Antler Points

When I handle a snake (and I do that much less frequently than when I was young), I always assumed it might bite me. Of course, I never handled poisonous snakes. I've kept some very large, very friendly snakes for a long time but ... They occasionally struck.

Guns are the same. You "treat them with respect" as the saying goes and they'll provide hours of fun, meat for the table, an occasional trophy, and real pleasure of ownership ... but they can still bite.

My ways of avoiding some of the physical and emotional pain of a gunshot wound are:

1. Place-I keep the gun "up" away from an uneducated guest of my grandchildren who insists on studying and playing with these things about which he or she has never been taught anything.
2. Ammo-I keep ammo in a place away from the guns, for the same reason.
3. Muzzle-I spend an unusual amount of time looking at the muzzle, the sight itself, so that it is always pointed in the right direction. That's not enough, but it is a start. It's like watching the head of a snake. There's no need to tease it, to see if it will strike.
4. Trigger-I keep my finger off the trigger until I'm ready to shoot. I practice moving it there quickly, but I just don't touch it. It is sensitive; well-mannered people who just don't touch sensitive places.
5. Loading-Every year, the first loading is awkward. I fumble. I wonder if I can walk and hum a tune at the same time. When I fumble, I forget the muzzle, the trigger, the ... all goes confused as I try to balance the box of shells, open the breech, hold the shell, turn the shell, point the weapon- all is awkward. I look like such a clutz! I am unsafe. First loadings-do it alone. Practice so that you look cool and are not so dangerous.

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.