I was driving to the range today and when I was a couple miles away a dark blue pontiac came speeding up behind me and started tailgating me. I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed that in the car were four gangsta wannabes. Tailgating normally pisses me off, but when a car follows me closely for miles without passing even though several opportunities to pass have been given, then the warning bell starts to go off. My shooting range is way out kind of in the middle of nowhere so there's no telling what might go down. About 3/4 of a mile away from my turn off the car slows down abruptly and gets in the left lane, but doesn't turn or pass or anything...they just start driving in the left lane.  As I'm slowing down to turn they come speeding back up to me in the right lane and I'm kind of scared that the driver isn't paying attention because he's coming up to me pretty fast, so I had to take my turn at about 20 mph so they wouldn't hit me.

I'm wondering if they're messing with me so when I parked I got my S&W 442 (which I had set under my left leg) and put it on the roof of my car as I unloaded my other gear just in case they decided to turn around and start anything. I also had my Springfield XD with Hornady TAP at the time but it was in my range bag and unaccessible quickly in case they turned around.


Anyway they drove off so I let it go and strapped on my chest rig, loaded up my AR-15 and start doing some shooting drills using my car as cover. As I'm shooting over the roof of my car I noticed a dark object fly off the top...

Ah shit, I think I just shot my revolver.

I don't know why I hadn't noticed my revolver sitting on the top of my car as I was shooting but I guess I was just too into it at the moment, either that or my rifle blocked my view of the gun. I finished the drill and went to look at the damage. Here are some pics:






The cylinder release is locked tight so I can't get the gun unloaded right now, I was working on it for a little bit but decided to take a break and post this on ARFCOM. From what I can tell the bullet only hit the cylinder and not the frame or barrel, THANK GOD, so I may be able to get it fixed relatively easily.

This sucks. I feel like a HUGE idiot for shooting my gun but at the same time I feel lucky that the shot didn't cause it to discharge at me or something else.

ETA: YES, I know cars are not cover. I was simply using the car as something to shoot over because I didn't happen to have a concrete wall at my shooting area.
I also know about sight over bore, which is why I DIDN'T HIT MY CAR, but the gun that happened to be a couple inches above it.
I also don't really care if my car gets a couple bullet holes in the roof, or else I wouldn't have been using it like that. It's a piece of shit car and it's about to break down. Now that those issues are out of the way...

ETA Again: It's not so much that I set the revolver on the roof for quick access or anything like that because obviously it would have been better in my hand or pocket. After they drove off I just set it on the roof as I was unloading the rest of my stuff from the car and simply forgot about it there.

Another ETA: I got the cylinder open and unloaded. The bullet is stuck in the chamber but the casing came out when I pulled on it.
Also, pics of the incident on page 2

Damn...that sucks.

this is why you dont shot at your car

Reminds me about one time we were doing rifle drills using vehicles as cover.  My buddy screwed up and shot the top of an up-armor hummvv.



He got the dumbass award.

Looks like it just needs a new cylinder.  You are EXTREMELY lucky.

glad you are Ok

I must admit that is the first time I have heard that somebody shot their own gun

That'll learn ya'

Shooting that close to your car's roof doesn't damage it?  I'd think it'd blacken the paint at a minimum

Wow.  That sucks.  I bet you'll be more careful next time!

I wasn't shooting at my car, I was shooting over it.

You've got balls of steel admitting that here, OP.

I'm speechless and in on one.....

I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time?

just curious what the top of your car looks like?

Damn it looked nice before you did that.
Now you don't have to throw it down the driveway.

Lucky whatever ricochet there was missed you and the the car!

You should keep it like it is.  That way you can say that it's a gun you shot out of a bad guys hand in a hostage situation.

One day you will get a chuckle out of it.

That Won't BUFF OUT Sorry I did the same thing except it was my new Browning Buckmark

You're supposed to shoot the gun out of the other guy's hand.

ETA. Beaten.

Sorry to laugh but I think this is the only time I ever heard of someone shooting their own gun!

Seriously I'm glad yer ok and the pistol can be fixed.

You spook too easily, man up. Luckily nobody got hurt.

Man o man!

My thoughts exactly.

Ya, he was shooting at the handgun on the car.

<––-pats the 442 in his pocket, makes mental note not to shoot at it.

Are those Gold Dots in the cylinder?

Yeah it does suck, you guys can flame me all you want for being an idiot because I suppose I deserve it.

As for the roof of my car, there's a little scuff where the gun skidded off but no black marks from the gunpowder. I really don't care about my car so much because it's kind of old a shitty and will probably break down any minute here, otherwise I wouldn't have been using it to shoot around.

That is.....quite a story.  

Tag.

ETA -
Looks like the revolver was pointing in your direction when you shot it.

I hate to say it, but I need an MS paint drawing to understand what you did.

Were you shooting at your car? (as in the car was between you and the target?)
Were you shooting with the rifle resting on the car and just didnt notice something sitting in front of the muzzle?

Glad you didnt get hurt and the pistol looks like a new cyclinder should do the trick, unless the parts that index got screwed up.
Either way, all things considered, you got off easy.

For me, today is that day.  

Post-lock S&W = good shoot.  

I'm not a "tactical" guy.  Under what circumstances would you shoot over the roof of your car so that your body is "protected" by thin sheet metal and glass?

Yeah, they're +P Gold Dots. The real shitty thing about this is that I just bought the gun last month for summertime pocket CCW since my XD is too big to conceal easily.

So in other words, you were putting rounds about 2" over the roof of your car.

That seems... not smart.

I wasn't necessarily using my car as protection, just practicing the use of cover in general.

If you get a new 442, get one of the new production models without the lock.

I have video of it happening actually...I don't know if I want to release it here though.

I know some who have creased their hoods sighting in hunting rifles.

Do it!

Whole different meaning for "I'm going to go shoot my gun."

in on one.

Look on the bright. You still own a four shot revolver.

I have some pics of my moms car after my step bro shot it. He was using it as a rest and didnt account for the slope of vehicle nor the sightline above the bore. Poor bastard... still wont go shooting with us after all the shit we gave him.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=275827&t=11082005

I thought for a minute or so whether I was going to bite my tongue but GD that was stupid!  Practice those drills with plywood or junk cars not your own!  On top of all that accountability for gear.

In before that guy who shot his faucet shows up...  Now that was a funny story!

Dude was sniping at a squirrel from indoors and forgot about the height difference between the scope and bore!  Apparently he had a high faucet and low window...

That finish now looks like  a +4 toss down the driveway patina

you have to watch the high sightline on an AR

You now have a 5 shot revolver.

Not a hijack, but this reminds me of a friend who was sighting in a scope he just bought and put on a 7 m.. Mag bolt-action rifle. He laid it across his hood and first shot shattered his windshield from the concussion. It was about 15 degrees outside and he had a 50-mile trip back home. Along the way is the second longest bridge in the world, the Lake Pontchartrain Bridge. It's a 24-mile bridge over water.There were cops checking brake tags at the toll booth. He had none, because he had no windshield left..haha.  They let him go because they were laughing so hard and knew he was suffering already, he was blue by the time he got home.

Guns don't kill people...

Guns kill other guns