I'm embarrassed about this but maybe this post will make other people think about firearm safety.

Came home from work this morning, opened my safe and was rummaging around, found a Timney trigger I had taken out of another AR I had sold a while back. I decided I would replace the trigger on my 20 practical. It would t take long.

The practical had a milspec that has the lighter springs from Joe Bob's. I think they are red and gold. Wasn't really a bad trigger but wasn't a Timney or any other great trigger.

Anyway I popped the pins out, took the trigger out, removed the grip and the safety. Put the new trigger in, some anti-walk pins and fired the trigger a couple times. It all seemed good so I threw it back together.

Decided I would grab a round, go outside and shoot just to function check it.

Instead of waiting to go outside to chamber it, dummy me did it right in the bedroom.
As soon as the bolt slammed the round went off.

I killed a couple pillows and a suitcase, Bullet hit the pillows, went through them and the wall in to the closet and killed the suitcase. It was a 40 gr VMAX. After the suit case the few pieces left lodged in to the drywall.
As soon as it happened it dawned on me that I forgot to take the set screw out of the grip screw hole and like a dummy didn't put the safety on.

I don't know why I didn't put it on safety before doing it. I usually do. I'd like to blame it on working a 12 hour shift all night but It was stupidity and is no excuse.

It happened to me outside one time with a Remington 700 a few years before the recall and Ive always been careful since. That one I had just loaded and went off when I closed the bolt. And no the trigger had never been messed with. That's for a different thread though

Luckily I just killed my daughter's Trolls Poppy pillow, another pillow and the suitcase. It could've been worse. I know I'll hear about it this evening when the kids and old lady get home.
So yeah I'm embarrassed but maybe this post will make somebody else think twice about gun safety.

Edit: For anybody who doesn't know. You can put a set screw in the screw hole of the grip to take up any slack in your trigger. You have to make sure it's adjust right or it can cause obvious problems

.

Glad everyone's ok, and thanks for sharing.

Good warning, it's to bad our elected officials can't admit their mistakes. Glad nobody was hurt.

Even with the safety off, an AR doesn't just fire by the bolt slamming forward.

Either you depressed the trigger, or there is something mechanically wrong with your trigger setup.

If you would've read the post you would realize I originally had a Joe Bob's special in it where you put light springs and put a set screw in front of where the grip screw goes.

It came make a mil-spec trigger lighter and have almost no take up. If it's screwed in too far it will fire. Im not sure what it's doing but it's essentially pulling the trigger somewhat for you.
To set it you screw it in too far and keep backing it out until it sets and barely holds it. Then fire it a few times to make sure.

When I switched the trigger out I forgot about it being in there. So yes obviously "something was wrong with my trigger setup" I took it out and it was fine afterwards.
I debated on putting it back in to see if it works like it should with a cassette type trigger but the Timney is pretty good anyway.

Had one years ago after a long night of calling. Tired and not paying attention. The only thing that suffered was the roof of my suburban, my ears, and of course my pride.
Don't handle firearms when you're that tired. Live and learn. Thank God....LITERALLY that everyone was ok.

i won't even talk about mine. but i have had a couple of em. felt like a total dipchit every time.

It makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only one. Ole lady has been giving me crap since
The suitcase was kind of expensive. I paid about $150 17 years ago at the Exchange when I was in the mil. It was still in great shape.

Material items can be replaced. Family members nope. Glad everyone is safe.

Been there, done that. Fatigue was my enemy. Carelessness too on my part. Glad all is well.

I think it's worth mentionimg that firearm are just machines. Parts wear out, parts malfunction.

The rules of firearm safety, treat all firearms as if they are loaded and ALWAYS keep it pointed in a safe direction, couldn't be more relevant than in this example.

I see no problems loading and chambering inside...but in the interest of safety, and to take it easy on your bedding...make a loading/unloading barrel. A 5 gal busket and some sand is all it takes.

Duct and some spray paint can “fix” the luggage—seriously though, thanks for the safety reminder. We all do dumb things.

Appreciate the reminder and am very glad nobody was hurt in the incident. I have had exactly one ND in my life (knock on wood). I was 13 years old. I broke the rule of no loaded guns in the house and bungled the unloading procedure of my new Christmas present Ruger 10/22.

Here is how my incident happened. I was in a hurry and had gone hunting after school out back and put off my evening chores. After a short hunt on the creek behind the house I hustled inside to put my gun away and get on with packing some firewood in and feeding some stock. I pulled the bolt back and ejected the round from the chamber of the fully loaded rifle and let the bolt ride back closed, dropped the magazine out, thinking the gun was now unloaded I snapped off the safety and pulled the trigger before I was going to stack the gun in the gun cabinet. You know the proper sequence of the unloading procedure and where I messed up. When I pulled the trigger I fired a Mini Mag hollowpoint from the reloaded chamber into the baseboard trim at the bottom corner of my bedroom wall. I guess the bullet buried up in the wall studs there and there was only a .22 hole to show for my dumb kid stunt. However, dad was ticked off! Probably scared him to death that I had done something so dumb. I lost my gun privileges for awhile and had some retro training for a good bit afterward from dad. The incident has never left my mind and I have been ultra careful since to never have another.

I understand what happened but what does ND stand for?

Negligent discharge.

