Accidental Discharge Poll

[NWFLYJ]

I know there are alot of shooters here. I have had gun's in my life for over 40 years. I have hunted since I was 8, my father was Baltimore City Police, I was armed in the military for 11 years, My wife is a Deputy to give a few examples. I CC 1911's and have for 30 years cocked and locked.

I have never had an "accidental discharge" when my finger was not one the trigger except for cooking off a few rounds on mini gun, and that was because my finger was on the trigger just before.

I have witnessed a few accidental discharges and they were all related to operator error.

[docone31]

I went to an IHMSA meet once, with my XP-100.
As I closed the bolt, the firing pin went home. The bolt was 1/2 way down the galley, so there was no issue. Almost got my foot though.
My finger was no where near the trigger at the time.
Went home, sent the pistol off, and never had nother misfire.
I do make it an habit, of never letting the muzzle go anywhere near anything that could be hurt, destroyed, damaged, unless it is intended. I do not trust safeties.
I do not also carry with a round in the chamber. I carry with the hammer back, and the slide empty. Never had a misfire that way. Never carried a rifle in the field with a round in the chamber either. Also, never had a misfire that way.
Just my way.

[Rangefinder]

I went with "No Such Thing", mainly because it doesn't 'accidentally' discharge--except for mechanical defects, there has to be some form of user-negligence involved and it's usually in the form of having one's finger on the trigger at any point when not intending to shoot. Haven't had one personally, but seen more than one and had a nice little groove carved in the edge of my boot sole as a result of a friend lacking attention while holding a .22lr pistol down at his side.

[mtnman31]

Had a NEGLIGENT discharge when I was kid. My grandpa used to let me use a .22 bolt action, tube fed rifle (a Winchester, I think) to hunt gophers with my friends. I borrowed it one day and went just outside of town to my friend's family farm. We spent a few hours shooting gophers and then called it day. I emptied the rifle by cycling the bolt until bullets stopped coming out and I could see no more at the mouth of the tube. I walked back to town and along the way I aimed and dry fired at various trees, fence posts, and signs. Got home aimed and dry fired at people on TV, my younger brother and various other things around the house. Left the house and was taking the rifle back to my grandpa's house and aimed at a tree, BANG! It was the loudest gunshot I ever heard and I immediately had a hollow feeling in my chest. I wasn't even scared about shooting in town, my only thoughts were that I had earlier aimed at my brother and dry fired.

I probably dry fired and cycled the bolt two dozen times before I cranked that round off into the tree. I have no idea how the round stayed in the tube after all that action and frankly, I don't care. I'm just glad it didn't decide to chamber when I had aimed in at my brother. I know now that many tube loaders have a brightly colored follower to indicate an empty tube, a very smart improvement. It was a very sobering lesson for a kid to learn and instantly removed any casual attitudes I may have had about firearms. My grandfather always taught me good weapons safety, I just was a kid and had a lapse of responsibility without his direct supervision. Have never had any accidental or negligent discharges since then...

[NoZombies]

I had a .22 rifle when I was a kid, that would fire when you took the safety off. I never had a mishap, as I discovered the problem shortly after getting the rifle while I was squirrel hunting. The gun was aimed more or less at the squirrel, and I took the safety off to be ready to fire... BANG! I didn't hit the squirrel, but the bullet went into the trunk of the big pine tree he was hanging onto. My finger was no-where near the trigger, and the gun was brand new BTW

I learned a good lesson that day, and I've never trusted a safety to prevent a discharge since that moment.

[Bill*]

I'm guilty of one about 30 years ago. I'll never "slam" the slide closed on a rimfire (or any gun) again. . Never occurred to me that the slide could crush the primer rim. That .22 shotshell made a mess of the bedroom table top. Thank God I at least followed one rule and it wasn't pointed elsewhere

Just scrolled up after posting---Mtnman31 had it right, I believe I actually had a NEGLIGENT discharge

[Doc Highwall]

I have been able to get my 1885 Browning to fire without my finger on the trigger. Once when I closed the lever it fired. And once I did it when I let the hammer fall, testing to see if it would fire when it would not cock back. This rifle I have not done the McGee trigger fix to yet and the trigger does not repeat for trigger pull and sometimes when you bring the leaver up the hammer is in the fired position so I pulled the hammer back to try to get it to cock and it would not catch which happens if you set the trigger pull too light. I had not adjusted it for a light trigger pull knowing this so I was wondering if it would fire if I pulled the hammer back and just let it go and it did fire. I only use this rifle off the bench for this reason just so I know where it is pointing in case it happens again.

[MT Gianni]

I had an AD when lowering the hammer on a live rd hunting. My thumb slipped off the hammer extension half way down and I put one into the ridge above me.

[9.3X62AL]

I have had 3 ADs in my lifetime. All 3 were my fault. All three were innocuous because the firearms involved were pointed in a safe direction. All three scared the living #%&$ out of me, and I remember them each VIVIDLY. First was at age 13--2nd was at age 26--3rd was at age 47. None were on duty as a LEO.

