So last night I was watching a movie on the ‘pooter that I’ve seen six times before. And I was a little bored, just sort of mentally coasting and waiting for the good part.
And I drew my pistol, opened the cylinder, poured the ammo out in my hand and put the cartridges in my desk drawer. Then I practiced dry-firing for a while. The movie got good and I put the pistol down on the desk.
An hour or two later I re-holstered, turned everything off and went to bed. You know where this is going.
Spent the morning running around doing some outside chores. Went shit-shoveling. Picked up Ghost at S&L’s where he has spent most of the week (and it’s going to be a problem keeping him away from there for the rest of the week.) Came home to make lunch.
The light suddenly – finally – dawned.
I drew the pistol. “Did I really do that?” Looked at the rear of the cylinder. “I really did.”
When other people get caught doing stupid things like walking around with an unintentionally unloaded pistol, I must take care not to laugh too loud or too unselfconsciously. I know for whom that bell tolls.
Hmmmm. A ‘Senior Moment”?
Those who haven’t done it yet will eventually. Early on in my training it was drilled into me that holsters are _only_ for loaded guns. Over the years that policy has served me well, even though it does prevent me from shooting on cold ranges. Which is another pet peeve of mine. You will undoubtedly see the worst gun handling on cold ranges. Stop by at a Cowboy Action shoot some day if you doubt me.
The only class I ever took from a nationally known instructor where I felt I wasted my money was from a guy from Stevensville, Montana. Before every drill he would say “Check and make ready” I would always respond immediately with “Ready”. Finally he got pissed and we had this little dialog.
Him.. “Aren’t you going to check your chamber?
Me.. “No”
Him.. “How do you know if your gun is ready if you don’t chamber check?”
Me.. “If it’s in my holster it’s ready.”
He was highly offended and things did not go terribly well for the rest of the class.
My oopsie was having an unlatched magazine. Apparently, pocket carry and a big belly make for pressure on the release. I need to lose weight but I found that using a different holster was easier.
I usually load a round from the magazine, drop the mag and top it off. I carry a 2nd mag in the other pocket. But there was this one time where I loaded the round, dropped the mag, topped it off and put it in the other pocket. I didn’t notice until a couple hours later, initially thinking the mag had dropped loose.
Not good to carry unloaded, of course, but far better that than reloading and THEN thinking you’ll do a bit more “dry fire.” OOPS! A friend of mind did that once and I suspect it will never happen again to him. Thank goodness his “dry fire” area was in a safe place with a good backstop.
The closest I’ve come to an ND was failing to check the chamber once after dropping the magazine in preparation to clean the gun. Racked the slide to see if I needed to oil it… and SURPRISE! Ejected the round.
Sat right down there and reviewed my ENTIRE gun cleaning procedure from start to finish… right after I stopped kicking myself.
I know my day is coming… but I’d really rather not have it happen in my house. WHEW!
It has always been my contention that there are only two kinds of serious shooters: Those who have and those who will. But I recognize it’s not “in the culture” to come right out and say so.