A Lesson In Airsoft Safety

[Flyerfye]

Pictures speak louder than words, but here's an overview. I live in a pretty small apartment (one bedroom), so I don't have a lot of storage space. And, of course, since I just got my TM P90 recently, (and got it used off ebay) I had to put it through it's paces, test firing, etc. Well, that went fine. So, satisfied, I ejected the mag, turned on the safety, and set it down on my desk, thinking nothing of it. So several days later, I remembered I still had the battery in there, and I should probably take it out and discharge/recharge it before I used it on the field (since I'd fired a good 400 rounds during the test firing). I picked it up, and my hand slipped a little, my fumbling fingers both disengaging the safety and simultaneously firing the BB that I'd neglected to remove from the chamber straight into my computer monitor 20 feet away.


These lines are permanent now. They turn different colors if you push on them though.


Closeup. Here you can clearly see the point of impact, and a perfect impression of the BB in the screen, complete with star pattern impact lines.

Sorry for pic quality. Taken with my cameraphone.

LESSONS:
Disconnect your battery when you're not out actively playing.
Remember those BBs in the chamber (which mostly applies to the unusual guns that load from the top, like the P90.
Keep your airsoft guns away from expensive delicate things.

I'm just glad I didn't hit my 50" LCD HDTV. Which I easily could have.

[Khaos]

[Ryu Arcturian]

In conclusion, treat airsoft replicas like real guns

airsoft guns retain a round in the chamber just like RS, however, unlike RS, the only easy way to clear it, is to fire, so fire your gun in a SAFE direction until your sure its clear, aka dry fire

[Mars]

Epic safety fail.

[Variable]

Owned.
But in all fairness I had a computer monitor suffer a similar fate from a ricochet from a springer during a college dorm airsoft war.

[Ryu Arcturian]

I have a privacy screen laying around my apt I ended up with from work, I'll stress test it when I get home today, maybe for those of us who are (to put it bluntly) careless, it will work as safety glasses for monitors

[Nocte]

Makes me happy that I'm still using a CRT monitor.

[Flyerfye]

I know all these safety rules intellectually, but when it comes to following them, sometimes you've just got these moments of extreme stupidity, you know?

Well, I've learned my lesson. My $200 lesson. I disconnect my battery whenever I'm not shooting, and make sure to clear the chamber when I remove my mag.

[Osmo]

Yet another reason to treat replicas as if they were real-steel. If you're lax about the four rules in airsoft, then you risk having those bad habits influence how you treat firearms.

Edit: Thank you for posting this. It's a valuable cautionary tale.

[IrishAsasin]

i hit my monitor with a football messing around in the house once. knocked it sideways and it fell off the table. lucky enough for me it still wasnt broken. was that WoW in the background i saw?

[Pope_Alex_Kaeda_I]

Good lesson.

Sorry it cost you so much. I'm kind of surprised I haven't had to learn a lesson like that yet. :-\ every now and then i get a case of the stupids and practice aiming at people on the television . . . . .

[dr.feelgood]

Good lesson.

Sorry it cost you so much. I'm kind of surprised I haven't had to learn a lesson like that yet. :-\ every now and then i get a case of the stupids and practice aiming at people on the television . . . . .

i woulda sworn knuckles posted about how he goes so far as to shoot the people on the TV, but didn't feel safe using metal bbs.

[Bad Karma]

This is why we can't have nice things.

[Shiloh]

I thank my dad for his constant safety reminders. I didn't used to take him very seriously, but after an incident where my gun went off and nearly hit my eye, I'm VERY serious about gun safety. Both my rifle and pistol are both kept in a safe place, magazines out, battery disconnected, and I even keep my pistol dissasembled most of the time unless I'm shooting.

Gun safety is vital, no matter if it's real steel or airsoft.

[Khaos]

I keep trigger locks on all my real steel, as well as cable locks on my shotguns and handguns. They're cheap (even free sometimes) and effective, and I'm too safety conscious for anything less.

I'd also recommend looking into a gun case. It's almost a necessity when you're transporting your AEG (AP requires/ prefers it if I remember correctly) and when locked it keeps prying hands from messing with your investment.