Yard Candy
Lil-Rokslider
First and foremost I am safe, just a little shaken up still (this happened 4 hours ago). I have a slight headache and my right ear rings once and a while and feels pretty "off".
After an evening hunt I got back to the truck just after last light and began to pack up. It was pitch black so I used the truck bed lights, as I always do, to aid in helping me see what I was doing. Standing at the tailgate of my truck I unloaded the unused rounds from my Marlin 30-30. I broke gun safety rule #2 and pointed the muzzle at the rear cab of my truck. I was aware that I made this decision, it wasn't an accident. By pointing in that direction I could better see what I was doing because of the bed lights and the cartridges I would be ejecting could fall onto my jacket which I had laid in the bed. I was alone, there was no one with me. There were no houses, structures, or anything in the direction I was pointing the muzzle, only my truck. In the back of my mind I was thinking, "If something goes wrong I'm gonna shoot my truck. But that won't happen, I do this (racking the lever to dump unused rounds) all the time. It's business as usual. It's fine."
I took my gloves off for better dexterity and began racking the lever. Round 1 popped out. I put my thumb on the hammer, pulled the trigger, and lowered the hammer. I racked the lever again. Round 2 popped out. I put my thumb on the hammer, pulled the trigger, and BANG! Muzzle flash and ear ringing. I stood there for a moment to process and then stepped away from the truck, laid the gun down in the grass, and just stood there. Shaking, startled, I just looked up at the stars for a few minutes to calm down.
Right away I knew what happened. My hands were so cold, and the gun being metal, was so cold, I couldn't really 'feel' what I was doing when I was de-cocking it and I messed up. I assume that when I thought my thumb was on the hammer before I pulled the trigger, it was actually behind it.
The bullet when through the rear of the cab, through the backseat, through the driver's seat, and went several places after that: into the steering wheel, into the floor, into the area below the firewall. It hit a wire somewhere too because now all of my dash lights for ABS, traction control, and 4wd are lit up constantly. O yea, and now there's a rattle inside my steering wheel when I turn it. The gunshot was extra loud too because I shot into a truck bed. The shape of it bounced all that sound right back at me.
I can't believe it. I NEVER point the muzzle at anything. I'm always so careful. I'm the guy that checks if a weapon is clear when it's handed to me, even if the person who handed it to me showed me it was clear. And just this one time I decided to point it at something assuming everything would be fine.
Next time I need to unload rounds I will be pointing the muzzle at the ground. I will also keep my hearing protection on until I have a clear weapon - that was my second mistake.
The photos are sobering, to me at least... seeing how quickly so much can happen. Even though I didn't think this was going to happen I would have never pointed the gun in that direction if let's say a hunting buddy was in the truck or something. I realize now too how dangerous what I did really was. If the bullet wouldn't of gone clean through the rear and it would have hit a different spot, it could ricochet or I could have been hit with shrapnel.
So learn from me. Let this be a PSA, or a friendly reminder, to not point your weapons at things you don't want to shoot... NO MATTER how brief, or how confident you are that things will be fine.
Edit: A lot of people are commenting that I didn't need to pull the trigger each time and lower the hammer, and that I could have instead continued cycling the lever until all rounds had been expelled. This is true, but in the dark I did not feel comfortable continuing to cycle incase clothing or something got caught in the trigger guard. I have a lightweight aftermarket trigger so it doesn't take much to pull it. In the moment I thought I was making the smarter decision.
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
After an evening hunt I got back to the truck just after last light and began to pack up. It was pitch black so I used the truck bed lights, as I always do, to aid in helping me see what I was doing. Standing at the tailgate of my truck I unloaded the unused rounds from my Marlin 30-30. I broke gun safety rule #2 and pointed the muzzle at the rear cab of my truck. I was aware that I made this decision, it wasn't an accident. By pointing in that direction I could better see what I was doing because of the bed lights and the cartridges I would be ejecting could fall onto my jacket which I had laid in the bed. I was alone, there was no one with me. There were no houses, structures, or anything in the direction I was pointing the muzzle, only my truck. In the back of my mind I was thinking, "If something goes wrong I'm gonna shoot my truck. But that won't happen, I do this (racking the lever to dump unused rounds) all the time. It's business as usual. It's fine."
I took my gloves off for better dexterity and began racking the lever. Round 1 popped out. I put my thumb on the hammer, pulled the trigger, and lowered the hammer. I racked the lever again. Round 2 popped out. I put my thumb on the hammer, pulled the trigger, and BANG! Muzzle flash and ear ringing. I stood there for a moment to process and then stepped away from the truck, laid the gun down in the grass, and just stood there. Shaking, startled, I just looked up at the stars for a few minutes to calm down.
Right away I knew what happened. My hands were so cold, and the gun being metal, was so cold, I couldn't really 'feel' what I was doing when I was de-cocking it and I messed up. I assume that when I thought my thumb was on the hammer before I pulled the trigger, it was actually behind it.
The bullet when through the rear of the cab, through the backseat, through the driver's seat, and went several places after that: into the steering wheel, into the floor, into the area below the firewall. It hit a wire somewhere too because now all of my dash lights for ABS, traction control, and 4wd are lit up constantly. O yea, and now there's a rattle inside my steering wheel when I turn it. The gunshot was extra loud too because I shot into a truck bed. The shape of it bounced all that sound right back at me.
I can't believe it. I NEVER point the muzzle at anything. I'm always so careful. I'm the guy that checks if a weapon is clear when it's handed to me, even if the person who handed it to me showed me it was clear. And just this one time I decided to point it at something assuming everything would be fine.
Next time I need to unload rounds I will be pointing the muzzle at the ground. I will also keep my hearing protection on until I have a clear weapon - that was my second mistake.
The photos are sobering, to me at least... seeing how quickly so much can happen. Even though I didn't think this was going to happen I would have never pointed the gun in that direction if let's say a hunting buddy was in the truck or something. I realize now too how dangerous what I did really was. If the bullet wouldn't of gone clean through the rear and it would have hit a different spot, it could ricochet or I could have been hit with shrapnel.
So learn from me. Let this be a PSA, or a friendly reminder, to not point your weapons at things you don't want to shoot... NO MATTER how brief, or how confident you are that things will be fine.
Edit: A lot of people are commenting that I didn't need to pull the trigger each time and lower the hammer, and that I could have instead continued cycling the lever until all rounds had been expelled. This is true, but in the dark I did not feel comfortable continuing to cycle incase clothing or something got caught in the trigger guard. I have a lightweight aftermarket trigger so it doesn't take much to pull it. In the moment I thought I was making the smarter decision.
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
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