My first Negligent Discharge -hopefully my last

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I'm still yet to have a AD/ND yet and I always keep my two defensive guns loaded, both my XD40 and my 1100. I don't know if I'll ever have a AD/ND but we aren't perfect. Friend of mine who is in his late 60s early 70s recently had his first AD/ND into his gunsafe when clearing his Makarov.
 
Epilogue:

  • I'm taking the The Lady to the range tomorrow. That's my new name for the CZ75, because I have a new found respect for her.
  • My wife's Spode Sugar bowl and lid will arrive in three days.
  • I have to replace the frame - the map of Mauntauk Island was unharmed.
  • I own a townhouse - neighbor to the East did not hear a darn thing. Neighbor to the West might have heard something but did not think anything of it. I asked her to call her husband (a deputy sheriff) he said not to worry nothing to report if the neighbors did not complain and no one hurt.
  • Now the wife hides the key to the locker. No more handling in a dark room - if I want one of my babies the room will be well lit. I have to be able to see clearly what I am handling. No more storing loaded guns. The only time I will have a loaded gun in my hand is when I am ready to shoot it.
  • Oh, one more thing... I'm keeping my babies.
:) Many thanks to all who responded. Good feedback and advice - you did not kick a man when he's down - guess that's just another reason we call it The High Road.
 
1. This is the reason why I never load a new gun, except at the range. Until the novelty wears off, it's more of a toy and a liability than a self defense tool like my ugly old Glock.

2. This is the reason I never drop the slide on a gun that I've safety checked. Dropping the slide is how I LOAD a gun. After a chamber check, I lower the slide slowly while looking through the ejection port. Even without your glasses, and without checking the magwell, I think you would have seen/felt a round chambering if you did it that way.

3. This is one instance where the annoying "rack the slide half a dozen times real fast" thing would have worked. Of course, the other alternative is to actually look in the chamber and magwell.
 
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No more storing loaded guns. The only time I will have a loaded gun in my hand is when I am ready to shoot it.
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With all due respect, the problem wasn't that the gun was loaded - it was because you handled it incorrectly at the time.

If you keep the guns for home defense, I strongly urge you to keep them loaded. I know from experience that the moment you are forced to react to a possible situation requiring a firearm is not the best time to have to load up. If you insist on keeping them unloaded, please practice loading drills to make sure you can do it reasonably well under stress. The last thing you need is a non-functioning gun in an emergency.
 
I joined that club about 25 years ago, long before I'd ever heard of "Four Rules" and before the internet was invented (or at least available to regular folks like us). I remember standing there in shock, ears ringing, a fresh hole in my wall, wishing I could have the last ten seconds to do over again.

I remember the shame and self-doubt. I never shared it with anyone up until a couple years ago, after joining this board and seeing that others had done it too.

Don't get me wrong. I did not take joy in others' misfortune, but it was a relief to find out I wasn't the only one who'd ever done it. :)

I've also done some other monumental acts of stupidity (non-firearms related, and no, I don't care to share), so I'm sure not going to beat you up.

I respect you for manning up and sharing your experience. Perhaps your post will help someone else can avoid "the experience".

Your wife may take a little time to come around, but if you have been as straight forward wiith her as you have with us, she will admire the fact that you realize what you did, learned from it and will not do it again.

I'm pretty sure it will be your last. I have read that some people have more than one, but (speaking for myself) I imagine that most of us are sufficiently humbled by the first one to want more than anything else never to re-live that experience.

Take that Lady to the range, get well acquainted, and enjoy each other's company. I think you will get along just fine. :)

BTW, I have seen an AD that nearly killed someone as a kid. The guy put a pistol he thought was unloaded to his head and pulled the trigger, just "messing around".
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There is a big difference between an ND and an AD, and the difference is both simple and crucial. This was an ND, pure and simple.
 
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Learn from your mistakes, and drive on.

Negligence occurs as a direct result of an inappropriate mindset and a lack of discipline. Contrary to popular belief, there are many shooters who go through life without negligently discharging their firearms. These folks understand the potential consequences and handle their firearms with a "failure is not an option" approach. You can too OP, now that you have had your LAST negligent discharge.

