[Rob West]

Negligent discharge. It will never happen to me... until today.

Sigh... through two walls and into a TV... I'm so glad nobody was hurt... but I'm shaken in my confidence now. What did I do wrong? I was stupid and got careless...

*sigh*

I have to live with myself... just wanted to vent I guess.

 

[Charlie Petty]

You shouldn't feel like the Lone Ranger.

I suspect that there are few among us who haven't a negligent or unintentional discharge.

 

[csmkersh]

Charlie's right. BTDT.

About 50 years back, I was into fastdraw. I used either my Single Six that I made wax loads for by pulling the lead on .22 rounds and adding candle wax, and other times I'd use my Blackhawk with live rounds.

Anyway, this day I'd been playing with the Single Six. I still had it strapped on when I walked into the bedroom and saw myself in the full-length closet door mirror. Drew and, instead of a "click" of a hammer on an empty chamber, I got the "Pop" of a wax load followed by the sound of breaking glass. I'd made two mistakes. First, I'd loaded six rounds instead of the usual 5, and two, I failed to treat an "empty" gun as if it was loaded. :roll:

 

[jar]

There are two types of shooters, those that have had an ND and those that will have an ND.

But that is also why there is more than one safety rule. If you are following the rules, when you have your ND, no one will get hurt.

If you shoot long and often enough, you will have an ND. But if you conciously follow the rules, when it happens, only the tv dies.

 

[Tim Burke]

However, if your ND passes through 2 walls and then hits the the TV, it sounds like all 4 rules were violated. NDs can result from violating a single safety rule. NDs that result in personal injury virtually always result from violating multiple rules simultaneously. You dodged a bullet this time... don't beat yourself up over this one, just resolve to follow the rules religiously from now on.

 

[Mad Ogre]

This is a lesson you learned well.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

...and one that will NOT be soon forgotten.

Best to you and yours.

 

[Rob West]

No... not soon forgotton... OR lived down. I'm the TV sniper...

Yes, more than one rule was broken. I'm not proud of it.

The way our house is situated I dry fire when my Mom's out of the kitchen, only two directions to point (mobile), and one direction goes to HER room.

Your comments have really helped me... thanks guys. I was super depressed last night, and after cleaning for a few hours today I feel better. Now I need to get out some puddy, and fix that dang TV cabinet (the bullet missed a Sony Trinitron by inches), and figure out how I'm going to replace a roof to floor mirror.

Well, I gots myself into this darn mess, I'm going to get myself out of it.

Funny thing though, I felt no recoil at all. Just shock. My first reaction was to clear the mag, then I set the rifle down, and then I was deaf and numb for 30 seconds. Then it came to me... ND! I got up and ran into the living room to see what happened, noticed it went through the wall in my room, through the TV cabinet, through a recliner, nicked another wall, and straight in the middle into the TV... then, Mom woke up and... well, conversation isn't safe for AmBack.

 

[Charlie Petty]

Funny thing though, I felt no recoil at all.

I bet you didn't hear much either...

The brain does some funny things under stress, but maybe the best example is that when you're hunting you rarely feel much recoil even when it would be unpleasant to shoot off the bench.

Sometimes we have to make messes to really learn lessons...

 

[Rob West]

I was completely deaf for 30 seconds... except for the loud RRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG, of course....

I've decided to drill the casing so I can put it on my keychain so I'll never forget this incident.

 

[BigMike]

Thanks for sharing.

Reading about your ND, and the aftermath, will help me to avoid one myself. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[mikegunner]

I've decided to drill the casing so I can put it on my keychain so I'll never forget this incident.

Having a reminder is a good thing. As I sit here typing, I can look at the door frame here in the office that still has the .25acp hole and round in it. I have the 4 rules posted on 3 walls!

My ND occured almost 15 years ago, and I still get chills when I think about it. Luckily, I had only broken 1 rule, so the only damage was to the door frame and to the alarm keypad on the wall I was aiming at.

 

[pdb]

It can happen. All it takes is one brain cramp and you've drilled a hole through something.

I was participating in an IDPA match in Georgia a few months back. Like all by-the-book IDPA events, it was run as a cold range (guns holstered with no magazines in them, having been cleared after every stage). Away from the firing line in the parking lot, a buddy asked how the DA pull on my USP45F was.

"Not bad," I replied as I pulled the gun out of its holster. I then aimed it at the ground ahead of us and started to squeeze the trigger.

About 9/10s through, my brain woke up and said "Self, you're pulling the trigger on a gun you haven't cleared yet!"

Then I heard the loudest 'CLICK!' I've ever heard. I don't know if I was visually shaking or not as I handed it over to my buddy, who didn't say a word, but cleared it himself before dry firing a few times.

I then went back to my car, had some water, and recollected myself. I think about that afternoon every time I pick up a gun now.

Apart from nearly perforating an innocent pickup truck, what shames me about that event is that *I*'m supposed to be the safety nazi! At the public rifle range, I'm the guy telling people to knock off futzing with their rifles while there's people down range. But for a second, I was that careless jerk that gives shooters bad publicity. And a second is all it takes to make a sensational headline for the gun-o-phobes.

As it turned out, it was a cheap lesson. I'll take it.

Peter

 

[Mad Ogre]

My reminder to duck.
I plucked that little number out of my level 2 right over my sturnum. I found the casing and used a cotter pin to make a little keychain out of it:

 

[Joe Forte]

Hey Ogre, I see you have a key to Walmart. <BG>

 

[Tim Burke]

Like all by-the-book IDPA events, it was run as a cold range

From the on line IDPA Rulebook:

The question of Hot and Cold ranges at the local club level is subject to individual club policy; it is the sole responsibility of local clubs and is beyond IDPA control.

My reminder to duck.

Why did you want to duck? Like Claude Rains in Casablanca, it was pointed at your least vulnerable part.
BTW, are you going to tell us the rest of the story?