Broke rule #1

[Handsome Rob]

I often practice trigger drills with my rifles. I like to be as familiar with all of my guns as humanly possible before I take them out hunting.

Well, today was the turn of the trusty old '94

 

I unloaded it this morning (It's the ONLY rifle I keep loaded up, due to our coyote problem) & put it back in the safe. I know I unloaded it because I was there when I did it. 

 

So, when I grabbed it just now to practice, I KNEW it was unloaded........

 

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[URL=http://s4.photobucket.com/user/robtattoo/media/IMG_20131021_142829_252_zps7717da64.jpg.html][/URL]

 

The dog now thinks I'm an asshat. The Wife thinks I'm an asshat. You think I'm an asshat & honestly, I agree with all of you.

 

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHECK, DOUBLE CHECK & THEN RE-CHECK ANY FIREARM BEFORE YOU PULL THE TRIGGER!!!

 

Thankfully all that was damaged was my hunting room window, the jeep & my shorts.

[buck1032]

Wow, glad no one was hurt and thanks for sharing your tale. Hopefully your ND will be a helpful reminder for the rest of us to be ever vigilant.

[Hozzie]

 I would have to say, my shorts would need a change too.  Glad it all ended ok.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Hozzie

[Guest TankerHC]

When I unload, if I cant see light down the chamber through the receiver, or if I cant stick my finger in an empty barrel through the chamber, it isnt unloaded.

 

And when it is, it isnt.

 

Glad to see no one was injured. I dont think your an asshat, but I do think the people who point "unloaded guns" at their and other peoples heads and pull the trigger for a joke are asshats. I wont say "accidental" because we all know what it is.

 

But at the same time, if it can happen to an experienced gun owner (I am assuming your an experienced gun owner) then it can happen to anybody, that I am aware of.

 

Have seen experienced gun owners shoot themselves in the leg more than once, shoot their cars and trucks, shoot while people were down a cold range, plenty who have negligently killed themselves and others.

 

It CAN happen to anybody, no matter how much experience you have. Good lesson for all of us.

[tnguy]

Hey, you can pay good money for stickers like that.

 

Now let me hold a Tennessee flag and we can make the site logo.

[East_TN_Patriot]

:doh:

 

I did the same thing once when I was 19 years old.  Shot a hole through my television set and the sofa in the other room.  Thank God nobody was in there.  Learned my lesson right then and there.

[KahrMan]

A few of us have done this.  It is a lesson that when you learn it the hard way, you usually don't make that mistake again.

[Guest Riciticky]

Thanks, it never hurts to get a safety briefing now and then. I am like tankerHC, I put my finger in the hole due to my night vision problem. Ck, then ck again.

[tnguy]

Rule #2 as well, I think.

[NRA]

wow..... just........ wow ..hats off for very helpful safety lesson we all should heed.

[Erik88]

Been there, done that.

 

Mine was a Beretta 85 that I thought could be carried cocked and locked. It's misleading because with the hammer back the safety will actually move towards the "safe" position however it's not actually engaged. 

 

Those that say .380 won't penetrate are full of sh*t.

[Pat]

Glad no one got hurt, and a great lesson for all of us. Even if you 'remember' the gun being unloaded when you messed with it earlier in the day... check, double check, triple check...

[gregintenn]

It happens. Don't beat yourself up over it. Learn from it, and thanks for sharing so we might learn from it as well.

[TnShooter83]

Thanks for the safety reminder.

And for the record, I don't think you are an asshat.

An asshat would never admit they did something like that.

[analog_kidd]

Growing up, I never really was around guns much, other than my little BB gun. When I was about 16, I was visiting a friend who owned a .22 rifle and he was showing it to me. I asked if it was loaded and he said "No way". I picked it up and aimed it at the neighbors house, cars driving down the street, probably even swept my friend with it. Thank God I had the sense (luck) to point it at the ground before I pulled the trigger. Of course it went bang. I shout a hole right into his bedroom floor. His mom came running in totally freaked out. My friend was pissed at me for pulling the trigger, I was pissed at him for telling me it was not loaded.

 

To this day I still think about that incident. It didn't strike me as much then as it does now that I actually own guns. And now, it really freaks me out that I could have pulled the trigger while pointing it at someone. I tell that story to anyone I take shooting for the first time before we even take the guns out of the case. I don't care if its a cap gun, it's loaded and does not get pointed at anything I don't want to kill or destroy.

[tnguy]

It's probably worth having one of those stories to tell even if it's not strictly speaking true. Sticks in the mind better than simply telling the rules.

[Fourtyfive]

Point taken. As stated above glad no one was hurt , and no your not an asshat , thanks for sharing.

