# Had an AD ejecting today.... Ouch!



## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

(Found this article to be interesting, pic)

Ouch! While practicing IDPA with my Springfield 1911 in .40 S&W, I finished a string, removed the magazine, went to eject the live round with a slingshot grip on the front slide serrations. I wracked it back briskly (caffiene on board, don't ya know) and BANG.

It was an ejection AD (accidental discharge).

I was shocked. I knew my trigger finger was nowhere near the trigger, so how had it happened? This is one of those "one in a million" accidents, where the round slips left out of the extractor hook just enough for the nose of the ejector to hit the primer. My weak hand wrist and base of thumb were closest to the ejection port, and they were both bleeding from superficial cuts... I consider myself lucky. I was able to wrap my bleeders with IDPA tape and resume shooting. If my fingers had been cupped over the port, they would have been mangled or worse.

I did a little reading on this issue. It happens most often with .40 cal guns, and Glocks in particular. 

Lessons learned? 

Once you've finished a given course of fire, don't let down your guard. 
Make certain you get a firm grip on the slide with no part of your hand or fingers in front of the ejection port.
Pull the slide back slowly and do not let go until you are certain the round is fully ejected
Do not try to catch the live round in your weak hand. Let it fall to the ground. You can wipe the dirt off later.
I've been playing IDPA almost 6 years, and I'm still learning lessons.. I hope some of you can learn from MY lesson, so that you do not have to experience this first hand ...(pun intended).

There has never been a match won by unloading or holstering quickly.. Take your time with these steps and do them correctly!

Mark Barr

Accidental Discharge Ejecting Round


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## hillman (Jul 27, 2014)

Hmm. I always rack the slide from the rear serrations; didn't realize I was 'employing a safety procedure'. Hope that doesn't get me labeled 'wuss'.


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## win231 (Aug 5, 2015)

Glad you weren't seriously injured. First time I've heard of this actually happening. Many years ago when I first got into guns, I was thinking, "Hmmm....that ejector sorta looks like a firing pin & I don't think the primer would know the difference. If a cartridge somehow became misaligned when ejecting a live round or the extractor didn't grab the rim just right......" I like to move the slide back rather slowly, so if that does happen, the primer won't hit the ejector hard enough to fire it.

It's my understanding that the front slide serrations are for press checking the chamber (moving the slide back a half inch or so) to make sure a round is chambered.

I don't like to move the slide back to check the chamber. When I want to make sure there's a round in the chamber, I point the gun at a mirror & with my other hand, shine a flashlight at the mirror & move the beam until it illuminates the barrel & I can clearly see the round in the chamber.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

Firearms are inherently dangerous. That's why I don't own any. :watching:


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## Goldwing (Nov 5, 2014)

win231 said:


> Glad you weren't seriously injured. First time I've heard of this actually happening. Many years ago when I first got into guns, I was thinking, "Hmmm....that ejector sorta looks like a firing pin & I don't think the primer would know the difference. If a cartridge somehow became misaligned when ejecting a live round or the extractor didn't grab the rim just right......" I like to move the slide back rather slowly, so if that does happen, the primer won't hit the ejector hard enough to fire it.
> 
> It's my understanding that the front slide serrations are for press checking the chamber (moving the slide back a half inch or so) to make sure a round is chambered.
> 
> I don't like to move the slide back to check the chamber. When I want to make sure there's a round in the chamber, I point the gun at a mirror & with my other hand, shine a flashlight at the mirror & move the beam until it illuminates the barrel & I can clearly see the round in the chamber.


Pic wasn't at the range. He stated at the beginning that he found the article interesting. If you were shooting a Glock, there is no need to press check the chamber or even look at the gun. You can feel the loaded chamber indicator and know the status.

GW


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## high pockets (Apr 25, 2011)

paratrooper said:


> Firearms are inherently dangerous. That's why I don't own any. :watching:


Boat capsized, eh?


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## Bobshouse (Jul 6, 2015)

paratrooper said:


> Firearms are inherently dangerous. That's why I don't own any. :watching:


Parachute accident?


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## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

Dude had to find a way to bad-mouth Glocks, even though he'd just boned-up and set-off an unchambered round in his 1911. Typical.

And what was that crap about "I knew my trigger finger was nowhere near the trigger, so how had it happened?"? Is there ANY pistol that will fire a round if you hit the trigger when the slide is three-quarters of the way to the rear while in the process of manually ejecting a live round?

In any case, he almost certainly had the pistol tilted to the left, in order to get the grip and wrist-over-the-ejection-port he described. Tilting the gun to the left increases the chances of setting off a round with the ejector, as the ejector is now at the "bottom" of the pistol, gravity-wise, which is where the round will be falling when it leaves the chamber and is released by (or slips-off) the extractor. I've seen this kind of chamber-clearing regularly at many action-pistol type matches, where the shooter will tilt the pistol to the left, briskly work the action with the weak hand, and then "catch" the ejected round as it flips straight up into the air (he mentions not catching the round with the weak hand as one of his "lessons learned", so I'm fairly sure that's what he was probably intending to do).

I'm glad HE learned something, but in my experience, for most shooters who aren't trying to impress competition galleries/onlookers with their smooth/cool pistol-handling skills it's not much of a problem, because they never _start_ doing stupid crap like this.

