when something feels OFF STOP and assess especially at home

[powerboatr]

a little while ago i was swapping out ammo in the 380 and changing grips back to plastic from the nice wood one i have. they need some refinishing.

anyway i re-assemble the pistol and put in a magazine and something just didnt feel right and i ...still not sure but safety was not ON and it was not OFF , but somehow in the "in between" is my best think, about the same time i had a bad shake in my right hand about same time as i sneezed

anyway at less than a foot it went off right into the side of gun safe, ricochet and landed softly in my cover for the reloading machine, (took us about an hr to find it).
i can hear now... but still a bit shaken as it could have easily gone towards me vice the wall when it left the safe
good news the safe did not get breached and the round flattened and landed safely away.
my wife ran to the gargage hollering but i didnt hear her and she was not amuzed.

anyway, if it feels different...STOP and look and STOP and look again.
i have done that for years, but for some reason i had a big brain fart that could have been devastating to my left arm or chest

you can see by the picture it hit and went at a sharp angle and somehow missed going through the adjoining wall .

[carlson1]

Glad everything turned out good and no one was hurt. Just now I was going to clear my Shadow Systems. I chambered the round out (without removing the loaded mag) gun. Set the gun down went and did some things and then came back. Reach down out of “habit” to check the chamber and I guess what she was still loaded.

You are right. Check and re-check.

[BigGuy]

I learned this early. I was in the 5th or 6th grade hunting birds with my Red Rider lever action BB Gun with a compassions in the stock. (OK, It was a Daisy. And yes hunting birds was wrong and I condemn it now, but that was then. I didn't know any better, even though Mom and Dad had told me not to.)
Any way, a flock would land at the side of the house but fly off as I opened the door to step out. I decided to hide in the back seat of the car. Another VERY bad habit that got cured that day was my tendency to play with the trigger. So there I was, in the back seat of the car, waiting for the birds to land. I was looking out the back window with the BB gun resting on the seat. I was fingering the trigger, but uhhh .... no problem because the safety was on. Right?
Nope. My finger twitched, I heard a >POOF< and the back glass of the Oldsmobile shattered. I was so shook up I was shaking. I immediately went in and told Mom what I'd done. She didn't believe me at first. I knew Dad was going to kill me. But Mom saw how badly shaken up I was and held him back. They did make me pay for the replacement glass with chores. They kept a list of the cost and what they were paying me for each EXTRA chore I did. (I already had regular chores, like taking out the trash.) I don't remember the amount, but it seemed like a million dollars to me. They had set up a saving account for me, but refused to let me tap into that to pay for the glass.
I found a new respect for guns that day.
Looking back, I realize what great parents I had.

[powerboatr]

got clean shorts, ears are still ringing like hades.
ate dinner, dissected the event . as best as i can sort out. still pretty shook up

i took everything apart and took all rounds out of arms length. then repeated the entire event as best i could remember. once at normal speed and once very slow to see what was what.
found the source of screw up "ME" when i removed the wood grips it required the safety lever to be moved into a position that was not quite safe and not quite hot. which should not have mattered as the pistol was EMPTY

so when i pushed the magazine in after i put the black plastic grips on, which are thinner at the top than the wood, (the wood sits proud of the safety so you really have to know the feel) i must have flicked the safety fully up , as the area on the plastic is thinner or recessed less so the safety lever is more proud than with the wood grips. so instead of the lever being the same plane by the wood grips, it was actually the highest item on the area vice the wood.
as i loaded magazine and tripped the slide release as part of muscle memory, which is not good . and i did not notice safety was in the red position , then came the spontaneous sneeze and my finger clipped the trigger, which in turn let off a round.

normally if safety is on , you can trip the trigger all day and it will move the striker a smidgen, but not any where near enough to contact the firing pin. it just sort of wiggles a false throw and will not throw striker if magazine is out, its a bersa 380, its really a safe pistol by design.


i am so thankful the safe metal outside wall took the impact and smeared to absorb the energy and let the bullet bounce off into the the sheet i have covering the re-loader, vice going through the wall or back into me.

my wife gave me crap about what we would have told the hospital. she was pretty shook up, but now is making sure in jest of life that i wont forget it .