[Calvin Wiles]

It is kind of hard to talk about this, but it could make us all aware of how easy it is, and help us avoid it. I will start.

About 30 years ago my wife and I were going fishing in a pond on our Ranch. I had a Ruger, 30 cal. Blackhawk that I kept loaded for home protection. When we started from the bedroom through the kitchen, I had it in a holster carrying it in my hand, and it tipped up enough, that it slid out and hit the hammer on the tile floor and fired. The bullet went in my leg above the knee and came out of my thigh and lodged in the credits cards in my wallet. I was very lucky because it could have hit my wife, who was one step behind me, or could have hit me in the vitals. The firing pin block has taken care of that, but I should have had it on a empty chamber.

 

[n/a]

So you're saying that you had an older style Blackhawk at the time that did not have the transfer bar and you had 6 rounds loaded in the cylinder with the hammer resting on one of them?

Well, don't feel bad...as I did something worse, only no one was injured. I used to keep a 4" Dan Wesson .357 mag in the top drawer of my dresser and it was always "unloaded". One evening I was admiring it and slowly pulled the trigger just to watch the action and BAM!! I was living in an apartment at the time and thought the neighbors would call the police so I opened all the windows to air the place out. Luckily no one seemed to realize what it was. When I finally found the bullet, which I couldn't find for a long time, it had gone between the shag carpet and the baseboard molding and disintegrated on the concrete below. Luckily I was pointing at the floor when the gun discharged. [V]

 

[sheepdog]

My training officer and I were drinking coffee about 10 pm, sitting in the parking lot of a serve-you-in-your car called the Coachman---he had a new S&W M39--I had a pair of Nickel M19s-he had the hots for my 2 1/2" and had just looked it over again---I loaded it up and snapped it down-he said "Let me see that one more time-I laid it flat in his hand and took a sip-looked in time to see him squeezing the trigger "Jack, it'sBOOOOOOM------- Norma 158gr JHP grazed his knee-missed his foot, and through the floorboard....he threw the gun out in the gravel and I said "We just traded!" We were deaf for three days....never reported it...slid by his house to change. I never hand a loaded weapon to ANYONE since then-slide open or cylinder open. Half my fault-half his.

 

[rugerguy]

It should NOT be hard to talk about and should always be a "reminder, safety first and always". "**** happens".......
I once was test firing a repaired revolver in the basement shop , test fired 6 rounds and the 'last one ' did NOT go off, Yes, like a FOOL , I actually turned the gun 'muzzle up to look at the front? and see if I had indeed loaded six rounds and said, "whoa, I......" as I turned it down instantly and the round discharged into the bottom drawer of my desk. It was a 'hangfire'. Yes, I left the hole in the desk as a "reminder" still to this day "safety first".
We have had 3 different gun shops in the past 30 years and ALL the guys working there at one time or another had a "gun go off" , all "accidental discharges/malfunctions,etc" Only one time was there any injury, Jim , the first 'gunsmith' we were with, shot through his index finger while closing the breach of a High Standard .22 derringer and it went off, blew a hole through his index finger. Lucky he didn't lose it.
So did I say "safety first" ???