gun accidents post yours

[jim young]

I was reading a thread on the clark longslide that blew up, I thought this would be a good topic for further postings, gun accidents.

I have had a couple, I bought a naa 22 short when I was visiting a relative in flint, on the way back to his house, I was playing with my new gun in my 85 chevy conversion van, I got to wondering if live rounds in the gun would bind up the small cyl, when cocking, so as I drove down I 69 I loaded in 5 rounds of 22 short, started cocking it no it did not bind up but my thumb sliped off the hammer,[these guns are small and the 22 short is the smallest of the small, and BANG, I was stunned for a moment, driving with one hand smoke in the cabin,and a nice hole in my windshield, I kept it on the road though it took about 30 seconds to get my wits.
The other stupid thing I did was when I lived in florida, in a subdivision, I had just purchased a uzi open bolt, I had also bought a 32 round mag. and wondered if the gun would strip off the round with out any bind ups [I have a problem worying about binding] I lowered the bolt slow and as it picked up the round my finger sliped off of the knob and BANG, my wife was on the phone talking to her parents, It takes 30 seconds to get your wits about you, All this was when I was younger and not so smart, I also would drive to sarasota to go to the movies on my motor cycle 125 mph and seeing wild hogs rooting in the ditch, any way the bullet from the uzi just missed my tv,went through a wall just missed my picture window,and my neighbors big 100k motor home was parked "I think" in the path of where the bullet should have traveled, I never heard form him, so I must not have been visible if it did hit the rv. Post your stunts or mishaps

[stumbler]

Checking out different ammo with my father-in-law. .22 LR. Found one that had no bullet, casing was full length, with crimp. I never saw one like that. Father-in-law says that is was a blank. Sure I say... He loaded, aimed at closed kitchen door, pulled trigger, and we had bird shot all over the kitchen. (also a round pattern in the door).

[jim young]

When I lived in florida I owned a carpet store, the back door had a gap under it about an inch high, I opened up one morning and next to my desk was a 3 foot black snake, I don't like snakes, I grabbed my 22 shot at it 5 times, it was a jennings, missed, told my wife to watch the snake, ran to the "powder keg" bought some shot shell, when I returned she said it was up in a sample book, I shot it 2 times, and kicked the carcass in the street.

[TriumphGT6]

I had loaded a bunch of rounds for a .240 Weatherby I once had, ohmaybe 30 years ago, and decided to try a live one just for fit. Sitting at the kitchen table in my little basement apartment....

Slip that shiny baby in the chamber, check the bolt could close without binding, open and eject. Simple, right?

BANG

The little slug cleared four layers of wallboard and disintegrated in the concrete slab underneath the carpet. THANK YOU JESUS, I lived on the bottom floor.

I must've had my finger on the trigger, ya think? Although I was trying to be careful. That weekend I took ol' unreliable to the range, loaded a 2nd round, closed the bolt keeping my fingers waaa-a-a-y out of the triggerguard. Yep, BANG some more.

It turned out the trigger/sear group on this rifle was "secured" to the action with a single screw, which had backed out enough so that the firing pin would override the sear. :mad: I took the rifle home, snugged the screw down, fixed it with a dab of Locktite, and traded that expensive PoS for a Sako .22.

(Wish I still had the Sako, but that's another episode....)

[John]

During some unofficial practice, at what we call a range (it's an ex-military area, the ground is climbing uphill, but has a back stop and some side protection, so it's at least safe), we were shooting the Olympic-style 30+30 match.

For those unfamiliar with it, you shoot 30 rounds, at a very slow pace (5 rounds every 6 minutes) and then you shoot 30 more rounds, in a style called "fast shooting". I'll try to describe:

You stand there, with your arm extended in front of you at a 45 deg angle. In a normal range, the targets are turned 90 degrees to the shooter, so you do not see them. Then they turn to face you, stay that way for 3 seconds, during which you fire your shot, and then they are closed again (turn 90 degrees). In our range, there are no turning targets, so a range officer is yelling "fire" and then "stop" (the stop comes 3 seconds after fire, but given the human reaction times..... it can be 5 seconds, whatever).

Now, in this firing mode, your hand has to move up, slow down as it reaches the center of the target and the shot fired. You do not lift it above the target and then slowly lower it, is it is done in the slow fire part. So, I though "Why not take up the initial part of the trigger travel" while the hand is at 45 deg angle pointing down, and then fire the shot when the pistol points the target? Maybe it will help in trigger control.

Sure enough, as I start raising my arm, the pistol went boom, and the bullet hit the dirt about two feet in front of my feet. Not a big issue per se, no one could get hurt or anything, but since I do not like accidental shots from myself, I decided to leave those techniques to those with more precise muscle control and follow the normal rules. The finger is off the trigger until you face the target (well, for this discipline, the finger is in the trigger guard, but barely touching the trigger, otherwise you may run out of time).

My participation in this thread, although not as frightening as shooting your windshield!! LoL

Enjoy the sport guys and gals, but do it safely.

