analysis of an accidental discharge
finished cleaning my gun. going over the outside to make sure I didn't miss anything. after a while of looking at it, I wanted to feel the heft of a fully loaded pistol. that would be nice. so I put in a loaded magazine. moved it around and pointed it at a few things. after a while, I remembered I haven't racked the slide yet after reassembly, so I pulled on it.... seemed like it was stuck. ??? hard to pull back. pulled and pulled, it went back maybe 2 inches and I gave up because I didn't want to break anything. has problems closing too. well dammit, what did I do wrong? have to take it apart and look. pulled the trigger to get the slide offBANG!!!
doh! ...that's what you get with a loaded magazine, you dumbass
the bullet zipped through a grocery bag and blasted a hole in the wall.
I thought oh no, it probably went through that wall, through the other wall and out the exterior brick wall and put a hole in the neighbor's house. went and looked, nothing like it. not even a mark on the other side of the wall. did not penetrate. must have been thinking about an AK because the .40 sure didn't do that.
it wasn't anywhere near as loud as I thought it would be. I thought if I ever had an AD indoors my ears would be ringing for minutes and would probably hurt. as it was, they only rang for 20 seconds and hearing was mostly restored.
I went outside to assure the neighbors that it was just an accidental discharge and everything was okay. guess what, nobody cared. nobody came outside, nobody looked out the window, nothing. after a while I went back inside to take a closer look at the damage.
.40SW FMJ, 180 grains, rated at 1020 ft/s. 184 power factor, 416 ft-lb kinetic energy.
the plaster was 5/8" thick. the FMJ blasted a wide hole and broke the lathe behind it, but that must have sapped all the energy because it only skidded off the 2x4 door frame stud and bounced off the wall stud next to it (perpendicular). that was it.
this picture shows the skid mark and where it bounced off.
my thoughts:
1. that was it??? I need to get a 10mm
2. I had heard that most AD's happen when cleaning the gun. I always thought that was silly. it has to be unloaded when it's all taken apart in peices, and you know it's unloaded when you put it back together. what, do people have an AD trying to clean a fully assembled loaded gun? well what happened here is a more likely scenario that is never mentioned: AFTER you clean it, you putz around and load it, shortly afterwards having it in your head that it's still unloaded (because you just cleaned it, right?) and there you go. that's what to watch out for.
doh! ...that's what you get with a loaded magazine, you dumbass
the bullet zipped through a grocery bag and blasted a hole in the wall.
I thought oh no, it probably went through that wall, through the other wall and out the exterior brick wall and put a hole in the neighbor's house. went and looked, nothing like it. not even a mark on the other side of the wall. did not penetrate. must have been thinking about an AK because the .40 sure didn't do that.
it wasn't anywhere near as loud as I thought it would be. I thought if I ever had an AD indoors my ears would be ringing for minutes and would probably hurt. as it was, they only rang for 20 seconds and hearing was mostly restored.
I went outside to assure the neighbors that it was just an accidental discharge and everything was okay. guess what, nobody cared. nobody came outside, nobody looked out the window, nothing. after a while I went back inside to take a closer look at the damage.
.40SW FMJ, 180 grains, rated at 1020 ft/s. 184 power factor, 416 ft-lb kinetic energy.
the plaster was 5/8" thick. the FMJ blasted a wide hole and broke the lathe behind it, but that must have sapped all the energy because it only skidded off the 2x4 door frame stud and bounced off the wall stud next to it (perpendicular). that was it.
this picture shows the skid mark and where it bounced off.
my thoughts:
1. that was it??? I need to get a 10mm
2. I had heard that most AD's happen when cleaning the gun. I always thought that was silly. it has to be unloaded when it's all taken apart in peices, and you know it's unloaded when you put it back together. what, do people have an AD trying to clean a fully assembled loaded gun? well what happened here is a more likely scenario that is never mentioned: AFTER you clean it, you putz around and load it, shortly afterwards having it in your head that it's still unloaded (because you just cleaned it, right?) and there you go. that's what to watch out for.
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Sure glad Dano isn't here to see this,,, 0 -
buschmaster wrote:1. that was it??? I need to get a 10mm
That was my thought. :P Then again, I am such a huge proponent of the 10mm that I think everyone should have one. People complain about the recoil. I'm like, turn in your man card, my wife shoots many of mine one-handed. Only negative in my opinion that is real is they are more expensive than most autos but if one compares them to the magnums like the .357 it equals or betters, then it is similar.
A funny story...
My wife's cousin (dad's brother's son) and his dad were getting ready to go small game hunting. They loaded up their gear, loading the tubes in their tube-fed 22's, and as they were getting ready to walk out, he pump cycled one into the chamber and it fired, putting a hole into the ceiling. His dad went ballistic accusing him of having his finger on the trigger when he pumped it. He kept claiming he did not. The dad grabbed the gun out of his hands and said, guns don't just go off for no reason as he cycled it (to show him) and put a round into the kitchen cabinets. He then apologized and from then on, they cycle on into the chamber outside.
Personally, if it is my CCW, I load it and the chamber too while inside so it is ready to use when I walk out the door. But, for hunting or something, I wait until either there is a need for it, or at least a potential need. If I walk into the deer stand before light, I don't load the chamber until in the stand. But, in the afternoon, I'll chamber after getting into a 'hunting area' where I might potentially have a shot.0
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