dumbest thing youve ever done with a firearm

[Ansgar]

Went to the range with a "surprise guest."

I had planned to go out shooting with an old friend who I knew to be generally safe with firearms by a combination of discussion and experience of seeing how carefully he handles a weapon of any kind, firearm or not over the more than a decade that we've known each other. The problem came when I arrived at his house with the weapons to transfer into his truck to go out there. A friend of his I didn't know was over visiting and my buddy, who has severe trouble with not letting people walk all over him (good guy, but always puts everyone else's feelings before any consideration for himself, safety included), insisted that I allow his friend to come along. I only ceded after 20 minutes of discussing and being repeatedly assured that his friend was up to speed on weapon safety. He wasn't.

So I wound up at the unmanned conservation range with these two and all was going smoothly until about 15 minutes before we were planning to leave. His friend had brought a CO2 pistol with him, which I was fine with, as he was a grown man who I had given a safety lecture for the entire 45 minute ride out there. Rather than remove the magazine and loosen the gas cartridge to empty it, this particular model of safety brilliance decided to just "pull the trigger til it sounded empty." He then proceeded to, out of curiosity as to what the burst of gas felt like, put the muzzle 3 inches from his palm and fire. On top of the sheer idiocy of pointing a firearm, even a pellet gun, at a person (namely himself), on top of actually squeezing the trigger, he hadn't removed the magazine. There were still pellets inside, and they weren't the plastic ones. So as I'm locking the case that I had just placed the SKS in, I hear from behind me a soft 'pop' followed immediately by a grown man screaming.

The next half hour was spent restraining him to keep him from trying to dig out the pellet himself, as he insisted it was still in his hand (it wasn't, it had bounced back out of the VERY shallow wound) because he could feel it with the nail file on his SAK. This was while repeatedly explaining to him that the hard thing in his hand he kept poking was possibly a bone. Finally convinced him to stop messing with it and let my mother look at it (an RN of 30+ years who lived 5 minutes from the entrance of the conservation area, far closer than the nearest hospital). She looked at it, cleaned him up and told him that if he didn't follow the care and cleaning instructions she gave him that she'd call his mother.

For these reasons (plus his being a compulsive liar who claims (this is the worst one I've heard from him so far) to have been in the US Army Special Forces with no actual training and had been deployed to search for bin Laden when he was 15, which incensed me, as an Iraq veteran [not SF] beyond what words can describe) he is no longer allowed to be at firing ranges with me or my wife. He is also no longer allowed in the same room as a firearm in my or my wife's presence.

Lesson learned: NEVER take someone at their word when it comes to safety. I now start every session at the range with a safety briefing and the first violation, no matter how minor, instantly ends the range trip for the day. It's harsh, I may look like a jerk, but I'd rather be the "safety Nazi" that cut the day short than the "cool friend" who let someone get hurt or killed by a preventable accident.


TL/DR? Took friend + guest to range. Friend vouched for guest on safety. Guest shot himself in the hand with a pellet gun and looked real stupid for it. Never take someone at their word when it comes to safety.

[Daworstest]

I blew a hole through my wife brand new leather couch (was less then a week old) due to being dumb and not paying attention. Shot straight down between my legs, easily within1.5 inches of my femural artery and my man hood, do to pulling the trigger when taking it apart with one chambered. Learned a lot about proper gun handling that day. I keep the section of the couch i shot in my basement near all the tools/gun safe now as a reminder for me and an example to my kids.

[Nutpantz]

handed a friend a Norinco type 56 with a full 30 rounds who proceeded to empty it as fast as he could pull the trigger from the hip hitting the ground 20 yards in front of him.
At least he had barrel control if nothing else.
Some people just can't control their urges.
know who those people are.

All spelling and grammar errors the fault of my phone.

[g1zm0]

that


i know it was the fault of the weapon that was badly maintain and dirty but i had the reputation to know what i was doing with ALL firearm and i kinda looked dumb as i was the only one with stoppage issue. that was my worse firearm experience. i looked so dumb that day.

Honestly that looks like a timing wheel problem. Sometimes they move a little after being fired a lot. Had that problem in Iraq.