[jim young]

I used to hunt with a WILD bunch of guys, I mean clear out the striper bars at night,
we hunted the up of michigan about 5 miles from the wisconsin border, we would drive around from camp when we had not seen anything with our rifles just in cases and the ammo on the dash so we could grab a shell or zip up the case which ever the situation demanded, two of our guys both threw up their ammo on the dash loose, 7 mm mag and 3006, I cant remember which went into which gun, but in the excitement of seeing a buck run across the road one jumped out and grabbed the ammo [wrong ammo] forced it in to the gun and and shot it. something fired funny, but he was excited and did not think, he then shoves another round in the gun, it does not want to feed, so he forces it in, and now he has a nice small pipe bomb next to his head, I will just say he still has the small scars and a hearing loss in his right ear. When you are young, you do and see some pretty stupid things. as for me I sold my motor cycle many years ago.

[Galileo]

. . . and wondered if the gun would strip off the round with out any bind ups [I have a problem worying about binding]

Perhaps you should eat more roughage- :eek:
Just a thought :D

Galileo

[Jim V]

My worse gun accident was the two S&W M-59's I bought when they first came out. :D

[jim young]

when I was younger and had a big red S under my shirt, I used to shoot my commander with no hearing protection, I learned after my ears rang for a week, and sometimes I still cant hear detail like I should.

[Jim V]

Hmmm, do we see a trend with Mr. Young? :D

[jim young]

Jim looking back it is amazing that I am not pushing up daisies or asking for seconds in attica

[Domineaux]

Though I haven't had any accidents myself (unless the mistake of buying a first gen sigma counts), I was close enough to a friends misfire to share.
When I was about 19, I was hanging with my two best friends at one of thems house.
I was sitting on the floor in his living room playing a video game while the other friend was preparing to go out. He was ready, and was checking his Glock 23 (for some reason) about 4 feet behind me. Seems that when he slapped the mag in it, and racked the slide to carry one in the chamber, the gun fired. He claims it was a matter of the firing pin hitting from momentum of the slide, but it's a glock so I doubt it was anything more than finger in the wrong place. Either way, I dug a nice .40 HP out of the carpet about a foot from where I was sitting on the floor.

Other friend came running out freaked that a gun went off, but I just calmly dug out the round and showed him.

[Wes Janson]

Out of curiosity...where did you live in Florida? I'm a few minutes from Sarasota.


The dumbest thing I've done so far was to hold my Kimber too close to my head. Range was almost empty, and I was trying to see how accurately I could shoot the RCP. Problem is, it's only got a sight trench, so I decided to try to reduce the human element. I leaned forward onto the table, arms out in front of me. Gripping the gun with both hands, I held it up in front of me, and aimed very carefully with the trench. Tried squeezing the trigger slowly..and the next thing I know, my forehead stings really badly. The odd thing was, I fired two or three shots BEFORE the one that nailed me. I suppose I just was holding it closer to my head, although it's possible it was a different brand of ammo, with a stronger load. Suprisingly enough, I didn't really bleed at all, and because it didn't have sights the mark was fairly unnoticeable.

Moral of the story: beware not only what's BEHIND your target, but what's behind your GUN! :P

[Blue]

At the open range out here I was shooting my new Springer GI and about 80rds into it a ricochet came back and hit me in the stomach. I went to the wife and said "I think we should leave now." Turns out it went through my sweatshirt but my t shirt caught the small chunk of metal. Left a wicked cut though.

[Kilroy6644]

Man, reading about all these accidents makes me feel left out :D . The worst I've done is pinch my hand while slapping a magazine in my Colt, and I hit the heel of my hand on the lanyard loop of my Springer GI while slapping in a magazine.

[adam184]

About a year ago a group of us from my shooting club were practicing on some steel targets. One of the guys had brought a mate down to have a look. We were all shooting lead reloads on the steel, all wearing glasses. I was filling a mag and look over to see this visitor cop a ricochet in the for head. I had to dig it out with a pair of tweezers, and stop the blood. The piece only weighed about 25grns but was quiet jagged. needless to say we haven't seen him around since.
Adam
P.S. he was about 3metres behind the line, and 10m behind the targets. So watch that steel.

[ltdave]

i almost hate to post on this it was so stupid...

i was playing with my garand (i know not a handgun) and i got the meat of my palm caught between the stock and the receiver somehow. it was too heavy to let go of so i could disassemble the parts but hurt to much to leave like that so i just jumped up and back and let it bang to the floor...

now the real embarrassing one. one my shooting buddy will NEVER let me live down :(

i used to shoot my ruger 22/45 quite a bit. its cheap and super accurated. i was bump firing it and i thought SURELY id fired all 10 rounds. well the bolt handle doesnt lock back and so i dropped the magazine and squeezed the trigger while holding the gun at about a 60o elevation. luckily theres not much behind our backstop :eek:

david

[right hand]

1. in an indoor firing range. we just finished and were waiting to pay. seated on a bench. the guy at the right end of bench was lowering his hammer on a loaded chamber (finger on trigger-slowly,slowly) when his gun goes bang. slug travelled about a foot in front of all those seated and left a nice mark on the vending machine. never saw the guy again. :mad:
2. at an ipsc match, i was on the second string when i felt a blow on my right shoulder. turned out to be my own ricochet from a popper. i was stunned and when my friends asked me later why i stopped momentarily, i showed them my bruise.