Accident-Free Gun Handling Is The Responsibility Of Every Shooter; But Here Are Some Gentle Reminders!

THINK SAFE

By Derek Partridge Originally published in Gun World January 1969 The copy reproduced here is from Shotgun Digest, in which my article appeared, somewhat re-written, without my permission. The re-written portions have been removed to return the article to the original.

THERE'S REALLY NOTHING new to safety, but there are always new shooters and youngsters who don't know the rules and a few others who don't practice them. So, a little repetition can do no harm and hopefully, some good -- especially at a time when there is the specter of further gun controls. Sadly, there are always plenty of stories about hunters shooting people they thought were animals. No one, worthy of the name hunter, ever just thinks before taking the responsibility of releasing a lethal load into the country-side. He makes damn sure first and if there's the slightest shadow of doubt, for any reason whatever, he doesn't shoot. So you lose a bird or a buck and maybe save a life. This would appear to be the time at which to point out that the nation's anti-gun forces constantly are taking every incident and pushing it for all it is worth. As a result, there are a great number more stories about people being killed accidentally by guns than there are stories about people's lives that have been saved by having a gun -- or could have been saved had they had a firearm of some sort. I'm not speaking strictly in terms of crime and law enforcement, either. Instead, I'm thinking of those lost in the wilderness, forced down in aircraft and otherwise find themselves on their own with no way of providing food or signalling for help.

While it may be easy to make mistakes such as the one being illustrated here, think of shotgun safety as common etiquette, consider others as you would have them think of you.

According to one major insurance company which is vitally interested in such statistics, hunting ranks sixteenth in the list of hazardous sports. First on the list is football. Accidents at churches, theaters and concerts rank fifteenth. The full list, in order of danger, is as follows: (I) football; (2) winter sports; (3) baseball; (4) swimming; (5) basket-ball; (6) skating; (7) accidents in the country or at the beach; (8) bicycling; (9) accidents at parks, picnics and outings; (10) golf; (11) horseback riding; (12) boating and canoeing; (13) gymnastics; (14) fishing; (15) accidents at churches, theaters and concerts; (16) hunting. Then there are the stories about the people who shoot themselves while cleaning their guns. Ever struck you how difficult it must be to clean the barrel of a loaded gun? But until everyone thinks consciously and deliberately about gun safety and puts it into practical effect at all times, safety reminders certainly can do no harm and perhaps eliminate some of the sad, unnecessary stories caused by an unthinking minority which make wonderful ammunition for the Anti's to attack the safety-conscious majority.

The man who treats his firearm with respect goes far to win the respect of his associates. This shooter's manners may be poor, but he has the good sense to wear shooting glasses.

NEVER load your gun until on the firing line and ready to shoot. Actions should be kept open with muzzle pointed straight up or down at all other times for safety sake.

Carelessly loading a 20-gauge shell in a 12-gauge gun, the small shell will drop down the barrel. If a second shell is loaded behind it, your shotgun may possibly blow up.

Gun atop a car roof can fall off at the time the car is started if it is left. Leaning against the bumper, it can be knocked over and could fire.

 

Walking into a gun club with the action closed can get one banned in some of the more safety-conscious establishments. Firearms safety NEVER should be taken for granted.

No matter how empty the chamber may be, there is no excuse for leanlng on the muzzle of any firearm. It can cost you an arm or two or your head.

