I am glad that I always follow the 4 rules

[teraph]

First:
Gun safety: NEW SHOOTERS PLEASE READ! Old shooters read too!
Never let us or yourself slip, no matter how long we've been shooting. Humans make mistakes, and if we keep an eye out for each other, we can learn from them and live to pass that knowledge on to others.

1: Humans make mistakes.
All guns are ALWAYS LOADED! If someone unloads a gun and hands it to you, they have just handed you a LOADED GUN until you personally prove that it is empty by checking the chamber. If you are handling a gun that you know is "unloaded", it is LOADED until you check it again. Each and every time, no exceptions, no excuses!

2. Humans make mistakes.
Never point the muzzle at anything you do not intend to destroy! Guns are safe, and guns protect lives. They do that by DESTROYING what they are discharged at. They are also indiscriminate and will destroy anything or anyone they are discharged at, even by accident.

3. Humans make mistakes.
NEVER put your finger on the trigger unless you are ready to shoot. If your sights are not on the target, there's no reason for your finger on the trigger, right? So DO NOT PUT IT THERE!

4. Humans make mistakes.
Always know where your bullet will go. You can shoot at a target, but the bullet can carry on and kill someone down range unless you know for a fact where that bullet will stop. DO NOT fire unless you know the bullet will stop harmlessly in a backstop and not carry on to injure someone down range.


Today, while visiting my grandparents, my grandpa brought out a Winchester 30-30 from 1913 (that he keeps loaded for home defense) with rounds that have been cycled through it for years. Well, as any good soldier does when handed a weapon, I cleared it. While trying to clear it, the first of the rounds got stuck in the chamber and I couldn't pull it out with my fingers. So....I cycled the action (yes my trigger finger was way off of the trigger) and it went off, with the loop 90% back into firing position. The first thing that I realized was that the hammer dropped, second was that the sound was not like a normal powered 30-30, and lastly, there was a hole in a metal file stand.
After checking that everyone was ok, I grabbed the weapon, and immediately checked to make sure that the hammer was indeed down. I then took it and unloaded it the rest of the way, only moving the action enough to pull the rounds out of the tube and using my fingers to extract them from the carrier. After that was done, I went and investigated the damage.
The damage was to a metal file stand and some papers on top of it, a curtain and the wall. Examining all of that I noticed something that I thought was strange. There were what looked to be shrapnel marks on pieces of paper before the round hit anything.......And (even though there was only one hole in the stand, that was about 2 inches across) there were 3 distinct and separate holes in the wall (no over penetration, thank you for old brick houses)......This leads me to believe that the round actually started coming apart as it was fired (ammo is at least 30 years old, and then some, plus it has also been cycled through the weapon many times over the years, flat soft point jacketed).
I then looked at the casing and noticed that the primer was almost popped out of the case, with a strange ripple on it, next to the strike point. As for the sound, we were indoors and I have been around 30-30s outdoors without ear protection........it was significantly less than that, my ears barely rang.
Now to the meat and potatoes of the mechanical stuff.....the weapon itself. I examined all that I could of the old 30-30 (without disassembly) and noticed something strange. When actioning the lever, the hammer wobbled a lot (forward mostly) when racked strongly. Now mind you, the action on it is pretty stiff and because of that, it is almost necessary to put some force into it. I know one can cause a slam fire with an M249, but I don't know about a lever action because the hammer will generally hit half cock with the action still in use, (I checked that). Also, I realize that most lever actions have a little stud where the lever is to act as a passive safety mechanism, the hammer would still fall without any pressure on that piece. Any ideas as to what went wrong (no, I didn't touch the trigger, then again humans make mistakes)?

Lesson learned, however often you do something, however good you are at something, however long you have been doing something, how ever much knowledge you have of something, Murphy (or idiocy/stupidity/complacency etc) can and will toss a curveball at you. Also, for someone to be injured with weapons, you only have to violate 3 of the four rules.

[CEOofEVIL]

Glad to see that everyone is OK. Thanks for relaying the story!

Lesson learned, however often you do something, however good you are at something, however long you have been doing something, how ever much knowledge you have of something, Murphy (or idiocy/stupidity/complacency etc) can and will toss a curveball at you. Also, for someone to be injured with weapons, you only have to violate 3 of the four rules.

That sure is the truth right there.

[speedsix]

...new math???

[dcbrown]

Glad everyone is okay. That could of been real bad, real easy.

[pinkpistol]

I learned the 2 rules: Don't point unless you intend to shoot;
Don't shoot unless you intend to kill.

[Bullwhip]

I learned the 2 rules: Don't point unless you intend to shoot;

All my guns are pointed somewhere right now, I bet all yours are too.

[johnson0317]

Luckily, some of us can take that extra step and try to understand the meaning behind the words!

[philip964]

Even when I am cleaning my guns the barrel is always pointed only at a back stop. On occasion when the barrel is completely disassembled from the rest of the gun. I will very cautiously look down the barrel to see if it is all shiny clean or do I need to clean it again. Even that makes me nervous, so I usually look at it from the other end.

[WildBill]

I will very cautiously look down the barrel to see if it is all shiny clean or do I need to clean it again. Even that makes me nervous, so I usually look at it from the other end.

IMO, that tells me that "Four Rules" are burned into your brain.

[The Annoyed Man]

I have no problem looking down a barrel from the muzzle if I've just run a bunch of patches down it. I've already established that the gun is unloaded when field stripping. If it is one of my rifles, the bolt (containing firing pin) has already been removed, and running the patch down it has verified that the chamber is empty.

Cautious? Yes. But common sense prevails and I don't keep live ammo around while I'm cleaning the gun.

[WildBill]

Cautious? Yes. But common sense prevails and I don't keep live ammo around while I'm cleaning the gun.

Before working on an electrical switch or outlet in my house I turn off the circuit breaker and then check the voltage with my multimeter. Even after taking both of these precautions, I wouldn't lick my fingers and touch the terminals prior to starting work. I guess I am just superstitious that way.

[speedsix]

...I do a lot of plumbing...I won't lick my fingers, either...

[WildBill]

...I do a lot of plumbing...I won't lick my fingers, either...

Your parents taught you well.

[philip964]

Cautious? Yes. But common sense prevails and I don't keep live ammo around while I'm cleaning the gun.

Before working on an electrical switch or outlet in my house I turn off the circuit breaker and then check the voltage with my multimeter. Even after taking both of these precautions, I wouldn't lick my fingers and touch the terminals prior to starting work. I guess I am just superstitious that way.

Sometimes there could be a second circuit running through the box unrelated to the work your doing. I have a probe and test everything if I haven't killed the whole house. But yeah afterwards I try and only touch the wires by the insulation or with insulated pliers.

[Daltex]

I'm kind of a slacker regarding the rules I guess. I know that accidents happen but as long as I avoid putting myself in a situation that would cause an accident then I'm fine with it.

I have 2 rules:

1. Use common sense

2. Keep guns locked up if you have kids- they have no common sense.


I've been shooting guns for over 40 yrs. and have to remind myself when at a range that other people can be ignorant with firearms. I see alot of people or range masters acting what seems silly to me but I know if they didn't do what they do that death would occur. I just play along as they have no idea of my knowledge or lack thereof regarding firearms. I think of firearms as tools and if you understand your tools then you don't need to be afraid of them.

A few examples of what I'm talking about: Don't hand me a handgun after just racking the slide. Lock it open so I can see it's clear. If your gun is holstered I don't care if it's pointing at me as long as you're not drawing it. If it's laying down on a bench don't pick it up if anyone is in front of it. If you want to practice drawing from a horiz. shoulder rig then I'll step away a mile or six while you practice. Better yet practice that with an empty gun as I hate that setup anyway. If I clear my gun and immediately strip it for cleaning- it's an empty gun and I'll examine the barrel when I get to that point. If it's been out of my sight for even a minute then it's reloaded by someone in my eyes until I reconfirm it's clear.

I guess I'm just saying that there are no number of rules that can cover the stupidity of others or ourselves so please let common sense rule.

BTW: The number one thing I see at ranges are shooters turning around with loaded guns to show their buddies the FTF or whatever malfunction OR to brag about that tight 1" group at 15 feet. I've seen that alot and maybe that's why I don't shoot alot with others I don't know (common sense??).