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Accidental Discharge: What I can learn from this.

9K views 90 replies 70 participants last post by  Ape 
#1 ·
I unloaded my 229, put new grips on it, dry fired it a few times, reloaded it and put it on the coffee table and watched TV for a while. Then I picked it up and dry fired it. Obviously I'd forgotten I'd reloaded. My bad. Fortunately nobody was home and the upstairs neighbors work at night. A round of Federal low recoil 135 grain went through three sheets of dry wall, the wood exterior wall of the house and through a drainpipe before it disappeared. The entrance holes were very well defined on all those surfaces and the exit holes were three times as big and uneven. I went outside and checked everything beyond that. it should have gone through the windshield of my car but it didn't. I checked the cars behind mine, the fence, the tree beyond the fence and the cars across the next street. No holes. I find it very disturbing that I had this AD, and am going to make sure it never happens again. Scary. I'm grateful no more damage was done and nobody was hurt. The house contains sound pretty well and no one called LE. Yikes. Now I'm off to the store for spackle.
 
#64 ·
I am glad this went so well under the circumstances. Thankfully you and yours are OK. I have a friend that took his Remington 22 rifle inside and pumped it over the bed where the bullets fell. He pumped until they stopped coming out and so he felt he was safe. Held it towards the ceiling and pulled the trigger. You know what happened then. Scared him plus the wife was two small rooms away.
 
#67 ·
Best way to avoid it is (at least what I do )

1) All guns are loaded.

2) Muzzle control.
If I dry fire, I make sure where the muzzle is pointing and that it's at something that would stop the bullet (if there was one) and would not harm anyone or anything. Usually the floor.

3) If dry firing, recheck the chamber is empty before actually pulling the trigger.
 
#68 ·
Here's another tip.

In the military, some police organizations, and outside some gun shops, "Clearing Barrels" (filled with sand or other material that will stop a bullet) are used to load and unload weapons.

LAW ENFORCEMENT FIREARMS SAFETY

The Box O' Truth #7 - The Sands O' Truth - Page 1

If you cannot make one of those (maybe a big paint bucket filled with sand?) and keep it in a closet or basement, anytime you load or unload your weapon do so pointing it at a bed matress. Even if the matress doesn't stop the round it could slow it down enough to get caught in a floor/wall. Also consider the direction you pointing at the matress should the round continue on past the floor or wall.

The Box O' Truth #1 - The Original Box O' Truth - Page 1

The Box O' Truth #12 - Insulated Walls - Page 1

The Box O' Truth #14 - Rifles, Shotguns, and Walls - Page 1

Remember, mechanical devices fail. You could do everything right, and the weapon could still discharge.
 
#69 ·
If you cannot make one of those (maybe a big paint bucket filled with sand?) and keep it in a closet or basement, anytime you load or unload your weapon do so pointing it at a bed matress. Even if the matress doesn't stop the round it could slow it down enough to get caught in a floor/wall. Also consider the direction you pointing at the matress should the round continue on past the floor or wall.
And make sure there's no one in the bed! :wave:

Personally, having shot at mattresses in a dump (with various calibers), I have very little faith in a mattress slowing down a bullet to any significant degree, certainly not enough to keep it from penetrating a typical wall. A hardwood floor ... maybe.

I have an 18" square, 8" deep sand "target" that I keep for dry-firing and other practice.

YMMV.
 
#71 ·
Being very new to guns, I'm very interested in learning more about how NDs can happen and how to prevent them.

Everyone in life has made stupid mistakes along the way. An unthinking moment in life wiped out my hard drive some years ago. Another stupid moment led to my dog being hit by a car. And those are just two moments of stupid that I can recall right off the top of my head.

The problem is that a moment of stupid with a firearm, can have deadly consequences. It's an area of life where you need to have multiple levels of safe guards in place.

Most people don't want to talk about their NDs because they are ashamed or embarrassed or feeling ten tons of stupid. So, there's not much chance for the rest of us to learn.

I've even seen a post that was clearly an AD (gun malfunction), but the poster was still too ashamed and asked someone else to post it anonymously for him.

A cop friend has had an ND. He does seem to think if you are around guns enough, sooner or later, everyone gets their moment of stupid.

Anyway, hate seeing the OP get beaten up. I'd rather talk about problems and how they can be prevented than to ensure no one ever posts about an ND again.
 
#72 ·
Being very new to guns, I'm very interested in learning more about how NDs can happen and how to prevent them.
Phoebe ~

How Unintentional Discharges Happen - TheHighRoad.US

It's a link to a thread on another forum a couple of years ago. I'd dug through several years' worth of these types of reports on different gun boards and then summarized what I found. Sometime I'm going to turn the list into a web page on the Cornered Cat site ... in my spare time, you know. ;)

pax
 
#78 ·
I suppose my main reason for this post is that I always perceive the "No such thing as AD" folks seem to take a holier than thou attitude.

I suspect in time they may have to suffer through the same comments from those who know that they had an unintended discarge.
Critique of situations and actions, and calling a spade a spade, isn't taken very well by some folks. Some even go so far as to take critical comments as a "diss" or similar denigration. So long as such discussion doesn't degenerate into outright disrespect and name calling, we're doing ourselves a service by exploring the situation openly. (Thankfully, the inveterate name-callers know who they are. They're easily seen. And, fortunately, they're few and far between, here.)

I'm of the opinion that, whether folks acknowledge it in each discussion or not, the things we kick around and learn apply to everyone and at some point in future each of us is entirely likely to experience much the same thing. Better we kick around options here, as opposed to experiencing them blindly when it comes 'round the bend.
 
