Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Somehow, the gun was loaded!

As many of you know, I used to do a lot of guns shows. I sold custom earplugs, not guns.

At a small show in Wyoming, they checked every gun at the entrance. The guard there opened the bolt on a Rem 700, looked inside, closed the bolt and okayed the customer. At least three people - vendors and other customers - looked at that rifle, each and every one of them dutifully cycling the bolt. Finally, somebody was interested enough to want to see the bore. He removed the bolt, held the gun to the light and - blackness.

One very live round of .270 Win. And no extractor.

Only dumb luck kept somebody from trying the trigger pull on that "unloaded and checked" rifle.

I also worked at a gun store. Never mind the many MANY "It ain't loaded" guns that people brought in loaded to the gills and often with the safety off. On occasion, we'd find one of our display rifles with a round in it. No way it had gone on the rack loaded, because I personally checked every one of them when I put them out. REALLY checked them. The only way a round could have gotten there was from a customer.

And one time, a guy walked in, took a .30-30 round from his pocket, racked it into a Win 94 and put the muzzle in his mouth. The boss tackled him while he was stabbing the trigger with his thumb. Only the M-94's lever lock safety kept the rifle from going off.