Account of AD/ND

[Lumberjack98]

A very good fried of mine had an accidental / negligent discharge (AD/ND) the other night and I’d like to post as much information as I have on this.

He was cleaning a Charter Arms Bulldog 44 revolver. Once he was finished, he loaded it as this is the primary house defensive weapon to put back away. He forcefully closed the cylinder and that is when the discharge happened.

The bullet went through blinds, a double pane window with some sort of vinyl pane inside for storm protection and then across the neighbors back yard and stopped in a piece of wood just below the roof line. The bullet traveled approximately 75 feet.

He was able to retrieve the bullet out of the wood by just touching it and it fell out into his hand.

Thank God nobody was hurt. He and his wife were very shaken up. The neighbor was not aware of what happened, but he informed her of the AD/ND.

The police were not called.

He took the firearm into Carter’s Country the next day and a couple of gunsmiths checked it out and said that it was operating normally and nothing was broken.

They then asked him about the bullets that were used. He bought the bullets at Oshman’s in the mid 80’s. They were hollow point re-loads and about half the price of factory ammunition. The gunsmith says that if the primer was not set properly, that it might be possible for the forceful closing of the cylinder to cause the primer to ignite.

The other possibility is that his finger was on the trigger and when he closed the cylinder, he pulled the trigger and the round went off. He believes that he did not have his finger on the trigger, but he can’t rule that out.

Lessons learned.

1. Do not close the cylinder so forcefully.

2. Don’t use old re-loads for home defense that you may believe are defective. He will only be using factory loads from now on.

[flintknapper]

The gunsmith says that if the primer was not set properly, that it might be possible for the forceful closing of the cylinder to cause the primer to ignite.

Bingo!

A "high primer" can also be a source of a "jam" in a revolver.

Its odd that the cartridge bore in the cylinder lined up with the forcing cone at the exact same time the cylinder closed and the primer ignited.

It could happen though.

Always inspect each round of ammo for telltale signs of poor construction. A "high" primer would have been easy to spot.

Generally, factory fodder is excellent, but I still cycle each and every round of my defensive ammo before trusting my life to it.

[HighVelocity]

I think the odds of a primer igniting from closing the cylinder hard are astronomical. A bolt action rifle is another story but we're talking about a revolver. If it did in fact fire upon closing, the odds of the round traveling down the barrel are even higher. It would more likely have crashed head-on into the forcing cone and destroyed the gun.

I've fired umpteen thousands of rounds through many different revolvers over the years and never saw this happen nor ever even heard of it happening to anyone else.

If I were a betting man, I'd lay odds that your friend dry fired the gun multiple times after cleaning it. Then loaded it, got distracted and pulled the trigger.

[Skiprr]

If I were a betting man, I'd lay odds that your friend dry fired the gun multiple times after cleaning it. Then loaded it, got distracted and pulled the trigger.

If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on HighVelocity.

[jason]

I agree with the above two.

What would strike the high-primer? I would assume it would have to the be the frame of the revolver as the cylinder was pushed inwards. This would mean that the impact at that point would cause the primer to ignite. I doubt that the cylinder would make it all the way into the gun before the round ejected.

Also, what is the clearance between the cylinder and the frame? Is it even possible for this to occur?

[Hamourkiller]

Look at the primer! if it has the normal dent then the firing pin did the deed. If it is flat and fired well then manipulating the cylinder caused the gun to fire.
Probably left the hammer back then closed the cylinder, then touched the trigger and she let go or as stated "dry fired" the weapon after loading it. ( I can tell you that that does happen! )

I have cocked my revolvers before while cleaning with the cylinder open to clean the hand and locking paul. If you close the cylinder while cocked it is difficult because the lifting hand and locking paul are in the locked position. You basicaly have to rotate the cylinder closed. If he did this it would be very easy to have an accidental discharge.

I would replicate my actions of the event with an unloaded gun until I got to the bottom of the issue. If I could not resolve what caused the accident (poor handling or mechanical failure) I would retire the weapon and get another one out of the safe.

In any case no one was hurt because it was pointed away from others, but still a frightening experience!

I once had a Remington 700 (7 Mag) dicharge when I loaded it while hunting. Could not figure out what took place, so with no rounds in the gun I repeated my loading steps and finally got it to repeat. It was very cold and when I closed the bolt the little finger of my glove slipped into the trigger guard and fired the weapon. I could not feel the touch through the glove, only hear the "CLICK!" This was an old 700 that had to be off safe to load.

Good luck and am happy your friend is safe.

[Jeremae]

1. Since he bought these reloads in "the mid 80's", if one had a high primer it would likely have jammed the cylinder or gone off on closing long before this.

2. I make it a practice to shoot up and replace my carry and home defense loads on a regular basis and would advice the same for any responsible gun owner.

3. Glad no one was hurt. It sounds like the gun was pointed in a relatively safe direction but your friend might want to look into one of the bullet trap pads they sell to aim at during loading/unloading.

Hope I don't sound too pedantic... We all need to do our best to train away unintended discharges or at least to minimize damages from them.

[nra-life-member]

Wow.. I never would have thought of an AD on a revolver, but what I have read here makes sense.. Learn something new daily.

[Sangiovese]

Lessons learned.

1. Do not close the cylinder so forcefully.

2. Don’t use old re-loads for home defense that you may believe are defective. He will only be using factory loads from now on.

3. Always keep a firearm pointed in a safe direction.


Closing the cylinder is akin to racking the slide on a semi-auto... and is probably one of the more common times for an AD to occur (next to holstering/unholstering, I would guess). Would make sense to keep it pointed in a safe direction while doing that operation. (As you should at ALL times anyway.)


Anyway... really glad nobody was hurt, other than pride.

[carlson1]

Lessons learned.
1. Do not close the cylinder so forcefully.

This is what causes damages to the crane and ejector in most revolvers. I am glad he is ok and now one was hurt.