Fella brought a Sig 9mm to me to have a reduced hammer spring installed, to make the double action manageable for his wife. When he took it out of the cloth wrap he brought it over in I asked if it was loaded. He assured me it was not and removed the mag to show me it was empty. He then pulled the slide back to show it had nothing in the chamber, but he didn't have it where I could see the empty barrel. There was a discernible 'smack' when he released the slide.
Turns out he did not pull the slide back any where near far enough eject a round and the extractor was ot working 100 percent.
He handed the gun to me and said the double action pull was too stiff (used military police pistol). I accepted the pistol from him and used the hammer drop to lower the hammer. But when I tested the double action trigger --pointed in a safe direction at the floor away from any people-- the weapon fired when the hammer dropped.
Nice 9mm hole in my hardwood flooring! ALWAYS do the full checklist for yourself if anyone hands to you a gun, of any kind, even a BB gun.
Yep. Good thing you pointed it in a safe direction. That's why the 4 rules work - overlap. Even when human nature or mistakes negate one of them, the others (if followed) can save your backside.
I've noticed that at gun shops the guy/gal will check a weapon pulled out of a case and hand it to you. I always check it myself before examining it further. When handed back to the guy/gal he/she will always check it again before returning it to the case. When my son asked about that "Dad, do you think he made a mistake? Does he think you loaded it before handing it back?" I told him honestly no - neither of us believed the weapon to be loaded. However, we weren't worried about that weapon, we are training ourselves so that safety becomes habit - for the next weapon we pick up.
When I pick up any weapon, I cycle it several times to make sure. A friend taught me that with his Uzi.