Safety first

[oldmaster]

For all the years I have been shooting, safety has been number 1 with me and anyone who shoots with me.I drilled my kids relentlessly. Accidents could just not happen. I stopped shooting with my brother-in-law because he could just not be trusted to not point a loaded gun at someone, casually, and his attitude was that accidents happen.
Well, I blew it. After 45 years of intense safety, I blew it. Had a problem with loading a cap on a nipple of a revolver, skipped it and fired the other five, got involved with something else and about 30 minutes later, I decided to try number 11 caps on that revolver instead of number 10, had completely forgotten about the loaded chamber, luckily I pointed the gun down range to try the cap and it was not on the load either but when I went to clean the revolver at home,there was the loaded chamber. I guess that even after 45 years, safety can never be stressed enough. :redface: :shocked2:

 

[Ridge]

When I bought my Lancaster I went straight from the shop to my family farm to shoot it.

I loaded it up, primed the pan, cocked the hammer, took my thumb off of it..........and it fell. Rifle went off. I jumped 20 feet.

My best friend was with me. Thank God I had the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

 

[patch knife]

Yes indeed we all screw up now and then . No one is infallable . That is why the #1 rule of firearm safety is , keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction , loaded or not . As the old saying goes , there is no such thing as an unloaded gun .

 

[Big John]

The above events and others do happen all the time, that's why if you do practice firearm safety, nobody gets hurt when a mistake happens. So even though you made a mistake, nobody was hurt! Big John N.R.A./N.M.L.R.A. Certified Instructor

 

[CrackStock]

So, will you now refuse to go shooting with yourself? :hmm:

C'mon, let's be serious and remember that we build in redundant safety measures so that if/when one fails, the others provide another layer of safety.

You failed in implementing a single measure, but the overall system succeeded.

You likely did not point it at anyone; stored it in a safe direction as you drove home; did not dry fire without checking it and checked before handling it when you arrived at home. No injury or damage has been done except to your own pride.

One slip resulted in a moment that sobered you and caused embarrassment.

You then shared this so as to remind us that we need to follow all of our safety habits and never to rely upon any one.

I suspect that anyone who has handled guns enough can remember a moment or two that they would like to rewind the tape on, but we cannot undo these.

We can learn and teach.

CS

 

[roundball]

Well said...
:thumbsup:

 

[roo shooter]

These things happen to us all, At least you keeped it pointed in a safe direction and no one was hurt.
I cant belive it when I make a saftey mistake with a firearm either, So I guess we just give our selfs a bit of a wake up call and try and keep up the high standard of saftey that we would normally use.

 

[CrackStock]

RB,

The best part is that I steadfastly refused to use this opportunity to comment on blowing down the bore. Ain't ya proud of me? :rotf:

CS

 

[oldmaster]

Well Crackstock, you and I can now be shooting buddies. You can blow down your barrel and I'll forget that it's loaded. :rotf:

 

[Slake]

I'm a bug on safety too. You can't be too safe. I had one accidental discharge and man oh man that woke me up big time. I too had the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Thank God.

 

[CrackStock]

We can be shooting buddies, but the truth is that I have picked on the practice of blowing down the bore for some time and was tweaking a couple of friends with that comment.

CS

 

[roundball]

RB,

The best part is that I steadfastly refused to use this opportunity to comment on blowing down the bore. Ain't ya proud of me? :rotf:

CS

I am indeed...and as you know I share that philosophy myself...others can do as they wish of course, but this child doesn't go around sticking a gun barrel in his mouth either
:thumbsup: