[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Please be safe!!! (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 1/31/2013 6:56:35 PM EDT
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Posted January 31, 2013 09:29 PM I was sharing this event on another forum and thought this experience may serve may of you fine people, with hopes to make us all more aware and safe. This is only meant to be a friendly reminder and nothing more. Last weekend my buddy was unloading his hand gun (FNS 9) and it accidentally discharged hitting his thumb. I wish I could post pictures so you may get the true understanding of how divesting the gunshot wound was. I will not share the picture due to respect to my friend and it would be far to graphic for the general public. Needle to say he is now missing half of his dominate hand. Ground beef is as close as I can describe the injury. My friend also received injuries to his arm and face from parts of the bullet or bone, not sure yet. My friend loved firearms just like many of us. He now no longer enjoy them and feels sick when he thinks of them. I am currently holding all of his guns in my safe until he and his wife decide what to do with them. His wife said she could not sleep knowing they were in the house. Before you judge her on her dissension, the bullet after passing through his hand, hit 6-8 inches above her head in the headboard while she was sleeping in bed. Lucky for my friend he works in an office, talks to people, and sends emails all day. So his new hand will not affect his job as it would like many of us who perform trade work. The bullet was a federal HST 124 gr +p. So if your looking for an effective round, they do the job very well. I work as a firefighter/paramedic and this is one of the worst GSW I have ever seen. So its safe to say its not my first rodeo when talking about GSW. My friend was not new to firearms. We would shot together often at a privet range we have access to. He had good gun control. He cannot recall what really happened when the gun discharged. I have many rules when handling a firearm but have two GOLDEN RULES I live by. These apply to loaded and unloaded guns; I do not differentiate between the two. 1: Finger off the trigger and out side of the trigger guard until discharging the firearm on target. 2: Never point the barrel at anything you do not intend to destroy. One of these rules is not enough by its self. Both together ensure safety. "One is none, two is one" I am not trying to be preachy, I just want to give a friendly reminder to my brothers and sisters to think twice and act once. This sad accident has affected him, family, and friends forever. Lets learn from his mistake and be safer gun owners. Sorry for the long post, Thanks Chad |
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Without sounding disrespectful, might I ask what was his thumb doing in a position whereas it was even remotely close to the end of the barrel?[/quote]
He does not recall what happened. What he can remember is he was doing a press check. He is both right and left handed and was using his non dominate hand. Thats how he shot his dominate hand. We all know if your press check, come under the gun and not in front. But things happen. Very very sad |
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He does not recall what happened. What he can remember is he was doing a press check. He is both right and left handed and was using his non dominate hand. Thats how he shot his dominate hand. We all know if your press check, come under the gun and not in front. But things happen. Very very sad I'm gunna go ahead and ask for an MS Paint of this.... |
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Without sounding disrespectful, might I ask what was his thumb doing in a position whereas it was even remotely close to the end of the barrel?
He does not recall what happened. What he can remember is he was doing a press check. He is both right and left handed and was using his non dominate hand. Thats how he shot his dominate hand. We all know if your press check, come under the gun and not in front. But things happen. Very very sad Which is how you get your hand and/or fingers in front of the barrel. Press checks are for people who want to shoot their fingers off. |
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Sorry to hear about your friend. I think we all know something like that could happen. I don't think anyone is dumb enough to say it could never happen to them.
The mind can play tricks on you too. Remember when you were going to do something, and a minute later you forgot what? Stuff like that can happen when you are handling firearms too. The brain is a complicated part of the body. Don't ever trust any safety feature on any firearm, old or new. I see people chambering the first rounds in all types of guns, at the range, and very few of them have the gun pointed at the target when they chamber that cartridge. Some have the gun aimed up into the air, some have it sideways, but you should always have a good grip on it, and chamber a round facing the target, or if outside, perhaps at the ground a few yards in front of you. I had an older semi auto pistol slamfire on me last year. I had never shot the gun before, just acquired it, and knew enough to have the good grip on it, and point it at the target. I'll never forget that. It's a difficult thing with so many ccw folks out there. People are taking their guns out of their holsters and reholstering them daily. Some even take the round out of the chamber every night, and rechamber a new round, in their house the next day. You have to be vigilant, every time you handle a gun. |
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Maybe he accidentally bought an "ASSAULT FNS 9", I here they have a mind of there own.
Its a good thing his wife wants all guns out of the house before they also become ASSAULT type firearms. Take care and maybe lay some type of heavy furniture against your safe door so they don't escape and assault someone else. |
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None of my hands have EVER been in front of a muzzle when unloading a handgun. How is that even possible? 1. Drop mag. 2. Pull the slide back to eject chambered round. How does ones hand get in front of the muzzle, and i've never pulled the trigger when unloading a firearm either. |
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What the hell is a "press check?" If you are unloading a gun, you point the gun in a safe direction, drop the mag and grasp the slide with the free hand to eject the round and check the chamber to clear it. Nothing in those actions has a hand in front of a barrel. Sorry to sound harsh, but lots of fail here.
