Any scares when looking at someone's gun?

[Jayster]

A while back a friend was showing me an old 1911 he had gotten from a relative.

He handed it to me with the magazine out. I asked was it clear and he says sure, I am safe.

Didn't matter to me what he said. I point it at the floor and rack the slide back and pretty as you please out pops a .45 round.

I am thinking son of a............

Safe my ass........

I bet there are plenty stories like that....

[jason_iowa]

I clear every weapon I am handed or hand someone locked open or cylinder out.

[Dashunde]

Good job not taking his word for it.

[Major Dave (retired)]

"Treat EVERY gun as though it IS loaded...until you check it, YOURSELF".

P.S. Or is that rule #2? Rule #1 may be "Always point the muzzle in a safe direction".

[Jo6pak]

I took my M1A to a gunshow today and stopped by the weapon check station upon entering. I removed the rifle from the case, opened the action once and handed it to the guy. He looked up and said "No offense" as he took it and again worked the action and inspected the chamber.
I said, "No problem, I would have been leary if you didn't do that."

As for scares?
I once had a guy at the range "toss" me a revolver when I asked if I could shoot it. He simply said, "sure" as he pulled the old .38 from the holster and tossed it from about 5 feet away. It wasn't loaded, but I didn't know that as it flew towards me.
I haven't shot with him since then.

[Bob Wright]

On two occassions I've had a live round pop out when I examined a friearm handed to me.

I learned a long time ago to check each gun whenever its handed to me, or even my own when I handle it.

Bob Wright

[kraigwy]

Couple years ago we went to visit my Mother In Law. Said she wanted me to clean out the hogs and armadillos on her little farm.

No problem (except there weren't any fresh sign) ANYWAY, she said she had a gun and wanted to know if it was good for hogs. Then she hand me this little Beretta BearCat 25 auto..... locked and cocked, and the safety was off.

I asked her if it was loaded, she said she didn't know, hadn't fooled with it in 20 years, didn't know how to load or unload it.

Sure enough it was loaded w/round in the chamber, and again, the safety was off.

My wife got kind of mad, told her mother she couldn't have the gun back, not to mention it wouldn't hurt a hog IF she could hit it. So wife took the gun, (or had me take it) and from one of her nephews got Mother in Law a single barred 410 shot gun, and showed her how to use it.

I took the Bearcat out to see if it worked, it did, but ever piece of brass that came out of the gun smacked me right in the forehead. (Fixed that by changing ammo).

[BigTex308]

Originally Posted by jason_iowa

I clear every weapon I am handed or hand someone locked open or cylinder out.

What this guy said. Can never be to careful.




Ike

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[Tinner666]

Many moons ago, I started telling anybody I was handing a firearm to that it was 'Loaded'. They all handle it with respect until they know it's clear. Range officers asking to check my weapon before qualifying get jumpy, but better safe than sorry.

Reason I started that is:
Once, I may have been 15-16, I handed over a Browning Hi-Power and said the chamber was unloaded. My mentor pulled the slide back and pointed it at the floor and fired it before I could react! He said he pulled the trigger about the same time his brain said "That shouldn't have gone forward", talking about the slide. At least his wife only jumped a little and kept cooking!

[Doublea A]

I clear every gun handed to me even at the gun dealership or store. I never take another person's word for an unloaded firearm.

[JimPage]

"Treat EVERY gun as though it IS loaded...until you check it, YOURSELF".

P.S. Or is that rule #2? Rule #1 may be "Always point the muzzle in a safe direction".

It should be:
1. keep it pointed in a safe direction
2. keep your finger off the trigger, out of the trigger guard
3. check to see if it's loaded. (clear the gun)
4. go back to #1.

[lockedcj7]

My son and I were at the LGS and I asked to look at something. The salesman took the gun from the rack and cleared it before handing it to me. I cleared it as soon as it was handed to me. My son asked why I did that and here's what I told him.

"When I saw the man across the counter clear the gun, it gave me confidence that he knew how to handle it safely. When he saw me do it, it gave him confidence that I could also be trusted. It's kind-of like a secret handshake."

When I was a teenager, my cousin and I were camping and we had my old Marlin model 60. It was leaning against a tree and I went to pick it up. He told me that he had unloaded it. I was much more familiar with that gun since it was mine and I knew that if he had simply dumped the rounds out of the magazine that there would still be one in the chamber and one or two more left in the action. I aimed at a can at the bottom of a dirt bank and fired twice before the gun was really empty.

[9191]

Yeah that happens a lot when people want to act cool like they know everything, even if they are good with weapons if you question something even as simple as that they will try and play it off. Personally, I have to double check and I'm not too big to be questioned, it doesn't make me if someone asks, "is your gun on safe" or anything like that.








91

[Mobuck]

I've taught all my kids to ALWAYS recheck any gun handed to them. When my older Son was looking for a pistol, we handled a number of handguns at several stores. One of the salesmen did make a comment about the rechecking and said that very seldom do customers show that level of caution. Apparently, some of his customers were less than optimal with their gun handling.
This Son was greatly offended when he went to a BPS gun counter and they refused to remove the trigger lock so he could actually hold a handgun in a normal firing grip.

