Originally Posted by RJ
RJ, it must be the mental fog I've been in the last two days - why your idea didn't occur to me. I must admit I've been preoccupied with the virus, but...there's no excuse for the juvenile behavior, ie: pouting, poor poor me crap. Thanks...later today, after she is done working (from home), I'll try to get my act together and propose your idea. I honestly don't think she understands how much this means to me.
The fact that this occurred with a DAO revolver is indicative that this was a sympathetic or startle response. Grip response in these instances is usually 50-60 lbs or more.
@11B10 You have owned the mistake. Lose the guns and move on. It can happen to anyone, but in my experience, I see more folks in the 75 on age group with self inflicted gunshot wounds or power tool injuries to the hands than younger ages.
I don't want to sound ageist, but I advise my patients over age 75-80 to get rid of table saws and joiners in their home shops that they have been using safely for 50+ years as I have seen many of those formerly agile fellows fall into the saw and cut their hand off, or have a little slip that leads to devastating injury.
As far as the gun thing goes, I have been lucky on the ND front. I came close once with a rifle unfamiliar to me. Really close. I also found a chambered round in a .22 rifle I had already stowed in the car after a shooting session, that I checked "just once more". I also remember being shocked when I checked a G42 I was certain was unloaded only to find a round come out of the chamber.
It has been a while since I scared myself and that is helped by keeping loaded guns totally separate from unloaded ones in the big safe that are used for dry fire. Anything that goes in that safe is extra checked and guns are not loaded in this area of the house. It also happens to be in the basement and the backstop to any dry fire is a cinderblock wall follower by dirt. I feel the advantage of an identical training pistol used for shooting and dry fire and a carry pistol that is simply kept hot at all times is immeasurable.
blues, hey, I didn't see your post until after I replied to RJ. As I said to him, there's no excuse for the childish behavior and attitude I've been putting out here. I have been preoccupied with the virus, no question, but the simple fact is this was something totally within my control - my responsibility. However, as my aging body kept breaking down, all but eliminating any serious weightlifting, I rediscovered firearms. It was simply good luck that I did, but with this subject, I found something I could and would, really get into. You know, as opposed to shuffle board, basket weaving, card games, etc. As I said to RJ, I honestly don't think she understands how much this means to me. Maybe his idea can put this in a holding pattern - at least until everyone settles down. Thanks for taking the time to read and reply - your words mean a lot to me.
Doc, thanks for the good words. I do appreciate your experience....however... your advice to " lose the guns" may be OK for some, but for me....well, read my response to RJ and blues. Maybe I was wrong to make firearms "the thing" in my life, but hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it?
Be safe, everyone.
HCM, I couldn't agree more. When I was shooting the 340, I had, probably, the hardest grip I've ever had on a firearm. I had actually gotten to the point where .357's were manageable. Not for all day, but manageable. Further proof that I'm mental.
My ND happened almost twenty years ago but I can still remember it vividly. I have long been a believer in, and practicer of, Dry Firing.... my wife on the other hand has always been opposed to it. Well on this particular day a I decided to educate her a little bit in the fine art of dry firing and also on the importance of firing a revolver double action in a defensive scenario versus single action. As soon as she realized that I was about to impart some of my wisdom upon her she became a trifle irritated and defensive... most probably because I had trapped her in the bathroom and insisted that she learn from the master. Does this sound like it was headed downhill fast?? It seems obvious to me now in retrospect.
So ignoring my wife's protests I went and retrieved her .38 S&W J-frame, a gift from her departed father. I carefully unloaded the weapon in the bedroom and proceeded into the bathroom with an empty gun. I verified for her that it was empty and I began The Lesson. And everything went just as it should have; she sat on the closed toilet lid and pretended to humor me while I pontificated on the finer points of handgun CQC. When I could actually see my words bouncing off of her ears I finished up and stepped back into the bedroom. And then it happened...
I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to mention an extremely important point regarding my position on pistolero proficiency... a point so important that I can no longer remember what it was. I quickly grabbed the J frame from off the bed and stepped back into the adjoining bathroom... I was back so quickly that my wife was still sitting there massaging her temples and questioning her taste in men. As I explained my last nugget of wisdom I held out the .38, cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger....
BANG!!!!! ...the loudest gunshot I have ever heard in my life.
I doubt if there is anything more shocking and startling than having an empty gun discharge. My wife and I were both shaken to the core... me in shocked embarrassment and her in shocked anger, both of us in complete disbelief. After I recovered my senses I ascertained that everything was basically OK aside from my bruised ego and our ringing ears. I had managed to follow most if not all of the rules of gun safety and so when the gun fired it was pointed in a basically safe direction. The revolver was pointed at the opened utility room door and I knew that everyone in the house was behind the muzzle...the bullet passed through this hollow-core door and then the wall behind it and into the bookcase on the back of that wall. The bullet was slowed down by these barriers and as it passed between some books on the shelf it spent itself and squirted out onto the dining room floor were I found it resting under the table.
So what exactly happened here? I considered myself a safe and responsible gun owner who understood the rules of gun safety and always followed them. It took me a few minutes to realize how my accident had even happened since I KNEW that the gun was not loaded. The reality was that when I finished up with my initial seminar I went back into the bedroom and on autopilot reloaded the little J, laying it down on the bed. Then upon remembering that I had one more vitally important point to make and I grabbed the revolver and stepped back into the bathroom, my mental distraction over needing to make my final point allowing me to completely forget that I had just reloaded the weapon!! I confidently raised the gun, cocked the hammer and fired my empty gun into the door. Fuck me.
Fortunately for me this had a relatively happy ending as no one was injured and I learned a valuable lesson about letting myself become distracted around firearms. Unfortunately for me this incident only served to reinforce my wife's distrust of dry-firing and caused me some home repairs to cover over my stupidity. It also created one of those events that I will probably never completely live down... but it sure as hell beats some of the alternatives.
And for those who are curious, yes, I still practice dry firing... when my wife goes out shopping. However, now I am far more careful about separating the gun from the ammunition and I have retired from acting as a "firearms instructor".
I keep my practice bulletproof with a Ring's Blue Gun...and occasionally an orange Blackhawk version. Sure, I give up the trigger press, but I get a lot of mileage out of them, and leave one sitting on the table in front of me to be picked up and practiced with multiple times daily.
I'm okay with the shortcomings of only practicing with them indoors.
There's nothing civil about this war.
A good bit more expensive, there are the SIRT pistols as well. Another alternative is a dummy barrel. I have a yellow plastic replacement barrel (no chamber or tube) that neuters the pistol for dry fire.
I have a duplicate full-size LTT with a CoolFire barrel in it. It’s obvious at a glance that it’s in, and you can’t load ammo in it obviously. She can go back to live fire with a barrel and recoil spring swap, but she’s inert as she sits.
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