My stupidest thing involves alcohol a 1911 and a pissed off dad and wife. Not wanting to go into to many details but it was pointed in an unsafe direction, loaded with a round in the chamber and the safety off. My finger was straight and off the trigger though. Still I Won't have my weapons around while drinking after that one.

The r second was when my gunner and myself were cleaning the 50 cal and neglected to perform a function check. We found the spring on the floor a few hours later then one of the corporals got it. Punishment was curls and presses with the receiver. When it was done I could not make my arms straight for 3 days. Lesson learned.

[SwampRat]

Ahh. Well, I used to leave my carry pistol on top of my gun safe in the closet at night because I kept a shot gun by the bed as I slept. Routine every night was to open the safe, insert wallet, extract shotgun, place pistol on top of safe, lock safe. I had some justification that I might need to use it in case I was over come and forced to open my safe. Well, It's a long story how, but someone I trusted stole my pistol one night and used it to commit a crime (assault). No one even came close to being hurt, and they went to jail, and I got the pistol back. But it's still by far the dumbest shit I ever did by letting it out of my sight. Now I lock everything in my safe at night but what I currently fancy to keep by the bed. Because, as it turns out, you can't trust any fucking body.

[zenlogic]

[Riker]

Two things.

First, emptying a Winchester 1890 (.22 short) upstairs, my finger accidentally pulled the trigger. Thankfully, the barrel was pointed down toward the carpet. Thankfully, this was a .22 CB short and not a more powerful, louder, round. This is our little secret.

Second, the absolute dumbest firearms-related thing I've ever done: In a moment of the grandest stupidity I traded a S&W 7-shot 686 for a Mini-30. Shooting the Ruger was enough to make me hate it, and it eventually turned into an AK-74, but I still cry myself to sleep at night thinking about the 686. I am old enough to know better.

Erik

[jamoni]

I hear from behind me a soft 'pop' followed immediately by a grown man screaming.

So funny!

[Ruppism]

The dumbest thing i ever did with a firearm was not own one for 20yrs

[landser]

Not in any particular order
buy a mini 14
sell a BCD 43 mauser no import marks mint for less than 2k
leave an 19 year old cousin at my house and come home and find him gone but a bullet hole through my door and into my wall after telling him DO NOT TOUCH MY GUNS!
Sell a 53 Tula sks

[OldSchool45b]

Shot myself. On purpose. I was testing a vest to see if it really hurt like it appeared. It does.

[hutchb25]

I let my girlfriend fire my new Henry the other day. She's very new to rifles (she has pistols), and has never even fired anything with any kind of external hammer, much less a hammer safety.

Me: "Ok, so pulling the hammer back about an eighth of an inch will set it to safe."

She does it.

"Cool. Now cycle the lever to load a round. Easy. See how the hammer is back? If you put your thumb on the hammer, then pull the trigger and let the hammer forward, you can--"

*POP*

I was trying to show her how to put it from live to safe after already cycling the lever. Somehow she didn't realize she needed to -hold- the hammer, and thought 'let it forward' meant 'let go of it and let it hit the firing pin'. Thankfully we have good range habits and she wasn't pointed at a foot or something.

[greenear123]

Made the mistake of letting my 14 yo daughter fire the S&W model 19. Not only did the brat out shoot me, but now she refers to it as "her"gun. Much worth it to see the grin on her face as she sent .357 goodness zinging down range. Zed heads and boyfriends beware!!!

[jamoni]

Made the mistake of letting my 14 yo daughter fire the S&W model 19. Not only did the brat out shoot me, but now she refers to it as "her"gun. Much worth it to see the grin on her face as she sent .357 goodness zinging down range. Zed heads and boyfriends beware!!!

Your daughter has good taste. a model 19 was my first "real" gun, and it's still my go-to pistol.

[Foxy]

Had a near death experience myself.