[TCLouis]

There are accidental discharges, but most are negligent discharges.

[johnly]

M14 slam fires fit where?

John

[missionary5155]

Good morning
In my lifetime I have seen a very old .22 rifle fire one it´s own when the bolt was closed and a Remington Rolling Block discharge. Both were mechanical / crud build up in the trigger systems.
One day my well shot Savage semi auto .22 fired off 3-4 shots rather than the one intended. The screws that held the trigger assembly to the bottom of the receiver had worked loose. To a 12 year old WW2 movie junky it was a major epiphany.

[chaos]

I have had one AD/ND, not sure whre to put it. I hit the decocker on a makarov pistol and the weapon went off sending a round in to the floor and then wall next to my safe. (Exterior wall, safe spot I always aim when clearing weapons).

Where does that fit in your Poll?


Every Semi Auto I own is now Single action only.

[NickSS]

I had a slam fire on an SKS one time when I was trying federal primers (bad idea they were two soft) also had seven rounds go off from a 1911 with one pull of the trigger when the sear broke that was quite exciting.

[nicholst55]

No such thing as an accidental discharge; they're negligent discharges. I have personally had one (1) in 20 years military service (Small Arms/Armament Repair, Advanced Marksmanship), 6 years defense contracting (Small Arms/Armament Repair, Security Forces - in the sandbox), and 55 years of being a gun owner. I have had people working for/with me commit a few NDs, and I have personally avoided two others by clearing the gun before handling it ~ supposedly 'empty' guns had rounds in the chambers.

Fortunately, nobody has been injured on my watch; we've shot a couple of holes through light fixtures and the roof, and my boss once shot a round through the shop door and across three shop bays, then through the wall. That'll get your attention in a hurry, trust me!

I now strictly practice and enforce two fundamental safety rules involving firearms:

1. Don't do stupid stuff with guns. Ever.
2. When in doubt, refer to Rule #1!

I have seen malfunctioning guns fire inadvertently, so I guess maybe that does qualify as 'accidental.'

[Lloyd Smale]

hate to admit it as it real embarassing but others are fessing up so i will too. MY gun safe still has a dent in it from me knocking a sixgun off the shelf that fell to the bottom of the safe.The gun was an old model ruger without the transfer bar that clements did for me in 44 spec. Funny thing is there were only 4 rounds in it and one was under the hammer. Ive got no clue how it got put away like that. I have loaded guns all over the house but I never keep loaded guns in the safe and dont know how that one got in there loaded. Im just dammed lucky that gun fell pointed into the wall of the safe and not into me!

[2shot]

I have had one AD/ND, not sure whre to put it. I hit the decocker on a makarov pistol and the weapon went off sending a round in to the floor and then wall next to my safe. (Exterior wall, safe spot I always aim when clearing weapons).

Where does that fit in your Poll?


Every Semi Auto I own is now Single action only.

+1 on the single action only semi auto, I've never had one go off accidentaly and that's all I own now too.

Same thing happened with my S&W 639. Sent the bullet through a filing cabinet and into a brick wall because of a faulty decocker/firingpin.

I have had 2 accidental discharges with 2 different guns and they were new and not tinkered with. S&W 639 went off when decocker was used (first time using the gun in double action mode although shot a couple hundered times before this without a problem) sent back to S&W for repair and SOLD. A Remingtom 700 bought in 1969 that would randomly fire when flipping the saftey off ( had over 500 rounds through that 700 before this had happened the first time) fixed and still use this gun to this day without a problem.

I had also bought a Marlin bolt action .22 Mag back in 1966 that the saftey didn't work at all. Sent it back to be fixed and it still didn't work when returned to me. (had gun destroyed because of being unsafe).

I think that you should have included mechanical failures on this poll. All of the accidental discharges that I have had were mechanical failures. A gun doesn't fire by itself it's either a mechanical failure or a brain failure

[BobCat]

Ruger Vaquero, Cowboy Action shoot, A/D from thumb cocking with finger on the trigger. Hit the plate target, looked intentional, nobody knew it was an A/D but me. Learned my lesson!

[buck1]

I saw a older fellow with a saturday night spl blow the end of his finger off.
I also had a 10/22 slam fire once, The trigger had beenworked on and I sent it back to the smith and he replaced it.

[rhbrink]

I've had two both hammer guns the first was a Winchester 22 pump model 62 was rabbit hunting making my way down a ditch very brushy and it went off scared the schit out of me. To this day don't know what happened other that some brush or something came in contact with the hammer and pulled it back enough to fire. It was pionted in a safe direction. About the same with a .50 cal flintlock about the same deal but on that one I remember that the rifle snaged on some brush as I was again moving through a very brushy area pulled the cock back enough to fire double scared the schit out of me again. Can't be careful enough was lucky both times as the guns were pointed in a safe direction.