NRA STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO

NRA STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO GUN SAFETY How to Safely Care for, Use, and Store Your Firearms Rick Sapp

Imprint Page CONTENTS Foreward 6 The Anatomy of your Firearms 11 Ammunition 24 What to Wear Shooting 32 Protect Your Hearing 36 Protect Your Eyesight 40 Safe Gun Handling 46 Safe Gun Loading 64 Safe Handling - Ranges & Competitions 95 Shooting In The Open 107 Cleaning Your Firearms 117 Firearms Storage 135 Safety Devices for Firearms 144 Safely Transporting Your Firearms 146 NRA Training Opportunities 151 Index 160

About Ammunition You need ammunition to shoot a gun. It sounds obvious, but a general understanding of ammunition is more complex than you might think. In general there are three types of ammo are in use today. Self-contained metallic cartridges are used in handguns and rifles. Self-contained shotshells are used in shotguns. Muzzleloaders use a hand-loaded combination of powder, a paper wad or patch and finally, a ball or sabot shoved down the barrel with a ramrod. Let s see how how everything comes together when you pull the trigger. The Bullet Ammunition The projectile fired down the barrel of a modern handgun or rifle is a bullet. The primary element in a bullet is lead, but tin and antimony are also used to harden the relatively soft lead. Some bullets have a jacket of copper or gilding metal Ruger Mini 14 or the Colt M4 Carbine by Walther Arms. The bullet features an exceptionally heavy full metal jacket with a cannelure (a groove around a bullet) for case crimping and positive feeding. As a non-expanding bullet it can also be used in.22 caliber handguns. Unlike a rocket, a bullet is a non-powered projectile. The power for bullet flight comes from rapidly expanding hot gas created by burning powder confined in the barrel behind it. The study of bullet flight is called ballistics Between the ignition of the propellant and the bullet s exit from the muzzle, its jacket engages the twisting lands of land-and-groove rifling inside a barrel and it begins to rotate in a predictable manner. This rotation gives it stability and accuracy. Because most bullets contain lead, it is important to be thorough about hand washing. If you are hand loading or casting your own bullets, an area that excludes children and provides good ventilation is a must. The Propellant Pistol Cartidges and Case Heads covering the outside for improved performance. Other materials are used in bullet manufacture today, including aluminum, bismuth, bronze, copper, plastics, rubber, steel and tungsten not the mention the copper and bronze bullets that have become increasingly popular. Bullets come in a variety of shapes. Do some research before deciding which shape fits your needs. Examples include FMJ (full metal jacket), JHP (jacketed hollow point) and JSP (jacketed soft point). Each bullet is built with specific options such as tip material and weight in grains (there are 437.5 grains per ounce). Bullets with a boattail design, for instance, have a base that is reduced in diameter to improve air flow and stability in flight. Soft nose and hollow point bullets are designed to expand upon striking their target to intensify impact. An example is Sierra s.22 Caliber (.224) High Velocity 55 gr. FMJBT rifle bullet. Sierra says this 55-grain boattail was designed to duplicate the military M193 bullet, and is intended for use in semi-automatic rifles, such as the The burning powder that projects a bullet down range is propellant. Propellants are carefully formulated for expansion rate, physical size and shape of the tiny powder particles, and inherent stability. These are important factors for producing specific propellants for specific firearms and purposes. As you might imagine, propellants were not invented overnight. Gunpowder composed of a nitrate salt (saltpeter), sulfur and charcoal is believed to be cooked-up in China a thousand years ago. This brand of gunpowder readily absorbs moisture and can explode unexpectedly. It also produces a great volume of smoke and fouling inside the barrel when ignited, and so has been replaced by modern smokeless powders. The move to smokeless powder began about 125 years ago, coinciding with the development of primers and self-contained cartridges. Why do we call it smokeless powder? Because this version of gunpowder produces a significantly less amount of smoke than the initial version. Today, commercial smokeless powder comes in two varieties; singlebased powders are made of nitrocellulose and double-based powders made of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. These components contain small amounts of other chemicals and each granule is coated in graphite to make it easier and safer to handle. Propellants are also classified by kernel structure; their geometric design as flakes, spheres or cylindrical sticks. Their burn rate is controlled by composition and by perforating them or coating the kernels with a retardant. A particular burn rate will suit a particular type of firearm and typically will be designated for either rifles or handguns. Hodgdon Powder calls its CFE 223 a versatile spherical rifle propellant [that] incorporates in its formula CFE, Copper Fouling Eraser, which reduces copper fouling in a barrel. For handloaders, Being a spherical powder, metering is superbly accurate. CFE 223 yields top velocities in many cartridges such as the 204 Ruger, 223 Remington/5.56mm NATO, 22-250 Remington and the 308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO and more. 24 25

