The Three Rules....EVERY time.

[MisterHappy]

So, at a back-yard clay target shoot last month, my adult son went to the line for a few practice rounds, dropped a shell into the vintage 16-ga., closed the action, and BANG.

His finger was clear of the trigger.

He switched to a different gun for the shoot. When I got home, I (after making sure it was empty, of course) opened and closed it several times. About one time in 10, the hammer fell upon closing. I've got to open it up, and see what's up. I'm guessing that it's schmutz that's preventing proper sear engagement.

Moral of the story - Three Rules were followed, and a story, not an incident, was the result.

It's easy to become complacent, but some stuff has to be 100%, every time.

 

[edmxz2002]

This is the reason I will never chamber a round in a new, or new to me gun in my house until I have done it outside in the yard pointed in a safe direction at least a couple times.

 

[Len-2A Training]

I had it happen to me at Boy Scout camp . . . I had just closed the bolt and my finger was nowhere near the trigger. I'm guessing the same reason but as a 13 yo, I had no clue at the time. The RO chewed me out, but the rifle (single shot bolt action old DCM rifle) was pointed downrange at the time and caused no harm. It did instill in me how important it is to follow the safety rules.

 

[AHM]

(As I've said in the past), once a guy next to me at our outdoor pistol range
had a 1911 refuse to fire. I only noticed when he had the puppy
field stripped on the table in a trice.

He tore it down enough to discover that the firing pin was gummed up in the channel.
(That's a .22-sized passage in the slide, and)
I offered to loan him my cleaning stuff.
But he just set it aside and said he'd clean the whole thing at home.

Over the years I've begun to be glad that it wasn't just gummy enough
to cause a pseudo-hangfire (delayed firing),
and that it wasn't gummed-up with the pin projecting.

Perhaps the former could never trigger a primer;
and I think some NESer said the latter would never let the cartridge
seat properly to chamber.

But I can still do without a gummed-up firing pin.