I came real close to a ND once. A long, long time ago while on a date with a girl we ended up at her aunt's house which she was watching for her. There an old double barrel shotgun over the fireplace that I just had to check out. I almost pulled the trigger, because I thought no one would store a gun out in the open like that loaded. I thankfully got that little voice in my head that said "check to see if it's loaded first." Unfortunately that was the only luck I had that night!
Was on the range in the prone, weapon was pointed downrange. I had just fired and slowly let the trigger back until it just barely reset to keep the slack out...then for some reason did something with my other hand that changed my position (don't really remember - grabbed another mag or something) and another round went off. Enough other firing that nobody noticed, but it was still disconcerting.
I was holding my Beretta 391 like a "urban fellow" and purposely squeezed off a round. I was demonstrating how the recoil was pretty mild. I had done this a few times before and had no problems. Although this instance I had mistakenly loaded 2 shells, the first round went off and when the gun recoiled my arm came back, once my arm moved as far as it would go back the muzzle started to fall and somehow I squeezed off the second round. Into the ground about 3 feet in front of my feet. I learned my lesson.
I've had several antique or old firearms discharge when the bolt went forward or the safety was taken off. For all of you that answered no, just wait, eventually if you mess around with them enough it'll get ya. Nothing is completely failsafe so make sure the barrel is pointed in a safe direction before you do anything else.
Ive not personally had one go off accidentally in my own hands but when I was at army basic in ft Leonardwood, MO, I witnessed 2, the first one was by an idiot private who somehow managed to leave the range with a live round in the chamber. When we went to turn the weapons in, he stepped up to a clearing barrel(55 gal drum filled with sand for the purpose of catching rounds), he fired into the barrel, no one was hurt execpt for his aching muscles after the drill sergeants got done with him.
The 2nd wasn't done with a gun but with a live FRAG gernade. One day on the range, a private pulled the pin on a gernade went to throw it but somehow she dropped it and it landed in the bunker she was in with the drill sergeant. Don't know how that sergeant got himself and her out over the 3 foot wall before it went off, but he did and they just had some minor cuts and bruises.
While loading a 1911, I inserted the mag and did a slingsot to chamber the first round, BANG. Not entirely sure what happened but best guess is the side of my trigger finger was pressing against the side of the trigger hard enough that the gun movement in my hand was enough to trip the trigger. It was a target gun with a 3 1/2# trigger. As I had just replaced the recoil and firing pin springs, I thought it might have been a mechanical problem but have been unable to get it to malfunction since, so it must have been me. Shot 200 rounds at the range with no problems.
Muzzle was pointed in safe direction. Bullet put a dent in the side of my safe and went into a block wall but didn't exit. 45 HST sure is loud in a basement without hearing protection.
I'm not proud of this. I had just gotten my 357 lever rifle from a smith. He slicked up the trigger, loading gate, lever, etc. I couldn't wait to see if it was easier to load and chamber rounds. It was smooth as butter. My finger must have touched the trigger, because after working the action 3 or 4 times "BANG". I was pointing it in a safe direction, the wall of my closet. The bullet went through 12 shirts, 6 pairs of pants and stopped at my leather jacket. It did put a hole in the leather jacket, but did stop there. I have been EXTREMELY safe ever since and tell this story to people that I take shooting. My friends describe me as VERY anal about gun safety. I learned a valuable lesson that day and thank God that nobody got hurt.
Yep, shooting steel a long time ago, it was winter (read COLD) and I thought it would help to wear some thin gloves.. WRONG.. after releasing the safety at the buzzer I snagged the trigger entering the trigger guard. BANG. Fortunately, I missed the edge of the bench I was rested on.
I learned an important lesson, an AD/ND can happen to anyone, muzzle control is very important.