Ammunition Bullet weight, shape (or styling) and caliber are printed on every retail cartridge box, but not the type of propellant. Unless you reload cartridges (also called hand loading) or study ballistics, propellant data is irrelevant. Still in use by shooters who enjoy the mystique of older muzzleloaders, gunpowder (or black powder) is volatile and must be kept cool, dry and under lock-and-key. While modern powers will not explode, and you might be hard pressed to use them to start a fire, they will burn. If you have powders in the home, they should be locked in a separate area from your living quarters. And always wash your hands and the work area carefully after handling raw powders. If reloading, never mix different powders. The Case Although you will find some cases that are manufactured of aluminum and steel, most small arms ammunition cases are a brass alloy. The case commonly referred to as the brass is made in sizes and shapes for specific types of guns, but it has a generic function: hold the primer, the propellant and the bullet. The cartridge case seals the firing chamber in all directions except the bore. A case makes handling ammunition easy and once all the components are in place in the case, it becomes a cartridge. Cartridges for modern rifles and handguns are sized by caliber or the diameter of a bullet. Caliber is expressed in hundredths or thousandths of an inch, or in millimeters, and typically recorded down to the decimal. Naming cartridges is a 150-year-old game in which no internationally accepted standard exists. A.45-caliber pistol may come in.45 ACP or.45 GAP,.45 Long Colt or even.454 Casull. The popular 9mm (0.35 inches) handgun caliber is actually called 9x19 Parabellum (or 9mm Luger) to differentiate it from 9mm Makarov and 9mm Browning. It is important for effective shooting and for your personal safety to purchase the correct ammunition for your gun. Case design is determined by the firearm in which the ammunition is used. Some handgun caliber cases are nickel plated for durability in reloading, corrosion resistance, and appearance. Each case is stamped with caliber and manufacturer, and your firearm will accept only certain types of cases as specified in the Owner s Manual. Critical cartridge specifications include neck size, bullet weight and caliber, maximum pressure, headspace, overall length, case body diameter and taper, shoulder design and rim type. Generally, every characteristic of a specific cartridge type is tightly controlled and few are interchangeable. Hodgdon Propellent Cutaway Pistol, Rifle and Shotgun Cartidges Rifle Cartidges and Case Heads 26 27

The Primer Ammunition Two types of cartridges, rimfire and centerfire, relate to the style of primer used. Pull the trigger and a gun s firing pin hits the impact-sensitive primer to create a tiny explosion which ignites the propellant and forces the bullet out of the case down range. A centerfire cartridge has a centrally located primer. Most U.S. manufactured centerfire brass cases use Boxer primers which can easily be removed and replaced after firing using standard reloading tools. European cartridges use Berdan primers, a slightly different style. The entire inside edge of a rimfire cartridge is the primer. This design is less expensive to manufacture, but once fired the lightweight case is permanently deformed and can t be reloaded. A rimfire gun is designed for small calibers, a.22, for instance, but not a.357 or a.44 Magnum. Primer cups are made of soft copper or brass alloy, nickel-plated to resist corrosion, with a brass anvil inside. They are filled with impact-sensitive chemical compounds, about half being an igniter called lead styphnate. When struck by the firing pin, the center of the cup collapses, squeezing the explosive between its inner surface and the anvil. This burst of heat shoots a flame through the flash hole, igniting the propellant to fire the cartridge. Primers are manufactured in different sizes, each designed for a specific type of gun. A CCI small pistol primer for example, has a cup that is about 0.125 inches in diameter and 0.125 inches tall. A primer is essentially a tiny explosion waiting to happen. It must be handled carefully without dropping, shaking, hammering on it or heating, and stored in a cool, dry place. An exploding primer can cause others around it to explode and because chemicals like solvents, even water, may cause deterioration and so your ammunition should be carefully segregated during gun cleaning. Because primers can explode simultaneously, it is generally recommended that when hand loading, primers should be handled individually and never subjected