Negligent Discharge

[Fenway]

Have you ever been involved in one?

I'm blown away by the stories I read on Glock Talk and some examples brought up at the Basic Pistol class last week in New Castle.

I have never made that mistake or been present when an AD has happened. I do not think I am above something like that ever happening to me, but I take safety very seriously and always follow the 4 rules.

 

[Lars]

Thank the stars no. With any luck, and a lot of common sense.... We'll stay that way. I also am blown away by some of the stories shared.

On a related, but not quite note........ How to you shoot the Concrete roof at Atterbury 7 times from a sitting/braced position with an experienced shooter there showing you proper technique? at $75 a shot, that borders on "accidental discharge."

 

[Zephri]

Haven't had one and hope to never have one, although the closest I've come to an ND is at the range with the mosin in the bench rest adjusting the trigger sometimes when I close the bolt it goes off, of course I fixed it and it has not happened since.

On a related, but not quite note........ How to you shoot the Concrete roof at Atterbury 7 times from a sitting/braced position with an experienced shooter there showing you proper technique? at $75 a shot, that borders on "accidental discharge."

yeah, how do you hit the baffles 7 times while being instructed with proper technique? I don't understand how that works. When I shot there I was kind of worried about hitting them but didn't, even while standing.

 

[TomN]

I don't really believe in the AD. Every single one I've seen or heard about has been negligent not accidental.

 

[Fenway]

Sure, Negligent probably works better.

I don't really believe in the AD. Every single one I've seen or heard about has been negligent not accidental.

 

[bigkahunasix]

There are 2 kinds of shooters- those that have had an NG (negligent discharge, other than mechanical failure, you had to do something wrong and unsafe) and those who are going to. Truth be told, most shooters have had AT LEAST one NG in their shooting career. It has nothing to do with experience and everything to do with familiarity, and as we all know familiarity breeds contempt.

BK6

 

[TomN]

I had bought a brand new XD .40 a couple years ago and was getting familiar with it out in the yard. Loaded up a mag and set it down and was working the slide. Decided to try the mag in the gun, popped it in with the slide open and closed it. Popped out the mag and decided to field strip it.

(see where this is headed?)

Turned the take down lever and pulled the trigger to release the striker.

BAM!

You know that rule about the muzzle pointed in a safe direction? Well thank God I followed THAT rule. No damage but my Lab looked at me like he thought I was an idiot. And he was right.

 

[Fenway]

Thanks for the post Tom.

 

[esrice]

It has nothing to do with experience and everything to do with familiarity, and as we all know familiarity breeds contempt.

BK6

Thankfully no ND's here so far.

But BK6 is right. Me and two buddies had a "gun cleaning party" one night several months ago. It was just an excuse for us to get together and talk guns for a while. After we were finished one of my friends got to looking at another buddy's .38 revolver. He had just seen it being cleaned, but did not realize that it had already been restocked with .38's. Two of us were in another room when we heard the "click" of the hammer being pulled back. My buddy quickly yelled "STOP! ITS LOADED!".

Elementary mistake. But one mistake is all it takes to kill you.

 

[4sarge]

There are 2 kinds of shooters- those that have had an NG (negligent discharge, other than mechanical failure, you had to do something wrong and unsafe) and those who are going to. Truth be told, most shooters have had AT LEAST one NG in their shooting career. It has nothing to do with experience and everything to do with familiarity, and as we all know familiarity breeds contempt.

BK6

Excellent summation

 

[TomN]

Oh this reminds me of another instance of a ND. Luckily I wasn't there for this one but I did see the damage caused.

Friend of mine had one of his friends over for a gun day. Never liked the guy. Always felt he was an idiot. The story I'm about to tell you breaks so many safety rules that it sickens me.

Anyway they're playing with their guns at the dinner table. My friend has an Officer's Model in .45 and the other one has a 10mm of some sort. So moron boy is playing around with my friend's gun by sliding his 10mm round down the barrel of the .45, then tipping the gun and having the round slide back out. He does this for a bit, then for some reason he does this and decides he's going to pull the trigger on the COCKED .45.
Well this time, when he tips the gun forward the round does NOT come out. Seems the extractor hook had hooked the round and it was now against the breechface of the gun. My friend notices this, the other idiot does not.

