Practical Shooting ND from VA

[sturmruger]

This was posted on a differant forum. It was interesting enough that I thought I would share it here.

This just in from the VAIDPA mailing list (in other words, this is NOT MY ACCOUNT):

I was standing right next to a competitor in an IDPA match on
Saturday when he injured himself with a negligent discharge. The
stage began some distance behind the actual firing line. At the
buzzer, the stage required the shooter to quickly advance (run) to
the firing line and then while moving laterally, engage a series of
targets. The stage was to be run once from left to right and a
second
time from right to left. At the start point, the RO directed the
shooter to load and make ready. After doing so and while attempting
to reholster, the shooter fired one round from his Kimber compact.
The 185 grain jacketed bullet entered his upper thigh and exited his
lower thigh just above his knee. The bullet then cut a groove down
the side of his calf and impacted the ground. Immediately following
the ND the competitor had no idea he had shot himself. His injuries
were quickly assessed and another shooter (LE) on scene with medical
experience and a first aid kit set up specifically to treat gunshot
wounds began to see to the injured man. He was subsequently
transported to the local hospital for treatment. Very little blood
loss and the shooter did not go into shock. He was calm and fully
lucid.

The Match Director recovered his weapon and upon inspecting it
discovered that neither the thumb safety nor the grip/palm safety
were operational. The shooter was known to "work on 1911's".

More thoughts on this event, not written by me either.

Here are a few lessons from this:

1. KYFFOTFT! The fact that both of the external safeties on this
1911
had been rendered inoperable would be a moot point IF he had simply
kept his freakin' finger out of the trigger guard. Holstering a gun
with the finger in the trigger guard is the single most common cause
of self inflicted gunshots at matches or training events.
2. Owning a 1911 is NOT a license to tinker with it or do home
gunsmithing. Doing so risks disaster.
3. Check holsters closely for any part/piece that could get into a
trigger guard during holstering. If the safeties are off or
bypassed,
the gun can fire because of pressure on the trigger by something
other than a finger. A large batch of cheap, plastic holsters for
Glocks were recently recalled because of a series of shootings of
this nature.
4. When involved in live fire training, practice, or competition,
get
your head in the game and focus. ND's are preventable

This instance just happened to be at an IDPA competition it could have just as easily been a USPSA competition. I thought I would post it because there are quite a few things to learn from this guy's stupid mistake. I bet he won't be welcome at their matches anymore, and even if he was how could the guy show his face there ever again!! I would be too embarrassed to ever shoot a match again. I tried to verify this account from the VA IDPA website but it is the blocked here at work.

 

[waktasz]

Why are you so bitter? Sucks that it happened and glad the guy will eventually be fine and no one else was hurt, but he'll be welcomed back as soon as he wants to get back in the game. It was a bizarre freak accident and I can't really put blame on the guy, his gun somehow failed him and he has suffered enough already.


Here it is straight from the horses mouth.
http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19083

 

[ted murphy]

Scary stuff to be sure, but at least he paid for the mistake and not the Safety Officer.


Probably the most important lesson here is This is why you never stand directly behind a shooter

Folks forget and stand there but it is pretty unsafe. Fortunately for the bystanders the bullet didn't go anywere but depending on build and holster choice it can.

Ted