Accidental discharge

[Weg]

Today, my Dad was over at my house and wanted to see the single action .22 pistol he had handed down to me years ago. We went out in my garage, I opened my safe and pulled out the revolver. Before I handed it too him I pulled it to half cock and rolled through what I thought was 6 cylinders. I handed it to him and told him it was unloaded. He proceded to dryfire it fortunatley while pointed out into the woods on my property. You guessed it, bang. After the initial shock we found out that it was a .22 snake shot shell that I must have left in it before.

Bad lessons : I should have never put it back in my safe loaded when I don"t use it as a self defense weapon, I should have seen the shell in the cylinder when checking. My Dad should have double checked it when I handed it to him.

Good Lessons : My Dad had it pointed in a safe direction when dryfiring.

[WildBill]

I am glad that you both learned a lesson, without being injured.

[flintknapper]

ND in my opinion.

Glad no one was hurt and kudos to your dad for good discipline (pointing in safe direction).

Also, Thank You for sharing your story. It will serve to help the rest of us remember: Always check and double check!

Flint.

[sugar land dave]

I guess that's why they have the 4 rules! Glad no one was hurt by the EMPTY firearm....

[The Annoyed Man]

I had a similar discharge once, and it was with a .44 magnum.........indoors.........right next to my left ear.

It was negligence, not an accident. Your's was too.

[mrvmax]

I had a similar discharge once, and it was with a .44 magnum.........indoors.........right next to my left ear.

It was negligence, not an accident. Your's was too.

Yep, ND not an AD. There are very few AD's.

[Texas Dan Mosby]

"Accidental" discharges occur due to conditions outside of a shooters' control.

Say, a faulty safety, or some other mechanical malfunction beyond the control of the shooter.

The incident you describe occurred due to negligence on the part of the shooter. Period.

Think about that for a minute...

Contrary to popular belief, YOU have the capability to ensure such negligent actions will NOT happen again. It takes discipline and vigilance, but you CAN ensure that it NEVER happens again. Develop the mindset that EVERY arm is LOADED until YOU prove otherwise with a thorough visual inspection, verified by a peer if available.

I will bet a case of beer that if we had a "hide the live round" contest in a firearm, you would find the live round I hid EVERY time. Why? Because you would be motivated to FIND the live round.

Look for it, use a peer to confirm if available, and you will ALWAYS avoid such incidents.

[AJ80]

I think there can be circumstances in which an unintended discharge is not negligent.

For example, you're at the shooting range with a loaded pistle pointed down range at the target, but you accidently fire before you intend to.

By I agree with those posting above in that there were some elements of negligence.

Glad no one was hurt.

[Fangs]

I store all my guns loaded. Never know when I'll need them.

[mrvmax]

I store all my guns loaded. Never know when I'll need them.

I do this too, my family and I all know that my guns are always loaded. I never have to wonder when I am doing a safety check since I always have them loaded. This doesn't work for everyone since people with young children probably will not want to do this.

[techgiant28]

I think there can be circumstances in which an unintended discharge is not negligent.

For example, you're at the shooting range with a loaded pistle pointed down range at the target, but you accidently fire before you intend to.

By I agree with those posting above in that there were some elements of negligence.

Glad no one was hurt.

I'd still argue negligence in that case. If the weapon discharges without the full intent of the shooter, and is not due to a manufacturing defect, then it is negligence. Why would your finger be on the trigger if you're not ready to shoot?

[OldCannon]

If it's your fault, it's an AD; if it's caused by some other guy, it's an ND.

[Keith B]

Everyone is arguing semantics. Let's look at definitions of the three types of discharges mentioned:

Accidental (Accident): an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap

Unintended: not purposed; not designed; not intentional: an unintended snub.

Negligent (Neglect): to pay no attention or too little attention to; disregard or slight

Bottom line, it all boils down to negligence in proper validation that the gun was unloaded before he pulled the trigger. Luckily, because Weg's Dad WAS following other rules and pointing the weapon in a safe direction, there was no harm, injury, damage or loss incurred by the discharge. And, because there was no bad outcome other than a possible need to do laundry afterward, Weg and his Dad get to chalk it up to a 'no harm no foul' lesson learned and that incident will stick with them going forward.

And, Weg's sharing it with us here should reinforce that it can happen to ANYONE, so make sure you always follow the rules, especially double checking a firearm for yourself before manipulating the action.

Thanks for sharing your dirty laundry (pun intended) with us Weg.

[MoJo]

Yes thanks, Weg - - - My old dad always said, "Learn from the mistakes of others, you won't live long enough to make them all yourself."

We all need to take this as a lesson. Check, double check, then check again.

I am glad no one was hurt.

Be safe out there.

[speedsix]

...it's often that those who handle guns most let something slip by them...I took a 20 ga Browning out of the back to give it to a lady who was redeeming her pawn on it once, and found 5 live shells in it...the shop manager who took it in jacked the bolt but didn't check the disconnect that was in that model to retain the shells in the tube and allow the hunter to empty the barrel without emptying the whole gun...I got suspicious and went back to the back and inspected every weapon in the pawned guns...found a total of five with live shells in the magazine or barrel...we had a little discussion that day...he'd been handling guns since he was 8 years old...a reminder such as this one is ALWAYS timely!!!