Was at the armory drill weekend and had been cleaning M-4s all weekend to prep for COMET inspection, literally 12 hours of star chambers and barrel swabbing. My fingers are numb, my ass is asleep, and I may have been high from sucking CLP for most of the day. As I am reasembling the bolt carrier like I've been doing for hours I go, *bolt into bolt carrier, firing pin into bolt carrier, firing pin retaining pin into bolt carrier and flick the carrier* like I always do to check that it slides freely. Now readers with a keen eye may note that I forgot to insert the bolt cam pin, so of course the bolt zings out of the carrier across the room and nearly misses the supply sergeant who just happened to be strolling by before sliding under some desks. luckily he failed to notice witch is why I'm able to share story today

[DynamicRabbit]

I've been lucky and paranoid. My only ND was switching from my cousins Glock 22 to a rental 1911. Put my finger on the trigger before I was ready and shot a hole through the range bench. Besides that, put my thumb up while firing a Beretta 92.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

[AKFTW]

Probably the dumbest thing I've ever done was to forget to put my thumb down when shooting my AK lefty with the mag-hold grip...my thumbnail was black-bruised for a week

[Quietus]

Thankfully, I have not done anything dumb with any firearm. I think I'm to safety conscious for that to happen.

Unless you count selling my old Sig P210. That was very stupid. It is by far the best handgun ever made.
I have been looking at getting another, but the nearly $4300,- pricetag on the best second hand one I have found so far, is not exactly pleasant But still worth it.

[Polley]

Probably the dumbest thing I've ever done was to forget to put my thumb down when shooting my AK lefty with the mag-hold grip...my thumbnail was black-bruised for a week

I've noticed that shooting a P38 sends hot brass directly at your face. Ask me how I know.

You mentioning "left-handed" reminded me of it since it ejects to the left.

[azrael99]

i once empty my pistol mag in 1.2 sec...........but my pistol wasn't full auto.

i shot the first shot, then the second, but i had a jam and i removed the mag to clear the jam. then i heard powpowpow powpowpow powpowpowpowpowpow. it was the sound of all my bullet falling on the ground.

i checked my mag: it was empty , i checked the ground: it was covered with my bullet.

it was a browning high power from the army, (it was marked : browning , Canada , Ontario 1943 or 44 i'm not sure) so it was quite used.

[AKFTW]

Probably the dumbest thing I've ever done was to forget to put my thumb down when shooting my AK lefty with the mag-hold grip...my thumbnail was black-bruised for a week

I've noticed that shooting a P38 sends hot brass directly at your face. Ask me how I know.

You mentioning "left-handed" reminded me of it since it ejects to the left.

My Glock kicks brass into my face sometimes, not my fault though, the ejector is out of spec but I haven't been able to find an aftermarket one actually in stock.

[Polley]

Probably the dumbest thing I've done actually relates to that P38. I shot it during the winter with the original grips.

Now, Bakelite from 1943 that's "good enough" for military use gets pretty brittle... especially in cold weather. I'm so glad that they didn't ever break: they're in like-new condition, so they're probably worth $150 to $200. I'm also super glad I don't wear rings as I have a feeling that could have changed things.

[Kyle Ryder]

Okay guys, I don't have pics, cause I got this second hand, BUT....
You know how, when a pistol fires out of battery, most of the force is directed out the bottom of the magwell, with some other rounds occasionally popping off as well?
AND.....
You know how some shooters like to hold the pistol in their non-firing hand, with their palm up, supporting the floorplate of the magazine?
AND.....
You know how some people have mangled hands missing their index finger, most of their thumb, and a large chunk of their palm?

WELL....
Guess how these three facts fit together.

Yep. Some guy had half his hand blown off because it was blocking the magwell when a round fired out of battery.

Can't give any more details. Don't have em. But damn.

People get taught in the British Army to fire that way, or at least I and a bunch of others did back in the late 90s.
Never, ever heard of that nightmare situation happening, maybe it's only with cheapo semi-autos or a certain model? We were using Hi-Powers and most of the other regiments shooting teams did the same method. Sounds a bit of a scare-story to me...

[Niblick]

I umm, kinda shot my company commander at basic with a blank from, oh say, 4 feet away after tackling him and another trainee that were fighting over a rifle during an exercise on searching for vehicle borne IEDs. He told me good job but my drill sergeant read me the riot act.