Okay, so yesterday while I was at the range, my men were done shooting and were waiting on me to finish up the box of ammo.
While, they weren't rushing me, I still felt the need to be in sort of a hurry because I don't like to have people standing around waiting on me, I tend to do my best not to encroach on other people's time. People who are constantly late or people who meander around slowly (like in the grocery store) and won't get out of the way or speed up, in other words, people who waste my or other people's time are simply rude.
I digress, so back to the story..... I was kind of in a hurry yesterday so that my guys wouldn't get tired of waiting on me and I did a not so bright thing. Well okay two not so bright things.
First thing I did was pick up a spent casing while it was still hot. Of course I didn't realize it was still hot, but I was trying to move it out of my way so that I could lay my gun on the bench. I picked it up and quickly dropped it. It left a nice little blister on my thumb and first finger.
Second dumb thing that I did was, I pulled the trigger even though I knew that I didn't seat my long gun properly against my shoulder. It didn't feel quite right, yet I fired anyway and this is what happened...
So, I'm a little sore today.
What was really stupid (other than the obvious) is that I freaking KNEW better.
Moral of the story, when you're at the range, NEVER allow yourself to feel rushed.
While, they weren't rushing me, I still felt the need to be in sort of a hurry because I don't like to have people standing around waiting on me, I tend to do my best not to encroach on other people's time. People who are constantly late or people who meander around slowly (like in the grocery store) and won't get out of the way or speed up, in other words, people who waste my or other people's time are simply rude.
I digress, so back to the story..... I was kind of in a hurry yesterday so that my guys wouldn't get tired of waiting on me and I did a not so bright thing. Well okay two not so bright things.
First thing I did was pick up a spent casing while it was still hot. Of course I didn't realize it was still hot, but I was trying to move it out of my way so that I could lay my gun on the bench. I picked it up and quickly dropped it. It left a nice little blister on my thumb and first finger.
Second dumb thing that I did was, I pulled the trigger even though I knew that I didn't seat my long gun properly against my shoulder. It didn't feel quite right, yet I fired anyway and this is what happened...
So, I'm a little sore today.
What was really stupid (other than the obvious) is that I freaking KNEW better.
Moral of the story, when you're at the range, NEVER allow yourself to feel rushed.
There's also something known as too much of a good thing. Oh well it was her birthday after all.
ReplyDeleteWe used to tell baby agents at FLETC who were just learning how to shoot "Never get complacent. Ever."
ReplyDeleteWithout fail, we'd see complacency, sometimes disguised as Over-Confidence, sometimes as Lack Of Respect, and with the male baby agents, as Ego.
A big one we saw during the conversion from our S&W 64s to various semi-autos was a (one-time) tendency to cross the thumbs over each other at the backstrap.
I saw, "one-time" because the ensuing loss of flesh when the slide cycled and took skin off the offending left-thumb's knuckle broke that habit quickly, if not painfully.
Saw a lot of shotgun souvenirs like yours, these from mainly male baby agents who'd gotten just a wee bit Over-Confident. A couple of ice packs delivered with strong and profane imprecations from moi, and that mistake wasn't ever repeated.
Belle, I've been shooting for over 45 years which includes two stints in the military where firearms were simply an extension of your arms, and in law enforcement where I referred to my Sig Sauer P220 as my "Life Insurance Policy." I've done a few dumb things in those years, notably shooting and severely wounding my desk in the middle of the day at my office in the federal building. It was a dumb, stupid, careless negligent discharge and it was 100% my fault.
That unexpected discharge brought out quite a few hidden and holstered weapons instantly from the good agents who were always prepared for trouble. The bad agents dove for the floor.
The supervisors had to leave for the day to go home and change their underwear.
It got me a few days off without pay. Vacation the hard way, so to speak.
The best lessons we learn from our firearms are the painful ones, but the ones in which no real damage is done.
--AOA
Thanks for that AOA. I feel a little better now...
ReplyDeletepoor desk
ReplyDelete