I was videoing myself for an upcoming review on Glock .22 conversion slides when I caught a couple of personal firsts on camera. I was at a relatively remote range practicing drawing, moving and rapid fire (these drills aren’t allowed at the more marksmanship oriented ranges closer to home). I apologize for muzzling the camera in advance. In this video I am practicing drawing while moving, shooting (or not shooting). For the first time ever with a hot pistol, I messed up the draw and completely lost control of the thing. Skip to the :30 second mark to see the action above . . .
While I am not pleased or proud at all about blowing this draw, I am pretty pleased with my response once I lose control of the pistol. Hands away, back off and let it fall. Guns are very safe to drop to the ground; any modern weapon should not fire in such a situation. You should absolutely, positively not try to catch a falling pistol since you could activate the trigger and who knows what direction it is pointed.
My reaction was unconscious, but it was not un-trained. I certainly did not think about my actions at the time the pistol was falling, but I have actually practiced for this situation before with a dry pistol in a carpeted room. I have purposely pretended to mess up the draw, and practiced restraining myself from grabbing the falling pistol.
It was not my first response to let it fall initially while practicing. Who knows if that practice didn’t save me some pain today? The other “first” for today was a case rupture at the base of a Remington “Golden Bullet.” It occurs here:
When the case ruptured, the explosion was louder than expected and I felt some debris hit my face. I was thankful it was .22 LR, and not 9mm. I was also thankful for my glasses. I actually ordered some fuller coverage prescription shooting glasses earlier this week and am looking forward to their arrival. Wear those eyes and ears folks.
