Negligent discharge in the house!!!

[yorketransport]

As part of my self induced punishment for being stupid, I'd like to post a story that happened to me this morning.

I got up to go for my Sunday morning walk/bike ride. As always, I got to my office where the gun safe is. I open the safe, grab the Dan Wesson Bobtail Commander 10mm, like I have 1000's of times before. I make sure that it's unloaded, lock the slide back, and load one round into the chamber. Then I release the slide. BOOM I'm still not entirely sure what happened. My trigger finger was along the side of the frame above the trigger guard. The gun is, to my knowledge in proper, safe working condition. I don't know what happened. A high primer? It was factory Hornady 180gr XTP ammo. I just don't know. No one else in the house was up, and surprisingly, no one woke up. Not even the dog. A 10mm round going off 30' away, inside and nobody even woke up.

I put a hole in the side of my computer desk, through a binder inside the desk, and into the computer. The bullet didn't exit the computer, but I still can't find it. I shot my computer! I'm just glad that no one was hurt, and that I had the gun pointed in a safe direction.

The safe right next to the computer

Here's the hole in the desk

The side of my computer case

What's left of the motherboard

The 1911 is getting put away until I can figure out what happened. I'll go back to a revolver for a while I guess. My wife has been a good sport about the whole thing, but I can't help but feel like an idiot. Judge me harshly, I deserve it. But I just don't know what happened.

Please everyone, be safe. Learn from my mistake. Whatever it was.

Andrew

[TeacherMan]

Glad no one got hurt! Weird things happen 

[Huntbear]

Is this a weapon you had a trigger job done on???  Did the sear get stoned down to much?  Is the disconnect working properly?

First thing I would do is tear it down and visually inspect with a magnifying glass, all engagements on the sear, hammer, etc...  If you can not find any noticeable problems, I would make sure it is unloaded, then dry cycle it and see if you can recreate the incident(without the gun going off this time). 

If you can not find anything specifically wrong, or can not recreate the slam fire, then I would take it to a qualified gunsmith and have it looked at.  A "high primer" should not have made it go off, since the firing pin does not protrude from the face of the slide when the slide goes forward.

Very glad that no one was hurt.  Slam fires are a scary thing.

[Clipboard guy]

Glad that no one was hurt.  I would rather hear about your experience here like this, than on the news as a leading story.

[yorketransport]

This is a gun that I bought new about 2 years ago. I've never had any work done to it. The trigger pull is just like it came from the factory at about 3.5#. I'm on the way out to the garage to strip it down and inspect it now.

[sisu]

 
Thank God no one was injured. My APBT jumped on my new bear gun and discharged a round!!! She and I both were scared *censored*less to say the least. Long story short I will treat my new bear gun like my old one.Mag loaded to the max, safety taped to off and NOTHING in the chamber until there is a need.

[Tony 270WSM]

At least you had it pointed in a safe direction 

[bearpaw]

Glad no one was hurt. Things just wear out and that is a good reminder of why we were taught to point guns in a safe direction or toward the computer.

I had a similar thing happen once to me with my 220 swift. It's an original pre-64 and I just used it too much. One day at my shooting bench I chambered a round getting ready to shoot and it went off on it's own. I tried it again a couple times and then it went off again just closing the bolt. I took it to a gunsmith and the sear had worn off. They rebuilt the sear and I am still using that gun. Prior to that day it had never been woorked on, it was a factory trigger. Thank goodness it was pointed down range.

[yorketransport]

I think I know what happened. I completely forgot that about 6 months ago, I was at a friends house showing him the gun after a trip to the range and doing some serious shooting. We were out in the garage stripping the weapons for a thorough cleaning, and the firing pin spring rolled off the bench never to be seen again. My buddy loves his 1911s, so we replaced it with a Wolff "Extra Power" spring that he had on hand. My understanding of the "extra power" firing pin spring is that it's actually a slightly weaker spring, that gives less resistance to the hammer strike, allowing the firing pin to hit the primer with more energy. If this is correct, then that could explain what happened. The weaker spring allowed the firing pin to travel just enough when the slide was released to hit the primer.

It sounds like this really was my own fault. I should have replaced the spring with a factory part, not aftermarket. I don't know what I would have done if someone had been hurt.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I think you are handling it properly.  The discharge was a safe one.  I know way too many safe people who've had an unintended discharge - not me yet, but won't be surprised if and when it happens.  Always treat them like they'll go off unexpectedly, and you should be ok when they do.  You're now trying to figure out why, also the right approach. 

[bearpaw]

After you suffered the personal punishment, then it would depend who the judge was......thank god this time that no real accident occured....I know that when that little failure happened to me, it scared the $$$$ out of me and I could only think of what could have happened.

[bearpaw]

Your ordeal brings another close call to mind....two friends were out hunting...first year for one friend....they got back to the vehicle and unloaded their guns....they are going down the road and booooom....to this day they don't know how the trigger got pulled....but the one friend had his gun in the front seat with stock on the floor and barrel under his arm pointed out the back of the cab....the muzzle blast tore his shirt and the seat back to heck. Physically only their ears suffered damage....apparently the one friend had unloaded all but one catridge......wow....never can be too careful.

[TheHunt]

Yikes...   You dodged one there!!!

[huntnphool]

Glad nobody was hurt. Before I ripped it apart I think I would try to get it to happen again at a range under a controled condition.

[follow maggie]

No need to feel stupid- all mechanical things can fail, that's why we practice gun safety and point it in a safe direction when loading, just like you did.