[Timestepper]

There's any number of old saws about good judgment coming from experience and experience coming from bad judgment or how "experience" is what you get when you don't get what you wanted... and you probably don't much care to be reminded of them right now. Can't say as I blame you. And please, please forgive me for chuckling right now, but there's a hole in a window about 30 feet from where I sit typing this. My wife put it there with my little Winchester lever action .22 a couple of years ago about 10 minutes after her 30 minute "safety lesson" concerning the safe operation and handling of the aforementioned rifle. She thought she was an asshat, too, although I don't think that's the word she used...

 

Long and short of it, I don't think she was an asshat and I don't think you're one either. The fact that I'm pretty sure that neither of you will ever do it again enforces that opinion. Life happens, sometimes it's a little embarrassing. You learn from it and move on and eventually laugh about it... unless you choose to sulk and play the blame game and beat yourself up to the point of giving up something near and dear to you - in that case you really are an asshat. (I still really doubt that's the case!)

 

Oh, and ''Mrs. Timestepper'' says, "Welcome to the club!" ;)

[BigK]

I suspect the dog put a round back in there to mess with you.

seriously though, same thing happened to my dad once. scared the crap out of me. ironically, it was a lever-action 30-30. Edited October 22, 2013 by BigK

[Handsome Rob]

I'm laughing about it now, but it took a couple of hours for my color to come back & the shaking to stop.
The Wife, a non-gun person if ever there was one, thinks it's funny as all hell!
Stupid is as stupid does, but stupid only does stuff like this once.

[vontar]

well, truth be told, I would rather read about it here like this, then hear about it on the 6 o'clock news.

[Guest TankerHC]

When I was about 10, me and a cousin got into a fight, this cousin was four years older than me and beat my azz. I went home and he followed behind me. I went through the alley to the back of my house, and walked in and picked up a bolt action 12 gauge. Which I thought was unloaded. I grew up around guns, including lots of FA. I had safety beat into my head. But I figured the gun was unloaded and I would scare him. I laid it over a cinder block fence, took aim and touched the trigger as he was rounding the corner of the alley. I had it aimed at him from less than 30 feet. I didnt pull the trigger. I racked the bolt and a shell flew out. it scared me so bad that I nearly passed out.

 

I will never forget it. I could have accidentally killed my cousin screwing around with a gun because I took a deserved azz whipping.

 

Then about 2 years later we moved to Remington Virginia. I think I may have told this one. The neighbors were about 1/4 mile away, the dad used to cut firewood in the winter for a living. First Thanksgiving we were there, we didnt have a phone and no one else did either, there were no phone lines up where we were. We all used CB Base stations and all Emergency services in the area also monitored. Neighbors son or daughter, cant remember which now, came running over screaming. The father and one of the sons had gone hunting. The son leaned a shotgun up against the wall before they sat down to eat. While they were eating the shotgun slid over and went off, shooting the son right in the face. I saw that before the ambulance got there.

 

Prior to both incidents, my first time I ever went hunting in Snow Hill Maryland, I saw a guy on the ground who had been shot out of a tree and killed accidentally by a 15 or 16 year old. We were all eating breakfast at a big restaurant, lot of hunters, when a bunch of sirens went by and all the hunters jumped up and took off up the mountain. There were two more shootings of hunters in that area that Winter.

 

Today (And for the last 40 years) I have been so safety conscious that I can tell you exactly how many people I have swept on a range. ONE. And it happened to be the Master Range Safety Officer I swept. If you have ever done a deal with me, you know, even with the mag out, bolt back, and even if someone takes a gun out of my hands and inspecting it in that condition, it still makes me nervous. Not nervous as in hands shaking nervous, nervous as in I get that feeling in the pit of my stomach. The gun can be disassembled and if I point the barrel Ill apologize. I will never lean a gun against a wall because of what I saw, ever. My HD guns are always in a position where I can get to them in 2 seconds, but never in a position I might grab one inadvertently while half asleep.  I have to be 10,000% sure of whats behind my target before pulling the trigger. When Im on a range with a new shooter, I am super focused.

 

My grandfather hunted for 61 years without incident. I can tell you the day he stopped hunting. Thanksgiving day, 1971. Heard a Turkey and opened fire. Guy comes screaming out from under a camouflaged lean to. My grandfather was shooting at a Turkey call. He went back to the car, and after we got home, never picked up a gun again.

 

I dont think I would do something as drastic as never pick up a gun again in that circumstance. But hope I never have to worry about it. Posted a month ago how I nearly blew my own head off with a Model 94 back when I was like 11. AFTER going through the NRA Youth Hunter Safety Course and having a super safety conscious father.

 

All the stories of NG's for me are reminders. Stories that re-enforce what for me is already set in stone. I feel these stories should be passed on as much as those great deer hunting stories. In fact I feel they are far more important.

[Guest Wildogre]

The two loudest sounds you will ever hear are click when there should be a bang and bang when there should be a click.

[Spook]

Very happy that no one was injured. Thanks for being man enough to share it and help us all not to get too complacent. Things happen for a reason.

[Tobashadow]

And people here gave me shit on asking how to properly hold open the bolt on my new AR so I could do a slow and complete clear check. :-(