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Most of you know I accidentally (ok, negligently) shot myself straight through two large bones in my ankle last October, a full ten months ago, with one of my 9mm handguns. Apparently, I will forever have to live with that story. As proof, I offer the following.

I recently purchased a beautiful addition to my collectible firearms, a Smith and Wesson Model 64 no-dash .38 Special stainless steel revolver that was produced between 1970-1972 but had likely never been fired and was in exquisitely pristine condition. The following happened when I went to Cascade Firearms, the small local gun store in Vancouver I frequent, to pick it up after my background check came back clean.

I walked into the gun store and proceeded to the counter. It's a small place that is often frequented by some older guys (ok, my age) who come in to just chat with the owner, a really nice guy I've traded with for years. There were two of them sitting at the counter talking with him when I walked up.

I told him I'd received a call saying my gun was ready to pick up. He found the background check paperwork, retrieved the revolver, and gave me the final transfer form I had to fill out.

As I was starting to fill out the paperwork, the owner asked casually, "Hey man, how's your foot?" At which point, both of the old guys at the counter pivoted toward me, pointed their fingers at me, and in unison loudly asked "So he's the guy?!"

Yep. My reputation does indeed precede me. And apparently will forever. But the revolver, a truly beautiful piece, was worth the brief moment of shame, I suppose.

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If they truly know the story you have shared, then they would hopefully consider such as a reminder & warning. We do.

It can happen, so always be mindful of the rules & follow proper habits. Something is amiss?

Stop. Timeout, as it were, recheck. Continue, only if GTG.
 
They were very good hearted about it. The incident was the result of a momentary mental lapse due to being in a hurry to get out of the house and to the range. I might have been five minutes late, but I would gladly trade that for the months of pain and lack of mobility that followed.
 
Imagine if you shot someone else accidentally... there is a lesson to be learned here, and it could have been worse.

Sounds like you're healed and moving on just fine. I personally wouldn't have said a word to you about it in person. If you were a friend of many years the story would be different. Unless it has to do with race, diversity, or inclusion folks don't have much of a filter between brain & mouth.

Beautiful revolver, BTW ;)
 
Imagine if you shot someone else accidentally... there is a lesson to be learned here, and it could have been worse......Beautiful revolver, BTW ;)
I wrote a lengthy post about this exactly to that effect while I was still in the hospital. You can find it if you search my posts. Since the round went through my foot and into the floor, my first thought was that somebody could have been downstairs. It was apparently significantly slowed by my ankle bones, so it didn't make it through to downstairs. But it could have. I describe it as 55 years of safe firearms handling gone in an instant. It can happen to anybody who has even a one second lapse in focus or concentration. And yeah, I'm healed, but I'll likely forever have a mildly creaky ankle if I push it too far. In fact, if I'd had any type of JHP round in the gun instead of the Underwood XTreme Penetrators, it probably would have blown my ankle apart instead of just passing straight through the bones and out.
 
I'm willing to bet the rest of my pension that it's an experience that you'll never have to undergo again.

An old acquaintance of mine, many years ago, had a mishap with a load of powder from a shotgun shell, that resulted in him blowing a dime-sized hole right through the middle of his hand.

That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, you can bet.

Like a friend of mine on sigforum.com notes in his byline - 'I'm not totally useless - I can be used as a bad example'.
 
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So happy for you that you have recovered your injury. Just one more comment about this post. 55 AIN'T AN OLD GUY! Being an old guy is ALWAYS 10 years older than you currently are! Let's see now I won't be an old guy until I hit 80. Then it will move to 90! Thems are the rules youngster. LOL!!!
 
I'm willing to bet the rest of my pension that it's an experience that you'll never have to undergo again.

An old acquaintance of mine, many years ago, had a mishap with a load of powder from a shotgun shell, that resulted in him blowing a dime-sized hole right through the middle of his hand.

That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, you can bet.

Like a friend of mine on sigforum.com notes in his byline - 'I'm not totally useless - I can be used as a bad example'.


Dayum!! :eek:
 
No offense but you're lucky that's the reputation you have instead of being remembered.

I love that you shared that story. We can never be too careful and you sharing your experience is a wonderful reminder.

Nice new toy. Hope you enjoy it for years
 
No offense but you're lucky that's the reputation you have instead of being remembered.

I love that you shared that story. We can never be too careful and you sharing your experience is a wonderful reminder.

Nice new toy. Hope you enjoy it for years
That's the second thing I thought about after being glad no one else was in the house. My wife later commented that she really considered making me increase the amount of my life insurance before letting me come home from the hospital.
 
So, in my mind, you are the only qualified individual on this forum to argue that 9mm is an effective or in-effective self defense round.

Glad you are healed up, thank you for the story, it is an excellent reminder to us all.
 
I wrote a lengthy post about this exactly to that effect while I was still in the hospital. You can find it if you search my posts. Since the round went through my foot and into the floor, my first thought was that somebody could have been downstairs. It was apparently significantly slowed by my ankle bones, so it didn't make it through to downstairs. But it could have. I describe it as 55 years of safe firearms handling gone in an instant. It can happen to anybody who has even a one second lapse in focus or concentration. And yeah, I'm healed, but I'll likely forever have a mildly creaky ankle if I push it too far. In fact, if I'd had any type of JHP round in the gun instead of the Underwood XTreme Penetrators, it probably would have blown my ankle apart instead of just passing straight through the bones and out.

I appreciate you sharing your experience. Working with tools, sometimes the tools win. Iv'e been in the construction field my whole working career. I have friends that have cut off their fingers with skill saws. I have friends that have shot themselves with nailing guns. One incident that comes to mind, a friend shot himself in the knee cap, and fell off the damn roof. My dad while timber falling cut his thigh while using a chainsaw. Another buddy of mine called me and said "I just shot myself in the thigh" by accident. Damn near executed his penis. All these people that I have mentioned I trust, I work around them all. Sometimes Sh^! happens! Here's my point, on a long enough time line, any tool that you're working with has the potential to hurt you. Myself, included.

When I go out hunting or shooting, I take a trauma kit with me every time! Because sometimes Sh^! just happens. Your reputation as far as I'm concerned does precede you, because you are sharing your experience, and that is good! By the way nice model 64! As for the finger pointers F'em, did I just type that out loud?
 
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