Accidental death at clay shoot

Just had the headline cross my computer screen:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-36878526

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How very sad for his family, traumatic for those that may have witnessed it and a very strong reminder to us all that safety can't be less than 100%.  

That truly is awful news.

How tragic and so very sad !

It is well to remember " Never point your gun at anything that you do not wish to kill or injure "

"A safe gun is a broken one"

How many of us are guilty of coming out of the stand with a broken gun and then closing it before putting it into a slip?

We can never be too careful with gun handling, please take care and be careful.

Yesterday at the Bisley skeet ranges a bloke walked out of the club house with his gun shut pointing directly at me, Rosso, and Papa before deciding to open it. 

Terrible accident.

Salopian said:

How tragic and so very sad !

It is well to remember " Never point your gun at anything that you do not wish to kill or injure "

"A safe gun is a broken one"

How many of us are guilty of coming out of the stand with a broken gun and then closing it before putting it into a slip?

We can never be too careful with gun handling, please take care and be careful.

Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with closing a gun to put in it your slip. After all it's closed in the slip. Its closed in gun racks by the stands, It's closed in the car. It's closed in the gun safe. Etc. Not guilty.

I was at the NCSC Sunday. They have a gun rack in the club house by the doors where guns are left unattended whilst shooters book in / have tea. I saw one person walk out with a closed gun pointing it at us, he opened it about 15ft outside the club house so it was closed in the club house while he was walking around.

We were at AGL ground on Friday and a few of their stands are built in heavy wooden enclosures so there is no way of shooting directly towards other nearby stands. What shocked me was the number of pellet marks on the inside of the stand where someone must have discharged in error, we are talking point blank hits in the timber way off the clay flight line. The other worrying trend is with "sole shooter" claymate systems where the shooter has to button for themselves with a closed gun. Not to bad in most sporting stands, but there was a scary moment once with a shooter on a skeet range at a local ground when shooting singles!

Very sad news let's hope it's a very isolated incident we should all be very vigilant and unafraid of pointing out safety errors if/when seen I guess it's all too easy to become complacent 

Apparently he dropped his gun, it discharged and he caught the round. 

Hard to even imagine how it happened and not much point in trying to guess, suffice to say this must have been a freak accident but worth remembering that safety procedures are there for a reason.

So the victim was shot with his own gun... I was hoping that it wasn't someone had accidentally shot someone else imagine having to live with that? As it would probably been a friend I guess 

So our 'friend' walked around the inside of the club house and then 15ft outside the clubhouse before he thought about opening it?????

Yet no one said " Could you open your gun please?"

cockney21 said:

We were at AGL ground on Friday and a few of their stands are built in heavy wooden enclosures so there is no way of shooting directly towards other nearby stands. What shocked me was the number of pellet marks on the inside of the stand where someone must have discharged in error, we are talking point blank hits in the timber way off the clay flight line.

Click to expand...

People aren't taught how to manage in different types of stands. I did several CPSA courses, have been shooting four years with some very good coaches and just last month was pulled up for mounting the gun in one of those boxes pointing it at the wood. It had never come up before. I'd never been coached in one of those boxes before and no one ever said anything. I felt a pillock for not realising it, it was obvious once it was pointed out to me. I think those are marks from errors made when mounting.

So sad for the gentleman who lost his life, and for his family too. Dropping a gun and having it go off, even with the safety on, is a fear of mine that was instilled fairly early on. It's why I wear proper safety glasses. This kind of thing does happen. 

Salopian said:

So our 'friend' walked around the inside of the club house and then 15ft outside the clubhouse before he thought about opening it?????

Yet no one said " Could you open your gun please?"

Click to expand...

Yes.

He soon opened it when he saw us three, we were about 30ft from him walking back, I certainly would have told him. They are out there.

How many times have you seen someone checking another's master eye by pointing the gun at his eye, at shoots. Always makes me cringe.

Rosso,

 A very good point.

It is common practice by instructors and gunsmiths to get a customer / pupil to mount a PROVEN UNLOADED gun and then the instructor / gunsmith to look back along the rib to see the customer eye placement.

What sadly is not a common practice is to do this test in privacy , with snap caps fitted and the instructors hand/finger placed over the muzzle aperture, also making sure the customers fingers are no where near the trigger/s.

Proving the gun is unloaded to all parties concerned , fitting snap caps and temporarily blocking the muzzles ensures that no accidents are likely to happen.

Salopian said:

Rosso,

 A very good point.

It is common practice by instructors and gunsmiths to get a customer / pupil to mount a PROVEN UNLOADED gun and then the instructor / gunsmith to look back along the rib to see the customer eye placement.

What sadly is not a common practice is to do this test in privacy , with snap caps fitted and the instructors hand/finger placed over the muzzle aperture, also making sure the customers fingers are no where near the trigger/s.

Proving the gun is unloaded to all parties concerned , fitting snap caps and temporarily blocking the muzzles ensures that no accidents are likely to happen.

Click to expand...

All good sense including doing this in private or at least not in plain view of all and sundry lest it give less experienced shooters the idea that everyone can do this. But I'm afraid the last time I checked fingers or hands won't stop the face from being removed from the torso should stage one have been woefully poorly executed. The gun is either empty or it is not, do not stand in front of a gun that you don't 110% know is empty. 

Just to make it 100% clear !

Always show and prove a gun is empty first

The reason I fit snap caps and put my finger over the end of the muzzles is if the customer inadvertantly or habitually pulls the trigger I do not get a broken firing pin or part of  hitting me in the face.

Rosso said:

Yes.

He soon opened it when he saw us three, we were about 30ft from him walking back, I certainly would have told him. They are out there.

How many times have you seen someone checking another's master eye by pointing the gun at his eye, at shoots. Always makes me cringe.

Click to expand...

I am afraid that I would have STILL "told him", otherwise he will keep doing it !

westley said:

I am afraid that I would have STILL "told him", otherwise he will keep doing it !

Click to expand...

I'm a quite gentle sole who does not like conflict, he knew what he had done. However Bisondan was going to sit on him and Papa was going to break the gun over his head. ?

Rosso said:

I'm a quite gentle sole who does not like conflict, he knew what he had done. However Bisondan was going to sit on him and Papa was going to break the gun over his head. ?

Click to expand...

We all know that of you and respect you for it.   :angel:

and FYI - that would be "soul".  Of course I'm only guessing what you intended to convey.  My apologies if I twisted your meaning.