PCP rifle safety

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WN0912

Member
Dec 7, 2020
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Ohio, United States
This is difficult for me to say but I need to tell how stupid I was. Thankfully, no one was injured.

I've got a Benjamin Maximus PCP rifle and shoot varmints in my backyard. I am the only one who uses the rifle and it is only my wife and I in the house. There are times when I load the rifle but before getting off a shot, the varmint ran away. In this case I would leave it loaded and put the safety on. In my mind, if the safety is on, that means there is a pellet in the chamber. I started doing this after double loading the rifle by mistake, when I didn't shoot for several days and forgot I had left a pellet loaded.

I know it would be simple to just shoot the round in the dirt before putting the gun away, and this is what I will do from now on. I guess I didn't want to waste the shot.

Anyway, a few days ago, our friends visited. The guy saw the rifle and asked about it. I offered that he could hold it, forgetting it was loaded with the safety on. Because I didn't hold the gun first, it didn't register in my mind that the safety was on, meaning the gun was loaded. My friend opened the bolt and looked in the chamber, thinking it was empty. As you know, you can't see the pellet in the chamber. He closed the chamber, aimed the rifle down towards the far end of the room and pulled the trigger. No one else was in the house, the ladies were outside. The sound of the pellet hitting the baseboard was gut wrenching. I felt life a complete idiot. After years and years of practicing gun safety, I had an accidental discharge and it was my fault. Thankfully, no harm was done however I've run many scenarios through my mind of how this could have gone horribly bad. I take full responsibility. 

So here's my question.

Because you can't see a pellet in the chamber, and its not practical to bleed down the pressure when not in use, does anyone use a piece of weed trimming line inserted in the chamber to act as a flag or indicator that the chamber is empty? It would mean leaving the bolt open and I don't know if thats good for the gun. At this point, I need to have a visible indicator that the gun is empty.

And after hearing the force of that pellet hitting the baseboard, I'll never underestimate the power of an air rifle again.

Thanks


 
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Ouch! Good story, though. One we all can learn from. I personally do not use any type of flags when storing my airguns. The open bolt compresses the hammer spring and can cause it to take a set that might throw off your shot string. It's okay to leave it open short-term, but several days would be a concern for me. With powder burning firearms, there is an extractor that can remove the case, shot or unshot. We don't get this with airguns. Once it is loaded, you either have to send the shot, or find some way to back the pellet out without firing, which will involve dealing with the muzzle end of a loaded gun. Around here, the rule is no loaded guns inside the house. If a shot gets loaded and I need to stop shooting, that last loaded pellet goes downrange, mag gets pulled, gun gets de-cocked, safety goes on and then gun can go inside.

Thanks for sharing that. Glad no one was hurt.
 
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WNO912 your firearm brush with the life altering and DANGEROUS inherent harsh realities. Hopefully will service as a reminder to all, that moments in time once pasted can never be REDONE. As my Grandfather would often say son "some lessens in life are cheap, while others are not, but they both will teach you something." And thanks for the safety heads up as you may have saved someone from a very bad day friend.

I like you have no children in the house and on our second floor balconies there are two shooting stations from where various trespassers maybe addressed. When actively waiting for their transgressions the weapon is charged with the safety on, if I need to momently leave the station for any reason I place a 2'x2' red clothe over the scope and action section. This visible indicator reminds me that the weapon is cocked and locked or charged with the safety on. All weapons can only leave the shooting stations in a safe condition after firing ANY unfired ammo. 
 
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That wasted pellet you speak of maybe cost anywhere from a penny to a dime depending on the the price of your ammo. How much is safety worth to you? I would not call it a wasted shot I would call it cheap insurance against an unsafe occurrence happening again in the future. Always discharge unspent shots before taking the gun in for storage, and never store with mag in place. If you follow this the worst thing that could happen is a dry fire.
 
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Ive seen that it's very common for people to load a pellet after a shot without nothing to shoot at. Is like if loading that pellet will save some time, go and check YouTube and see any hunting video and you will see how common is this.

When I load a pellet is because I'll shoot it. And this is the last thing I do, I have a sequence, I follow now instinctively, focus parallax, turn on my camera, load the pellet, shoot, even if the iguana is gone, I shoot to where the iguana was. 

