Some people (like me) just can't have nice things...

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Sometimes even with the utmost care, stuff happens. I was in a guys shop the other day, and he was showing me his Winchester commemoratives. I was looking at his otherwise near perfect John Wayne, when I noticed a hairline crack that started at the top tang, and traveled through the checkered grip to the bottom tang. I pointed it out. He swore it wasn't like that when he bought it, and stated he babied his guns. I tend to believe this because he immediately oiled down a blued pistol that I handled. We chalked it up to "humidity changes" in the house, but who knows. It basically ruined his morning and he kept bringing it up several times.

Sometimes you got to remember, its just metal and wood. Very very hard to keep perfect.
 
I'm kinda the opposite, I guess. Never messed up a gun (or knife, or other tools), but I am pretty rough on my hands, my poor hands. Minor pinches, cuts, bruises, abrasions, and surface Burns and avulsions seem to be a way of life for me... work, car, guns, woodworking, etc. etc.
 
Right out of the box, lying on the kitchen island during gun cleaning, my wife's brand-new SIG P-228 received a big chip on the side of the slide when I (whoops!) inadvertently shot a 1911's recoil spring plug right at it ... She was not happy with me (still brings it up every time she looks at her pistol) ...
 
Nobody's said it yet????

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

If you want your guns to stay pristine, don't ever touch them, and leave the container they sit in alone.
 
I have left a couple of "idiot marks" on my 1911, a real nice scratch on my old .22 pistol, and a good ding on my mossberg 12 ga. I figure they are character marks, just like the scars, cuts, scrapes, burns, etc. on my hands and body. Each and every one of those was earned and will be remembered as to what went wrong and what not to do again.

"I have a friend" who had an n.d. in his truck one night. I...um my "friend" was unholstering a .22 pistol and inadvertantly brushed the trigger. The chamber was still loaded and I had a .22 sized hole between the floor board and the door. How it hit there I don't have a clue. I repaired the hole with some bondo and touch up paint. It was a great reminder as to what can go wrong if you slip up and don't pay attention.
 
I threw a Kimber CDP II in the pond last winter.
Three trips to Kimber....still not fixed....
wife and I got in an argument while out walking
about it, and she told me to shut up about the
Kimber and how it PO'd me.....or put my money
where my mouth is......it still lays there today.
Good riddance.
 
It is just the beginning of the character building process. My favorite rifle has more scratches, dents, and dings than the whole Cleveland Browns Defensive Line (and that's saying somethin). I just prefer guns with character.
 
I leaned my Savage 10 against the desk and turned away, before I even took a step i heard a think behind me. The rifle had slip along the desk and crashed through the wall. About 3 inches of the barrel was burried into the sheet rock. Didn't hurt the rifle except for some plaster in the muzzle threads but there is a noticable hole in my bedroom now.
 
I actually like character marks, holster wear, etc just fine. I just don't like when I leave marks that are reminders of me being a bonehead...
 
Does it have to be just guns? How 'bout my old car with nail marks down both doors, fenders and quarters because my brother-in-law hasn't taught his dog the concept of "down" and the dog thought it needed in the car, parked in my garage. Or my grandmother's dishes, had to put them up because some relatives handle them like they handle a frisbee and think they won't break, ever. And my antique front room set that has water stains because there is really only one place to put a cold beer bottle when you don't want it anymore, and that's on the nicest piece of furniture you could go out of the way to find...:fire:

As for my FNP40, I dropped it once on asphalt, almost can not tell that the front sight was roughed up a little. That's the only one in 30 years I've put a mark on. But to be fair, I mostly have long guns and almost always keep them cased. I do hunt and shoot clays some, pretty easy duty for my stuff.

That's life sometimes.:D
 
I threw a Kimber CDP II in the pond last winter.
Three trips to Kimber....still not fixed....
wife and I got in an argument while out walking
about it, and she told me to shut up about the
Kimber and how it PO'd me.....or put my money
where my mouth is......it still lays there today.
Good riddance.
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I have often thought of doing that with a Kimber...even took it to a gun show to sell. In the end I wouldn't wish that on anyone and left in the pickup.
 
JRWhit said:
As a method proved by scientific deduction, Every time I get a new gun I take the stock or grip off and carve a nice scratch into it where it will never be seen. This gets the inevitable out of the way thus for preventing visible scratches.
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One of my dad's coworkers does this with every new car he gets so he doesn't worry about the first scratch.
My worst klutz move was taking the scope off my 870 without loosening the mounts enough. I pulled hard and almost knocked the rear rifle sight clean off the barrel.
Also on my Model 60 when I was young I often used the wrong size screwdriver to break it down. Lots of scratches in the stock and the main screw is all marred up. Makes me cringe every time I see it. Someday I'll replace the screw and fix the scratches.
 
