Close call, check those chambers!

[4473G19]

A friend asked his wife to show me "her" handgun while I was visiting in their home. I was at the bottom of their stairs and I watched as the wife removed the magazine and retracted the slide while looking at the handgun (Older Bersa 9mm) and let the slide return forward.

She walked down the stairs with magazine in hand and handed the firearm to me. I checked the magwell, retracted the slide and looked in the chamber. BINGO, a live round in the chamber. I retracted the slide again and found the extractor had failed to extract the cartridge. The extractor was broken.

I had a sick feeling in my stomach. The wife failed to visually and physically check the chamber even though she removed the magazine in front of me and was looking at the firearm as she retracted the slide.

The combination of a broken firearm (extractor) and failed safety inspection was ripe for a tragedy. The husband's expression was priceless and we had a refresher on the correct, safe procedure to clear a firearm. The husband and wife are not shooters and do not spend time on the range. I'm glad the stars aligned and I was at their home this day and a tragedy was avoided. Stay safe!

[PoorRichRichard]

You can always go a step further and ask someone to show you that the chamber is empty before they hand you the gun. I trained my son this way when he started hunting in with me about five years ago, and now I like hunting with him more than anybody else because he is by far the one who acts the safest out in the field.

[4473G19]

You can always go a step further and ask someone to show you that the chamber is empty before they hand you the gun. I trained my son this way when he started hunting in with me about five years ago, and now I like hunting with him more than anybody else because he is by far the one who acts the safest out in the field.

Thanks for the tip/recommendation!

[Milsurp Collector]

When I hand a semiauto pistol to someone I remove the magazine and lock the slide open. Then it is easy for them to verify the chamber is empty.

[Preston-CLB]

When I hand a semiauto pistol to someone I remove the magazine and lock the slide open. Then it is easy for them to verify the chamber is empty.

Same here.

The situation in the OP is truly scary. After they get that extractor repaired, they need to get some training and range time. This is a classic example of gun owners who haven't a clue, and in this case a tragedy was averted.

Yikes!
-P

[Uncivil Engineer]

Scary yes. But do you have any idea how many people don't even know how to look?

[tenemae]

When I hand a semiauto pistol to someone I remove the magazine and lock the slide open. Then it is easy for them to verify the chamber is empty.

^^^ This. There is no substitute

[boopiejones]

I had this happen once. My friend brought over two glocks that he recently inherited. My first concern was that they were just wrapped in old t shirts in the backseat of his car. Thankfully I was extremely careful unwrapping them, because both still had a round in the chamber.

Needless to say, we had a very detailed talk about gun safety and transport.

[tabascoz28]

Safe direction, fingers off... Many ways to keep it safe. Close call.

[beerman]

[DrjonesUSA]

You can always go a step further and ask someone to show you that the chamber is empty before they hand you the gun. I trained my son this way when he started hunting in with me about five years ago, and now I like hunting with him more than anybody else because he is by far the one who acts the safest out in the field.

Honestly; anyone who's too careless or incompetent to be able to properly clear a firearm; I'd rather they just carefully hand the firearm to me while keeping the muzzle 180 degrees away from me, and let ME clear the gun.

Someone at this level of "proficiency" is apt to muzzle you while clearing the gun a second time & likely to do something stupid like keep their finger near the trigger and ND into your gut.

Scary situation, OP: glad you & everyone are safe, hopefully your friends got a big wake up call & took it to heart.

[vino68]

When I hand a semiauto pistol to someone I remove the magazine and lock the slide open. Then it is easy for them to verify the chamber is empty.

That is how I was raised.

[IVC]

Not too close - we have layers of safety precisely for this reason.

She didn't clear the gun correctly, but you did. Did she point it at anyone or in an unsafe direction? Did she pull the trigger? This is a very educational situation for her both in how to clear the gun (her mistake) and how to properly handle a gun that is given to someone (your correct handling). However, it's also a very good way for everyone involved to see why we have layers of safety rules and not just a single one.

Arguably the most important lesson here is that the correct unloading procedure is always to remove magazine first (what she did), then check in TWO places - down the barrel (chamber) and down the grip (magazine). If you're going to hand the gun to someone, locking it back is a simple courtesy, but it's not required. The receiving person MUST check it again in TWO places - down the barrel and down the grip, whether the slide is locked back or not.

Clearing and checking the gun is designed to catch these types of mechanical failures and is designed to keep everyone safe. Any time the extractor fails, it will look exactly the way it did and it will be unnerving if you're not used to unexpected situations and mechanical failures.

As a side issue, Bersa would normally also have magazine disconnect safety so it wouldn't fire even if she violated ALL of the safety rules. It's good that it didn't come even close to that.

[Scratch705]

this is why i rack with the end of barrel pointed upwards.

get some help from gravity just in case.

then i look in from the chamber. and i leave the slide locked back when handing it to anyone.

[4473G19]

Thanks everyone for the input. The wife believed the firearm was unloaded when she handed it to me so this was a great lesson. I've seen this before even with seasoned shooters who are on "auto pilot", going through the steps but not really "looking".

Glad she didn't pull the trigger as part of her clearing process and the mechanical issue was found. I've personally have seen the results of an off-duty Officer blowing out the web of his hand after believing the gun was cleared to clean the firearm. The Officer was coming off Graveyard, tired and then failed by pointing the gun at his own hand while pulling the trigger. Was not a pretty sight.