/rant off


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## win231 (Aug 5, 2015)

Ha. Reminded me of "Training Day." Ethan Hawke ejected the chambered round & caught it with his other hand while sitting at a table with a group of gangbangers. One of them said something like, "Hey, cool...did you learn that at the academy?"


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## hillman (Jul 27, 2014)

DJ Niner said:


> Dude had to find a way to bad-mouth Glocks, even though he'd just boned-up and set-off an unchambered round in his 1911. Typical.
> 
> And what was that crap about "I knew my trigger finger was nowhere near the trigger, so how had it happened?"? Is there ANY pistol that will fire a round if you hit the trigger when the slide is three-quarters of the way to the rear while in the process of manually ejecting a live round?
> 
> ...


I quoted the entire post, because the wisdom within it bears repeating - and to point out that the "/rant off" code has no effect unless it is preceded by a "rant on".


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## joepeat (Jul 8, 2015)

hillman said:


> I quoted the entire post, because the wisdom within it bears repeating - and to point out that the "/rant off" code has no effect unless it is preceded by a "rant on".


HTML: <rant> ... </rant>
BBCode: [rant] ... [/rant]

P.S. These are fictitious


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

Bobshouse said:


> Parachute accident?


Yes and no. :lol:


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

high pockets said:


> Boat capsized, eh?


It was the storm of all storms. :smt033


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

DJ Niner said:


> *Dude had to find a way to bad-mouth Glocks, even though he'd just boned-up and set-off an unchambered round in his 1911. Typical.
> *
> And what was that crap about "I knew my trigger finger was nowhere near the trigger, so how had it happened?"? Is there ANY pistol that will fire a round if you hit the trigger when the slide is three-quarters of the way to the rear while in the process of manually ejecting a live round?
> 
> ...


Very good catch!


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

paratrooper said:


> Yes and no. :lol:


Yes ,, the parachute didn't open,,,NO there were no injuries ,,, he landed on his head,,,lol.

The above is a fictitious statement to make myself laugh ,,I will apologize to my friend paratrooper ahead of time.


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## abarr93 (Nov 26, 2015)

Just had an incident myself. Don't know what happened.i made sure there was nothing in the chamber I checked put the clip in and let the slide pull forward luckily I had it pointed at the couch ... But then there is whole in the couch. Luckily no one was hurt. But holy shit I feel embarrassed. Am I the only one that has had this happened??? If I'm a dumbass call me out please ... Happy thanksgiving hopefully you don't have one as eventful as mine


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

pic said:


> Yes ,, the parachute didn't open,,,NO there were no injuries ,,, he landed on his head,,,lol.
> 
> The above is a fictitious statement to make myself laugh ,,I will apologize to my friend paratrooper ahead of time.


Those that have jumped military chutes know what a Mae West is.

It's not a good thing.


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## win231 (Aug 5, 2015)

abarr93 said:


> Just had an incident myself. Don't know what happened.i made sure there was nothing in the chamber I checked put the clip in and let the slide pull forward luckily I had it pointed at the couch ... But then there is whole in the couch. Luckily no one was hurt. But holy shit I feel embarrassed. Am I the only one that has had this happened??? If I'm a dumbass call me out please ... Happy thanksgiving hopefully you don't have one as eventful as mine


If your finger wasn't on the trigger, I wouldn't be chambering any more rounds in it until a gunsmith looks at it. The only gun I've ever heard of that can fire when chambering a round or shaking it is a Taurus.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

win231 said:


> If your finger wasn't on the trigger, I wouldn't be chambering any more rounds in it until a gunsmith looks at it. The only gun I've ever heard of that can fire when chambering a round or shaking it is a Taurus.


He didn't realize the slide pulling forward would load the chamber,, I had to explain to a friend of mine two years ago how the bullet went from the magazine to the chamber, unbelievable but true


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

paratrooper said:


> Yes and no. It was a practice jump, so I wasn't actually using a parachute. :lol:


Fixed it for ya. :mrgreen:


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## high pockets (Apr 25, 2011)

paratrooper said:


> Firearms are inherently dangerous. That's why I don't own any. :watching:





high pockets said:


> Boat capsized, eh?





paratrooper said:


> It was the storm of all storms. :smt033


Mine were aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald; fortunately, I wasn't! :mrgreen:


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## jtguns (Sep 25, 2011)

I just think back to my military training and remember if you have a bad round, wait 30 seconds before ejecting the round. Maybe I read it wrong, but I still remember that one safety tip.
jt


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

jtguns said:


> I just think back to my military training and remember if you have a bad round, wait 30 seconds before ejecting the round. Maybe I read it wrong, but I still remember that one safety tip.
> jt


We were trained to eject them immediately.

Both military and LE.


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## TAPnRACK (Jan 30, 2013)

They're called "Hang Fires"... a delay between the primer being struck and the powder actually igniting. Never actually seen one.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Seen many,, umm , maybe they were firecrackers,,


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## TAPnRACK (Jan 30, 2013)

We're you shooting reloads?

I'm not just referring to bad primer "duds"... I mean a several second delay between pulling the trigger and a bullet coming down the pipe. Never seen one of those... either out of my guns or any students.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

I really meant firecrackers ,lol. Wick an all.. My bad


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