So he pulls the trigger... gun goes BAM! Round hits the center of the dining room table then bounces off and implants itself into the wall.

Seriously if someone had been sitting across from the moron he would have had a 10mm bullet in him.

Guy doesn't even offer to pay for the damage to the table. Fortunately my friend's wife banned this guy from ever bringing a gun into their home again.

 

[Scutter01]

Oh this reminds me of another instance of a ND. Luckily I wasn't there for this one but I did see the damage caused.

I got to watch some moron spinning a gun on his finger Wyatt Earp style at a gun shop once. After dropping it for the third time, the guy behind the counter made him give it back and then charged him a $50 idiot tax (he said it was to repair the damage caused by dropping it, but there was no visible damage and he hadn't inspected it yet).

 

[Pami]

then charged him a $50 idiot tax

That's brilliant. Reminds me of a sign I saw once that said something along the lines of "There is a $10 fee for having to put up with you."

As Lars said, we haven't had any NDs (yet), but that's also why we're stocking up on trainings this summer to help us get as much knowledge as possible to help prevent them.

 

[possum_128]

"I don't really believe in the AD. Every single one I've seen or heard about has been negligent not accidental."

Well I had an AD. Not an ND. A few years ago I was chambering a round in a WWII made Walther PP and it fired two rounds, One in my kitchen table and another skipped across the table and into my wall. Thank god I live in a log cabin! Took the gun outside and retried to chamber another round, same thing fired two rounds again.

Took it to my gunsmith and he replaced the firing pin and the safety. Worked fine afer the repairs.

So you see, there is indeed AD's not just ND's.

 

[Lars]

AD caused my Mechanical Failure sure.
AD not caused by Mechanical failure? Only if the rounds cook off in the sun, in which case it's still an ND.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Had my first AD this February at TR in Alabama.

I went down for Triad (2 days of carbine, pistol and shotgun) at Shootrite. We were doing one-handed injury loads (load one, shoot one).

My 870 slammed fired on a round of Remington 870 #00. My first one after all these decades of shooting. I was a little green in the gills.

My partner verified that my other hand was no where near the trigger.

 

[rhino]

I've had unintential discharges, but they were at the range and the bullet went into the backstop on every occasion. In my opinion, the difference between an unintentional discharge and a negligent discharge is where it happens and more importantly where the round goes.

If you handle your gun at home, you might want to consider finding a suitable backstop of some kind, even if you are meticulous about safe gun handling and you particular gun will never malfunction. It could be anything from a barrel filled with sand, a big stack of newspaper, or one of those fancy-dan pistol rugs made with kevlar. The key is to have something that will safely stop a bullet (from your gun) if something happens when you load or unload (which is the most likely time for something bad to happen). Always have your gun pointed at such an object when loading or unloading.

 

[Pete-FWA]

Negligent Discharge

Saw this site about the time I joined this forum

 

[Pitmaster]

I don't really believe in the AD. Every single one I've seen or heard about has been negligent not accidental.

About 25 years ago 3 of us were getting ready to shoot some shotguns. At that time I had never shot a shotgun. One of the guys showed me how to use and load it. While they were loading there shotguns I aimed at our targets "refrigerators" and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I conciously took my finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard. Lowered the muzzle down and while wondering what was wrong the gun went boom. The time lapse between pulling the trigger and the gun going off was at least 3 seconds. I was pointing safely. We were shooting some old shells and that was the first and last round of the day.

I would agree that about every story I ever hear is a ND but this one wasn't. Of course it could be a malfunctioning discharge.

 

[Fenway]

I think that is a very good idea and something I should do at my house.

If you handle your gun at home, you might want to consider finding a suitable backstop of some kind, even if you are meticulous about safe gun handling and you particular gun will never malfunction. It could be anything from a barrel filled with sand, a big stack of newspaper, or one of those fancy-dan pistol rugs made with kevlar. The key is to have something that will safely stop a bullet (from your gun) if something happens when you load or unload (which is the most likely time for something bad to happen). Always have your gun pointed at such an object when loading or unloading.