Finger well away from trigger during re-holster!

[Brian D.]

At the range last Sunday, I had just fired a fast, smooth El Presidents drill. (Start with back to three cardboard targets, hands above shoulders. On signal turn, draw, engage targets with two rounds each, perform mandatory reload, repeat shooting sequence.)
Before/While reholstering, I was squinting at the targets to see if any hits were outside the A zone. They weren't. But at that point I realized my trigger finger was starting to enter the holster mouth. I immediately stopped, and drew enough to fix the problem.
None of my cohorts noticed, but I ratted myself out. The gun was an M&P Pro Series, great trigger pull, no manual safety. That mental miscue could have ended badly. I've never had a close call of that nature.
Get the blaster holstered, THEN admire your handywork.

[jeep45238]

And thumb the hammer if there is one (or get a striker control device for Glocks and use it )

[TSiWRX]

Great tale to learn from, everyone - this is an experienced shooter...and the smallest of mental mis-step here nearly ruined for him what was otherwise a fun day!

Thanks for sharing it, Brian D.!

OK, so with that, I've gotta ask: do you have a definite anchor point for your trigger finger?

[Brian D.]

Yes. I've fired this drill literally hundreds of times through the years, and this one "felt" both fast and clean on the score. That's what distracted me just enough to get the trigger finger down a bit.

This is the only time I've gotten said finger inside any holster mouth like that, ever, best I can recall. And since I wasn't rushing, it was not a problem to freeze and reverse course.

[TSiWRX]

^ Thanks for the additional details!

This is the kind of thing that always gives me pause - I try to remind myself before each range session or class of the safety considerations we must always be cognizant of.

It's a great lesson. Thank you again for sharing!

[Brian D.]

Allen, you happen to see the recent video of the guy working from a holster at an indoor range, and managed to fire TWO shots behind himself? Range safety officer happened to be pushing a broom right there at that moment; reports state he wasn't struck, but danged if I know how!

"Range safety officer fatally swept while sweeping" would be a very ironic way to die. Not the "funny" kind of ironic though.

[TSiWRX]

^ Yes.

I was flabbergasted.... This is the one, right? http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018 ... ischarges/ - That's a word I haven't used in a long while, but, yeah, it's like that!

It actually reminded me of this sad tale from a couple of years back:

https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/04/us/flori ... index.html

In the TFB article, I don't know if that guy was working from the holster or not, but it's pretty clear to me that the guy has at least had some instruction or was at the very least a somewhat seasoned shooter, given his stance and grip - and that just makes me even more furious.

To think that he would not have had either the good sense nor discipline to have instinctively (or at least reflexively) understood the dangers of the actions that he was about to perform and to not have checked himself from doing so? I'm floored!