Safety issue with tube fed rifles

[TMan]

Well, I thought I'd screwed up in every way possible until yesterday when I let a friend shoot my new Marlin 39A.

We have a range rule that auto, center-fired rifles may only be loaded with 5 rounds ( I have special clips for the M1 that only load 5 rounds).

I loaded 10 rounds into the magazine while he was in the men's room taking a leak. (he is older than I and has to go frequently. Yes, there are 3 people in the US older than I, but I don't know the other 2).

He shot the rifle while I was talking to the range officer. After he shot, the range officer called for a cease fire. My buddy left the action open. I looked inside, no rounds, I closed the action, took it over to the bench and put it in the case because we were ready to go home.

I then went to pick up the target. Fortunately, I was using small Shoot-N-C targets, and he used the one in the lower right, which I hadn't used. There were 5 holes in it. My brain alarm went off.

Normally, being the a-hole that I am, I pull the trigger to uncock a gun before putting it away. We have a rule that a gun must always point down range. I violated that rule by taking the gun over to the case vs. bringing the case to the gun. Fortunately, I didn't pull the trigger.

After the cease fire was over, I opened the case and put the safety on, which I should have done in the first place. I unloaded the gun after I got home.

The real problem was that I looked in the chamber and open bolt area, and I didn't see any rounds. Were it a magazine fed rifle, I would have seen a round. Since it was a tube fed rifle, when I looked in there, I didn't see anything. When I closed the action, I loaded a round.

Fortunately, there wasn't an accidental discharge and no one was hurt.

I learned something. Can you learn from others' mistakes

["DoubleAction"]

TMan; The very same thing happened, concerning a tube fed rifle, at the range here. This incident occurred at one of the counter displays, when a customer entered with a rifle. It seemed unloaded, but after he closed the bolt and pulled the trigger, the rifle fired off a round into the ceiling.

The counter man told me this story, just a few days after it happened. He would often have such stories to tell. One story he was not able to tell me was about the counter man who experienced a fatal heart attack, while working behind the counter one afternoon. My brother and I really miss him, and we continue to hold on to the range coupons he signed and gave to us.

[TMan]

Well, in retrospect: there are several rules that we all know:
1) Always assume a gun is loaded.
2) Never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire at a target.
3) Always have the gun pointing downrange.

Worst case scenario: I could have shot and killed someone at the range.

On the other hand, I could have come home, decided to put the rifle away without cleaning it and pulled the trigger - knowing that it was empty. I could have shot my guinea pig, or even worse - my wife's teddy bear. My wife only weighs 115 pounds, but she is not someone to mess with. I'd end up having to sell all my guns. Then she would spend all the money on some fancy Mercedes, meet some young guy, and leave me.

We had one of our range officers that had a stroke at the range. He had opened the range, and then collapsed by the Range Officer's hut. One of the members found him and called 911. Fortunately, he survived and is okay.

This getting old sucks, but as they say: it beats the alternative.