Have you ever accidently discharged your handgun?

[Tommy Vercetti]

does shooting an SKS that went full auto accidently count? it wasn't mine but I guess an unintentional doubletap at the range with a Browning Hi Power does

[Firepower!]

No, because mechanical faults dont sum up to AD or ND.

[Crane's]

I've experienced 3 ADs total. One with a pump shotgun that went off while chambering the next round. After careful examination it was determined that dirt caused the sear to not engage so the hammer followed the bolt and it went bang. The other two involved 1911's. Weak springs were the culprit both times.

[Jeff23]

One ND--an old 1930's 16 ga single-shot shotgun, out shooting informal clays on a cold day and I had gloves on. Yelled "pull" and mounted the shotgun to my shoulder; the clay came out of the trap and broke by itself, so I lowered the gun. On the way down a loose thread from the glove on my trigger finger got caught on the trigger and bang! Moral of the story: I had the gun pointed downrange where it belonged so no harm done except to my ego. The gun safety rules tend to back one another up. Moral # 2: watch loose articles of clothing around the working parts of firearms.

[BDLZ]

Yes. I was at the range and had just fired several rounds through my Taurus PT99, then I switched to my Bersa 9mm, which was new. I fired the first round DA, then went to take up the slack in the trigger like I do with the Taurus, but the Bersa didn't have any. It went off and scared the daylights out of me. Luckily it was pointed at the target.

[Ryder]

I sure do love those 230 grain Remington Golden Sabers... Awesome expansion...



Of course that does cut down on the penetration somewhat. This bullet did not exit the opposite side of the wall into my book shelf.

[Firepower!]

can you please elaborate on the picture with reference to the material in structure? thanks

[oldman1946]

There are only two kinds of shooters / gun owners. Those that have had an accidental discharge and those that will.

I have found that many having an accidental discharge will not admit it now.

[Dingoboyx]

The only accidental pistol discharge I had, was when I went to my black powder club without my own guns (I was on my way somewhere else) and one of my mates said to use one of his ROA's. I loaded it up, went to take aim and as my finger rested on the trigger, it went off. That was the lightest trigger I had ever experienced, I was expecting it to be like mine, It wasn't Evidently he had worked on the trigger himself and he admitted later he went a bit far with it I reckon it was an accident waiting to happen I reckon if you cocked it then banged the handle on the bench, it would have fired....That was the only shot I fired thru that gun.... I de capped it and gave it back to him, said thanks and that was it.

It tought me to always dry fire or cap off (Bp) any new-to-you gun so you dont get any nasty surprises..... and reminded me of the importance of "finger no where near trigger' til you are on the line ready to shoot

Even tho I dont concider it a 'my fault' accidental discharge, I sure felt like an @ss at the time.... not a pleasant feeling at all.

[jborushko]

three times....

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1. Drinking... came home from the bar and somehow failed at clearing my pistol, and let one lose into the window frame. 1911

2. not drinking... didnt count the rounds i had fired, went to rest the butt of my rifle on my leg (muzzle in the air) and the bump knocked the firing pin...boom - this was a mechanincal failure, turned out to be the firing pin got stuck in fire position in the bolt. mosin nagant

3. drinking... got into the car after, leaving the bar, chambered a round (thank god i was pointing the muzzle down, and BOOM... i could have shot my friend in the back. PF-9

three times nobody was hurt - now, obviously i dont ever ever touch guns when i've been drinking.

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[Stevie-Ray]

No, because mechanical faults dont sum up to AD or ND.

Actually a discharge due to a mechanical fault is a classic AD. Now, the no such thing as an AD folks will be around to say "But you should have known that part was wearing or about to break, so that makes it negligent."

[oldman1946]

Long story but I was assisting a State Trooper in searching for a peeping tom in our neighborhood. Both he and I were off duty and the weather was below freezing with sleet falling. We were out for about 1.5hrs. I came in and laid my .45 Colt 1911 on the nightstand. It was not cocked but had a round in the chamber. My wife was taking her make up off in the dressing room. I had walked over to the boot rack in the utility room about 20 feet away. The gun went off, sending a round through the night stand, through the sheet rock and into the outside brick wall, cracking the brick.

