I had pretty much the same thing where I had my 30-30 pointed in a safe direction (A Ditch) and we were about to make a deer drive and I had the hammer slip and it went off. The group was pretty supportive because I used caution by pointing it like I did away from everyone.
ORIGINAL: Cougars09
I'll post one up, pretty stupid, and it's the only reason I could think of for young hunters not to use a 30-30
I used an old 30-30 my first 2 years hunting, and I used it on my first deer. I was roughly 11-12 years old. I had just shot my BB, and you know when you eject the cartridge, how it automatically presses down the hammer on all Lever guns. Well I shot and went to put it on safe and let the hammer up. I was so tore up I wasn't thinking and instead of putting my thumb on the hammer and pulling the trigger, I pulled the trigger first. Thank God, I was pointing it away from myself, it scared me SOOO bad. I couldn't even manage to climb down out of my ladder stand for a good 20-30minutes. I still remember it like it was yesterday and I wish I didn't.