So I reckon my rifle is ruined now lol

[CarJunkieLS1]

Yesterday I let my wife take my 350 Legend AR-15 deer hunting. Seems like right before dark she let the rifle fall out of the tree stand. She said the scope hit the metal ladder rung on its way down and the barrel stuck into the dirt/mud plugging up the barrel. The bird cage flash hider at least protected the muzzle crown.

She was all upset about it and worried she broke it and that I'd be pissed. Not the case at all, I mean a few years ago I ran over another of my AR's with my truck.

Either way I cleaned up the rifle first thing this morning and inspected it very well and I see no visible damage on scope or the rifle. Guess I'll just have to shoot it to rezero the scope and hope the scope isn't broken internally. Of course here is the Before and After

 

[Varminterror]

Not enough info for me to determine whether I’d be mad in your shoes or not. In our house, safety is not an accident, and we have no excuse for failing to intentionally maintain safety - such accidents are truly accidents.

So there’s a difference for us when a rifle leaned against a tailgate falls over compared to a bipodded rifle being knocked off of a shooting bench.

But expecting damage from a pretty commonly occurring, commonly survived drop by someone less familiar is common - and it’s nice to see you have Grace in the moment when someone less familiar has an accident.

 

[rabid wombat]

@CarJunkieLS1 = great attitude

Nice camo…

Stuff happens…no one hurt (maybe a little pride…)….smile and go enjoy the day!

 

[dh1633pm]

It cleaned up nicely. Nice to have a wife that enjoys the outside.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

From what I understand is that she was about to use the rope to let the rifle down and it just slipped out of her hand. At the point that it fell the rifle was unloaded and the safety was engaged so at least the rifle had no way of an accidental discharge.

 

[AK Hunter]

Small price to pay for having a wife to hunt with.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

I consider myself lucky, she likes to fish, hunt, shoot guns, play video games occasionally, and isn't bad to look at lol. Plus she puts up with me and my shenanigans. She's a keeper for sure.

Small price to pay for having a wife to hunt with.

 

[Rule3]

You could have told her that it and scope were ruined and you will have to buy a new set up! Kidding
unloaded and safe, so no harm no foul

Stuff happens, I am sure she felt bad about it.

 

[stringnut]

That’s why you unload when lowering or raising in a stand. Sounds to me like so followed good safety protocol. With it empty there was no way for anyone to get hurt. Sucks that the gun was dropped, but, that is easy enough to do.

 

[Slamfire]

I'll tell you, empty the chamber before going up the ladder and down the ladder. If the muzzle had been pointing up when it hit the ground, there are mechanisms out there in which the sear will be over ridden, and then, where the bullet goes is a matter of chance.

I have had enough sear over rides with my target rifles not to trust over ride triggers. They are mechanically unstable.



Most of the triggers in bolt guns are over ride triggers, and the safety is only a sear blocking safety. If that little sear engagement shears, the gun will go bangy.

by the way, the 1911 safeties are sear blocking. Break that sear, and the hammer goes forward. Bangy!



the best safeties are those which positively cam the firing pin back, and hold it. Such as this M98 military safety



The Garand safety is an outstanding design



it positively cams the hammer back and holds it.

 

[doubleh]

Hummp, sounds like an excuse for a new rifle to me.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

That’s why you unload when lowering or raising in a stand. Sounds to me like so followed good safety protocol. With it empty there was no way for anyone to get hurt. Sucks that the gun was dropped, but, that is easy enough to do.

That's why I go over safety protocol with her, myself, and anyone I hunt with because you are correct a dropped firearm can go off and its by chance as to where that bullet ends up.

 

[Varminterror]

Hummp, sounds like an excuse for a new rifle to me.

I’ve been in bed for 5 days with the vid, so I wasn’t thinking clearly before… this is the obvious, singular, appropriate answer.

She may have caused some unseeable defect and you, as a doting partner, just can’t take the risk of sending her out there with a firearm which may explode at any second, so you MUST build her a new AR of her own - taking the burden of all future risk with this potentially hazardous device onto yourself.

 

[SwampWolf]

If an AR-15 has to fall from the distance of a deer stand ladder to the ground, the consequences could be a lot worse than falling in mud, flash hider first.

 

[lightman]

It sounds like your rifle cleaned up ok, your Wife was not injured and She was being safety minded by having the chamber empty before lowering it to the ground. Its all good! Hopefully your scope was not damaged.