Do this enough and the odds can catch up with all of us. In the firearm safety industry most are referred to as ND's and not accidental discharges or AD's.

I have seen both. While ND's are far more common AD's can and will happen. I had one occur with a 9mm 1911. I was reloading it and when the slide dropped the gun popped. I had it pointed in a safe direction, I wasn't near the trigger, but the gun malfunctioned and went BANG. The gun had a mechanical issue that finally reared it's ugly head. I was a Range Safety Officer at a match when I witnessed another AD. Similar situation, I cleared the shooter to go hot and when he dropped the slide on a striker fired pistol it went bang. Then when he fired the next shot it fired off every round in the mag. Again, mechanical malfunction, this time with a system designed to require the pull of a trigger.

But those are by far more rare than ND's where someone is "cleaning" a loaded gun and it goes bang. Or someone playing Wild Bill trying to outdraw some desperados who ends up with an extra hole in their leg and floor.

But for us, because of our frequency of being around loaded firearms, this is a very realistic possibility.

Keep them pointed in a safe direction. Then if the worst happens, all you might have to buy is a pillow, some sheets and maybe some new drawers...these are some very valuable lessons we are all sharing. I thank you all...

I didn't know either. Had only ever heard of them as AD.

- DAA

I always heard of it as AD until it was drilled in the military there is no such thing as a AD only negligent.

i had one in my living room when i got a new semi auto shotgun. i went turkey hunting and fired a few shots. i did not read the manual and if you dont press a button or fire a round it will only eject the shell in the chamber and not reload the one in the tube. our armorers in the army would always rack the bolt and dry fire our m4s when turning them in. after hunting i racked the bolt a couple times and dry fired it in the field, i got home and out of habit i racked the bolt again after dry firing it in the field and it engaged the shell from what i thought was an empty tube and blew a hole in my ceiling. pure negligence on my part.

Years ago, during the old "Coyote Gods" days, during a rendezvous, we would usually take out the "New Guy" in my truck. Made some very good friends doing that. One day as I was setting out the caller the FNG had an AD. Generally not knowing them well "My rules" were empty chamber to and from the stand. Sadly the FNG went out with another guy that rented a truck for the event and had an AD or NG in the guys rented truck putting a hole in the roof. Luckily no one got shot.

Hunt was over for that FNG.

So... That reminds me of something that happened long, long ago.

Four of us, all teenagers, camped out the night before deer rifle season opened. Woke up about 2AM with our cheap-[beeep] tent that barely fit all four of us nose to tail collapsed on us from heavy snow falling in the night.

We all fell out and climbed in the old Blazer one of the other guys drove us all there in. And sat out the rest of the night waiting for daylight to go deer hunting. It's getting real close to time to get out and go. Me and my buddy Tim are in the back seat, Tim stuffs some rounds in his Model 70. So, I did too, then so did the other two in the front seats.

Shortly after, the guy in the driver seat, owner of the Blazer, the oldest among us by a couple of years but by far the least experienced hunter, shoots a hole through his floor board right next to his foot.

And I'm here to tell you, the sound of an '06 going off inside a Blazer really gets your attention.

Me and Tim took away ALL his ammo. Told him he wasn't going to be hunting this trip. Took his keys too, and had to rough him up slightly to get them, so he wouldn't just drive off and leave us there.

Knew that guy and saw him often for the rest of his life, liked him actually, but I never hunted with him ever again.

- DAA

LOL...that happened to some guys at one of the conventions years ago...the only thing they killed was their transmission...must have been tough to skin...

Grew up with a Fox double barrel 12ga. Uncle was trap shooting with it and snapped it closed on 2 rounds, both discharged into the ground as he had it pointed in a safe direction. Gun broke inside resulting in failure and discharge, not sure what is negligent about that. Proper gun safety was observed so only the dirt suffered.

I get the sentiment that most "accidents" are negligent, and that holds with motor vehicle incidents too, but that doesn't mean accidents don't happen.

glad to hear everyone was ok and the only harm was minor to some stuff thats relatively replaceable.

Negligent Discharge


My bad. Guess I should’ve read the whole post

I've also never heard of ND before but I like it much more than AD. There are no accidents with firearms only negligence. Let me clarify by saying that there are and will be mechanical errors where a gun fires without operator error but the negligence would be having it pointed carelessly when that happened.

It is so easy to become lax when handling firearms and I think the more you handle them the easier it can become. I started all my kids shooting at an early age but that is always a fear in the back of my head that something could happen. Always be within arms length of a new or young shooter so that you can physically stop any potential mistakes you might see because they will happen.

It's the unloaded guns that get you just ask Alec Baldwin.

While I agree that most are ND’s I have seen AD’s…most were due to equipment malfunctions.

During a rifle match a competitor closed the bolt on his Remington 700 and it went bang…luckily it was pointed down range but I saw it and he never touched the trigger and the safety was on.

Another happened to one of our guys when he dropped the slide on his pistol…finger was clear of the trigger guard along the frame and it went bang on an XD.

I ALL the incidents I’ve personally witnessed the first rule of firearm safety, point it in a safe direction, kept them from becoming tragic.

Guns are machines and they can fail.

Our familiarity with them and the frequency we handle them, especially competing ups the odds, and that’s where good fundamental safety comes in.

Follow every step of your procedure and bad things are less likely.