Learned the value of rifle safety this evening

[ride4frnt]

As I was walking out of the woods I ran into a guy and his two children who were also hunting. He had a savage 110 chambered in 7mm. As we get back to our vehicles I'm crouched over loading my rifle up the next vehicle over. Next thing I know *BOOOM!*



Negligent discharge while loading his rifle into the vehicle. As he released the bolt to remove the chambered round, the gun went off. Luckily it didn't blow the bolt out the back of the gun.



Thankfully his gun was pointed at the ground in the safe direction. His foot was out of the way by inches, and his young children were on the opposite side of him, as was I. All the other vehicles were in the opposite direction as well.



Still a little shaken up and can't hear well, just glad it didn't end much worse.



On the positive side it should pose as an opportunity to really reinforce the children with the importance of firearms safety.

 

[Streetgang]

Agreed. Good to post lessons learned.
I'm afraid somebody will be along soon to derail the thread with "why didn't you do x and x".
This place is like that sometimes.

 

[smokey]

Safety rules are often redundant, and this is a great example of why that is. People at the gun counter constantly ignore the rule about always keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction, "but it's unloaded, it's not that big of a deal", is a common excuse. While this was certainly scary, it sounds like the man's adherence to the most important safety rule prevented tragedy. The gun could have gone off for a variety of reasons, it's hard to shoot someone if your gun isn't aimed at them.

 

[foxtrapper]

He was loading it while sitting INSIDE his vehicle? That right there is a game violation! You can't even lean a loaded gun against your vehicle. I find it stupid when trying to load my revolver for trapping and it's cold as an MF with the wind blowing and my truck cab offers shelter, but the law is the law.

 

[miben]

I think he meant the guy was putting the gun away in his vehicle. Is it not unusual for a rifle to fire when the bolt is being opened?

 

[elwojo]

I think he meant the guy was putting the gun away in his vehicle. Is it not unusual for a rifle to fire when the bolt is being opened?

My question exactly. What causes a rifle to discharge when opening the bolt? Did he accidentally squeeze the trigger...because that's something else entirely!

 

[smokey]

Could be a mechanical failure, he could've lost concentration and pressed the trigger with something by accident. The odd thing is that savages have a 3 position safety, so he should have been able to put the safety on the middle position to unlock the bolt and still keep the rifle on "safe". Maybe he set the trigger way light(and something moved the trigger safety out of the way), had some home-smithin' work done to it, or ...who knows. What is known is that the gun fired(when it should not have..that was negligent on his behalf through either improper equipment maintenance, or improper handling), but that his adherence to the rest of gun safety rules kept everyone safe and prevented a tragedy.

Another reason to think in 3-d and have a planned safe direction when loading/unloading/handling your firearm in your house.

 

[gabe72]

I had an older stevens that would fire when releasing the bolt,try and duplicate it and it wouldn't do it then out of the blue boom!

 

[MDHunter]

If I was his wife, that would be the last time the kids would be hunting with Dad. No excuse for having a loaded hunting firearm in the car, especially with children also in the car. I know CCW is different, but NO reason on earth to have a loaded hunting rifle in the car.

 

[boatbod]

Why was the gun still loaded while he carried it back to his vehicle? Seems like he really ought to have made it safe before coming out of the stand.

 

[toncapone1]

Glad to hear nobody was hurt, hope you get your hearing back soon

 

[ride4frnt]

The gun was not loaded in the car. Just to clarify he was removing the mag and chambered round while placing the gun in its case.

 

[marko]

Safety rules are redundant,

Redundant saves the day yet again.

 

[StantonCree]

Why was the gun still loaded while he carried it back to his vehicle? Seems like he really ought to have made it safe before coming out of the stand.

My stays loaded until I get to camp in case any deer are on the trail, so thats not uncommon.

 

[webb297]

The gun was not loaded in the car. Just to clarify he was removing the mag and chambered round while placing the gun in its case.

Ummm, how? He was trying to remove the mag, and somehow chambered a round and the round fired. Not trying to be argumentative, but how does that happen?

His gun was loaded in the car, it fired there.

 

[MDHunter]

My stays loaded until I get to camp in case any deer are on the trail, so thats not uncommon.

I understand the camp example - but this sounds(?) like it was a parking lot with multiple vehicles there...best to unload before hitting the parking lot, no reason to have a loaded gun there.

 

[KSFrostie]

I am fair new to bolt action rifles. I too want to know how this happened by opening the bolt. I know there is no clear answer, but it would be good information to have. But that is a side note, again I don't pretend to be an expert at hunting... but I would think it would be a common if not mandatory safety practice in hunting to unlock your firearm before leaving the hunting area. Although from the post directly above that seems to not be the case. It would at seem to me to be a good safety practice not to have one in the chamber even if you keep the firearm loaded, i guess assuming the firearm has a detachable mag, then all you would have to do is detach said mag. But i digress...

 

[MDHunter]

In my opinion...there are a lot of people hunting with a round in the chamber, who have no business hunting with a round in the chamber - they just don't have sufficient experience handling firearms to justify the risk. For the less experienced hunters and gun handlers, wait until you're about to shoot to chamber a round...if you lose a chance at a deer, at least you didn't accidentally shoot anyone.

I hunt Alaska with bolt rifles every fall, and NEVER have a round in the chamber, even in bear territory. Just too many things can go wrong, and the risk of falling and having the rifle go off is greater than the risk of being attacked by a bear. I've fallen too many times slogging through the alders or the tundra to think that having a round chambered is safe.

Not making a blanket statement here, I'm talking about the folks who uncase their guns for about two weeks every year, and don't touch them otherwise. Better to be safe, than sorry.

 

[Crab Bait]

In my opinion we need to work on our reading and writing skills.

 

[SRD]

In my opinion we need to work on our reading and writing skills.

+1