to undue force. Hand loading equipment must be electrically grounded and the room should be clean and free of primer dust and powder buildup. If you spill a box of primers, pick them up immediately because they may explode if stepped on. The Shotshell Unless a barrel is specifically rifled for a slug or sabot round, shotguns are smoothbores. A rifled barrel increases the accuracy of slugs, but makes the barrel unsuitable for firing shotshells. That means the self-contained shotshell cartridge is both different from and similar to a metal cartridge. The similarities are the primer and the propellant. The differences are the case, the loose shot instead of a single bullet and extra internal components such as a wad, an overlay card or even shot buffering material. The shotgun cartridge begins with a brass base into which a hollow plastic case is molded. (Paper cases, once common, are now rare.) Into this case is loaded a shotgun primer, then a double base propellant, followed by a Shotgun Shells and Case Heads Shotgun Shell cutaways. wad and shot. The lip of the case is then folded (crimped or rolled) over to hold everything in place. After the powder, the round wad paper, plastic or fiber is inserted to prevent shot and powder from mixing, provide a cushion against shot deformation, and to provide a seal that prevents gas from blowing through the shot rather than pushing it forward. Plastic wad designs often incorporate a shock absorber with a cup that acts as a spacer and holds the shot together until it is out the barrel. Shot cups also have slits on the sides so that the wad can peel open and fall away after leaving the barrel, allowing the shot to continue on in flight undisturbed. Whereas rifles and handguns are measured by caliber, shotguns and shotshells are measured by gauge (or bore). This is both a more antique system and more complicated than simply measuring the diameter of the barrel interior. In its antique description, gauge is the weight, in fractions of a pound, of a round lead ball that is the same diameter as the internal diameter of the barrel. Thus a shotgun is called 12-gauge because a lead sphere that just fits the inside diameter of the barrel weighs 1 12 of a pound. A 10-gauge has a larger-diameter barrel than a 12-gauge and a 20-gauge. Commercial shotguns come in six barrel and shotshell sizes, largest to smallest 10-, 12-, 16-, 20, 24- and.410 and it is vital to use only shotshells designed for your size shotgun. A shotshell can be loaded with a variety of small round shot, lead being traditional, or steel, bismuth or tungsten alloys, the latter groups for waterfowl hunting. Shot is available in different sizes and is purchased depending on the target or task. For short-range skeet competition, a small diameter shot such as Federal s Top Gun Target 12 gauge with 1 1/8 ounces of #9 shot (0.079 inches in diameter) is preferable for a high density pattern. Trap shooting requires longer 28 29

Ammunition shots, and so larger shot, something like a Winchester Super-Target shell with 1 1/8 ounces of #7 ½ (0.094 inches in diameter) is used. For hunting, the range and the penetration needed to assure a clean kill must both be considered. For dove, use #8 (.089 inches), but for turkey, #4 (.129 inches). For self-defense, buckshot is preferable, #2 or double-ought measuring.27 inches. Muzzleloading Until the 19th century, the only way to load a firearm a rifle, pistol or shotgun was to first pour the black powder down the barrel, then place a greased cloth patch around a lead bullet and shove the bullet down the barrel, seating it next to the powder with the ramrod. A flintlock produces a small spark and a percussion cap produces a small explosive flash to ignite the powder which fires the bullet. Loading is a slow process and often produces an inaccurate shot. After repeatedly firing the barrel could became fouled to the point that loading becomes impossible. By the middle of the 19th century, breechloading firearms replaced muzzleloaders, except for black powder enthusiasts and reenactors (a person who reenact historical battles or events). Modern muzzleloading firearms range from reproductions of sidelock, flintlock and percussion long guns and pistols, to in-line rifles that use a closed breech, sealed primer and fast rifling for accuracy at long ranges. Several design changes have brought muzzleloading firearms back for a percentage of hunters and recreational shooters. The saboted bullet, for instance, which simplifies and expedites loading has become the projectile of choice among non-traditional muzzleloader hunters because it is a more accurate projectile. Secondly, Hodgdon s pelletized Pyrodex pellets are extraordinarily convenient. Instead of measuring loose propellant into a muzzleloader s muzzle, you simply drop in one or more pellets, depending on the caliber, bullet weight and velocity required. Tedious measuring and spillage are eliminated. Mentioned in This Chapter CCI Federal Cartridge Hodgdon Powder Ruger Sierra Bullets Walther Arms Winchester www.ci-ammunition.com www.federalpremium.com www.hodgdon.com www.ruger.com www.sierrabullets.com www.waltherarms.com www.winchester.com Muzzleloading essentials. Hodgdon s pelletized Pyrodex premeasured propellent. 30 31

