I am still strongly addicted to the press check....It serves me well and allows me to constantly know the condition of my weapon. I get on my own nerves during dry fire.flintknapper wrote:Dihappy,
Sorry to hear about this incident.
No need to beat yourself about it.
I see nothing wrong with your regiment for unloading your weapon and lowering the hammer. You simply became a victim of your habits.
It is all too easy to "forget a step" of the process (Check the chamber) especially if distracted in any way.
When that happens, you will default to your general level of gun handling habits. I commend you for pointing the firearm in a safe direction (we will normally do what we practice).
The only thing I would suggest you add to your procedure is this: Make it your practice to "Press Check". Even after dropping the magazine, locking back the slide and visually checking, I still press check one last time before dropping the hammer.
To borrow a term from my friend (Jbirds) I am a "press check junkie" and it has served me well.
Thank You... for sharing and reminding us all to be especially careful when loading/unloading.
Flint.
DH- Say a prayer in thanks that there were no injuries.
I had a ND about ten years ago and vividly remember the way it made me feel. I could not believe that this happened to me after all of the precautions I used. The ceiling in my rental home took a direct hit with a .38 shotshell
Yeah, I managed to do it with a revolver. The lesson I learned was a hard one....but I did learn it and it has not faded in my mind.