accidental discharge

carptom1

carptom1

Well-known member
I was wondering if anyone had ever had one. ( I am talking firearms not back when you were thirteen in the back of the movie theatre).

The situation was in the field two weekends before. I had shot a pheasant and while waiting for the dog to come back with it, I was in the process of putting another shell in the gun. The gun discharged and threw itself out of my hand and to the ground. Luckily I was behind the couple of other guys, and gun was pointed in a safe direction. I was wondering if anyone had done this before. I was shooting my Benelli Monte. I have shot a couple of thousand rounds through this gun with no problems. I am thinking somehow I engaged the trigger while loading. I always put safety back on before shooting. Just wondering if anyone else had done this with this gun or another. Anyway, scared the crap out of me. Many bad things could have happenned but luckily didn't.
 
A broken, damaged or very dirty firing pin could cause this. When the firing pin fails to retract back behind the bolt face. Then when you load a shell, then slam the bolt home. The firing pin sticking out past the bolt face sets the shell off. I would check it thoroughly before continuing to use the gun.
 
I had a "slam fire" happen to me; Browning Gold 20 auto. The replaced the firing pin spring and cured the problem. This was a year ago. Two weeks ago the firing pin broke, so back in the shop.

Good idea to replace both at the same time!

Be safe...
 
Was that a Model 12? 12's and '97's are notoriously able to do this with wear, (and I do mean wear on the sear), If you hold the trigger down, and pump it will fire when you close the action, as long as you do it and it has shells. Otherwise a dirty firing pin? or the spring around the firing pin. Pin may not re-dact right and it may be random. Careful target shooting might be necessary to get proof, or prove you can't get do it again. Like a car, if it won't do it when it is in for service, you are guestimating. I would sure call the manufacturer, and run it by them, they may have seen it before.
 
If you are the orginial buyer I would call Benelli and see if they can look at it as it is under warranty for ten years. If you are not I would call them and get the name of the nearest Benelli certified gunsmith and take it there. I think Bass Pro might qualify as they have smiths on site and sell Benelli. Unfortunately firing pin damage and spring weakness can be very tricky to diagnose. It could be just dirty, but could also be a trigger group issue. Better to have it out of commission for a few weeks than have it happen again. You were very lucky as that could have very easily been a very bad situation.
 
I am going to take it apart this weekend and see if cleaning will help. It wasn't a bolt slamming issue as the action was closed and I was only replacing the shell that was fired. Now that I remember, my action was getting sluggish. It was the seventh day hunting this year and I had fired quite a few rounds. Also it had been raining after being real dry previous three days. I agree it could have had a bad result.
 
I was thinking that I have had misfires in factory built shells in the last 3 years. Most of these are low grade target practice shells, even premium shells, the craft is not what it once was. I have had jams, shells which refused to fire, ever, the coup-de-grau, a perforated primer. It's would not surprise me to have a primer that detonated prematurely on closing the action! Back in the old days it was the handloader shells, we though factory loaded was reliably consistent. I thought I was past this when I burried the last 30/40 Krags and 45/70's I bought at a steal, reloaded for the Mexican American War or Pancho Villa expedition. I thought surely if I discarded the green-mold, and corrosioned primers for safety, all was good! Mauser and Springfield actions saved me, accuracy was absent, but we could shot alot!
 
carptom, I've had a Benelli Montefeltro for 14 years and never had an issue like you described. Giving it a good cleaning may do the trick but in the back of your mind won't you always be thinking about it happening again? I'd give Benelli a call and tell them what happened to see if they might have some insight into the problem. Then I'd also get it checked out by a certified gunsmith. Could be a mechanical issue that cleaning won't help. Sure as heck don't want another mis-fire.
 
Zeb I agree it is not worth it. I think I will take it in and get it looked at. Maybe I need another gun. I looked at a Franchi instinct 20gauge the other day. Pretty freakin sweeeeet. Now I need to figure out how to break it to my wife. Maybe I can make it out like a safety issue.:rolleyes:
 
Had A browning gold hunter 12 go off just standing there pointed in the air talking on a road with two friends about walking out in the spot we were looking at. no safe on fire, no finger on trigger. Just went off. gun was gone that day. OU's for me now.
 
It doesn't matter what type of gun you have...they can all 'go off'. I've seen very experienced hunters and rookies both make errors or have guns malfunction. Keep in mind it could happen to anybody at anytime...and has. Congradulations to keeping the gun pointed in the right direction.
 