Check on my sequence where I use safety... None. Because if I don't have a pellet loaded I don't need it.

Steve uses safety all the time and is always messing with my shots lol
 
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Yep, I send my unfired shots downrange. Primarily because I don't want to leave the hammer cocked for days, and of course the double-loading problem.

Maybe bad procedure, but I do leave the gun unloaded with the mag in place. This stems from leaving the mag out, cocking the gun and just firing a burst of air at a squirrel, lol.

What I do with my Maverick is that if I see I might have a shot, I'll pull the lever back, but leave it there until I *know* I've got a shot. That way if the critter scurries up the tree, I just pull the mag, hold the lever back, pull the trigger and de-cock the gun. This way I don't have to send one into the dirt very often.

My OCD about hammer spring set is so strong I always send it after the shot chance goes away.
 
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A cocked air gun is a loaded air gun in my mind. Whether the chamber is loaded or not. As said safety rules for firearms don’t completely cross over to PCPs. I simply do not leave any air gun cocked or put them away cocked or loaded. I don’t even like to de-cock an air gun after loading it. Too easy to get distracted and forget. Simple rule for me is if I load it I shoot it. If it’s not cock my air gun shouldn’t be loaded but that doesn’t mean it isn’t. Remember an air gun can shoot anything that’s in the barrel. It doesn’t have to be a pellet or a BB.

Quick story on that. I bought a used 1720T. The seller had told me that the gun had recently been serviced and resealed. When I got it I dry fired it into my pellet trap to see if it worked and to make sure it wasn’t loaded. I didn’t expect it to be as it wasn’t cocked but surprisingly a small piece of rubber hit the cardboard face of my pellet trap and bounced off. WTH? So I started to take the gun apart and when I took the breech off I found that there were two transfer port seals crammed up in the breech. One was torn and half of it was pushed up into the barrel. Why or how that happened I have no idea. Lesson learned that day was crazy poop happens so you can’t take anything for granted. 
 
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Sometimes I think we would all be safer if air rifles did not have safeties. I never trust them in a hunting or yard pesting scenario. I've seen too many safeties fail on firearms and air rifles. Some are poorly designed, and none of them change the fact that the hammer is under spring tension and held in the cocked position by only a few thousands of an inch of metal engagement. If a shot presents, then goes away, I either decock the rifle or shoot the pellet in the ground, depending on the rifle and the mag system. The best system of the rifles I own, the Taipan Veteran. It has a fool proof anti-double load system, so it's easy to de-cock with a pellet chambered, and re-cock when needed. If I am walking with a rifle without a good anti-double load feature, such as the Revere, it's easy to leave the first mag hole empty and de-cock the rifle on that hole, then the next pellet is chambered with lever movement. If squirrels are coming and going in the back yard, I may leave the rifle de-cocked on the porch, with or without a pellet chambered, again, depending on the rifle. IMO, we are lucky that most of our air rifles can easily be shot into the ground without raising attention, and there is almost no practical need to rely on a safety. It's easy to believe that there is no risk if the rifle is simply always pointed in a "safe" direction. Literally, true enough, but also pie-in-the-sky thinking. I can think of only one type of trigger that, for all practical purposes, can have a very effective safety, a true, two-stage trigger, in a hammer fired rifle, such as an AR-15. In that design, the second stage sear is not brought to its firing position until the first stage travel is taken up. Until then, there is a large margin of second stage engagement. So, a nervous soldier fueled with adrenaline, even with a finger on the trigger, is unlikely to fire it accidentally. But since air rifles use in-line firing systems, the hammer is always held cocked by the same very small engagement with the sear, regardless of the trigger safety system. I'm rambling, but safety is important, and air rifle safeties don't offer much assurance of it. 


 
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Here is what I do, every time, as routine. After my shooting session I:

  • Cock the PCP, remove the magazine, and discharge it into the ground.
  • I once again cock the PCP and discharge it into the ground.
  • By doing the above magazine free I have verified there is no pellet in the chamber and there is a distinct sound difference and lack of visual pellet impact to indicate all is clear. Doing the above twice ensures no margin for error.
  • I refill to the rated pressure.
  • I actuate the trigger validating there is no capability to fire.
  • In PCPs that support it, I place it on safe.