Not a soul touched the gun. There was no dimple in the primer cap. The gun recoiled off the nightstand and landed on the floor, fully cocked and with a new round in the chamber.

I had the shell casing examined in the crime lab. They determined the primer was not fully seated, the powder was cold and static electricity had arched on the cap setting it off. I have not shot a reload since.

I always place a gun pointed toward a wall so nobody was ever in danger other than myself due to my wife raising cane about her expensive new bedroom nightstand having a bullet hole in it. Now some 20 yrs later, we just put a table lamp in front of the hole and nobody notices it.
Note the photos below.

[dinsmore83]

no AD/ND, but went to the range one time, pulled the slide back, and ejected a snapcap, I had left 2 in the mag and one in the chamber after dry fire practice. lesson learned, double check and then check again to make sure a gun is cleared.

[doc540]

I mishandled an AMT .380 Backup and negligently discharged it inside a bank during business hours.

Trust me, I know understand the meaning of the world "loud".

[jasonohio]

OldMan I love your message (both of them):

There are only two kinds of shooters / gun owners. Those that have had an accidental discharge and those that will.

I have found that many having an accidental discharge will not admit it now.

I wonder what kind of stories would be in here if the posts were anonymous?

[Beentown71]

Doc540,

I bet you had some questions to answer

Beentown

[oldman1946]

I mishandled an AMT .380 Backup and negligently discharged it inside a bank during business hours.

Trust me, I know understand the meaning of the world "loud".

I would love to hear how you mishandled a gun while inside a bank. Even better would be how you explained your way out of there.

[Ticman]

Had one many years ago. My Dad would buy beat up guns and I would take the apart, reblue the metal and refinsh the stocks. Along with cleaning and fixing any malfunctions.

Dad brought me a Sears 22 semi-auto to fix. I took the stock and forearm off, tube mag. Checked to make sure it was unloaded many times. When I started taking out the trigger it went off. To this day I still can't figure out how that round got in the chamber because I checked before starting.

[Balog]

Never a pistol. Had a little incident with an M240G and blanks though...

[Brian48]

In my lifetime I have never had either an accident discharge or a negligent discharge while in conceal carry situation, however I have had 3 negligent discharges at the range and one *true* accidental discharge due to a mechanical failure with the gun.

In all cases with the NDs, other safety precautions were followed, ie. gun pointed downrange, proper backstop. In all three cases, it was an issue of a "stuck" trigger and my ill attempt to un-stick it. The AD occurred when I had chambered a round on a 1911 that, unknown to me at the time, was a victim of a botched trigger job. The hammer hooks slipped over the sear during the cycle process and followed the slide home during the chambering of the round. Thankfully, other safety precautions were in place and I had the gun pointed in a safe direction. With the exception of the chair I shot and my pride (it scared the crap out of me), no harm was done. I guess I should be thankful the gun didn't go full auto on me.

All this was years ago and now that I'm an old fart, I'm as about as anal as you can get when handling firearms.

[DanThaMan]

JUST did the other day at an indoor pistol range and I was so embarrassed I just left even though no one saw me do it. I was firing my Glock 17 steadily and working on letting the trigger just barely reset and firing the next shot. Well... I had fired a round and didnt let the barrel reset fully on the target before I accidently popped another round off into the ceiling :barf:

The ceiling is designed for sh1theads like me though so at least I didnt endanger anyone...

[Balog]

Originally Posted by oldman1946

There are only two kinds of shooters / gun owners. Those that have had an accidental discharge and those that will.

I absolutely loathe this idea. "There are two types of spuses: those who have committed adultery, and those who will." "There are two kinds of parents: those who abuse their children, and those who will."

It's utter nonsense, it's insulting to those who are not careless enough to ND, and it sets the bar low. ND's are not random acts of God outside our control. We choose to have them, through our own choices.

[fustache44]

Agreed, The thought that one will eventually have an ND, as an "inevitable" thing, is complete B.S.


