I'm in the hospital because I made a near-fatal error

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear of your injuries and hope that you heal quickly. I too was accidentally shot with a .22 caliber pistol. People underestimate the damage firearms can do. Even a .22 caliber.

Sorry to hear of your injury, best wishes for a full and speedy recovery!

Yikes!
Hate to hear this, but if it convinces some folks to check and recheck their "unloaded" firearm before servicing, then perhaps some good can come of it.
Wishing you a full and speedy recovery sir!

Best wishes for a speedy, comfortable, and full recovery.
Your harrowing narrative will remind THR'ers to be safe.

Ouch. I’m trying to not be critical but the four rules are there for a reason. You have to break two at the same time for a bad day.

RULE I: Treat ALL GUNS as if they ARE ALWAYS LOADED

RULE II: NEVER point THE MUZZLE At ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY

RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOU are ready to shoot

RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET AND WHATS BEYOND IT

Best wishes for a full recovery. So sorry to hear of your mishap.

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

Sorry to read this, hope your recovery is quick and full.

I appreciate you putting it out there to help others.

Sorry to hear about your accident, and wishing you a speedy recovery!

Glad to hear your still with us. I know you feel some shame about the incident but I feel like coming here and talking about it will help you get over those feeling. It’s hard to admit when we do something foolish. Not as serious obviously as your incident but i too did something foolish that I am embarrassed about this year.
I caught a dog in a coyote trap about 6 weeks back. He was a stray (didn’t know at the time) and he was in very good temperament when I approached. Talking to him, he’s wagging his tail, let’s me pet him on the head. I go to release him and he grabs me and chews up my left hand and both forearms. Had to go to the Er and get stitches and undergo a very unpleasant series of rabies vaccines over the following weeks. I knew better than to try and handle an animal without my choke stick (like a dog catcher pole).
Not trying to compare our injuries just trying to share a time I pulled a move that made me feel like a total fool.
Thanks for sharing your story as a cautionary tale for us.

We all do boneheaded things from time to time. Wish you a full and quick recovery.

Shame and embarrassment can print a powerful lesson on our minds. I'm glad it wasn't fatal and you'll recover and I'm betting you'll never make that mistake again. Unfortunately many people suffer from the "that can't happen to me" mentality and will have to learn their own lessons the hard way.

If you don't mind my asking, what were the immediate effects of taking that 22 round? If that had been in a fight would you have been immediately incapacitated or could you have continued to pull a trigger or stab with a blade?

Bearcat1982 said:

Such a dumb thing to do. And I feel like I need to own it maybe some one will read it and it will cause someone to avoid doing the same.

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Thanks for being willing to share! Not an easy thing to do but a serious reminder that it only takes an instant of carelessness to cause serious problems. Lord knows I've made plenty of stupid mistakes that "could have, should have" gotten myself or someone else hurt but, through luck or divine intervention, did not.

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

dh1633pm said:

We all do boneheaded things from time to time. Wish you a full and quick recovery.

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That is affirmative! Each and every one of us !
To me, the day I stop being a little scared (read: losing respect) of these things, is the day I put ‘em all up for sale !
Sometimes it’s a shame God doesn’t give us “do-overs”…but if he did, graveyards would only be about 1/3 full, there would be no divorce rate (because there would be no marriage rate), and we’d all be millionaires…
…But it just doesn’t happen that way, so I would like to add my wishes for a full and speedy recovery as well.
Hang in there bro…bullets are just lead, will is iron !

Thanks for sharing. We all make mistakes on a daily basis, and those are rarely important enough to remember by the end of the day.
It can be surprising how some mistakes are forever.
Glad you get another chance at life

So if you don’t mind, what specifically happened? The muzzle was pointed at your gut as you started working on the gun? How did you pull the trigger? With your thumb?

I’m not trying to embarrass you further or pick on you. I just really like to understand accidents.

I kind of know the shame that you feel , just not the pain . When I bought my first semi automatic pistol many years ago I was going to disassemble it late one night because I had trouble reassembling it the first time . It was a 1911 . Well it was so late that I changed my mind . I had racked it with a loaded magazine . When I decided not to disassemble it , I pulled the trigger to let the hammer down . That was also something that I was taught growing up not to do . I read not ride the hammer and dry firing was ok , so I pulled the trigger . Luckily it was pointed at the floor , but I felt the air go by my bare foot . I thought that I was dreaming at 3:00am in the morning . Then I thought the police were going to come any minute , our houses were so close to each other . So I opened the windows to get the smell and smoke out . I had dropped the pistol on the sofa when it fired . I went to get it and I saw the hammer cocked again and I was afraid to pick it up and unload it . I finally got my courage up , fearing the police were going to be here any minute and I dropped the magazine and racked the slide to unload it . I don’t remember now if I pulled the trigger afterwards or if I road the hammer down with my thumb to lower the hammer . I put the pistol up and the police never showed up . I was afraid to touch that pistol for a long time after that . I still feel the shame of my careless negligence discharge . I just hope that it made me more safety conscious and it will never happen again . I write this so that anyone else reading this might can learn from my mistake . The only thing that I did halfway right that night was have the pistol pointed in a direction that no one could get hurt when it fired . If I would have been pointing it down the hall , it possibly would have penetrated the neighbors house killing or injuring one of their kids or them . Thanks for posting your story here OP , someone less experienced and young could learn from reading this thread and be more careful ( WHERE ) the muzzle is pointed and DOUBLE and TRIPLE checking that the firearm IS NOT LOADED .

Does this pistol operate like a Glock where you have to pull the trigger to disassemble it? (Edit, I've been informed that the Bearcat is a Ruger Revolver?) Sounds like a bad time overall, but at least you are okay! Luckily it wasn't a bigger caliber, even though it seems like even the 22 hurt pretty good. I know a guy who got shot point blank with a pellet rifle and the pellet went 3.5in inside his gut, and apparently the doctors said if it went 4in it would have severed an artery or a vein (I head this second hand about 9 years ago just fyi) and then he would have bled out before ems could even get to his house... Crazy...

I hope you have a speedy recovery.

I know a guy that had something similar happen with a 22 WRM rifle and he accidentally shot himself in the knee when he went to clean it. He ended up loosing his leg because of it. Though in his case, alcohol was definitely involved. The guy was a regular at the bar I worked at and loves his beer a little too much.

Thank you for reminding me of how dangerous this hobby can be. May your recovery be speedy and uncomplicated.