Intro/Negligent Discharge..

[bigandy1966]

A gun is a tool. (Never heard of a young mechanic playing with his new socket set while goofing on the phone. I guess it's possible).
For me, you never "play" with a gun. If your going to familiarize yourself with any firearm, you never use live rounds unless your on the range. Never practice with live rounds in a building. (Occupied or not). I am surrounded by LTCC friends and family and I never ever saw them unholster it and rack the slide, drop mags, eject shells, etc in all the decades we have walked the earth UNLESS we are outside and shooting. Never while we are at camp or at home watching a game, playing cards or texting talking on a phone. At my hunting camp, no loaded hunting rifles in it and no loading a rifle until your outside. I never saw anyone fidgeting with their hunting rifle while we are talking, eating, watching TV, etc.

We have had guns in our family for all of our lives, We love to shoot , hunt and just have fun seeing who is the best shots. We like to check out the newest guns someone bought, but We have these rules;
No beer while shooting or handling firearms.
When we are up at my moms and someone has a new pistol, rifle,
we take it out on the porch,
the owner clears the weapon,(makes weapon safe, empty, inspects chamber, place magazine and +1 on the electrical meter on the wall)
shows the audience how to clear the weapon, safety, features,
leaves the slide back bolt open action open,
verifies the mag out or empty and inspects the chamber AGAIN,
They THEN hand the fire arm to the other person, (Slide back or action open,)
The person taking the weapon then inspects the weapon to ensure the mags out, chamber is empty AGAIN,
Releases the slide without a magazine, closes the bolt etc. looks at the sights /optics/scope aiming at the shooting area (AKA hill of dirt with steel gongs and pistol tree)
Opens the action and checks the chamber magazine AGAIN,
checks the function of the safety, Dry fires the weapon a few times to test the trigger pull and safety, while pointed at the shooting range (aka hill of dirt with etc) repeats the procedure for the next person.
Then we go and shoot a box or 3 through the new firearm, compare it tour current carry firearms,
Offer opinions. critiques, form improvements, taunts general ballbusting etc.
When I go to a relative with children, we love to roughhouse, I will go into the kitchen, (no big to do about it,) and take off my holstered weapon and place it on top of the refrigerator for the duration of the visit.
My Niece had a boyfreind who was anti gun and he was tall enough to see the pistol on the top of the fridge. I hear him and my niece whispering about it "why does he think he needs a gun at a family BBQ? she said " really? mind your own business, Hes playing with the kids and the gun isnt bothering anyone but you so shut up mind your own business"

Oh I used to turn wrenches for a living, one time I had a 1/2" drive ratchet on a socket. I was on the phone, idly swinging it around by the socket making noise when it popped off the socket and smacked me in the gourd, raised a nice goose egg

[Yoder]

Everyone here has already made some great points. I have screwed up several times over the years and every time it has happened I felt sick to my stomach and was really scared and embarrassed. These mistakes have made me a better gun owner since I tried to learn from each experience. Only other thing I would say is don't buy anymore guns until you learn how to use the ones that you already have. I know lots of guys that have thousands of dollars worth of guns but can't shoot worth a damn. Spend your money on training and ammo. You can't buy skill. A new shiny amazing gun will not make you better at shooting. The fact that you posted this here shows me that this really bothered you which is great.

[TheWallWasArmed]

A lot of great posts. I thank all of you for taking the time to help me out. I really want to take this as a learning experience and my next step is proper training. The tips, hard truth and offers for help are much appreciated. What I did was incredibly reckless and stupid. A buddy of mine is getting a gun soon so I have been passing on my experience and this advice. Everytime I see that wall I think of how bad that could have been. Last thing I want is to hurt someone or hurt the gun community with my actions.

All that said..day off and time to run errands. Home Depot is calling my name.

[Rosco the Iroc]

. I know lots of guys that have thousands of dollars worth of guns but can't shoot worth a damn. Spend your money on training and ammo. You can't buy skill. A new shiny amazing gun will not make you better at shooting.

OMG This should be a banner on the main page.

[Manxdriver]

OP, sounds like you learned your lesson. Be careful. Good that no-one got hurt.

I have a metal trash can under my desk, it has a really sharp pair of holes in it. Every time I pick it up to empty it, it bites me. Why do I keep it? It's my reminder to practice gun safety. I had a single action revolver go off as I was unloading it, in my closet that holds my pistol safe. The round went through the wall, out the other side, through the back of my desk, through both sides of my trash can, through the corner of my computer, through the other side of my desk, and lodged in a sheaf of copier paper. Oh, and it missed my daughter's knees by less than a half inch. Both knees. Showered her with wood splinters from the desk.


Yes, I am keeping that garbage can forever! Glad you and everyone else are ok. Learn from it.

[WCMG]

1st point: Like others said, it appears you learned your lesson. When we clear firearms at our range, here's the process:

1: Drop the magazine
2: Rack slide 3 times
3: Visually verify chamber is empty

Then, and only then, do we outloud say, "CLEAR" so people close by know we cleared the weapon. I find myself saying "CLEAR" even when I'm by myself at the range, it's a habit now.

2nd point: Take a few classes from different instructors. Make this your first priority.

3rd point: As other said, unless you are on the firing line, never practice with real rounds.. get some dummy rounds for home training, plus they are really useful on the firing line practicing fail to fire drills.

[USMC3531]

The slide only needs to be withdrawn to the rear AND LOCKED BACK once. First check mag well both visually and physically then move to the chamber. Racking slide like a banshee accomplishes nothing in and of its self. Especially if you have something crazy like an extractor failure at which point you would be opening and closing a slide on a chambered round. The method mentioned above is the most simple to remember, and accomplished ensuring a clear firearm in the least amount of steps.

hes not talking about "racking like a banshee" he is looking multiple times. I always check multiple times before pulling the trigger. kinda ocd about it.

[Daycrawler]

I (for lack of a better term) play with it all the time. I clear the gun and am sure to never point it at anything i shouldn't. All that aside that was not the gun i had an Nd with..

When "playing" with your dick, girlfriend, boyfriend, cellphone or Pistol. Its best to just play with that and only that!

That said at least you had the guts admit your mistake...

[SL Dan]

Out of curiosity, where did the bullet stop? Was it an inside or outside wall? Did it go through multiple walls? Did you recover the bullet?

Glad you were unharmed this time. Be safe.

[TheWallWasArmed]

Out of curiosity, where did the bullet stop? Was it an inside or outside wall? Did it go through multiple walls? Did you recover the bullet?

Glad you were unharmed this time. Be safe.

It went in an angle into the wall. I believe it then ricocheted off of the stud. The wall was protruding a few inches away from the point of impact. Went and opened it up and found the bullet lodged into the wood. Was going to keep it as a reminder but it fell down into the wall when I tried to retrieve it lol. Pure stupid luck.

In case anyone is curious it was Hornady critical defense 115gr