One of the things that has helped me maintain mindset and discipline is to execute every action in accordance with a mental checklist as if "failure is not an option", because it isn't. Load, unload, and clearing, for example, are all done the same way EVERY time in accordance with their own specific checklist.

Clearing a magazine fed handgun for example:

1. Secure with finger outside of trigger well.
2. Point in safe direction.
3. Safe weapon.
4. Release magazine.
5. Point to mag well with index finger and verify empty with eyes.
6. Unsafe and lock slide to rear.
7. Watch for round ejection.
8. Point to chamber with index finger and verify empty with eyes.
9. Point to breech face with index finger and verify clear with eyes.
10. Point to mag well below breech face with index finger and verify clear with eyes.
11. Release and guide the slide forward.
12. Safe weapon

I run through this checklist EVERY time, to either check an "unloaded" firearm, or to clear a loaded firearm, and the combination of visual and touch checks with the index finger, has worked EVERY time. It just takes discipline.

Develop your own checklists, practice them, and always remember that failure is NOT an option. With discipline and safe handling habits, this will be your ONLY negligent discharge.
 
Not much to add but this (in addition to +1 on the 4 rules):

Whenever I practice manipulation, draw or dry fire (or clean the weapons) I keep the ammo in a separate room. If it's a carry/HD weapon, it's clear twice, check three times (as mentioned, sight and feel), leave the ammo and mags behind and use separate training mags in a different room.

So far, so good.

Glad nobody was hurt, and live and learn; both you, and the rest of us. Thanks for having the guts to post.
 
When clearing my Glock, I lock the slide to the rear. This allows me to check the chamber and to the opportunity to view the rounds that are in the magazine. I then remove the magazine before I release the slide.
 
Glad to hear that no injuries occurred and that the damage was minimal. To the post that said dryfiring is not part of any process, unfortunately some pistols require dryfiring in order to be disassembled.

Just a wake up call that always practice safety and remember the rules, and it never hurts to double check.
 
Why would you sell your guns? People that have their first car wreck don't quit driving. Anyway, thanks for sharing your lessons learned story with us, as it is a reminder for us to practice good gun safety.
 
glad youre ok and nobody got hurt....but my thinking is, how can you not tell its loaded? if theres a loaded mag in my handgun, i can always tell....the weight alone gives it away lol...without a mag, its nose heavy
 
Like others have said, at least you realize the problem.

What you need to do is revise your steps for clearing a firearm. Racking the slide and checking the chamber visually is neither the first nor last step in properly clearing. Figure out a good system for you, and stick to it.
 
I had almost the same exact thing happen to me and wrote a post about it on The High Road.. Just look at all the responses I got and just expect you will get the same!! People will pat you on the back an comfort you, they will teach you safety rules and some will scold you and yell at you. Respect all those who respond, take each comment in, and feel thankful that this is a learning lesson that didn't cause any injury or fatality. It is great to read threads like this, as we learn from other mistakes how to avoid our own. Really, anyone who snickers at these threads and says "It will never happen to me", are the ones who are inviting these problems..

Take a look at the thread I posted about a year ago that happened. Unlike you, my unloaded gun mistake happen with an AR-15, which I thought didn't have a mag in it, just like you:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=544303



BTW.. I know the "SELL YOUR GUNS" feeling and guilt feeling you are going through. Thank God I am a bachelor, as I didn't have a woman to scold me. But, it probably would have done me some good. Soak it in. Anyhow, don't worry you will get over it. The fact that this happened to you and you are wanting to talk about means you are unlikely to have this happen again and that you will be more cautious then many other people. Think about safety all the time. Now when you dry fire, you will think twice. My advice, is to avoid dry firing in the house. I do not dry fire rifles in the house, but I still do dry fire my hanguns. I have a new rule now. I always point the gun in safe direction (NOT A TV). Usually a stack of books or the floor (assuming no person is beneath me) or the ceiling (if no person is above me). I check the magazine well several times. I keep checking the gun until it just feels silly to check it anymore. I put my finger in the chamber, i stick my finger up the magainze well. If I dry fire with a mag, I feel the mag and push down on the spring several times. I put the mag in after inspecting the chamber and then dry fire. Then I replace it with loaded mag, holster, put it away.