[Frank Ettin]

Note item 1:

[JohnKSa]

I was at a relative's house and he brought out his .22 rifle to show me. It was a tubular mag gun. He handed it to me and stated that it was unloaded. I operated the action and a round popped out of the chamber.

[Cheapshooter]

I check the gun even If I am standing there watching the person handing it to me check first. No exceptions, makes for much less chance of getting careless, and forgetting to check.
Fortunate I guess, never had a surprise jump out of any guns.

[Hook686]

So wife took the gun, (or had me take it)

Isn't that considered theft ? By a LEO no less.

[Verbal Clint]

At the company I work for, we have a very simple phrase that covers these types of situations..."Trust and Verify"

[TheNocturnus]

The one and only time I took one of my cousins shooting he thought he had just emptied a magazine by firing all the rounds. He went to hand the gun back to me to reload it and he pointed the barrel directly at my chest with his hand on the grip and finger in the trigger guard.

I immediately said don't move or do anything! I sidestepped, grabbed the muzzle and pushed it towards the floor. I took the gun from him and it was empty, luckily. As he was a new shooter I scolded him on his "technique" and said never point at gun at anyone unless you intend on using it.

Never have taken him back to the range and likely never will.

Last time I was at my LGS there was a new clerk that would not check the gun before handing it to me. I was a little annoyed.

[riggins_83]

I went to visit a relative who had just returned from a hunting trip. Asked to see his rifle (Browning 300 Win mag). I cleared it, round in the chamber! That'd have been nice and loud indoors...

[Rainbow Demon]

A while back a friend was showing me an old 1911 he had gotten from a relative.

He handed it to me with the magazine out. I asked was it clear and he says sure, I am safe.

Sounds like he was used to relying on a magazine disconnect of some other type of auto loader. This is one reason why I'd never disable a magazine disconnect safety feature, as so many have in searching for a better trigger pull, or on the off chance of having to fire a pistol without a magazine.
Some WW2 manufacture Browning High Powers don't have the magazine disconnect feature, the Germans deleted it to speed production. One should always make sure this feature has not be disabled when buying a used HiPower.

A magazine disconnect for the 1911 was developed and patented post WW1, but never adopted by Colt or the Army.

I can't count the number of times I've been handed an old house pistol for examination and found it loaded. Sometimes cartridges were stuck in the chamber by corrosion or solidified grease.
I've restored pistols found hidden away in tool boxes and tackle boxes, or found under car seats, still loaded and the finder having no idea how to check the chamber.

A gunsmith in a nearby city put a rusted tight 1911 in a vice , soaked it with oil and lightly tapped the slide with a mallet. Apparently there was so much lint and rust in the bore he couldn't get a rod into the muzzle or he'd have realized it had a round in the chamber.
The pistol went off and the bullet traveled through two walls and hit a man in the head around four hundred yards away killing him instantly.

I've cleaned up a .25 Colt pocket pistol that had been carried in a protective leather sheath in a coat pocket for many years. The stitching had come loose near the muzzle and over the years pocket lint and fibers from a torn lining had infiltrated till it formed a solid plug at least half the length of the bore, it was loaded of course.

[therealdeal]

I saw a friend hand another friend(all of us were drunk and either teenagers or in our early twenties) a shotgun which was pointed at him. idiot. friend now holding shotgun said the first thing my father ever taught me about guns was to never point it at someone. he changed the direction of the firearm as he said this and other friend walked backwards after delivering the lethal weapon. he then was looking at the trigger and thinking for whatever reason it wasn't cocked(it was) and touched the trigger & blew a hole thru a sliding glass door, thru the porch and railing, and into a tree(it was a slug).

I will note that the shooter had very little experience about guns(if any...he later has always said that was the first time he shot any weapon except a BB gun once in middle school)), and the one who handed over his grandpa's shotgun at the summer house is now an LEO in FL and always had an obsession w/firearms. He owned some grenades too. Lastly, we had no knowledge that this individual was going to walk into the living room w/his grandfather's grenades and shotgun or that he had access to any weapons.

oh well I am glad my buddy's father taught him some firearm rules and that sometimes stupid kids get lucky(or protected by angels).

[TMA-1]

I spend a lot of time teaching Boy Scouts and Venturing Scouts. I usually start with a gun familiarization exercise, letting the Scouts handle various types of actions to learn the different ways to clear, enable safeties, etc. I usually have about 8-12 kids, several gun types, and LOTS of adult supervision.

As part of this, I always drum into their heads that you ALWAYS check the chamber when handed a gun, even if you just witnessed someone else clear the chamber. We then do a "handoff" exercise, where they practice how to safely hand a gun to someone else: finger off trigger, muzzle in safe direction, check if unloaded, and handoff, then the recieving person immediately repeats the same steps.

These sessions quickly become a cacophony of clicks and clacks as the kids practice handing the guns off to each other. Invariably, someone will giggle at the absurd sound of several guns being cycled over and over, and the mood lightens and they have a good time with it. And that is how Scouts learn best - by learning in a fun environment and through repeated practice!

[2ndsojourn]

From Major Dave:
"Treat EVERY gun as though it IS loaded...until you check it, YOURSELF".

That's rule #1.
Rule #2 is there are no exceptions to rule #1.