ETA: Thank you for posting this, reminds us to be ever vigilant in safe handling procedures. |
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What the hell is a "press check?" If you are unloading a gun, you point the gun in a safe direction, drop the mag and grasp the slide with the free hand to eject the round and check the chamber to clear it. Nothing in those actions has a hand in front of a barrel. Sorry to sound harsh, but lots of fail here. ETA: Thank you for posting this, reminds us to be ever vigilant in safe handling procedures. A press check is a thing of the past, it's where you push back on the slide just far enough to make sure you loaded the gun. Nobody teaches this anymore as far as I know. I still do it on accident sometimes ( never have shot myself ) bad habit from being taught how to shoot by an old FBI agent ( in his 70's at the time ) my dad didn't know how to shoot so he took me under his wing. Still NEVER put your finger on the trigger |
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Maybe I'm unique, but I can do press checks without putting my hand in front of the muzzle. Yeah , I just grab the slide for the top. I tell people to just either chamber a new round if you are unsure or if you are unloading just remove the mag and rack the slide to get rid of the old one . People aren't as careful as they used to be |
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1) All guns are always loaded. 2) Never point the muzzle toward ANYTHING you do not want to destroy. 3) Know what your target is and what lies beyond it. 4) Finger off the trigger until you are absolutley positive that you are following the previous 3 rules.  Why is this so hard to remember for some people? I raise hell with my kids if they muzzle sweep me with a fucking nerf gun. |
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What the hell is a "press check?" If you are unloading a gun, you point the gun in a safe direction, drop the mag and grasp the slide with the free hand to eject the round and check the chamber to clear it. Nothing in those actions has a hand in front of a barrel. Sorry to sound harsh, but lots of fail here. ETA: Thank you for posting this, reminds us to be ever vigilant in safe handling procedures. A press check is a thing of the past, it's where you push back on the slide just far enough to make sure you loaded the gun. Nobody teaches this anymore as far as I know. I still do it on accident sometimes ( never have shot myself ) bad habit from being taught how to shoot by an old FBI agent ( in his 70's at the time ) my dad didn't know how to shoot so he took me under his wing. Still NEVER put your finger on the trigger Travis Haley teaches press checking in Art of Dynamic Handgun. IMO it's a derp. If your gun needs to be ready, chamber a round. If you want to make it safe - rack and visually confirm an empty chamber. I see no need for press checking, and it's another opportunity to fiddle with your gun and cause a malfunction (such as being out of battery) |
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What the hell is a "press check?" If you are unloading a gun, you point the gun in a safe direction, drop the mag and grasp the slide with the free hand to eject the round and check the chamber to clear it. Nothing in those actions has a hand in front of a barrel. Sorry to sound harsh, but lots of fail here. ETA: Thank you for posting this, reminds us to be ever vigilant in safe handling procedures. A press check is a thing of the past, it's where you push back on the slide just far enough to make sure you loaded the gun. Nobody teaches this anymore as far as I know. I still do it on accident sometimes ( never have shot myself ) bad habit from being taught how to shoot by an old FBI agent ( in his 70's at the time ) my dad didn't know how to shoot so he took me under his wing. Still NEVER put your finger on the trigger Travis Haley teaches press checking in Art of Dynamic Handgun. IMO it's a derp. If your gun needs to be ready, chamber a round. If you want to make it safe - rack and visually confirm an empty chamber. I see no need for press checking, and it's another opportunity to fiddle with your gun and cause a malfunction (such as being out of battery) I completely agree , I thought teaching that practice went the way of the dodo bird , learn somthing new every day |
| My HK USP had an indicator on the ejector to tell if it was loaded. Anyways I have a habit of anytime I pick up a gun or someone hands it to me I point it towards the ground and open the action to ensure that it is cleared. I have had people get pissed off at me because they handed me a loaded gun, without telling me it was loaded, and I handed it back with the action open. My exes father was bad about keeping his 30-30 loaded in the gun cabinet. I have also had a guy at a gun shop berate me for checking every gun he handed me and re-checking it before I handed it back. It was my only visit to that shop. |
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Proper English and grammar along with spell check???? Yes. I am quite disappointed by his doctoral thesis. If your referring to my post, I apologize for any grammar or spelling errors. I sent it from my phone. I did not expect to receive this criticism for trying to remind people to have good gun safety. I will gladly delete this thread and leave the forum if you so please. |
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A couple of points , I was involved in some gun testing for a lawyer . The muzzle blast does a good and surprising amount of damage inside of 6 inches.. post pictures , we are adults here and if we are not someone will be along and remind us how. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Nothing wrong with press checking. Even though I carry a 1911 cocked and locked, I do like to assure myself that the round is chambered before I holster is, even with the hammer back, and alternatively, that it is empty once a mag is not inserted.
