Watch: Pistol Trainee Almost Blows off Hand

Everyone makes mistakes, and that fact can be unsettling when it comes to life-and-death stuff like firearms.

Mistakes with guns can, of course, be deadly.

I’ve been handling guns since I was a child, and I have never shot myself nor anyone else, but I have slipped up and fired guns unintentionally in the past. Thankfully, my Dad’s strong training meant the gun was always pointed in a safe direction at the time.

This guy’s mistake is more ominous because as he is drawing a holstered pistol for a live-fire exercise, he reaches his other hand around in front of the pistol — and then pulls the trigger at exactly the wrong time.

Kinda gives me the heeby-jeebies. What do you think?

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.