RCO course: Honesty or safety - which matters most?

[Blackstuff]

Yes post it, let's see if we can help you figure out what happened - would be interesting to see.

I know exactly what happened, target blindness! :roll:

It was a short PSG course of 8 targets set out directly in front and was an unloaded start.
I was using a Benelli Supernova pump-action.
I loaded 8 cartridges and started shooting.
I missed one of the first targets so i knew i was going to have to reload 1 cartridge at the end.
After shooting what i thought was the last target, apart from the one i'd missed at the start, i mistakenly racked the gun closed.
Because the Benelli Supernova's slide release is stupidly positioned on the front of the trigger guard, the accepted fasted way to release the pump is to pull the trigger...
In my mind i had shot the gun 8 times (7 targets hit and 1 miss) and thus emptied it.
I had in fact not seen the last target on the right* so had only hit 6 targets and missed 1, leaving a cartridge in the gun.
Had i not have racked the gun closed i would have realised the mistake as i would have saw the last cartridge on the lifter as i tried to put another one in the chamber.

Note i still have not seen the last target until well after i have shot the one i knew i'd missed. My brain could not figure out why there was a cartridge in the gun when i pulled the trigger for the ND!!

*When you see the distance to the targets and the simple layout you don't think it's possible to not see one, but as anyone who does PSG (or shot under any kind of 'stress') will tell you, its very easy to do!

[IainWR]

This is a classic demonstration that you see with your brain, not with your eyes. False perception is one of the commonest ways of making mistakes in handling a mechanical system. It is part of the process by which pilots land wheels-up. Something causes them not to put the wheels down at the normal point in the landing process (the parallel for you is, I bet it's a long time since you missed the first plate). They then go on to other points in the landing process, and at the point where they check that the wheels are down, they "see" the 3 green lights and thus believe the wheels are down (all the targets gone so you believe 8 rounds fired) even though the lights are actually not lit.

I would describe what you did as normal human behaviour. Further, it was a shot fired in a safe direction on a live range when clearance to fire had been given. My personal take is that I would not class this as an ND.

Iain

formerly RAF Search & Rescue Force Flight Safety Officer

[meles meles]

I think this is what in the military would be termed an "accidental discharge" rather than a "negligent discharge". There was no safety infringement under those particular circumstances.

[Blackstuff]

Ah i see. I've always differentiated the two by an accidental discharge being where the trigger either wasn't pulled and a mechanical malfunction discharges the firearm or the person holding the gun did not intentionally pull the trigger (but did through involentary muscle movement - spasm or grabbing the gun as they fall etc)

Either way, i'm glad i'm not going to be tarred and feathered! :shakeshout: :lol: