This is why you check the chamber

[WildBill]

Check - the - darn - chamber!

Every time!

[CoffeeNut]

Another painful lesson in firearms safety.

[joe817]

Check - the - darn - chamber!

Every time!

Without fail!

[CoffeeNut]

I went to his Instagram and he seems to be handling the situation and his infamy rather well. He knows he screwed up and he's offered us all a good reminder that complaceny can kill or be incredibly painful.

[SRH78]

"I did everything right"

Uh, no you didn't. You didn't keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction and you didn't check the chamber.

I am willing to bet he does both next time.

Btw, looking at that wound, he is pretty lucky that he didn't also hit his upper arm as well.

[Pawpaw]

Check - the - darn - chamber!

Every time!

This is exactly why my habit is to lock the slide back, look inside, & then stick my finger in to feel the chamber.

For me, at least, it makes the process much more deliberate in case I happen to get distracted. I know me... so I hedge the bet.

[rentz]

fair amount of humility from the guy to post this online as a lesson to others, I respect that.

I HATE having to pull the trigger to take down a firearm and i'm paranoid about racking the slide several times before doing so and checking the chamber. When pulling the tabs for the glock i NEVER have my hand in front of the barrel, mostly because I find that much harder than gripping the slide from the back with one hand and pulling tabs down with the other.

[rbwhatever1]

That's gonna leave a mark.

I'm sure this will end up in some statistics somewhere to wielded against gun owners.

[TomsTXCHL]

"I did everything right"

Uh, no you didn't. You didn't keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction...

I suspect many of us have accidentally found our muzzles not pointed in a safe direction, but to compound that error by actually pulling the trigger is amazing (ly dumb).

One thing that has always bothered me is how many hunters will carry their rifles shouldered where the muzzle is pointed behind (and sometimes below i.e. not into the air) them. Not right.

[K.Mooneyham]

Check - the - darn - chamber!

Every time!

This is exactly why my habit is to lock the slide back, look inside, & then stick my finger in to feel the chamber.

For me, at least, it makes the process much more deliberate in case I happen to get distracted. I know me... so I hedge the bet.

I drop the magazine, lock the action back, and do a visual on the chamber, but haven't tried putting a finger in the chamber. However, I think I will add that to the process. Thanks.

[The Annoyed Man]

He's extremely lucky that the circulation to his hand is intact, otherwise that hand is coming off. He basically shot himself through part of his carpal tunnel. He may end up with some long term damage to the use of his hand from nerve damage too, just judging by the picture. Hopefully not. But two nasty looking holes don't exactly give the picture of what lies between them, below the skin.

[WildBill]

fair amount of humility from the guy to post this online as a lesson to others, I respect that.

Agreed. I'm not posting this to roast him - it's just a perfect example of "why".

So that others may learn from his mistake.

[SRH78]

fair amount of humility from the guy to post this online as a lesson to others, I respect that.

Agreed. I'm not posting this to roast him - it's just a perfect example of "why".

Just to be clear, it wasn't my intent to bash the guy, simply to point an error. He has already suffered enough. Even after this obviously painful ND, he stated that he did everything right. I have also heard others talk of cycling the action to make sure the chamber is empty. As we know, he definitely did not do everything right and I believe it is worth repeating that just cycling the action is not correct. Correct requires actually checking the chamber. This is a good reminder for all of us.