Accidental Discharge of Gun...

[DirtyD]

He was smart enough to anticipate it and had it pointed up into the air. He never used the rifle again.

Just like to point out, that round had to come down somewhere.... the "air" is not a safe place either.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Just like to point out, that round had to come down somewhere.... the "air" is not a safe place either.

Okay...so what's a better alternative?

 

[DoubleActionCHL]

Okay...so what's a better alternative?

Well, I'm just armchair quarterbacking here, but when it happened the first time, I would have unloaded it and called it a day. I wouldn't have carried a loaded, known-defective rifle into camp.

 

[TexasRedneck]

and while unloading it in the field, where would you have pointed it?

 

[DoubleActionCHL]

and while unloading it in the field, where would you have pointed it?

Dirt.

 

[TexasRedneck]

In my mind, that's worse. There could easily be a rock under there that would ricochet that round anywhere, or cause it to frag and cause multiple injuries.....

 

[JKTex]

In my mind, that's worse. There could easily be a rock under there that would ricochet that round anywhere, or cause it to frag and cause multiple injuries.....

Besides, when it comes down through the roof of someones hose or car and into them or their kids or even directly into someone skull with more velocity that it had leaving the barrel, it'll be miles away and no one will know I shot a round off into the air so all is good.

Besides, dirt my fly up and get in my eyes.




I'll take my chances and keep it contained in a safe direction at the ground. It just take a little common sense to aim in a way that it'll be safest. Like NOT straight down 3" from the muzzle at my feet or in someone elses direction.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Besides, when it comes down through the roof of someones hose or car and into them or their kids or even directly into someone skull with more velocity that it had leaving the barrel, it'll be miles away and no one will know I shot a round off into the air so all is good.

Besides, dirt my fly up and get in my eyes.




I'll take my chances and keep it contained in a safe direction at the ground. It just take a little common sense to aim in a way that it'll be safest. Like NOT straight down 3" from the muzzle at my feet or in someone elses direction.

Sorry - but unless you allow a trajectory that'll provide a plunging shot rather than a falling one, chances are actually quite slim of significant damage. And I'd rather have it after a mile of travel than a few feet!!

 

[JKTex]

Sorry - but unless you allow a trajectory that'll provide a plunging shot rather than a falling one, chances are actually quite slim of significant damage. And I'd rather have it after a mile of travel than a few feet!!

We'll have to agree to disagree on that scary and slightly insane logic and skewed physics.

I think you'll be pretty lonely on your side of the debate.

 

[Texas1911]

Better to know where the bullet goes than have it go off into oblivion.

 

[Hoji]

Better to know where the bullet goes than have it go off into oblivion.

This. You have a modicum of control of where the bullet will strike, and can take steps to further insure that control.

 

[jfrey]

Just to clarify things a little, there were only 3 of us in camp. My dad and I were both watching him unload the rifle at a safe distance. We were also in the middle of several thousand acres, in Texas. In many cases here, hunting camps are on large ranches and there was no chance of the bullet coming down on a house or car any where in the area. The gentleman had many years of safe hunting and shooting under his belt, so I think his decision to point the rifle up to unload it was certainly reasonable. I can tell you, my dad was old military and would have done the same thing.

I'm gonna have to side with TexasRedneck on this one.

 

[Hoji]

Just to clarify things a little, there were only 3 of us in camp. My dad and I were both watching him unload the rifle at a safe distance. We were also in the middle of several thousand acres, in Texas. In many cases here, hunting camps are on large ranches and there was no chance of the bullet coming down on a house or car any where in the area. The gentleman had many years of safe hunting and shooting under his belt, so I think his decision to point the rifle up to unload it was certainly reasonable. I can tell you, my dad was old military and would have done the same thing.

Just because something is old, does not make it correct, or safe.

 

[JKTex]

Just to clarify things a little, there were only 3 of us in camp. My dad and I were both watching him unload the rifle at a safe distance. We were also in the middle of several thousand acres, in Texas. In many cases here, hunting camps are on large ranches and there was no chance of the bullet coming down on a house or car any where in the area. The gentleman had many years of safe hunting and shooting under his belt, so I think his decision to point the rifle up to unload it was certainly reasonable. I can tell you, my dad was old military and would have done the same thing.

I'm gonna have to side with TexasRedneck on this one.

If the gun never had any issues then I'd agree, the risk would be low enough that pointing it up wouldn't be unreasonable.

However, the gun was known to have a problem and the chance of discharge was much greater. It's time to step modify safety and reach in to the bag of common sense and adjust for the modified, higher risk.

 

[Renegade]

I have had several Accidental Discharges, but none were negligent.

 

[Texas1911]

I think everyone has had their say.

 

[Phoebe Ann]

I think everyone has had their say.

I think that's code... We'd better behave!

 

[Texas1911]

I think that's code... We'd better behave!

No one is out of line, but I don't think anyone's opinion is going to change at this point, and we've kinda chimed in as to which side of the fence we stand on. I don't want the thread to start down the road of he-said, she-said crap.

 

[DoubleActionCHL]

Regardless of who's right or wrong, I do take issue with "safety practices" that are situation-specific. The "no one is around for miles" argument isn't that far away from "it isn't loaded". We always practice the safety rules.

I just had to get in the last word!

 

[phatcyclist]

I've yet to have an ND and I hope I never will. I'm feverish about checking the chamber of any gun I'm handling, maybe even checking it twice at different times. It's a good thing since one time I was at a gentleman's house, he is a friend of my uncle. He was showing us some of his collection and the very first gun he handed to me was a very nice Sig. Of course the first thing I did was rack the slide back and wouldn't you know, a live HP round popped out of the chamber! I thumbed the slide release up, dropped the mag and cycled the slide again to make sure.

About the closest thing I've come to an ND was when my father's Saiga bump-fired on the bench at our range. I had my suspicious that it was a bump-fire but the rifle got unloaded and checked over for any mechanical defects.