Safe Gun Handling 1. Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction. This is the most basic safety rule of all. If every gun owner handled their firearms so carefully that the muzzle never pointed at something they didn t intend to shoot, there would be virtually no firearms accidents. It s as simple as that, and as a responsible gun owner, it s entirely up to you. Never point your gun at anything you do not intend to shoot. This is particularly important when loading or unloading a firearm. In the event of an accidental discharge, no injury can occur as long as the muzzle is pointing in a safe direction. A safe direction means a direction in which a bullet or a load of shot from a shotgun cannot possibly strike anyone, taking into account possible ricochets and the fact that bullets can penetrate walls and ceilings. The safe direction may be upward on some occasions or downward on others, but never at anyone or anything not intended as a target. Even when dry firing with an unloaded gun, you should never point the gun at an unsafe target. This rule seems obvious but it can be violated in the most public and most common settings, not just in the woods when hunting. It takes a bit of situational awareness to keep the muzzle of a gun pointed downrange after firing shot after shot on a busy skeet range, though. Typically, partners or team members will be coaching and talking in a subdued manner, guns on adjacent stations or ranges will be firing and the moment can induce sensory overload. This is the time to be extracautious. You must make it a habit to know exactly where the muzzle of your gun is pointing at all times, and be sure that you are in control of the direction in which the muzzle is pointing, even if you fall or stumble especially if you fall or stumble. This is your responsibility, and only you can control it. 2. Firearms should be unloaded when not in use. Generally, firearms should be loaded only when you are in the field or on the target range or shooting area, ready to shoot. When not in use, firearms and ammunition should be secured in a safe place. As a gun owner, it is your duty to unauthorized users from gaining access to firearms or ammunition. Unload your gun as soon as you are finished shooting, well before you carry it to your car, camp, or home. Prior to handling a firearm or handing it to anyone, open the action and visually check the chamber, receiver, and magazine to be sure they do not contain any cartridges. Then store the gun with the action open. Never assume a gun is unloaded. Never trust to your luck. Check for yourself. This, above all things, is considered a mark of an experienced gun handler. Before you cross a fence, climb a tree or perform any awkward action with a gun, unload and make sure the safety is on. When you are in the field, there will be times when common sense and the basic rules of firearms safety will require you to unload your gun for maximum safety. It may be inconvenient and, after years of experience shooting and handling guns, you will perhaps naturally be inclined to take shortcuts. This is the very moment an accident can happen. So never pull or push a loaded firearm toward yourself or another person. And there is never any excuse to carry a loaded gun in a scabbard, a holster not being worn or a gun case left where others can find and open it. When in doubt, always unload your gun. 3. Don t rely on your gun s safety to prevent an accident. Treat every gun as though it could fire at any moment. Your gun s safety is a relatively simple mechanical device, which, like any such device, can become inoperable at the worst possible time. Besides, by mistake, the safety may be off when you think it is on. The mechanical safety built into the gun only serves to supplement conscientious gun handling. It does not substitute for common sense and courtesy. It s understandable that, after hundreds of Western movies featuring cowboys and sheriffs riding the High Plains on horseback, you will want to twirl or spin your revolver like Clint Eastwood. And John Wayne, in the Rooster Cogburn movies, used a Winchester lever-action rifle with an enlarged cocking lever that allowed him to re-cock by spinning the gun one-handed. It was possible to do this 52 53