Gus said:
Congradulations to keeping the gun pointed in the right direction.
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I've had this happen maybe 3 times in 60 years of hunting and shooting and when I do the forensics on the episode I always end up pointing the finger at...me. Deferred maintenance or inattention but as Gus rightly points out, make sure it points out. Having taken my O/U, autos and pumps apart a ton of times, I'm always amazed at the size of the crap that can get into the works. Benelli's are great guns but can still get "a clod in the churn."
 
oldandnew said:
Was that a Model 12? 12's and '97's are notoriously able to do this with wear, (and I do mean wear on the sear), If you hold the trigger down, and pump it will fire when you close the action, as long as you do it and it has shells. Otherwise a dirty firing pin? or the spring around the firing pin. Pin may not re-dact right and it may be random. Careful target shooting might be necessary to get proof, or prove you can't get do it again. Like a car, if it won't do it when it is in for service, you are guestimating. I would sure call the manufacturer, and run it by them, they may have seen it before.
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Oldand?

Not wear on those models, and the Ithaca 37...design. They were made to slam fire. Hold the trigger back and pump, and the shotgun will fire as soon as the shell is secure. WWI stories of complaints by German army of use of these shotguns in trench warfare, as I recall.

Only had one episode, and it was my fault. I was helping a friend learn how to hunt pheasants, and he asked to use my Win 97. I neglected (very unlikely), or didn't stress strongly enough, the idea of keeping your fingers away from the trigger until you are actually shooting.

He pumped a round with his finger on the trigger and scared the living bejayzus out of both of us. Him by the noise and me by the potential for tragic results.

We switched guns. :)
 
Had an old 20 g. over and under that would go off when I closed it once in a great while. Had it cleaned and worked on. Worked fine for a year. Didn't shoot it very much. It did it again the next season and almost shot my dog. Junked it. Just not worth it. Could have very well shot someone or me.

Walt MI/USA
 
I had an Ithaca M-51 semi auto that would occaisionally fire when the bolt was closed. It was brand new and did it twice. I was only about 19 at the time but I took it back to the dealer where I bought it. He was supposed to be a gunsmith of sorts. He told me he took it a part and everything was just fine. I took it home, it did it once more and I never shot it again. If you let the bolt down slowly it wouldn't go off but if you just pushed the release it would fire occaisionally.
I'm glad that I didn't trade my old 870 off for that POS.
 
Carptom,

Did you get it figured out???? I too shoot the same benelli. I have not had this happen to me. I greatly would like to know what/if anything you found/find out.
 
Well I thought I would let you know that I got the gun back from the gunsmith last Friday. I deliberately didn't clean it before I took it too him. He said everything checked out fine. I took it out Sunday and fired a couple of boxes of shells through it with no problem. It is going to take awhile for me to get over worrying about it though. That scared the crap out of me. My damn thumb still hurts where the action hit it:mad: I guess I just screwed up and hit the trigger by accident that day. I dunno. I almost wished he would have found something wrong so I could Know it is fixed.:confused:. I guess maybe I need a new gun:D That always makes me feel better for awhile.
 
carptom1 said:
Well I thought I would let you know that I got the gun back from the gunsmith last Friday. I deliberately didn't clean it before I took it too him. He said everything checked out fine. I took it out Sunday and fired a couple of boxes of shells through it with no problem. It is going to take awhile for me to get over worrying about it though. That scared the crap out of me. My damn thumb still hurts where the action hit it:mad: I guess I just screwed up and hit the trigger by accident that day. I dunno. I almost wished he would have found something wrong so I could Know it is fixed.:confused:. I guess maybe I need a new gun:D That always makes me feel better for awhile.
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Don't know what to say??? I have had no problems with the same gun. If you don't feel safe dump it. I will keep mine as it's my go to shotgun, I like it better than, my Brownings, and better than alot of other makes, Its my go to field gun. Thanks for the report back.:thumbsup:
 
Carp that is scary!! Glad no one was hurt!! I had a very old 20 gauge bolt action that would fire when closing the bolt! Took it in and they said they couldn't do anything! It is in parts now! Should probably throw it away! My rifle would do the same thing except it never fired a round(luckily) Gunsmith here would not touch it! Told me to send it to Weatherby!! I bought a new timney trigger and put it in myself and couldn't be happier!! Solved my problem!!! OP is pretty bright on gunsmithing as is a few others on here!! He has helped me several times over!!
 
jmac said:
Don't know what to say??? I have had no problems with the same gun. If you don't feel safe dump it. I will keep mine as it's my go to shotgun, I like it better than, my Brownings, and better than alot of other makes, Its my go to field gun. Thanks for the report back.:thumbsup:
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The funny thing was I was just slipping in another shell while I was watching the dog making a retrieve. I think I must have forgot to engage the safety first and hit the trigger by accident. I too love that gun, dream to carry. I will just have to watch who is on my left:D
 
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