You have to be strong and not be hard on yourself. Be Diligent and consider yourself a blessed person who had to learn in a harsh manner about safety.

Dry firing should be taken very seriously.. This is how very many accidents have occurred.
 
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Don't let it drag you down man we all learn from our mistakes I had my first and only ND when I was 11 ( I thought my dad was going to beat the snot out of me but he just screamed at me at the top of his lungs and proceded to tell me how ignorant and dangerous I was) and haven't had one since trust me you will be much more careful from now on.
 
Nova,
A friend of mine had an ND recently. It was in the airport as he was checking his rifle on his way to Africa. No one got seriously hurt.

People had some real nasty comments on several internet sites. It was on here & got closed.

The manager at the airport was way cooler about it than many of his fellow shooters.

He is a really experienced shooter as is his wife. The ironic thing is to a degree I feel like I contributed in some small way to his ND. I have given several people chamber flags and suggested them to a lot more people. I can't say that I ever told this couple about them. Of course removing the bolt would have been another layer of safety. It should not have happened but it did.

I'm glad you had a lesson and not a tragedy. Sharing the event with us reinforces that ND's can and do happen. Not just to other people.
 
PlateStacker said:
eeeyea its not part of any process..
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Actually, dry firing IS a part of the IDPA unloading process. You're pointing the weapon downrange, but you drop the hammer to ensure the chamber is clear.

Negative habit transfer is a possibility, if you happen to shoot a lot of IDPA.


As to the OP: Good to smarten up, man up, and move on. Oh, and get your wife some flowers or something. :)
 
Been there, done that. I've yet to meet the person who's proud of an AD. God forbid I ever do. Scary thought.

Like they say, there's the people that have had one and there's the people that will have one. Can't be 100% on the ball all the time, no matter how hard we try. We're only human afterall.
 
"It happens to everyone at some point, and if it doesn't then you're the exception."

No it doesn't.

This thread is an antiloving magnet. Paraphrased it would be viewed as 'It's ok, all of the millions of gun owners in America have their guns sometimes go off randomly within their homes...that's the standard.'

Yes, it's good that the owner was upfront about his actions and non-safe gun handling and had the opportunity to learn from it - no this is not the standard...it does not happen to everyone.

There are cardinal rules for gun handling - all the time! In the blind, in the truck, in your house, in combat - all the time!!

Read your owners manual - frequently if it's a new platform.

These group hug threads do not mitigate your responsibility of pulling a trigger on an 'unloaded' gun. They do however, describe scenarios that others may learn from and hopefully not repeat the same mistake.
 
I thank God my one and only ND was at the range, with the gun pointing downrange. My mistake was violating rule #3, having my finger on the trigger before I was ready to fire. I had only been shooting for a few days and was shooting a 3.5 lb. Glock trigger for the first time. I was smart enough to be obeying every other rule, notably rule #2, keeping it pointed toward a safe direction (down range), but dumb enough to approach a strange firearm like it was the same as what I was familiar with.

My experience was rather mild compared to OP, but I what I learned has kept me safely shooting for 15 years since.

Thanks for sharing OP
 
I let go of the slide and point the gun toward the TV. My dry fire was not dry - BANG!
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This was just Nova's plan to get a new TV, i need to try that one out, but hey at least you got to shoot the gun in the house. Just kidding anyway man its happened to my buddies before, its alright who cares, just a little accident where no one was injured. Hell, it makes a funny story in the future, lighten up on yourself. Sell your guns, thats a little extreme. good judgment comes from experience which comes from bad judgment.
 
It's never happened to me, but...

My father-in-law blew a hole in the floor with a 12 ga.

My cousin blew a hole in an ammo crate in the closet with a 20 ga.

A friend was checking out an SKS at my cousin's house when an ND went through the floor and into a recliner in the basement. Luckily no one was sitting in it...

Last but not least, a friend of mine was "dry" firing a new handgun that had one in the chamber when it was brought home from the pawn shop and killed his wife's cat. This happened on the couch, in the living room. That had to be messy...

Luckily no humans were harmed in the learning of these lessons... and no one will miss the cat.
 
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