with relative safely with the gun commonly used in the Old West, the single-action revolver, because the single-action requires two separate actions before it will fire: first, cocking the hammer, and then pulling the trigger. With doubleaction revolvers, pulling the trigger first cocks the hammer and also releases it, so twirling a revolver around by the trigger guard is a great way to fire it in some random direction. Even if you get lucky and don t hit anything important, the recoil will probably break your finger. Never handle a gun carelessly. Never assume the gun won t fire just because the safety is on. The aspect of mechanical safeties that makes them beneficial is your practiced habit of never touching the trigger until you actually intend to shoot. Keep your fingers away from the trigger while loading and unloading. Never pull the trigger on any firearm with the safety on the safe position or anywhere in between safe and fire. Never place the safety between positions. You must cultivate the mental awareness that half-safe is unsafe. Keep the safety on until you are ready to fire. Regardless of the position of the safety, any blow or jar strong enough to actuate the firing mechanism of a gun might cause it to fire. This could happen even if you never touch the trigger, for instance when a gun is dropped. Never rest a loaded gun against any object a fence post or the ammo can on your workbench. The only time you can be absolutely certain that a gun cannot fire is when the action is open and it is completely empty with a reliable gun lock in place. Again, never rely solely on your gun s safety. You and the safe gun handling procedures you learn and practice are truly your gun s primary safeties. 4. Be sure of your target and what s beyond it. In the Superman stories, he is faster than a speeding bullet. He might be but you re not. No one can call a shot back. Once a gun fires, you have given up all control over where the projectile will go or what it will strike. Safe Gun Handling Consequently, the rule is not to shoot unless you know exactly what you are going to hit (or perhaps miss, in the case of clay target shooting games). It is your responsibility to be sure that your bullet will not hit anything besides your target. Firing at a movement in the brush or at a noise without being absolutely certain of what you are shooting at constitutes a fundamental disregard for the safety of others. No target is so important that you cannot take the time before you pull the trigger to be absolutely certain of your target and where your shot will stop. You should keep in mind how far a bullet will travel if it misses your intended target or ricochets in another direction. The bullet from even a small round, such as a.22 Short, can travel over 1 1/4 miles and a high-velocity cartridge, such as a.30-06, can launch a bullet more than 3 miles. Shotgun pellets can travel 500 yards, and shotgun slugs can have a range of over half a mile. 5. Use the correct ammunition. You, not the salesman who takes your credit card or the buddy who recommended the gun, must assume the responsibility of using only the correct ammunition for your firearm. A series of warnings and cautions will appear in the gun s instruction manual and on the ammunition boxes. You must take the time to read and then act on them. Using improper or incorrect ammunition could destroy a firearm and cause serious personal injury. It only takes one cartridge of improper caliber, gauge or size to wreck your gun, and only a second to check each one as you load. Be certain that the ammunition you use matches the specifications in the gun s instruction manual and any manufacturer markings on the firearm. (In the case of a second-hand gun that may lack an instruction manual, you can almost always find information online. All modern and most curio and relic firearms have groups of enthusiasts who enjoy discussing the qualities of specific firearms. Internet forums or discussion groups are easy to locate.) Firearms are designed, manufactured and proof tested to standards based upon those of factory-loaded ammunition. Handloaded or reloaded ammunition that deviates from pressures generated by factory loads or from component recommendations specified in reputable commercial handloading manuals can be dangerous, and can cause severe damage to guns and serious injury to the shooter. Do not use improper or experimental reloads (sometimes referred to as wildcat cartridges) or ammunition made of unknown components. Lyman, Hornady, Sierra Bullets, Speer, Brownells, IMR, Ballistic Products and others produce state-of-the-art reloading manuals for all types of guns, gauges, ammo 54 55

and calibers. Ammunition that has become very wet or has been submerged in water should be discarded in a safe manner, which means checking with a local gunsmith or gun shop. Unlike cleaning your firearm, you do not need to spray any oil or solvents on ammunition; neither should you place ammunition in excessively lubricated firearms. Poor ignition, unsatisfactory performance or damage to your firearm not to mention harm to yourself or others could result from using such ammunition. Before you purchase a gun, make the choice to examine every cartridge before putting it into your gun or the gun s magazine. Never use damaged or substandard ammunition, because the money you save is small and not worth the risk of possible injury or a ruined gun. 6. If your gun fails to fire when you pull the trigger, handle it with care. Safe Gun Handling On rare occasions a shell or cartridge will not fire when the trigger is pulled. If this occurs, keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction and your face away from the breech. Then, carefully open the action, unload the firearm and dispose of the faulty cartridge in a safe manner. If