For years I have marveled at the blind stupid luck so many people have on the range when it comes to finger discipline. Shooters will do some of the dumbest things while their fingers are inside the trigger guard: loading and unloading the gun, clearing stoppages, talking to buddies, looking for or picking up other items. And yet, perhaps in testament to just how safe modern handguns really are, accidents are mercifully rare.
So Friday night, after years of watching and waiting, I finally got to see it. The shooter next to me was having reliability problems with his pistol and was making a habit of clearing the malfunction after each shot. Then one time the gun actually worked properly but the shooter began to perform his “technique” on the not-actually-malfunctioning, actually-loaded-ready-to-go pistol. He had his index finger inside the trigger guard, hammer cocked on a light SA trigger. This resulted in a BLN (Big Loud Noise). The bullet impacted about ten feet forward of the firing line and skipped downrange.
I’m not sure what freaked the shooter out more. Was it the surprise of a gun going off in his hand when he thought it couldn’t? Or was it the fact that I was staring right at him as it happened?
Holy powder and primer, Batman, guns go off when you press the trigger!
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Did the range give him the boot? Did you follow him out to the parking lot and lay him out? Both would have been justified.
F-Trooper, I don’t agree. The weapons safety rules aren’t commen sense, even though many of us would like to think so. If they were commen sense, we wouldn’t harp on them so much and we wouldn’t have students in advanced-level shooting courses writing them in on waivers(which in the mere 4 civilian courses I’ve taken, I’ve seen plenty of students fail to do). There’s a reason that we don’t beat dogs, horses, or people anymore for teaching purposes…….we found that actually getting off our own pedestals of perfection to teach them and realizing that people don’t know what they don’t know gives us a much better product.
I was there with a friend in Friday morning, as we both left due to the heat. Nothing I see at a range surprises me anymore. Concern? yes. Vex? Certainly. Surprise? Nay.
While I was getting enthusiastically berated by an RSO for using a slightly too humanoid target (it’s a skeleton — really?), I was watching two guys in the background pointing their guns (one 1911 and one Beretta) at their tables with their fingers firmly on the trigger whilst they performed various fondlings on said guns.
I realize RSOs would burn themselves out trying to enforce that rule, but I feel like it’s worth trying.
The funny part is that I had just jokingly advised Todd not to let anyone shoot him at the range during a phone call earlier. Insert Tiki idol sound effect here…
This is why when I go to the range, I wear a vest with INNOCENT BYSTANDER in yellow on it much like the cops have their agency on theirs.
If it wasn’t so freaking dangerous, it would almost be funny…
Sounds like the same reason people shoot themselves while using SERPA holsters. hahaha
What torques me is when you mention where their finger is they yell at you, “I know what I’m doing!” I do too, but I’m not going to berate someone for trying to be safe. … EGO!
Let me guess….a 1911?