Shot myself with a .45 caliber last night.

[blackops]

Glad to hear your ok. It's good for firearms owners to not only hear, but actual get a visual on mishaps like this. Great reminders for us all. Again good to here your ok. Someone decided it wasn't your time yet!

 

[AcceptableUserName]

I don't want this thread to make anyone afraid of Glocks. They are such fine guns, in fact I've never seen a serious defect/malfunction with one and I have a decent amount of experience with them. It happened because I was careless. Be it a single shot NEF shotgun or a Glock pistol, the same rules apply. The Bullet lodged in the dirt/skidded off I assume. It went in and out of my leg and to my left. I didn't stick around to look for it though lol. In all honesty it wasn't much pain or anything. I mean it hurt yeah, but more of a mid-range sting and burn than anything. I was fully able to walk, completely calm and lucid, just a little worried because there is the Femoral artery there. In fact, it happened so fast I didn't realize it for a few seconds what had happened.

Does anyone think any damage could've come to the gun? I mean I had it all the way through the takedown process. The trigger pull that disengages the slide from the frame was the one that caused the discharge...my friend went over the gun and said it looked and acted just fine when he cleaned it today....should he not fire it or should it be okay?

 

[HK G3]

Whenever I handle my HK45, the first thing I do is run my finger along the round indicator, drop the mag, rack the slide, then point the gun at the ground at an angle, and use the decocking lever. I then run my finger along the round indicator again to see if it's jutting out and whether or not anything is potentially chambered.

That's my ritual, and everytime I handle the gun, I do this. It's now just become ingrained with my behaviors.

Glad to see you're okay - at least now you'll have an interesting story to tell. It's just so crucial to remember the 4 Rules no matter what you are doing or where you are!

 

[Kind of Blued]

Thanks for sharing this with us, and I'm glad that you are able to do so.

 

[Blakenzy]

I don't mean to be insensitive, but do you think you can get a pair of calipers and try to see what the diameter of the actual hole is? I bet it's a lot less than .452...

 

[BigGuy52]

Your post is a good reminder to all of us, make sure that your gun is unloaded.

Sometimes it's easy to be complacent, but the handling of all firearms must be cleared and double checked making sure the gun is empty.

I'm glad that your injury wasn't life threatening, and that you have learned a very important lesson, plus it took a lot of courage on your behalf to share this mishap.

 

[jad0110]

Wow, what a story huh? I'm a little nervous about Glocks. I recently purchased one and I really didn't connect the "pull trigger then..." with the possible outcome of such a stupid tear down procedure.

Well, as others have pointed out, the best safety is between your ears. If that safety is faulty, it doesn't matter much what kind of gun it is, your're an ND waiting for a time/place to happen.

Granted, the Glock and XD designs (pulling the trigger as part of the disassembly process) are a little less forgiving of a stupid mistake in the takedown process - they just are. I'm not bashing them, though it is interesting to note that, IIRC, the XDm does not require a trigger pull during disassembly (unlike the XD). It's just something to keep in mind and be aware of. I guy on THR posted his story a few years back involving an XD (don't remember the caliber). He got sloppy while disassembly the XD, pointed the gun at his leg and pulled the trigger. He was alright, but he re-learned the 4 rules the hard way.

But as someone else said, I would be more concerned about drilling the "drop mag then check chamber" procedure to the point of it being a natural reflex.

Another example is revolvers with recessed chambers (most rimfires and older S&W 357 Mags) - visually looking through the side of the cylinder for protruding case heads will NOT work too well on a revolver with recessed chambers - so one should always be in the habit of swinging out the cylinder on a DA revolver or checking each chamber individually on a SA REGARDLESS of the particular design.

 

[Shung]

glad you are OK..!

I have a glock 19C myself... but , I'd never pull the trigger of a gun resting on my leg, glock, Colt, Beretta, or whatever other "unloaded" gun... but one might forget or something, and nobody can claim he will never make any mistake..

Thx for sharing-

 

[bigfatdave]

Glad you walked away from that one.

This just reinforces my desire for a dedicated gun workbench - with a mounted light for checking the bore clear and a built-in safe direction (tall bucket of sand) for taking down striker-fired pistols.

For those complaining about the Glock takedown method - you have to disengage the striker somehow, and other methods to disengage the striker/slide from the trigger/frame still don't remove the need for a cleared gun. The solution I use is to not allow live ammo at the cleaning station. Every gun is checked before getting there, and as a prerequisite for stripping.