This ensures that the PCP is incapable of firing, is not loaded, and is not a danger.

Hope this helps, I treat my PCPs like firearms and as a result don't have much of an issue.
 
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Like LMNOP I dry fire (without magazine in place) 2X before ever putting a gun away (and it is the last thing I always do right before packing up a gun which I have sold, or one which I may have to send in for service). Also like LMNOP I verify after dry firing that I have a dead trigger.

One thing I do which is different - I don't refill the gun's air before putting it away. Someone some time ago mentioned to me that storing the gun at full pressure is hard on regulators (and I own 99+% regulated guns). He said to store the gun near or just below the regulator set pressure, and that will prolong the service life of the regulator. Not knowing any better (then or now) that is what I have gotten into the habit of doing. This other guy knew a whole lot more about airguns than I did.

Have I been perfect in regard to my airgun safety? Well, no...

IMG_1228.1629901586.JPG


This is a (now customized) light fixture in my garage. I do know that whenever I get a new gun, the first thing I now do is dry fire it (without magazine in place) in a safe direction. (New gun, however, was not the cause of the above incident). And I take seriously the responsibility of knowing the status of my air gun, just as I would with a firearm. These things are not toys.




 
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I fail to see how the five basic safety tips of firearms do not apply airguns as some have mentioned above. Clearly the OP violated Rule #2 and received quite a wake-up call. Whether or not you can clear a weapon (powder or air) in the same manner you still need to treat it as loaded all the time. The worst accidents happen when we "think" the gun has been made safe. Regardless I'm sure we've all experienced an AD to some extent or another - whether the firearms fault or our own. 

1. ALWAYS KEEP YOUR FIREARM POINTED IN A SAFE DIRECTION.


2. TREAT ALL FIREARMS AS IF THEY WERE LOADED.


3. KEEP YOUR TRIGGER FINGER OUTSIDE THE GUARD AND OFF OF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO FIRE.


4. BE CERTAIN OF YOUR TARGET, YOUR LINE OF FIRE, AND WHAT LIES BEYOND YOUR TARGET.


5. ALWAYS WEAR APPROPRIATE EYE AND EAR PROTECTION WHEN SHOOTING AND MAINTAINING YOUR FIREARM.
 
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I would shoot it in the dirt every time if u load a shot and don't use it it is better to waste it than to have something like that or worse to happen again
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I apply the same!

One unfortunate mistake can change the life of someone forever.

No one will ever be blamed for being extra careful.
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Same here-fire the shot into the dirt if no target is available. Personally, cannot see the benefit in firing twice but it certainly wouldn't hurt.
 
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Also, be aware of where you discharge that loaded pellet into the "ground".

About 20 years ago, I was a little too cavalier about clearing my .22 Rapid. Removed the magazine and fired downward just in case there was a pellet in the chamber. There was. Unfortunately, my foot was in the way. Pellet went through my boot and through my foot about an inch below the junction between my big and second toes. It stopped under the skin at the bottom of my left foot. OUCH! Blood welled up, My wife came out of the house to see why I was cursing so loudly. Then she started screaming - at me. 

There was a trip to the ER followed by surgical removal the next day. My bride hid the Rapid for about two weeks until I got off crutches. Lesson learned. Keep the flattened pellet in a small bottle on the workbench to remind me of my gross negligence and stupidity.
 
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Also, be aware of where you discharge that loaded pellet into the "ground".

About 20 years ago, I was a little too cavalier about clearing my .22 Rapid. Removed the magazine and fired downward just in case there was a pellet in the chamber. There was. Unfortunately, my foot was in the way. Pellet went through my boot and through my foot about an inch below the junction between my big and second toes. It stopped under the skin at the bottom of my left foot. OUCH! Blood welled up, My wife came out of the house to see why I was cursing so loudly. Then she started screaming - at me. 

There was a trip to the ER followed by surgical removal the next day. My bride hid the Rapid for about two weeks until I got off crutches. Lesson learned. Keep the flattened pellet in a small bottle on the workbench to remind me of my gross negligence and stupidity.
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Brings new meaning to the old phrase "shot himself in the foot". Glad it wasn't more serious.
 
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