#82 ·
I'd like to make a point but I know many if not most will disagree with me. I think that in general, the practice of dry firing is a dangerous practice. I know there's a safe way to do it and that is to sperate the ammo and gun by a room at least and then triple check but I believe there are some subtle things about dry firing that are bad. First I think most people let down their guard a little while dry firing because they know it's not going to fire. I think this is bad because it's a mind set that can be hiding in the corner, i.e., finger on the trigger and it's ok. I've read of guys watching TV and just dry firing for ever to smooth out a trigger.

Second problem I have with it is that it's one more thing to add to a distracting situation. I've read a lot of posts where someone was dry firing, loaded the gun and then without thinking, simply pulled the trigger again.

To me dry firing actually goes against the 4 rules in principle. I don't believe for a minute that dry firing makes any significant difference in a gun's action. If it did/could then those parts are a lot softer than we're led to belive. Even if you think it does, you can get the same affect by safely shooting the gun at the range or by getting an action job.

I'm also not sure it's that valuabel for training becuase you're trying to get some training benefit out of a session where you know it's not going to go bang. I think that's a subtle thing that may goof you up as much as it helps.

At the end of the day I believe the best course of action is to simply never dry fire and follow the 4 rules every single time.

Do I dry fire? Yes, to test a new weapon or to perform a function check but I no longer will dry fire just to smooth an action or to practice or for any other reason.

Just a thought.....
 
#89 ·
I'd like to make a point but I know many if not most will disagree with me. I think that in general, the practice of dry firing is a dangerous practice. ...
No disagreement here. It teaches trigger complacency. I have only witnessed one AD - and it was a case of "dry firing" on a loaded cylinder. I still have a ringing in my left ear from that incident, and it happened 40 years ago. When a 38 snub goes off a few feet from your ear - you can hear it - forever.
 
#84 ·
Short story...

In January of 1983, I was in Army Basic training, Fort Knox, Kentucky (D-13-4). On this day, we filed
into the armory to draw our M16A1 rifles. I drew rifle number 115. We returned to our bay to do some
rifle drills. As we waited for the drill sergeant to arrive, I sat on my bunk, looking at the rifle
placed across my legs. The rifle was well oiled, with scratches on the fiberglass barrel guards. The
whole thing did not seem that sturdy...but I had never held a real rifle in my life, let alone fire one.
Some of the other guys were messing with their rifles...charging the weapons, setting the fire select
switch and dry firing. Although this was the first day I had drawn my rifle, this was their second day
(I had KP the day before), so rifle 115 had not been drawn. And I had no idea what they were doing, so
I just sat still and left it alone.

So we all line up down the center of the platoon bay. As we start the drill, we get to the part where we
would draw the charging handle back...I pulled the handle...and out popped a nice, shiny 5.56mm NATO round.
After the obligatory yelling and cussing by the drill sergeant (had to be at least 3 minutes), he finally
realized I had KP the day before and this was the first time I had drawn the rifle. I never heard anything
more about it.

Had I simply set the select switch to semi and pulled the trigger (which I assumed would be safe)...I could
have killed someone. The armory gave me, a basic trainee, a loaded weapon. That should have never happened,
but it did. Regardless of that fact, if something would have happened, it would have been my fault for not
following the required safe practices regarding a firearm. I am the safety.

I may be a "meaningless hypothetical virgin", but I never plan to "gain knowledge" by having an AD or ND. A
firearm is only as safe as the person HOLDING it. Accidents can and do happen. However, to say that they are
inevitable is wrong. An AD is not like dropping a hammer. Any discharge of your pistol is a potential
catastrophic event. Consider yourself extremely lucky if all you have to do is patch a few holes and do some
explainin' to the wife...
 
#87 ·
Great and extremely scary story all at once PalatkaBoy! :gah:
Amazing that they would hand anyone a loaded gun! Much less a rookie! :ziplip:
I'm glad your instincts kept you and the rest of your platoon safe! :35:
And welcome to the forum by the way! :wave:
 
#85 ·
I've got a story too. I am in the USCG and I need to qualify with the pistol every six months. I used to be stationed in Fort Macon NC and used to drive to a remote location to shoot at a sheriffs range. For what ever reason we decided to go to Cherry Point MCAS to shoot at the Marine Corps range. We had the newer people on the crew shoot first since they were doing the basic pistol course and we did the practical afterwards. After they had finished we went up with the gunners mates and were discussing the course of fire. We had our gun belts on but we didnt have any mags in the Sigs. We didn't know that one of the Marine's who worked at the range had gone to his personal vehicle and pulled out his 1911 and was playing with it behind us around some of the other Marines. I don't know how it happened but somehow he managed to shoot himself in the hand with the 45. All we had heard was a round go off and we almost pooped ourselves. The guy runs to the building and shortly after a bunch on men in suits and ear pieces ask us to line up. We line up and they take our CG issued weapons and our Id's and commence to do their secret squirrel stuff. Long story short, we finally are allowed to leave and decided never to go back to MCAS Cherry Point. Hopefully the guy ended up ok
 
#88 ·
Thanks for the welcome.

Unfortunately, that initial incident had made me kind of paranoid when it comes to handling a weapon. I was showing my dad my HK45c the other day. I pulled it from the safe, dropped the mag, cleared the weapon and handed it to him, slide back. He set the slide forward, looked it over, got a feel for it and handed it back to me. And I cleared it again. Then I locked the slide back and loaded the weapon before locking it up. He asked why I cleared it again...and I said I never want to have to ask that question: How'd that bullet get in there....
 
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