The correct way to do it is to grasp the rear of the slide, not the front. Never put your hand near the front of the firearm. Also, has his wife ever been in a car wreck? I'm not a paramedic, but I have seen some really badly mangled bodies from car wrecks, and motorcycle wrecks. I saw a guy hit a car at the end of the quarter mile one night with a motorcycle doing about 180mph. I'm sure she's known someone close to her that has been messed up bad or killed in a car wreck. She still gets in a car. We can't live our lives in fear from accidents or negligent behavior. What we can do is to eliminate our chances of it happening by learning from other's mistakes, and any that we might make. I can promise you, your friend, if he were to be able to shoot again, would not make that mistake again, and would probably be one of the safest people to be around with firearms. He is always going to think about every step he takes with one. |
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If your referring to my post, I apologize for any grammar or spelling errors. I sent it from my phone. I did not expect to receive this criticism for trying to remind people to have good gun safety. I will gladly delete this thread and leave the forum if you so please. Mine was merely sarcasm. It's a forum posting, for crying out loud. |
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Without sounding disrespectful, might I ask what was his thumb doing in a position whereas it was even remotely close to the end of the barrel?
He does not recall what happened. What he can remember is he was doing a press check. He is both right and left handed and was using his non dominate hand. Thats how he shot his dominate hand. We all know if your press check, come under the gun and not in front. But things happen. Very very sad Which is how you get your hand and/or fingers in front of the barrel. Press checks are for people who want to shoot their fingers off. Agreed. This is why I never do this. Asking for serious trouble. |
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I never thought of putting my mag loader on my XD like that. 
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| I like that my Springfield's have an indicator, but I still religiously visually check to confirm I have unloaded and do not assume the indicator is right eeevaaar when confirming unloaded. On the other hand I don't "press check" to confirm that I have loaded, I am comfortable assuming the indicator is right for a loaded condition. |
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I like that my Springfield's have an indicator, but I still religiously visually check to confirm I have unloaded and do not assume the indicator is right eeevaaar when confirming unloaded. On the other hand I don't "press check" to confirm that I have loaded, I am comfortable assuming the indicator is right for a loaded condition. XD indicators are notorious for sticking in the up position. Some variant of the chamber check is absolutely vital for ensuring a charged weapon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU68wjU5b80 |
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Proper English and grammar along with spell check???? Yes. I am quite disappointed by his doctoral thesis. If your referring to my post, I apologize for any grammar or spelling errors. I sent it from my phone. I did not expect to receive this criticism for trying to remind people to have good gun safety. I will gladly delete this thread and leave the forum if you so please. Don't take it seriously. Little men make themselves feel better by finding fault in others and building their own ego by tearing down others. Of course, we have many perfect members here, so they do not suffer from that problem, but they do like to throw insults around. Perfect people are like that. 
Again, thank you for the admonition. I hope your friend recovers. 
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Tough way to learn a lesson... and from the sounds of some of the posts up in here, some others are on a short list for learning a thing or two themselves.
Travis Haley teaches press checking in Art of Dynamic Handgun. IMO it's a derp.
Haley teaches it for a reason... and so do a number of other schools, and all of the PD's I'm familiar with. Confirm the condition of the weapon after loading. Plainly put, if you depend on your weapon to possibly save you or someone else, chamber a round, and then make sure a round is chambered. If you don't, you're an idiot. Same goes for an admin unload... confirm the condition, change the condition (unload), and then confirm the condition. I have had people get pissed off at me because they handed me a loaded gun, without telling me it was loaded, and I handed it back with the action open
Accepting a weapon from anyone, in anything other than muzzle down / up, unloaded and action open condition, again plainly put, is fucking stupid. I like that my Springfield's have an indicator, but I still religiously visually check to confirm I have unloaded and do not assume the indicator is right eeevaaar when confirming unloaded. On the other hand I don't "press check" to confirm that I have loaded, I am comfortable assuming the indicator is right for a loaded condition.
So you don't trust the LCI when you're clearing the weapon (which is a good call IMNSHO), but if you need that same weapon to save your life, you trust the LCI...!? Dude... seriously. Accidents happen. There but by the grace of God go us all! You guys with the big mouths haven't lived very long.
This... mostly. Accidents, or their outcomes are the product of unforeseen, unfortunate circumstance. Carelessness and negligence are the primary causes of firearms related accidents... the outcomes can easily be foreseen, and avoided, by safe handling practice. And you're right, it can happen to anyone, anytime... it only takes a fraction of a split second of carelessness, which is why we train, and must remain ever vigilant with the 4 rules. Be safe indeed...!!! |
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Proper English and grammar along with spell check???? Yes. I am quite disappointed by his doctoral thesis. If your referring to my post, I apologize for any grammar or spelling errors. I sent it from my phone. I did not expect to receive this criticism for trying to remind people to have good gun safety. I will gladly delete this thread and leave the forum if you so please. Don't take it seriously. Little men make themselves feel better by finding fault in others and building their own ego by tearing down others. Of course, we have many perfect members here, so they do not suffer from that problem, but they do like to throw insults around. Perfect people are like that.
Again, thank you for the admonition. I hope your friend recovers. Thank you, I am not trying to tell any one how to handle a firearm. Just hate to see this happen to any one else. But to be honest, I am disappointed in many of the response on here. I am a member in other gun forums and to say the least, people respect a more quality discussion. |