Jitters after serious Equipment Failure

[Crazy Scientist]

About a year ago I was shooting y versa max and the barrel split while shooting (Tried to see if it was ID10T error, but best efforts indicate it was a defect--non-concentric choke).  No injuries, but definitely rattled me.  I got it fixed, but I have been real reluctant to go shotgunning since (as in I haven't).

 

Am i crazy (yeah username, but serious) or just normal to have the jitters getting back on the horse after something like that.  Rifle/Handgun is fine.

[XDoctor]

That makes some sense.  Shooting is an inherently dangerous activity and people have been seriously injured while doing it.  That said, I've been in trap leagues for years, shot dozens of three gun matches and have probably witnessed shotguns being fired a couple million times.  I've never seen that happen.  So what happened to you was akin to a lightning strike, or winning the worst lottery ever.  Odds of it happening twice are functionally zero.

[hankdiesel]

Keep your equipment clean and inspected  and dont worry about it...like Xdoctor said, there is some risk to shooting. There is an explosion going off everytime you pull the trigger. I had a shotgun just about blow up while I was shooting, had pieces hit me in the face...wear your eyes and ears...

[stick]

If you have safety concerns about your equipment, you shouldn't shoot it.  Jitters are normal after a problem like the one you experienced.  It's normal to feel that way, the fear of it happening again is what worries you.  If you trust its fixed take it one shot at a time.  Fire only one shot out of it, then go from there.

[nikdanja]

I just shot a major and had one of my mags not feed. That was about 2 months ago and I still don’t trust it to use in a match. 

[elguapo]

Your concern is unreasonable.  The gun was fixed, so now what are you worrying about?

[nikdanja]

21 hours ago, elguapo said:

Your concern is unreasonable.  The gun was fixed, so now what are you worrying about?

I get the same jitters also once my gun is fixed. It’s the unknown of “will it happen again” 

 

affer a training session/match and it works how it should, I’m over it. 

[CuttingEdgeAmmo]

My friend's African Grey bit me the other day (hard bite from a critter weighing under a pound).  I'm hesitant to pick him up now; especially knowing it's likely to happen again.  But I do it anyway.  xDoctor gives you a pretty good idea of the literal likelihood it'll happen again.  And hankdiesel's advice to make your sure you're wearing your safety gear is good advice.

[Crazy Scientist]

On 11/4/2019 at 4:22 AM, stick said:

If you have safety concerns about your equipment, you shouldn't shoot it.  Jitters are normal after a problem like the one you experienced.  It's normal to feel that way, the fear of it happening again is what worries you.  If you trust its fixed take it one shot at a time.  Fire only one shot out of it, then go from there.

 

I appreciate this.  Yeah it got fixed and I just started out slow. Had a long session today the restored some confidence.

 

 

[SeattleDude]

I think its even worse when it happens to a brand new guy.

 

We had a guy that was shooting his first 3gun match. Brand new shotgun.

 

Early Spring. Some snow still on the ground in spots.

 

After staging all the guns in the dump boxes. Stage was started. He picked up shotgun from dump box and BOOM. Barrel split at the end.

 

We later figured that the 2-3 inches of snow in the bottom of the dump box Plugged his barrel when he staged it. No one thought it could happen.

 

Whole squad was super helpful. One guy even offered to give him a spare barrel he has laying around from same shotgun. Everyone tried to be super supportive.

 

But guy left after that stage and i have never seen him at the match again.

[Dutchman195]

I had a out of battery detonation on my first stage at A5 in 2017. Looked at the RO and they were just looking at me so I slapped another mag in it, put it in my left hand and finished the stage. 

I didn't have a backup gun and there was no practice bay. Had to just keep shooting. It didn't do it the rest of the day. 

Long story short, the gun did its job and kept you safe. No reason to believe that in the rare event of that happening again, the gun would hurt you the second time. Not to say 'get over it' because its scary as s#!t, but really nothing you can do. Go bust some simple clays on the trap field and by the end of the round I think you'll be ok. 

Also as the other guy said, you'll have better luck at winning the lottery than that happening again. 

[b2948kevin]

Yep, time to get back on the horse. It's like overthinking about the "what if" after a squib or something. Take some time to reflect, then move on with life.