Until now, most of this discussion has been involved with safety for others but there is one particular facet that I feel needs mentioning. It can save the individual shooter a good deal of personal grief and, again, comes under the heading of common sense. In the matter of shotshells mentioned here, there have been instances over the years wherein a shooter has dropped a 20-gauge shell into the bore of a 12-gauge gun, then later shoved another 12 in on top of it, not realizing that the smaller shell has dropped on through into the barrel, past the chamber, to become lodged there. Need-less to say, the resulting double explosion is not conducive to personal health and can ruin a shotgun even if one suffers no personal damage. Federal Cartridge Company, with headquarters in Minneapolis, was the first to pioneer color coding of shotshells. Each of the various gauges was made with a different color paper in the tube. Now that plastic is being used in shotshells, the same colors still are being used to differentiate and serve as an additional reminder to the shooter. It may not do much for a color-blind shooter, but other companies have taken this lead to start similar color coding plans. The safest method, of course, is not to mix the various gauges in your shell bag, but to keep them separated at all times. Thus, even in the heat of a good bird shoot such as incoming doves at sundown, when there is only a few minutes of fast, frantic shooting, there is no chance of making a mistake that can ruin your shoot, if not your gun or person. The shotgunner who insists upon wearing shooting glasses may all too often be accused of going Hollywood, bowing to an affectation, but claybird shooting -- as well as upland game hunting -- is the one area where they are most needed. I've seen many a shooter who will insist that he can't shoot while wearing glasses; that they get in his way; that he can't get used to them. There is plenty of evidence to show that he should learn to shoot with glasses, even if he doesn't do his best in the beginning. This brings to mind the case of Henry Joy, one of the early skeet greats in this country. In fact, he was the first shooter to set up a fully automatic skeet field so that the gunner could activate his bird simply by stepping on an electrically controlled button. Back in the days when he was considered a great shooter, Joy shot without glasses until the day that a pellet ricocheted back and put out his right eye. Much must be said for his tenacity for, instead of giving up the game entirely, he learned to shoot all over again, using his left eye and shooting from the same shoulder. In fact, the next year, he used this method to win the National Skeet Championships. However -- and herein lies the moral -- he was wearing shooting glasses this time, and shot 250 straight. To the best of my knowledge, he has worn them ever since. Henry Joy, several times All-American, won every tournament he entered in those days and was 20·gauge Nationals champion the year that I was runner-up. He was undoubtedly the greatest skeet shooter of the early days, to my mind. Much must be said for his tenacity in learning to shoot all over again after his accident instead of simply giving up the game entirely. There are those, of course, who will feel that I am particularly prejudiced, but I have worn shooting glasses from the day I first stepped onto a firing line back in my early teens. I probably made mistakes there, too, as I normally wore the darkest shade of sunglasses I could find, then when ready to shoot, switched to something much lighter in color. It made that clay bird loom up like a giant condor, but I'm not so sure that it did my eyesight any great amount of good. I'm sure an oculist or optician would have some words of wisdom along this line.

When in transit to or from shooting line, any gun should be carried in the position shown. Note that the trigger guard is up, free of any likelihood of snagging.

However, over the years, I've had more than one lens of those glasses hit by a rebounding pellet. In fact, I've even seen onlookers at skeet matches suffer similar treatment to their shooting glasses. At eight-post -- and that's where Henry Joy got it -- or in high wind, this can be a particular hazard, experience has shown. As indicated, I feel the same about the necessity of shooting glasses in upland game shooting; in any situation where there is a more or less flat trajectory of fire and there are likely to be others in the same area also shooting. It's as important to the shooter's personal safety as not overloading his shells. In a lifetime of shooting upland game, I suspect that almost everyone has been hit by a stray pellet at one time or another and must realize the importance of wearing eye protection. I would no sooner allow my wife or children to go to a skeet match without wearing protective glasses than I would allow them to move their seats in front of the firing line. With the prescription glasses available to everyone today, there is still another advantage, of course. One does not have to simply go and pick up any pair of glasses for protection. He can have his shooting glasses ground to meet his own specific corrective problem - and he'll no doubt find his shooting improved as a result. I probably have a dozen pair lying around the house and I've found that about the only requirement for being able to shoot with glasses in comfort is to be certain that they fit well enough that they will ride high on the forehead. In this way, one is not looking over the tops of the lenses when his head is down. All of this no doubt sounds pretty basic to a lot of shooters, but about all one has to do is to go to a skeet match and look around to determine the number of competitors who have not yet gotten the message. Let's hope some of them don't have to lose an eye to learn.   Finally, never fool around with guns -- they're lethal weapons, not toys. Remember, kids follow the example of their elders. Finally, for those interested in seeing the shooting sports continue, simply think of safety as an extension of public relations. As mentioned, the anti-gun forces will use each accident in an attempt to get guns outlawed. They ignore the statistics, including the fact that one can get injured more easily in church than in the hunting fields. So it behooves each of us to do his best to make the statistics even more amazing -- in our own favor!