I was at a friend of a friend's home and he showed me his grandfathers US Army 1911. I noticed it had the mag in it and asked him if it was loaded. He said no and added that he had never fired it. I asked him to set it on the table. When I picked it up I dropped the mag and it had 6 old and slightly corroded cartridges in it, I racked the slide and a cartridge ejected. The guy said he had that gun in his dresser for almost twenty years after his GF had died and never knew it was loaded.

I made him an offer on it since it was obvious he was not a gun person and he said he would keep it as a memory of his GF but he allowed me to take the cartridges with me. I cleaned them up and put them in my SA 1911 and they all went bang.

Please, please, always check a gun to see if loaded any time you handle it.