Have you ever had a negligent discharge?

Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot

Tacitus Kilgore
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Embarrassing but I personally have, yes. When I was brand spankin’ new to guns, first week I bought a Glock 17. Few days after I had it, decided to clean it after the range. I dropped the mag, pointed the gun at the wall to pull the trigger for a dry fire, and BANG. As you can imagine, scared shitless. Only by chance did I not blow my hand off/kill myself. I had powder burns/residue on my fingers, that’s how close the muzzle was.

Looking back on it, I’m glad it happened. It hammered into me the fundamentals I should’ve been familiar. If it didn’t happen, who knows how or when I would’ve hurt myself or someone else in the future due to my negligence.

Today, I rack the slide and check the chamber an obnoxious amount of times. I’m trash at a lot of stuff but gun safety is now something I practice religiously.

(I know my negligence could’ve killed me or someone else, please don’t reiterate that. Hopefully this can be an educational thread)
 
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Once, many moons ago. I was enjoying improving the trigger/sear engagement on my 10/22, it was sweet! While at the firing line sitting at the bench I laid it across my lap and it went off. Thank God I had the muzzle downrange. I cleared the weapon, tossed the FCG in the trash. Decided it's cheaper to go ahead and order a Vorquartzen kit.
 
fieldgrade said:
If anyone answers that question “no”, they need to get out and shoot more.
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I was younger when it happened and when my father cooled down after it happened, he let me know “it happens to everyone, use it as a learning lesson.”

Whether he was implying it’s happened to him or not, I think so but I’m still not sure.
 
fieldgrade said:
If anyone answers that question “no”, they need to get out and shoot more.
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And let me clarify my comment. I consider breaking any shot before I intended to an ND/AD, even if I had a clear sight picture and it was into the "down zero” (bullseye) of the target, or otherwise into the berm/backstop.
 
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Yes.

Edit: I can count three times. One of those was about three weeks ago.
 
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Sitting beside my dad in a dove field with a double barrel .410. I was about 11 years old and playing around with the safety. I pulled the trigger and BANG! At least I had it pointed in a safe direction. I couldn't sit down until about a week later but I learned my lesson.
 
Pink_Vapor said:
Once, many moons ago. I was enjoying improving the trigger/sear engagement on my 10/22, it was sweet! While at the firing line sitting at the bench I laid it across my lap and it went off. Thank God I had the muzzle downrange. I cleared the weapon, tossed the FCG in the trash. Decided it's cheaper to go ahead and order a Vorquartzen kit.
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It’s never a fun experience. If I’m reading this right, you laid it on your lap and without any trigger activation, the gun went off? If so that’s a completely accidental discharge, no negligence on your part.

Either way, glad you’re okay
 
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Yes. Much like the OP, I was much younger and new to handguns. Same scenario too. Definitely an eye opener and one I hope to never repeat
 
Well ... twice in the past I did not handle hang fires correctly which could be seen as a negligent discharge. I also had a bolt lock back on a mag with a round still in it for some reason ... without properly check I sent bolt home and squeezed the trigger w/ the barrel was still down range but scared me a little and pretty much a negligent discharge. So I’ve had 3 negligent discharges but not an accidental discharge.

ETA ... I forgot once I had completely broken down an AR to freshen all the springs ... down to all in the BCG. I screwed up and some how got the cam pin in a bind (I rushed the job) and somehow someway I had a 5 shot runaway the first time I went to shoot the AR ... again they were down range but still the pucker factor did arise.
 
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Also I meant to add, a 124gr HST from a Glock 17 will go through one lotion bottle, one mirror, and 3 layers of drywall before stopping in between the 3rd and the 4th.

A brand new flat-screen was sitting behind that drywall so thank God the cavity wasn’t clogged. +1 for HSTs
 
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NCFubar said:
Well ... twice in the past I did not handle hang fires correctly which could be seen as a negligent discharge. I also had a bolt lock back on a mag with a round still in it ... without properly check I sent bolt home and squeezed the trigger w/ the barrel was still down range but scared me a little and pretty much a negligent discharge. So I’ve had 3 negligent discharges but not and accidental discharge.
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I’m glad we can make the distinction between the 2, a lot of times they’re used interchangeably. Glad you’re alright, hang fires are always stressful
 
fieldgrade said:
If anyone answers that question “no”, they need to get out and shoot more.
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If you handle and shoot guns long enough you will have a negligent discharge of some kind. It is really not matter of if it is a matter of when. The most important thing is that you handled them properly so that the unintended discharge does harm anyone or anything.
 
I have never had a negligent discharge. I did however have that unicorn and often spoken of but usually mythical accidental discharge once.

I built a 1911. Tested the action about a 1000 times and finally loaded a single round to check the feed. But apparently the final check I did without a round a finger of the spring (that holds the sear) broke.

So when I chambered the round the hammer followed and boom. Hole in my floor.
 
Chdamn said:
I have never had a negligent discharge. I did however have that unicorn and often spoken of but usually mythical accidental discharge once.

I built a 1911. Tested the action about a 1000 times and finally loaded a single round to check the feed. But apparently the final check I did without a round a finger of the spring (that holds the sear) broke.

So when I chambered the round the hammer followed and boom. Hole in my floor.
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Accidentals are definitely the scariest of the two. You have an ND, hopefully no one’s hurt, you learn from it.

