A laugh and a lesson.

[israel67]

I'm sorta new to this forum and I just got through reading many of the posts by forum members re: accidental discharges. Very eye opening! Make great required reading for anyone obtaining a CHL or anyone who handles firearms for any reason. Maybe Charles could gather it in a book and make a few bucks? Paladin should go on the speaker cirquit. What a experience.
I don't pretend to be a gun expert by any means but I have never understood why anyone would want a gun with the safety on the trigger or a gun that requires you to pull the trigger to break it down. There seems to be a lot of very good pistols and revolvers on the market that are a lot safer.
Thanks for the great info.

I second your thoughts about pistols with safeties on the trigger, and if Chas will forgive me for stealing his thread ...

Glock sent me a catalogue a few weeks ago. Kimber refused, as they don't send 'em outside of the US. Pity.

I confess to finding the Kimber Pro Carry to be a thing of great beauty. Glocks are - IMHO - pig-ugly.

But ... but ... at the same time ... I tell myself ...

Kimber: 7 + 1 rounds of subsonic .45 ACP
Glock: 15 + 1 rounds of .357 sig at +1,400 fps

I have to confess, I'm hesitating ...

[Abraham]

My contribution to "Never Again" is my having to remain ever vigilant when retrieving my main carry pistol from it's storage place. I keep it in a hanging holster and I'd started to develop a hurried approach when pulling it out of the holster.

I recognized this developing bad habit and ignored it. A couple of days ago, I got in such a big hurry when pulling it out of the holster, I got ever so slightly off balance. That was a wake up call. No more of that stuff!

I've gone back to very deliberately and carefully retrieving my pistol from it's storage place, making certain at all times my finger is properly indexed.

Getting in a hurry with firearms when there's no real need is foolish and dangerous.

Never again!

P.S. I don't understand why anyone would be particularly fearful/hesitant regarding a pistol that has to be triggered before being broken down?

Aren't all firearms inherently dangerous if not treated with safety foremost and don't many have their own quirky break down procedures?

Aren't we required by common sense to make completely certain we unload any firearm just prior to disassembly and cleaning anyway?

This specific bit of concern shouldn't stand in the way of buying some very fine pistols in the market place.

[The Annoyed Man]

I shot a hole in the ceiling of my bedroom about 12 years ago with a .44 magnum. It went off right next to my left ear. Easily one of the dumbest things I've ever done. It was a negligent discharge. I had dumped out the rounds from the cylinder into my hand, said to myself "yeah, that looks like six," placed them on the bed, and started dry firing it with the muzzle pointed at the ceiling. Along about the the 3rd or 4th time, all sound ceased to exist for a while.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but it did scare the bejabbers out of both me, and my son - who was was 6 years old at the time, and who was taking a bath on the other side of the wall at the time. I will say this though: it was a near religious experience, and I have been downright paranoid about safety ever since. I may go on to do other spectacularly stupid things in my life, but negligently discharging a firearm isn't going to be one of them. I learned my lesson but good.

Oh, and it took about 2 weeks to get about 90% of the hearing back in my left ear.

[longhorn_92]

I shot a hole in the ceiling of my bedroom about 12 years ago with a .44 magnum. It went off right next to my left ear. Easily one of the dumbest things I've ever done. It was a negligent discharge. I had dumped out the rounds from the cylinder into my hand, said to myself "yeah, that looks like six," placed them on the bed, and started dry firing it with the muzzle pointed at the ceiling. Along about the the 3rd or 4th time, all sound ceased to exist for a while.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but it did scare the bejabbers out of both me, and my son - who was was 6 years old at the time, and who was taking a bath on the other side of the wall at the time. I will say this though: it was a near religious experience, and I have been downright paranoid about safety ever since. I may go on to do other spectacularly stupid things in my life, but negligently discharging a firearm isn't going to be one of them. I learned my lesson but good.

Oh, and it took about 2 weeks to get about 90% of the hearing back in my left ear.

What?????.....

[WeyaH]

...but it's not me, it was my uncle.
About 40 years ago, my uncle was 18 and I was around 8 or so. He had a bolt action Mauser that his dad (my Pap) had bought him for deer season.
My beloved uncle (seriously, he used to let me hang out with him when we were at those ages), was sitting on the living room floor with his rifle (my grandmother was in the kitchen, and my aunt...his sister, was sitting on the couch with me...Pap was at work) and decided he wanted to show us how fast he could rack the bolt. He loaded it with 6 rounds and emptied (almost) the magazine in about 4 seconds. It was then that I asked, "But, Uncle Duke, would you have time to pull the trigger".
He looked at me, luckily the rifle was pointed away from everyone, and pulled the trigger, just as it dawned on me that there were only five rounds sitting on the floor beside him.
The sound was incredible as the 8mm round passed through the leg of the console television, through an interior wall at the baseboard, exited the other side, severed the telephone wire, went through two oak legs of the telephone stand, through another baseboard and stopped only because it hit the bricks of the exterior wall.
The concussive effect knocked a picture off the wall behind my aunt, hitting her in the head, and scaring the...well, let's just say, laundry had to be done that evening.
In order to save my uncle's life, Grandma patched, covered, and cleaned up all evidence before Pap got home, as my uncle would likely have been hospitalized from the beating. Pap never found out about it, but everyone in the house gained a HUGE amount of respect for firearms. My uncle carries that bullet around to this day.

[Gracegarden]

My husband and I went to the Austin Gun show a few weeks ago. I had been having trouble handling my XD so we decided to consider something else, after hours of shopping we decided on a Walther PPS 9mm.
We went through the purchasing process and went home, looking forward to using it.
Range day came and we got our guns, ammo, etc. and loaded up.

First shot with my Walther jammed and when our 'range master' dug out the shell it had a pretty bloated, ballooned end. I loaded a 40cal with 9mm ammo! Range Master said a lesser quality gun may have exploded in my hand!

Interesting lesson...I bought a 9mm, came home (unknowingly) with a 40, and shot 9mm.

I will always check now, regardless of what anyone else tells me. And now I have to buy the more expensive 40 cal.

[E10]

Did you buy the ammo when you bought the gun? Did the gun shop folks not ask why you were buying 9mm for a .40 S&W pistol?

I saw a Beretta 9000S 9 mm in a gun shop last year, and didn't even know it came in .40, too. I decided I wanted it, but went home and looked it up on the web first. If I hadn't, somethin' like that mighta happened to me.

[kjolly]

35 years ago I used to fly gliders out of Windmere.

[Dave2]

35 years ago I used to fly gliders out of Windmere.

Did you have an accidental landing?

[tbrown]

Never Again!?