Discipline handling guns takes focus

[sirgilligan]

My neighbor is interested in getting his first pistol.
I showed him a Sig P229 (.40 cal), a Sig P238 a while back.
He came over recently and I showed him favorite 9mm, the Browning Hi-Power. My old S&W 659 is no slouch, but the BHP is nice. Since he has small children I was thinking a single action gun with no round in the chamber is the safest to have since he doesn't have a safe. (Weapon firing condition though is not the topic.)

We were going over trigger pulls and I showed him various pulls. The single action BHP pull, the double action on a Walther. Then I showed him my wife's S&W 617. We checked it for empty and then me being caught up in the moment dry fired the pistol and let him do it, then my brain engaged, "Crap, that's a 22, son of a gun, I am a bone head." I got out my magnifying class and took it under bright light, no damage done to the cylinder or firing pin, but dang I was mad at myself.

Focus, routine, practice, and discipline.

 

[Claude Clay]

617 is a dedicated bullseye gun. has a rounded firing pin and recessed cylinder for the shells. it is made to be dry fired thousands of times. though 'we' tend to use snap caps to mitigate the foward motion of the firing pin under force. no problem what you did.
look for your self--unloaded of course and hold it sideways up to the light and work the hammer--watch the firing pin emerge into the space where the recesses are cut into the cylinder...see, no touchie
where 22's are touchie is most always when the firing pin is rectangular shaped.

 

[sirgilligan]

Thanks for the info. I had been told to never dry fire a rim fire revolver.

Even though I was wrong about that model I was still distracted and that is bad. I just have to remind myself that you must stay focused when handling firearms. Mistakes could lead to serious results.

Thanks again.

 

[Kendal Black]

As long as you did not transgress the Four Rules you made no important mistake.

What is important about boiling it all down to a small set of inflexibles is you do not have to try to remember more than you actually can remember. You do not have to remember obscure warnings about never dry firing a certain kind of gun, which did not apply in this case, anyway.

Focus on the main and plain things.

BTW! If he likes the revolver, a swing-out revolver can be thoroughly but temporarily disabled by opening it up, and snapping a padlock around the top strap. (A variation on this, used by old fashioned cops, was to use handcuffs.)

 

[dmazur]

I rarely have an opportunity to show my meager collection to visiting relatives, but when it happens I run the show like a gun store (well, like the better gun stores...) with the following routine -

• One gun at a time
• Action open/show clear before handing across for inspection
• Questions/answers
• Action open/show clear before going back in case
• No ammo present

It's perhaps a little formal, but I am reasonably certain it will prevent accidents when folks who aren't familiar with the Four Rules are permitted to handle guns.

There's ample opportunity to say something like "Pull the slide to release it" if you are concerned about a $200 trigger job on a 1911, for example.

 

[Hocka Louis]

Thanks for sharing.
Focus. Control. Healthy respect if not fear...

 

[MarkDozier]

Interesting.
I usually don't dry fire aa rimfire for the same reasons. i will continue that practise simply so I don't gave to remeber which rimfire van be dry fired.
Yeah I am lasy like that.

 

[1911Tuner]

Dry-firing a rimfire is generally frowned upon, but I think it's more a warning not to do it as a matter of habit. They'll stand it occasionally. Think of all the leverguns and semis and pumps that are shot dry every day and have the hammer fall on an empty chamber. I've got an old Winchester 94/22 that's probably taken hundreds of hits over the years.

 

[22-rimfire]

My rule is to never dry fire any gun unless I make a conscious/considered decision about it specifically for the selected moment in time. Example... Ruger GP100.... check to see if empty and okay to dry fire. Click click... Rimfire gun... better not... Semi-auto rimfires get dry fired all the time when they don't have a bolt hold open when the last round is fired from the magazine. Probably the reason my old Mossberg 22 has had a number of firing pins replaced in it.