thanks for sharing your story i hope all who pick up a gun read what has been said hear ,i know there have been mishaps that have costed lives and we learn from others mishaps as wedo our own. I have a mk 85 i have never had a near fatal mishap with it but my little brother and i were deer hunting near our farm in north ms. i was 17 and my brother was 15,now that i look on my hindsite i will never let my son or any other kid get close enough to a gun for something to happen.My story brings tears to my eyes as i type this ,we were walking a logging road when a nice buck jumped from the roadside cover and ran to the bottom of the hill .We both shot at the buck and missed we laughed at our shooting skills .i was using a 30 30 and my little brother was shooting a single shot 20ga.with buckshot. We stood there a little while and decided to walk back up the road through the woods and see if we might jump the buck again. The logging road was muddy and very slick,my brother sliped and fell on his gun ,got up wiped the mud from his face and his gun,he ejected the shell and saw that mud had jamed a hunk of mud in his barrel,we took a stick and cleaned the mud out ,he had a string in his pocket he tied a paper tile to it and clean it good,after that he said he would let me get in front and take the first shot being as he got the first shot at the buck.We walked the woods road a good way and decided to go differance ways maybe we would get lucky and catch up with him.I stood there and watched my brother go over the hill and i started walking the other way about 4 or 5 steps i layed my gun over my sholuder with my hand in the leaver but not with my finger in the trigger guard ,about half way down a little hill i lost my footing and almost fell at that time the gun fired stright behind me at chest level ,i reckon in the excitment i had cocked the hammer and never uncocked it all the while my little brother was following my steps.I have dreams to this day that i killed my only brother.He was killed a few years later in a truck wreck and i think ever day i wake up that iwas the killer of my only brother. So please take more than a few words of wisdom and teach your kidds and whoever else will stand there and listen to words that may save my son or yours from a fate that will spoil you and your family for the rest of your life,and to the ones reading this that has had this happen to them or someone you know pray to the lord for help before you take your on life. little daniel collums( broken limb)