not without making mistakes. You only make that same mistake once...probably wont be the last, but different boo-boos are yet to be encounterd.

YOH

 

[Clifford]

Let me say this, I'm not a Glock owner nor do I even care to own one. Now that I've said that, THE GUN did exactly what it was designed to do...fire a round when the trigger is pulled. I pulled the same move as the OP with...wait for it... My 1911... Gasp!!!

How's that possible you may ask? I got lazy with my gun handling routine and admittedly was way to groggy to be handling a firearm. I screwed up my mag drop/slide rack/dry fire order. Only thing I did right is realize I was pointing the pistol at my knee and then I pointed the muzzle in a safe direction before I dry fired.A 45 to a steel basketball backboard will wake you up no matter how sleepy you are.

I find it funny how we as gun owners <...whine...> about the goverment restricting what we can and cannot own. We say, we are responsible enough to handle FA/AOW/SBR/SBS weapons. Yet many of these same people call a firearm defective and some may have even tried to sue cause they managed to shoot themseves in the damn foot. We as a people need to take responsibility for our own actions.

Rant over!!!

 

[SKILCZ]

OP, my condolences on your injury. I wish you a speedy and full recovery. A lesson was clearly and painfully learned by you and could have been learned by any of us with a split second of losing vigilance.

For our education, did the police charge you with anything or arrest you? Confiscate your firearms? Anything else?

 

[burley]

Good luck!

 

[Darminator]

This is a prime example of someone that just does not know how to handle a firearm. Sorry this young man shot himself...However he broke just about every rule when it comes to handling one. He could have injured or killed someone else in this process. I have ran this scenerio thru my head several times since I read and viewed the video and I just cant fathom what happened. I hope you learned a lesson and plan on taking several shooting and handling firearms classes. Scary to think people actually handle firearms this way. If the basics of gun handling were used this would not have happened. Did anyone ever go over the basics prior to handling a firearm? Darwin Award Candidate...Russ

As I clearly stated in the original message Russ Jackson, read the video description OR ask TrackHack for help. He seems to clearly understand as a reasonable and intelligent human being would.

Candidate for the Darwin award? Hardly. You, candidate for hooked on phonics? plausible.

 

[scaatylobo]

3 X's

I have had three A/D's or whatever you choose to call it.

I use the term Unintentional discharges,so I call a/d or U/D.

first was a Colt 1911.

second was a Charter Arms bulldog .44 sp.

third was a High Standard O/U derringer .22 mag.

NO GLOCKS were harmed making this statement !.

btw - I have edc'ed a G-23 for over a decade with no A/D's or U/D's.

 

[Jolly Rogers]

posted by scaatylobo

3 X's

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have had three A/D's or whatever you choose to call it.

I use the term Unintentional discharges,so I call a/d or U/D.

If the discharges weren't caused by mechanical failure they are negligent discharges.
Joe

 

[WinchesterAA]

What is the obsession with dropping the hammer?

I mean, really.. How would you have an ND if you never drop the hammer on an "empty" chamber?

What do you gain by dropping the hammer? Is there ANY reason for it (aside from putting the glock back in its OEM case, which does require the hammer be dropped, which, IMO, is stupid...)

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Prayers that you heal up and can walk normally. Dang that had to hurt. Thanks for sharing.

 

[7thCavScout]

Thanks for having the courage to share this. It's a good lesson for all of us. Hope you get better soon.
-Chuck

 

[hnk45acp]

What is the obsession with dropping the hammer?

I mean, really.. How would you have an ND if you never drop the hammer on an "empty" chamber?

What do you gain by dropping the hammer? Is there ANY reason for it (aside from putting the glock back in its OEM case, which does require the hammer be dropped, which, IMO, is stupid...)

you need to pull the trigger to take the gun down with Glocks, stupid design IMHO.

 

[spudboy]

The problem lies not with the design of the gun. The problem was the user breaking all four firearms safety rules. The only reasons for pulling the trigger on a Glock (other than shooting someone or something) is for dry firing and disassembly.

 

[SKILCZ]

What is the obsession with dropping the hammer?

I mean, really.. How would you have an ND if you never drop the hammer on an "empty" chamber?

What do you gain by dropping the hammer? Is there ANY reason for it (aside from putting the glock back in its OEM case, which does require the hammer be dropped, which, IMO, is stupid...)

Field stripping a Glock (and I believe an XD, too) requires pulling the trigger. Dumb design, IMO, but that's the way it is. Yes, if you always follow the 4 rules, nothing bad will happen, but it's still never a great idea to require a trigger pull for disassembly, IMO.

 

[shootingthebreeze]

Seeing another post on accidental discharge, I have to respond.

Darminator, it took courage to admit a gun safety violation and I commend you for it.

One simple lesson here is to always keep the finger away from the trigger even if one believes the weapon does not have a chambered round. Always clear a weapon "up and down range" which would mean pointed at a neutral safe zone.

Hopefully you recover well without complications.

 

[TrakHack]

As I clearly stated in the original message Russ Jackson, read the video description OR ask TrackHack for help. He seems to clearly understand as a reasonable and intelligent human being would.

*She*

Thanks for the compliment.

 

[Harley Quinn]

Accidental or Negligent, that is the question many have problems with...

Most traffic accidents are negligent, yet still called an accident

Thanks for the thread OP... Interesting read...

I have known many that have shot themselves in the legs, most were with the revolver in the single action mode...Why LAPD went to the double action only, back in the day... Model 15-3 denutted

Take care,
Regards

 

[mcdonl]

I'm a new shooter and very very careful. Years down the road I hope I will remember this story no matter how familiar with firearms I become.

Trakhack.... There is an old saying... You do not have the time to make all of the mistakes yourself, so learn from others. The OP had the courage to share his story, and you will remember it sometime to come and like the rest of us, you have learned from it.

 

[MCMXI]

Racked the slide, THEN ,ejected the mag, pulled the trigger, all in less than 1.5 seconds.

If you rack the slide on a semi-auto with a magazine inserted and the slide doesn't lock back, doesn't that tell you something?!! I don't own a Glock but I've shot a bunch, and as far as I can remember, the slide always locked back if the magazine was empty. Am I missing something here?