With an AD, you did everything right but still it goes wrong. That’s no fun and would definitely shake me up
 
I’ve mentioned this before, but I know two master class match pistol shooters who have had epic NDs.

One put four 9mm holes in one leg with one shot on a bobbled draw on the clock.

The other friend put five .45acp holes in himself with one shot. (The last hole in his big toe after passing through his thigh (in and out) then his calf (in and out).

If you think it can’t/won't happen to you, well....
 
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rms2324 said:
Accidentals are definitely the scariest of the two. You have an ND, hopefully no one’s hurt, you learn from it.

With an AD, you did everything right but still it goes wrong. That’s no fun and would definitely shake me up
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Yeah. On a positive note, as long as you aren’t breaking any of the rules of gun safety nobody gets hurt.
 
rms2324 said:
It’s never a fun experience. If I’m reading this right, you laid it on your lap and without any trigger activation, the gun went off? If so that’s a completely accidental discharge, no negligence on your part.

Either way, glad you’re okay
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The negligence was removing wayyy too much material, at the wrong angle from the sear & hammer.
 
I have had a few unexpected discharges due to malfunctions but no negligent discharges. Perhaps my time will come one of these days. I hope not.
 
Twice about 30 years apart.
If that 30 year span holds, I'll be dead when the next one rolls around.
In the mean time, I double/triple check myself all the time.
 
Yes, once when shooting my new Beretta 21. USPSA has it programmed in my head to drop the mag, rack the slide to clear, and drop the hammer. I did all of that but did not visually check for clear. Of course, the 21 has no extractor so I got a bang instead of a click.

Fortunately, I also seem to be programmed to keep the muzzle down range so no big deal. I definitely stopped for a few minutes to think about my error.
 
I had one.
August 2012 during a Chris Costa class. I was SMOKED, HOT and just too damn wore out.

Went to Genes trailer to unload and cleared the AR, removed the mag from my XDS, weak racked the pistol and never visually seen the clear chamber.

Pointed in a save direction and dryfired. But it was not dry.

Hurt my pride alot. But I learned a huge lesson that has kept me and all my students safe for many, many years of teaching.

Always look and visually check the chamber. Slow it down, be precise
 
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Pink_Vapor said:
How does it extract the brass?
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To answer the question more completely, if you have to remove a live cartridge you tip the barrel up and invert the gun to let gravity pull the cartridge out.

If it’s sticky you use a knife blade or the such.

They’re finicky.
 
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16 year old me put a .357 round into the ceiling and out the roof of my dads house.
I never picked up a gun again without checking it to be unloaded, even when I see somebody else unload it I always check.
 
I haven’t. That said I had a buddy and roommate in college that had one. A hell of a good guy and currently an LEO in the western part of the state.

Came into my room to show off his XDm full-size in 40. Can’t remember what exactly he was showing me as I had seen and shot the gun before. Maybe he had done some trigger work? Can’t remember as it’s been almost 10 years. Next thing I know he’s looking down the sights aiming it at a spot on the wall. BAM! Scared the sh*t out of both of us. He freaked the heck out after shooting my wall, rightfully so.

Made sure neither of it us was shot and took a look at the wall. Maybe I’m remembering wrong but I feel like he was shaking a little. I remember my ears ringing like crazy. The place we were renting was this little concrete building down by the river. There was a nice half dollar sized chunk out of the corner block. Found the bullet on the floor not but a few feet from us.

I don’t remember being mad but more surprised he did that. I want to say I’m 3-4 years older than him so at the time I was the “mature” one. Anyways, he went to work an hour later and had to come home as he was so shook up about it. I think that guy apologized for a week. Had the dude repaint that area on the wall white so the landlord didn’t charge us. Don’t stay in touch on a regular basis anymore but that’s the only time I’ve been around a ND.

ALWAYS check that “unloaded” gun guys. It’s normally loaded!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Twice. Once while shooting skeet. I was bringing the Shotgun into my shoulder and I must of hit the trigger. Good news I did hit a clay. Bad news it was on the ground 20 yards in front of me and in the dirt.
second was with a .22 rifle. Was aiming at target and repositioned myself and hit the trigger. Didn’t hit target but went harmlessly into berm.
 
22Rimfire said:
Made sure neither of it was shot and took a look at the wall. Maybe I’m remembering wrong but I feel like he was shaking a little. I remember my ears ringing like crazy.
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Same with me, ears were ringing and I was shaking a bit lol, couldn’t keep my hand steady
 
Three times:

1) new shooter with a Taurus PT96 - 40cal Beretta clone - at an indoor range. First shot, a long double action pull, went into the bullseye. But the second shot went into the ceiling when I pressed that very very different SA trigger while the gun was in recoil. Nobody busted me but I know what I did.

2) broke a shot early in an IDPA match. Round went into the berm above the target. Nobody sent me home but I know what I did.

3) Shot my Chronograph with a Swiss Vetterli rifle. That old girl has a dingus under the trigger guard that you hook your middle finger on to stabilize your grip. it feels just like the actual trigger. So I was on the bench and *thinking* to establish a shooting grip and then get on target. But actually grabbed the trigger and pulled. That one was a two-fer ND + RIP Chrony. And I did that just as a dude walked up with his kid in tow to check out the cool old rifle. I think I taught the boy a new word as his dad hustled him out of there.
 
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