Left a shotgun in my car's trunk during a hurricane. Water got in. Rust is a sin.
 
I have a lightning bolt shapped scratch near the grip on my Ruger SP101. It's been there since the second day I owned it, and I have no idea where it came from. That's how I know it's mine.:)

Non gun- I ordered a Nikon camera. The wall charger detatches from the usb cord and I was detatching for some reason. It slipped out of my hand, bounced across the floor, and landed in the cat's water dish.

I grabbed it out, drained it and decided it "may be ok" if I get it dried out quick. Since it's a sealed unit I decided that putting it in from of an electric heater for a few minutes would bake the moisture out of it. The phone rang. 15 minutes later I realized that I forgot about it, and when I turned around it was no longer square. It was rather, mushy looking.

This was the day I got the camera.
 
I never really thought about it that much as the damage always seemed less than than what had expected. The one time that I do recall was years ago (1966) with an AR15. Compared to every thing else I owned it was my newest and most expensive weapon. Slipped and slid down the side of a steep rocky hill with it. Skidded about 20 feet. Was surprised that the plastic stock recived minor damage compared to what would have happened if it had been wooden. The rifle actualy came out of it better than I did.
 
460Kodiak said:
I have a lightning bolt shapped scratch near the grip on my Ruger SP101. It's been there since the second day I owned it, and I have no idea where it came from. That's how I know it's mine.:)
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I thought this story was going to end with an evil wizard pointing his wand at your SP101 and yelling "avada kadavra!"

DANG, rtr rtr beat me to it.


That must be what happened, you challenged a dark wizard to a duel, blocked his curse with your Ruger, and shot him. Then the ministry of magic came and put a memory charm on you since you're a muggle. That's why you don't know how the scratch got there.
 
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I left a rifle of mine on the washing machine to run and get something. While I was gone it changed cycles to something that causes more vibration and it carried the rifle across the machine and into the floor.
 
I don't mind scratches and dings if they were there when I bought the gun. I just don't like it when there are ones that I put there.
 
Just normal wear and tear. Lets face it, they are just tools and if you use them things happen. I don't own a gun that I don't shoot and I have a few. Don't like putting nicks and dings on them but its not going to keep my from using them...
 
This is not gun exactly related but still fits into the overarching category of stupid.
Last week I put my GM key into my wife’s Ford ignition and ruined the lock trying to get it back out leaving her car disabled and both of us stranded in the grocery store parking lot. The reason I did this is because I was busy running my mouth and was on ‘auto pilot’ when I reached in my pocket for my keys. MY keys, not hers. Several hundred dollars later I learned that a Zen like state of automation is not always advantageous. As shooters we generally strive to make our movements as automatic as possible, sight alignment, reloads, trigger squeeze and breathing and especially muzzle safety should be trained to the point that they become reflexive but there is a time to THINK! I can’t help but wonder if my years in martial arts and competitive shooting have rubbed off on other aspects of my life that really don’t need to be automatically reflexive.
 
hAkron said:
I drop things on the floor all of the time. I broke a pair of wooden CZ grips one time. I also forget to take my wedding ring off before I shoot and I get the front strap all scratched up (I'm a lefty)
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Oh yeah, I understand the wedding ring scratch all too well. My ring is Tungsten Carbide, and the frame on my pistol is a much softer alloy. I don't mind though, it's an identifying mark and gives the gun character.
 
Not a gun story, but ... I'm a guitar player, and I just bought a new strap to round up an online order to free-shipping status. It has real brass slide-buckles on it, which is rare nowadays -- most everything is plastic. So as I'm putting it on a guitar for the first time, I think "Hmm... these buckles are pretty hefty -- I'll have to be careful putting this thing on and taking it off." At that exact moment, I drop the loose end of the strap, and the buckle swings on the strap like a pendulum, hitting the back of the guitar with a loud "kabong" and leaving a nasty dent in the finish.

:cuss:

The good news is that it was my cheapest guitar, the one I bought as a beater to take to campfires, etc. Also, the dent is on the back, not the front. The bad news is that up to that point, it didn't have a scratch on it.
 
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I hgave very few fine things. The ones I do have are VERY FINE and VERY EXPENSIVE. As such, I don't handle them except on proper occasion.
Example - my late father's Shrine ring has a 1.75 carat diamond in it. I wear it maybe 2-3 per year.
 
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