this should happen a second time, you should unload If your gun failed to fire, remove the and study the action of the firearm magazine. guns, especially those subject to hard use or abuse, can malfunction, firing pins can break as well as the ammo. Any time a cartridge remains in the chamber, your gun is loaded and ready to fire, even if you ve tried to shoot and it did not go off. It could go off at any time, so you must always remember Rule #1 and be aware of your muzzle direction. Discharging firearms in poorly ventilated areas, cleaning firearms or handling ammunition may result in exposure to substances known to cause serious injury. These days, indoor gun ranges have begun to make expensive arrangements to provide adequate ventilation for shooters. While we may not have thought much of it in years past, we now know that it is very important to wash our hands thoroughly after exposure to lead and fouling discharge and washing your hands means that your mother was right plenty of soap and hot water. 7. Always wear eye and ear protection while shooting or after hand loading. All shooters and those standing nearby such a coach or scorekeeper must wear protective shooting glasses and some form of hearing protectors while shooting takes place. Exposure to shooting noise can quickly damage your hearing, and without a doubt adequate vision protection is essential to your way of life. Shooting or ballistic glasses help protect against falling shot, clay target chips, swinging branches along a deer trail and even the rare ruptured case or firearm malfunction. Wearing eye protection when disassembling and cleaning your gun will also help prevent springs, spring tension parts, solvents or other agents from hitting or splashing into A;ways wear Ear & Eye protection Unload the Chamber Unload the Chamber Visually check the Chamber Ensure the Chamber is clear of obstructions 56 57

Safe Gun Handling your eyes. A wide variety of eye and ear protectors are available at very modest prices. Truthfully, no target shooter, plinker or hunter should ever be without them and few public and private ranges will allow you near the shooting line without them. While most rules of shooting safety are intended to protect you and others around you, this rule is for your protection alone. Furthermore, having your hearing and eyes protected makes shooting easier and more fun. 8. Be sure the barrel is clear of obstructions before pulling the trigger. Before you load any firearm, open the action and be certain that no ammunition is already inside the chamber or magazine. This is the time to double check that the barrel is clear of any obstruction. Even a small bit of mud, snow, excess lubricating oil or grease plugging the bore can cause dangerously increased pressures. If you pull the trigger on a live round and the barrel is plugged, you can probably expect to cause permanent damage to your firearm: the barrel may take on a permanent bulge or burst on firing. This is an obvious hazard for you and for any bystanders. Make it a habit to clean the bore and check for obstructions with a cleaning rod immediately before you shoot it. If the noise or recoil on firing seems weak or doesn't seem quite "right," cease firing immediately and be sure to check that no obstruction or projectile has become lodged in the barrel. Consider carrying a BoreSnake when heading to the shooting range. Made by Hoppe s and others, a BoreSnake is a fast and efficient gun bore cleaner with just one pull. Offered in multiple calibers and gauges no assembly is required and that one pull gives you peace of mind that no significant issue in the bore and chamber will cause a disaster when you punch the trigger. You can curl the compact, lightweight BoreSnake into a pocket; plus the little tool is cheap, washable, reusable and effective. Inserting a smaller gauge or caliber cartridge into a gun s chamber (such as a 20-gauge shell in a 12-gauge shotgun) can result in the smaller cartridge falling into the barrel and acting as a bore obstruction when a cartridge of proper size is fired. You can easily avoid this type of accident by paying close attention to each cartridge you insert into your firearm. Caption Needed Caption Needed 9. Don t alter or modify your gun. Clean your firearm regularly. If you experience any difficulties, have it serviced by a certified gunsmith. Firearms are relatively complicated instruments designed to function properly in their original condition. Even though a strong cottage industry has developed to modify firearms for specific uses long range sniper contests, for instance a mechanical alteration made after manufacture could make your gun dangerous to use. Unless this service is performed by a gunsmith trained by the manufacturer, such an alteration will usually void a new gun s warranty. Don t jeopardize your safety or the safety of others by altering the trigger, the safety or other mechanism of a firearm s action or allow unqualified individuals to repair or modify a gun. All you ll accomplishing is ruining a fine gun. 58 NRA Guns Safety Insides.indd 58-59 59 05/05/2015 14:46