I bought my first Nightforce scope from a shooting buddy whose rifle took an accidental fall out of a Deer stand. He said he could't stand to look at the dings and scratches and sold it to me with a heavy discount.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

Absolutely swamp wolf a little annoying cleaning out all the dirt and mud and crap BUT nothing appears broken and the rifle was in a safe condition when it fell.

 

[Captcurt]

I always remember what my BIL said about grandkids breaking something. "It is only stuff." My bitter half, uh, better half, smacked a tree with my ATV a year after I got it. It bent the front guard a little, but nothing radical. She was so worried that I would be mad that she didn't tell me for 3 or 4 days. Told her that it was no big thing and that I would probably ding it worse than that. I have had it 20 years and the bend is still there.

 

[Captcurt]

Double post.

 

[jmr40]

While I doubt it would have made a difference in this case this is why I always cover my muzzle with electrical tape while hunting. I used to just do it in rainy weather, but over the years I've taken a few falls outdoors while carrying a gun. It is just as easy to just keep them taped up during the entire hunting season and replace if a shot is taken.

And I don't hunt from elevated stands anymore. I can hike all day, but I ain't as nimble as I used to be.

This incident reminds me of this meme


My wife crashed my mustang!!! Oh no!!! Is she hurt? Not yet!!! She locked her self in the bathroom! - ) (ifunny.co)

 

[507Reloader]

Yesterday I let my wife take my 350 Legend AR-15 deer hunting. Seems like right before dark she let the rifle fall out of the tree stand. She said the scope hit the metal ladder rung on its way down and the barrel stuck into the dirt/mud plugging up the barrel. The bird cage flash hider at least protected the muzzle crown.

She was all upset about it and worried she broke it and that I'd be pissed. Not the case at all, I mean a few years ago I ran over another of my AR's with my truck.

Either way I cleaned up the rifle first thing this morning and inspected it very well and I see no visible damage on scope or the rifle. Guess I'll just have to shoot it to rezero the scope and hope the scope isn't broken internally. Of course here is the Before and AfterView attachment 1054251View attachment 1054252

Accidents happen. She’s safe, guns can be replaced . Why doesn’t she have her own gun ? Off to the LGS ! Have to use any/ every thing as an excuse for another gun !!

 

[Varminterror]

My bitter half, uh, better half, smacked a tree with my ATV a year after I got it. It bent the front guard a little, but nothing radical. She was so worried that I would be mad that she didn't tell me for 3 or 4 days.

When our son was born, my wife was still working out of the house, so I played Mr. Mom most days for the first year and a half as I could manage him between or even during conference calls. He became mobile much earlier than planned (kinda “rolling with a purpose” before he started actually crawling) so our house wasn’t as baby proofed as it should have been, and one day while my wife was at work, I set him outside of the bathroom door so I could pee… before I could cease fire and chase him down, he had rolled nearly 30ft to our basement stairs, and I was faced with the choice of diving on him to try to catch him, or just watch him roll down the stairs… choosing the latter, he bounced to the bottom as I stared in horror from the top step. He started to cry, but before I could make it half way down the stairs, noticed his toys on the floor, and rolled to play with them, no worse for wear…

I told my wife about 3 months later while we were out with my sister and BIL for lunch in a busy restaurant…

She didn’t offer as much grace as I had hoped, more than I expected, and only slightly less than appropriate for the public setting… so the plan of self preservation ultimately worked.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

Accidents happen. She’s safe, guns can be replaced . Why doesn’t she have her own gun ? Off to the LGS ! Have to use any/ every thing as an excuse for another gun !!

My wife definitely has her own guns, the 44mag carbine she has been carrying had the red dot go bad so I just ordered one to replace it. Her 6.5 Creedmoor she didn't want to carry because in the stand she was in its really to long and too much scope for the 40 yard max shot she would have. My 350 L was more appropriate with its 6 inch shorter barrel and probably .5 pound lighter weight.

 

[WestKentucky]

You need to find fault with it when you zero it, use that as an excuse to build a new rifle, and give her that one as hers when you show her the finished product.

 

[Frostbite]

Nobody was hurt, good thing. The rifle should be fine, and the scope probably also from what I saw. Anyway, material can be replaced.

I hate heights. I accepted to climb the ladder till I got 35, I think. Then I told my hunting buddies I would walk quietly while they were posted or stop hunting with them. They accepted, one more reluctantly than the others. I killed the two deer of the group that week and never was asked to climb again . Dad is 76 now and he was in his stand when he killed his deer last fall. I don't like to see him climb up there, but I will not ruin his fun.

 

[Dr T]

Now, wasn't the AR designed as a military rifle? And aren't military rifles supposed to survive little falls? I mean, look at the Mosin...