 

[feedthehogs]

Some folks have short memories and attention spans.

If people can leave their kids in hot cars to die, they certainly can forget to handle guns properly.

This just reinforces my desire for a dedicated gun workbench - with a mounted light for checking the bore clear and a built-in safe direction (tall bucket of sand) for taking down striker-fired pistols.

guaranteed that someone will find a way to shoot themselves any way.

I don't know of any gun that dropping the mag and then pulling the slide back with the muzzle facing away from you won't let you 100% determine that a gun is unloaded.

Going to unecessary steps in the name of safety is just fear of the gun and the lack of knowledge on how it operates.

 

[Kwanger]

Thanks for posting; timely reminder for us all, and glad you are OK. Don't feel bad about it; In my time I've seen several SOF types have an ND - as much as we are all absolutely certain it will never happen to us...we are all ultimately human. Reminders like this keep us reminded and focussed - thanks.

 

[wvshooter]

Really sorry this happened to you. Hopefully this will be a graphic reminder of why we need to be careful. We can all be distracted but that's not permissible around any handgun. Thanks for posting your boo boo.

 

[federalfarmer]

Now for the fun part ...... what tatoo are you getting above/below/around the 'hole'?

 

[Shung]

"never again"

 

[.38 Special]

I'm not a Glock fan in any way, but the take-away from the story is that if you point a loaded gun at yourself and pull the trigger, you're going to get shot. In that context, the make of gun is utterly irrelevant.

 

[bigfatdave]

I don't know of any gun that dropping the mag and then pulling the slide back with the muzzle facing away from you won't let you 100% determine that a gun is unloaded.

So taking precautions is stupid?
I don't get it, I post about a better place to do firearms maintenance without clutter and distractions, and you feel the need to inform us all of your superiority?
I'm sure AcceptableUserName knew your magic method of checking a gun clear, but obviously he didn't use it, didn't have/use a safe direction to release the striker, and now gets to clean up bloodstains ... and be damn lucky he's around to clean them up.
Perhaps a designated firearms station would help to reinforce good habits ... but what would I know about that? After all I just evaluate human performance professionally.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

If your friend passed the gun along to you in that condition, he bears some of the responsibility.

Given that the gun did not discharge during the transition from one person to another, the "friend" really doesn't really have any responsibility here. The gun was taken under control and voluntarily manipulated in an unsafe manner.

If I hand you a CRKT knife and you take it and then handle it in an unsafe manner resulting in an injury to you from the sharp blade, would I be to blame? You should expect the blade to be sharp. You should expect the gun to be loaded.

By the OP's own statement, he failed to clear the gun properly before pulling the trigger. How can you then put blame on somebody else?

 

[Dave P]

"The trigger pull that disengages the slide from the frame was the one that caused the discharge.."

Who in their right mind would design a pistol this way???

 

[SWDoc]

Thanks for the reminder. It is hard to put yourself out for criticism like you did, but your story has served all the rest of us on this forum. I appreciate it.

Go forth and sin no more.

Steve

 

[1911Tuner]

Lucky lucky lucky. It's happened to many people, regardless of the level of experience.
One split second of mindless action due to repetition or distraction is all it takes.

Rule 2. Don't point the gun at anything that you're not willing to see destroyed. That includes parts of your own body.

This might be a good time to repeat one that I've posted several times:

I hear people referring to their pistol as "My new toy" or "My little friend."

I take exception to such talk. It's not a toy...and it damn sure ain't your friend. It's as dangerous as a rattlesnake, and should be regarded as hostile the instant that you pick it up.

 

[LegalAlien]

Glad to hear it all turned out OK. It takes courage to man up to a bad mistake.

Note to self. NEVER invest in a firearm that requires booger hook insertion onto bang switch in order to field strip said accident waiting to happen.

 

[SASS#23149]

When I check an auto for 'empty', I cycle the slide several times,not just once.Doing this prolly wold have alerted you to the fact the gun was loaded.Yes,I also poke fingers in the well and chamber as I visually check them.

Very glad you weren't more seriously injured !

A good lesson for us all...check,double check,TRIPLE check,and then assume it's loaded.

 

[clemsonu0219]

and I neglected to remember/check for a magazine inside

Sorry my friend, I'm really glad you are ok. That had to hurt.

 

[BP Hunter]

Glad you're OK. What did wife had to say? Will she still let you keep your guns?

 

[twinsdad]

I am glad it is not worse than it is. You made a mistake but are man enough to admit it. I wish you a speedy recoverey.