Humble Pie

BRACES of Bristol - Sauer 100 XTA Stainless Package
jimbo1984 said:
Be a good thing when DSC becomes compulsory then nothing bad will ever happen and nobody will ever have any accidents ..... Happy days :)
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Made me chuckle mate :tiphat: weve always disagreed on this :)


Firstly hats off Woodsmoke for posting an honest report of an incident that many will want to judge and jump all over.

I suffer from vibration white finger or Raynauds Disease brought on from my steel erecting days gunning up bolts on power stations after the steel was erected.

Ultimately on a very very cold day i cant zip up my own coat.

Being ex-forces my nd had a massive effect on me and i was very upset.

Ultimately muzzle awareness and all other considerations intact like many there was a safety issue with the nd but following all other principles there was no drastic outcome other than wishing the ground would swallow me whole.

Fair play for posting

Terry
 
Most honest shooters will admit to an ND, or a near ND with potentially serious consequences for me when I was young. I was handing my new and much loved single barrelled 12 to a friend (also aged 15) to look at and, as I had been taught, checked for a clear chamber. It had been put away with an Eley GP 5 up the spout. Safety has a little more meaning for the rest of your shooting life. I reckon it teaches you something in a way nothing else can but I would not recommend it.
 
Congrats to all who have posted on here - it's a subject that could do with plenty of exposure and discussion. I see LOTS of youngsters who perhaps have not had the benefit of either Forces training or a grumpy old mentor and an occasional belt round the lug....

My personal one was many years ago with a much loved Miroku O/U shotgun. As youngsters it was drummed into us that guns were UNLOADED (not just opened) when crossing fences, dangerous ground, etc, etc. To keep it short, I had emptied the gun to cross a fence and then found the ground very steep as well. With the gun still empty I tried to get to a better bit of the path - failed. :shock: Arse over teakettle all the way to the bottom of the gully.....finished up with the Miroku stock resting on my left foot and the barrels looking up at me. I got up and opened the gun - it was the sharp click of BOTH ejectors firing that really got my attention......

I reckon that I've been fortunate never to have had a ND with my rifles, but I fully agree with all the previous comments re complacency, rifles slung over shoulders, etc. Nowadays, since my rifle is built on an old Oberndorf Mauser action with the original flag safety, I walk with the rifle 'closed over empty' and if I lose a shot because I can't cycle a round in quietly, then there'll be another chance another day.
 
Refreshing to hear some honesty about our mistakes, it's happened to me but fortunately with an air rifle (had to make good the mark in the wood floor!), I was complacent!
I empathise with Mungo, having a couple of times guided clients & on turning around looked straight down the muzzle of their rifle. What's so hard to understand in "Keep the muzzle pointing down"?
Being ex forces & having muzzle awareness drummed into me at every opportunity has worked to this day.
 
And this is the reason why i am glad that my stalking rifle has a two stage safety, with stage 1 allowing me to unload / open the bolt whilst still having the safety engaged.
I always carry it in the second stage (safe and bolt locked) when loaded and only when a target presents itself do i move it to stage 1 - then when ready to fire the safety is moved to the off position. not had an ND yet, but i guess there is plenty of time!!

Still, nothing safer than good muzzle awareness.

So easy to catch the trigger and let a round fly - one of my buddies was unshouldering his rifle and as he took hold of it, it went off with the safety still on, etc, so we think that it either hadn't engaged correctly or has a fault (its being checked out).
Scared the living c*** out of me as i was a short distance away!!

I have since reminded him to carry muzzle down rather than up, just in case it happens again!!
 
I feel I should add, my Level 2 stalk ND occurred whilst covering the shot deer for a possible get up & go, so was lost in the turf just short of it's position, but an ND just the same.:oops:
 
Patrick A said:
I wouldn't beat yourself up too much. I remember plenty of people getting 28 days Restriction of Privileges for an ND.. As you will see from the below it even happens to the professionals......

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...re-than-120-times-in-five-years-a3269836.html
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Professionals? I thought 'Police marksman' was one of the oxymorons that knocked 'military intelligence' off the top spot.

Note: after I came across 'Right Honourable' I realised 'military intelligence' is not even in the top 100.
 
Woodsmoke said:
I was always told that there were two kinds of shooters. . . . .those who have had an ND, and those who will have an ND!

I'd always pooh-poohed this assertion as I consider myself a very safe and pretty competent gun. Backstops are non-negotiable, muzzle awareness the same, rifle is unloaded getting into/out of a high seat, etc, I take pains to let my companions know the rifle/shotgun is empty after unloading, etc. Basically, I'd considered the chances of an ND happening to me as very-slim to zero.

Until it happened! :eek:

I was recently unloading the chamber of my .22 after removing the mag', and my gloved knuckle caught the trigger (which takes a measured 3lb pull) as I turned the rifle onto its side to access the bolt, sending the round into the grass bank I had the muzzle pointing towards!

It was nothing overly-dramatic. I was alone, nobody saw it, nobody was hurt, the sky didn't fall in and if I wasn't making this post to this day nobody would even know about it. Muzzle awareness saved the day, so the only casualty was my pride and ego.

But! The very fact that it happened brought me out in a cold sweat, and it's been on my mind since it happened. The lesson here is beware of complacency. I was in two minds as to whether to post this, to be honest, but for me not to would be hypocritical, and if this tale makes anyone think about their own practices it can only be a good thing. From now on, gloves are off when unloading, and I'll be making certain I know exactly where my knuckles are in relation to the trigger.

I'm now wiser and a good deal humbler
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Woody, S**t can always happen, anyone who has used a rifle or shotgun for a lot of years who says, hand on heart, that they have never looked back and said " I probably shouldn't have done that", is a better man than me!
 
I’ve never had an ND (come close three times) BUT I am not so arrogant to think that it could never happen to me…because it can. Anyone who says otherwise isn’t worth listening to.

The main factors are (in my opinion):

New/unfamiliar rifle (Sauer 202’s do my nut in despite being lovely to shoot).
Tired/cold/wet/dark-combination thereof.
Lazy drills.
Taking shortcuts like climbing obstacles when made ready
And finally my pet hate, (even the thin ones) gloves.

Just my view.
 
A lot of ND's occur around loading/unloading. Worse still in vehicles. Easy make someone go deaf or at least lifelong tinnitus... :scared:
 
caberslash said:
A lot of ND's occur around loading/unloading. Worse still in vehicles. Easy make someone go deaf or at least lifelong tinnitus... :scared:
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Agreed. When RSA in 2018 my PH made it very clear that if I got in the Hilux with one up the pipe he wouldn’t be taking me out anymore. I guess he’d had a close call or two.
 
In a rush one day I shot a buck and I always pull the trigger on the empty chamber before putting my rifle in the truck. This time I’d taken the magazine out and forgot I had chambered a round after shooting the buck… Big Bang but gun pointed at the ground… I still pull the trigger on an empty chamber before putting the gun in the car or away and it always gives me pause for thought when I gingerly pull it.
 
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