What the @%$!* did I just do?

[Tyro Shooter]

If you shoot in So Cal IDPA you’ve probably heard of me by now.

It was a beautiful sat morning for the local IDPA Compact club match.

So far so good, kit up at my truck with my 4” Kimber compact.

At the first stage I stand by and tape targets after the first shooter and then don my cover vest and get in the start box and prepare to LAMR

“Clear down range” – “Shooter Load & Make Ready” I take out my barny mag and load one into the chamber, , index trigger finger, safety up, dump the empty mag then insert full mag, Safety off, press check , Safety up , hand on belly button, safely dress vest out of the way and with thumb under safety, holster Kimber into Kydex DeSantis holster.

Ok here’s where my life goes down the toilet forever

. . . BANG (what the fuc*?????) I pull the gun from out of the holster clear it

(what the fuc* did I just do????)

At this point I start to hear other voices are “you ok ???”

The RO coming through loud & clear “DUDE YOUR BLEEDING”

. . . (what the fuc* did I just do????) the choirs of “are you ok???”

At this point I realize my leg hurts, a chair appears and soon my jeans are cut off and we find out I’m bleeding from two holes.

(What the fuc* did I do????) bleeding stabilized pull pen out of pocket to get cell # of some one who’s volunteered to take care of truck and gear, find hole number three in hip,

This is not going to be a good day,

Thanks to a few trained people in advanced first aid I get to the local ER Just fine.

In 3” below the hip out 3” above the knee and a 4” minor gouge out of my calf.

I am very very lucky, I know this more than most will appreciate.

As for the gun. Was it tweaked with? You bet.

There were very few original parts left on it.

It had shot 40k to 50k rounds through it

No prior problems or issues, I mean I won the match last month with this gun

It gets presented in dry fire drills a few times a day with no indication of any thing wrong. Did I check it for a properly functioning safety when I took in out of my range bag that morning?

No

This makes the whole incident my fault it does not matter that it worked just fine last week, it does not matter that it did work then, the only thing that matters is I didn't check it that morning. . .my fault

Why the amby thumb safety allows the hammer to fall and why the grip safety also now is not operational I don’t know. safety on, pull trigger, hammer falls.

It’s now in a box, maybe in a few months I’ll open it up and look and see what why & how.

They say after you’ve fallen you need to get back up and ride again,

But what do they say if you wish to come back from a monumental screw up like this?

Perhaps some time after the first of the year when I can walk & run without listing to port and limp I may wish to come back. Or just sell all of my gear & move to San Francisco?

No longer “Tyro Shooter” - Now Just “DumbAss”

[Dead Buff]

Just one Q: Was your finger outside the trigger guard while holstering? If yes, not such a dumbass, if yes,.................

[Merlin Orr]

Whatever the cause of the AD you will live with the results... Live being the key word. Every person shooting a firearm needs to think about this. It CAN happen to anyone. A mental lapse or a mechanical failure - it can happen to anyone. I hope you make a full recovery with no loss of quality in your life over your wound.

If you just have the opportunity to shoot again is good enough - whether you choose to or not.

IMHO

[rhino]

Glad to hear you're okay, Tyro ... that's a scary story.

It's a good reminder to us that we're dealing with weapons with great potential for damage.

I also holster with my thumb under the safety to make sure it's "on," but unfortunately it didn't help you this time.

[lynn jones]

i had a cop friend that shot 4 people in his career. problem was that 3 of them was himself.

lynn

[SiG Lady]

"...It's a good reminder to us that we're dealing with weapons with great potential for damage...."

He's got that one right, I fear. Take good care of yourself meanwhile and don't give up. Your tale is a useful wake-up call to ALL of us no matter what was at fault.

[blackdragon]

WoW! After reading that MY leg hurts!

Ivan

[Jake Di Vita]

That sucks man.

Whatever you do though, don't stop doing something you love because of this. Our sport is inherently dangerous, we know that going in.

[XRe]

Wow - ouch. Don't let it stop you, though, man.

The lesson to learn on this for me is to routinely check the safety devices on the gun for proper functioning (with an unloaded gun, of course). That still won't stop anything from breaking - but it's still good to do....

Dave

[shred]

We have a guy that happened to (the actual circumstances were different, but two .45 holes in the thigh aren't)

A year or two later he came back.. wearing the same pair of shorts with two holes in them. He joked about having a shirt made up with three answers on the back:

A1- Thanks, glad to be back

A2- OK now

A3- For five dollars

Moral-- attitude is extremely important. If you did things right (how many of us check the safeties before every match?? I don't), do everything you can to get back in the game.

[TDean]

Wow, glad your'e ok Tyro.

Every serious incident is usually a result of more than 1 system failure.

You can usually look back along the trail and find several reasons that have compounded resulting in the disaster.

Everyone check your equipment.

Make sure some redundancy in safety features of you firearm exist.

[Mistral404]

Thanks for the story. It helped me get over an incident at a weekend match recently. I was the RO and the shooter had a holster that did not work well for him. It was the first time I RO'd him. He had a problem getting the gun into the holster and then it did not cover the trigger.

I stopped him, gave him clear, unemotional instructions to remove his gun, unload and show clear. I next asked him to holster him gun. Again he did it and it did not cover the trigger, I mention this to him at which point he jammed it down and still part of the trigger was showing. Then his verb deluge started.