Sort of like magic ND's and Mags that never fail.



Violate one of the 4 rules, and you'll eventually have an ND. End of story.


Also, I've had an ND. I was 12, and I pulled the trigger on a 20 gauge 870 I was just SURE was empty

Way to go, dumbass. Nice hole in the ground about 4 feet in front of me, and a serious case of checking one's pants...

[ColdBore]

I have never had an accidental, negligent or malfunction discharge.

Ok...I've spent the past few hours reading each and every thread. The scariest aspect of what I've read is that the poll indicates 30% of those who responded (truthfully) have had AD/NDs. And not one of them involved a death. Let's not forget those.
What is uplifting is the statements of most of these people...how they sincerely regret such accidents, that 'it will never happen again', how they had the [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color] scared outta them, etc. That in itself is a good sign.
I also noticed the most likely cause of these NDs...having their finger on the trigger. I too practice the four golden rules of gun safety (as well as a few of my own in addition) and, contrary to popular belief, gun safety WILL NOT eliminate the possibility of an accidental shooting. It will merely greatly reduce the likelihood.
I made a note to point out the thread which impressed me the most. I will not point out the one that really bothered me (I'm not here to bang on anyone) and that is thread # 194.... faster200. The major cause of this individual's carelessness was extreme fatigue. True, he/she should not have been handling a weapon under those circumstances, but chose to take a gun safety course after the incident. I salute faster200!
For those who were adults (children I can understand...where were the parents who owned the guns or handed them over?) and had two or more ND's. Personally, myself?...If I didn't learn my lesson through emotional torture of my mistake the first time and had a SECOND incident?! I would intentionally take a ball pein hammer and literally break my own trigger finger. Since my mind refused to learn from a mistake, perhaps physical pain and six weeks of having to wear a splint and not being able to use my finger would teach me such a valuable lesson. Better to live with a broken finger than to have to live with someone's death on my conscious, especially over stupidity. I'm sure many of you reading this are thinking to yourselves...'This dude's friggin' CRAZY!'. And that's ok too. Just my opinion.

Regards to this philosophy of 'There are two kinds of shooters'... those who have had an ND and those who will. I don't agree with that. That phrase came from those concerned about motorcycle riders and, statistically, most motorcycle accidents are not caused by the bike rider, but the idiot in the car who always says the same thing: "Officer, I never saw him." Regarding firearms, noboby next to you can indadverdently 'make' you be careless and have an ND. And, 'no', I don't ride a motorcycle.

In most cases of NDs, the cause is stupidity. This isn't necessarily the 'stupidity' that most of us ridicule, but merely carelessness and complacency (which many have already indicated). Such examples which I've read are: laying down loaded weapons unattended,... after cleaning a weapon, loading it and handling it with oily hands,...dry firing with live rounds in an inserted magazine,... loading a gun while driving a vehicle,...transporting a loaded and chambered weapon in a vehicle. Situations like these can easily be avoided if the person only took a second to think their actions through. And my favorite one is how some people insist on chambering the first round in their automatic pistols! I NEVER chamber the first round until I'm ready to fire. Think about it.

Carelessness with firearms is one of the two major reasons why our American rights to own and bear arms is constantly under threat. We have ourselves to blame for this. Maybe if everyone who posted and read this thread makes an effort to teach and enforce gun safety to anyone in the future (say...one person a year) and teach those to carry on the tradition by passing it on, it will spread like a virus and perhaps these unfortunate statistics will plummet.

I also believe we should have mandatory 'gun safety and awareness' classes in our public high schools. Many of you may think I'm totally off my rocker, but think of this. Why do we have driver's education classes? Can't cars kill and maim too?

Sorry for such a long thread, but this subject is one I feel extremely adamant about.

Take care, happy and safe shooting!
CB

[Stevie-Ray]

And my favorite one is how some people insist on chambering the first round in their automatic pistols! I NEVER chamber the first round until I'm ready to fire. Think about it.

I have thought about it. And I will continue to have a loaded chamber in my (semi)automatic pistol. It's what I consider the safest way for my pistol to be, for me and my family.