He got extremely upset with me for putting him through all of it. Claim it was safe and he had been shooting with it for 3 years without a problem. He started to leave the match in a very angry mood. Eventlually others persuaded him to continue. Throughout the entire process I treated him with respect and in a professional manner, unfortunately he did not respond the same.

Afterwards others confirmed that I was right to stop him and to review my concerns.

I say this because your story reaffirms the safety aspect of our sport. We our responsiblity for the safety of ourselves and everyone else on the range at the time.

I am truly sorry for your misfortune. I applaud your willingness to share your story with us. It serves to inspire us to remain vigilant about safety. Get well soon and return to our sport.

[John Dunn]

At the ITRC in 2003 a competitor had an AD with an AR-15, he ultimately ended up with a BKA (below knee amputation), but was back to shoot the match again in 2004. Nice guy, lots of guts.

All the best to you, get well soon.

[Steve Moneypenny]

maybe this is a little late in reccomending this.

I was taught to place my thumb atop the hammer either in DA or SA guns then holstering

once the gun is in holster sweep safetyon (or off in da guns if it was on) and if you have your finger in the trigger guard when you holster you hurt it, not shoot something. (in a 1911 your thumb is actually between the hammer and the slide pushing down on hthe slide and part of the top of the hammer.. in a DA gun it prevents the hammer from coming back. ... in a glock or other striker fired gun.. i have no clue.

[Steve Moneypenny]

Please don't quit shooting because of this though. did we all quit driving after our first accident... riding bikes after first collision with a parked dump truck (inside joke)

i'm glad that you have the brass to admit what happened to you many would run and hide.

[twix]

I think your shooting pals will respect you more if you come right back to shoot again, I mean this weekend or the first available match. Takes a lot of courage to get back up after a knockdown. People know that and will like you better for it although they may watch you a little closer for awhile.

Thanks for sharing, that alone shows your character.

TomB

[froglegs]

maybe this is a little late in reccomending this.

I was taught to place my thumb atop the hammer either in DA or SA guns then holstering

Marc C showed me this and I do it all the time now.

went shooting many times and never had a problem over the years I just learned of this a year ago and now I can't understand why everyone doesn't do this. I see people just JAM the gun it the holster and not even think twice OUCH that's goin to leave a mark!!!

This should be one of the fundamentals

[lmccrock]

Sounds like no major arteries, so it could have been worse. I cannot imagine how bad it sucks to get shot. Unfortunately, such incidents have happened before and will happen again.

However,

Or just sell all of my gear & move to San Francisco?

Negative on that one. Maybe hang out at matches and help with stats until the physical therapy is done. And get the gun fixed sooner than later.

As for:

I was taught to place my thumb atop the hammer either in DA or SA guns then holstering

I would hesitate to do this because if there is a failure, I have the hammer back on a failed sear/safety and a loaded chamber. My thumb might exacerbate the problem with no good way to get the hammer down.

Lee

[M.E.Anglin]

I got back from a major match a couple of years ago, and started to clean my STI and noticed the hammer droped with the safety on, it could happen to any of us. Knock the dust off and keep on shooting!!!!!

[zorba]

ASAP 1 fix you

2 fix the gun

3 go shoot.

Third national this year, i had finished 2nd at the first and 2nd at the second, LAMR first stage first shot bang 12 inches from my strong foot toe. what the f###, yea almost shat myself RO does whats expected and all i can say is my fingers not on the trigger over and over again, what a shock.

At that time i had no idea what went wrong on further inspection hammer was following when saftey was disengaged, got stage DQ lost 90 points and was back in the match.

The hardest part was geting back into the shooting, i was so afraid of the blaster,shot two mikes on next stage and realy slow the rest of the day.

Day two after lots of internal chatter and moral fixing i won the first stage and finished 7th overall.

Get back in as soon as possible.

[JerryDGeek]

Why the amby thumb safety allows the hammer to fall and why the grip safety also now is not operational I don’t know. safety on, pull trigger, hammer falls.

Let me see if I understand what you just said.

The thumb safety allows the hammer to fall when you flick the hammer safety to 'off safe'?

Does that mean that you took it off safe before the gun cleared the holster? Or that you pulled the trigger (safety on) before you completed your draw?

Ummmmm.

If so, that may well have been a significant factor.

Did I check it for a properly functioning safety when I took in out of my range bag that morning?    No.

On the other hand, this may not be something worth beating yourself up about.

I doubt whether 1% of either IDPA or IPSC competitors check their thumb safety to be sure it's working correctly before starting a match. Not that it wouldn't be a good idea (and I hope I can learn to include that simple safety check to my pre-match routine in the future), but it's not something that we've either been taught, or established independently.

It's a hard lesson to learn, and I appreciate that you've been willing to overcome the embarassment to share the lesson with the rest of us.

But man! That's a hard way to learn!

Painful, too, I'll bet.

Still I'd sure like to know how you ended up with an odd-number of holes in your hide. Was it In/Out/In and the bullet was still in your leg?

Okay, maybe that's too personal.

Brrrrrr!

[MattBurkett]

Sorry to hear of your injury. I know that I have been lucky in my career as I have had my share of stupids. My old house with several holes in it is proof of that. You have to get back on the horse, just take it slow and safe. Rebuild from the start if you need to. If you want to talk about it sometime, don't hesitate to contact me.

[Mark80189]

i am very happy to hear that you are o.k., but remember cops do it too, watch this clip!

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/copshootsleg.html