indie
Member
I know its probably a somewhat embarrassing to admit, but as a newbie to guns who chose a revolver because of ease of making sure its empty and feeds reliably, i want to know if there are any revolver ND stories?
Anyone here have a negligent discharge with a revolver?
- Thread starter indie
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Heavy Metal Hero
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Why is that embarassing? I think very highly of that choice.
Sure, why wouldn't there be?
indie
Member
sorry, didn't mean i'm embarrassed to admit why i chose a revolver, or that i have a revolver. I love my choice. And will buy more in the future..
But people could be embarrassed to speak about a negligent revolver discharge.
But people could be embarrassed to speak about a negligent revolver discharge.
I had a friend have a ND with a revolver. He was even more obsessed than I am about wiping down his guns after someone was handling one, and he got into the ridiculously bad habit of wiping down the cylinder by holding the oily rag up to it and then rapid dry-firing so the cylinder turned and wiped itself. Well, as you can already guess, he had a round in the cylinder one time. I am not sure if he failed to fully unload the gun, or what, but there was a round in there, he had a ND, a neighbor called the cops, and he got all his handguns taken away for 10 years. Ouch!
There is nothing to be embarrassed about for buying a revolver because you want a reliable feeder OR that you are worried about a negligent discharge. While due diligence with a semi should ensure that you don't leave one in the chamber and accidentally fire one... the fact is that it does happen, even to experienced shooters. Ease of making sure the gun is unloaded IS an advantage of revolvers, and one I wish more people would consider. Don't feel bad about wanting this feature. I wish more beginning shooters accepted the fact that they were beginners instead of thinking that gun ownership equals gun expertise. It seems to me that every time I see someone mishandling a gun in a way that shows how green they are, they are usually waving around a pimped out 1911 or a brand new Glock. I usually find myself wishing they had started with a 686 or GP-100 instead.
There is nothing to be embarrassed about for buying a revolver because you want a reliable feeder OR that you are worried about a negligent discharge. While due diligence with a semi should ensure that you don't leave one in the chamber and accidentally fire one... the fact is that it does happen, even to experienced shooters. Ease of making sure the gun is unloaded IS an advantage of revolvers, and one I wish more people would consider. Don't feel bad about wanting this feature. I wish more beginning shooters accepted the fact that they were beginners instead of thinking that gun ownership equals gun expertise. It seems to me that every time I see someone mishandling a gun in a way that shows how green they are, they are usually waving around a pimped out 1911 or a brand new Glock. I usually find myself wishing they had started with a 686 or GP-100 instead.
indie ~
Two old threads for you:
1) The story of an ND with a revolver: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=253509
2) A thread about how NDs, ADs, and UDs happen: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=282550
I hope both of these threads help with your quest to become a safer gun owner.
Oh, can't pass this up:
That's a very dangerous half truth, one that should never be emphasized to a beginner who might already be shaky on following the Four Rules.
The frightening and discouraging truth is that there are too many people out there who think you "can't possibly!!" mistake a loaded revolver for an unloaded one. So they do stupid things with their sure-to-be "unloaded" revolvers, including dry-firing without even opening the cylinder to be SURE the gun is empty. It's as shortsighted as keeping an untrained trigger finger happily rested upon the "long, stiff, DA trigger that CAN'T be pulled by accident..."
In short, yeah, there are some safety advantages to revolvers. But emphasizing those advantages mostly just makes most people shut off their brains and expect the safety features to do their thinking for them. (Which, incidentally, is one reason I love revolvers and all other guns without a user-operated, external "safety." That infernal mechanical device apparently causes utter fools to blurt out, "It's okay, the safety was on" right after they've done something monumentally and inexcusably dangerous with a loaded weapon.)
pax
Two old threads for you:
1) The story of an ND with a revolver: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=253509
2) A thread about how NDs, ADs, and UDs happen: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=282550
I hope both of these threads help with your quest to become a safer gun owner.
Oh, can't pass this up:
That's a very dangerous half truth, one that should never be emphasized to a beginner who might already be shaky on following the Four Rules.
The frightening and discouraging truth is that there are too many people out there who think you "can't possibly!!" mistake a loaded revolver for an unloaded one. So they do stupid things with their sure-to-be "unloaded" revolvers, including dry-firing without even opening the cylinder to be SURE the gun is empty. It's as shortsighted as keeping an untrained trigger finger happily rested upon the "long, stiff, DA trigger that CAN'T be pulled by accident..."
In short, yeah, there are some safety advantages to revolvers. But emphasizing those advantages mostly just makes most people shut off their brains and expect the safety features to do their thinking for them. (Which, incidentally, is one reason I love revolvers and all other guns without a user-operated, external "safety." That infernal mechanical device apparently causes utter fools to blurt out, "It's okay, the safety was on" right after they've done something monumentally and inexcusably dangerous with a loaded weapon.)
pax
indie
Member
Thank you pax. I love your website btw and I even made a thread about how helpful it has been to me a week or two ago.
indie
Member
Thanks also SJ shooter. Wow 10 years. What state was this?
indie ~
Thanks.
By the way, there's one more way that NDs or UDs can happen with a revolver, which this post illustrates. Happens when you somehow get the hammer cocked (usually deliberately, sometimes accidentally), then decide not to fire, and must then lower the hammer on a loaded gun.
Many a gunshop employee can tell a terrifying tale about the time some little old lady came into the shop, announcing she had a "broken" revolver that "couldn't be unloaded" -- and then fished through the detritus in her purse before finally pulling out a cocked, fully loaded revolver, 2.5 pound SA trigger and all.
Learn to decock the gun safely before you ever load it, eh?
pax
Thanks.By the way, there's one more way that NDs or UDs can happen with a revolver, which this post illustrates. Happens when you somehow get the hammer cocked (usually deliberately, sometimes accidentally), then decide not to fire, and must then lower the hammer on a loaded gun.
Many a gunshop employee can tell a terrifying tale about the time some little old lady came into the shop, announcing she had a "broken" revolver that "couldn't be unloaded" -- and then fished through the detritus in her purse before finally pulling out a cocked, fully loaded revolver, 2.5 pound SA trigger and all.
Learn to decock the gun safely before you ever load it, eh?
pax
orionengnr
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Three guesses.
My first guess is CA.
SJ = San Jose?
My first guess is CA.
SJ = San Jose?
indie
Member
Wow Pax. Maybe there is a need for home "gun removal" services.
My first revolver is a 7 shot taurus 66. I want a CCW revolver as well, and to get my permit in the near future, so i am considering Taurus 817 also in 7 shot so i can use the same speed loaders, but also so I wont have any confusion when counting the empty holes.
My first revolver is a 7 shot taurus 66. I want a CCW revolver as well, and to get my permit in the near future, so i am considering Taurus 817 also in 7 shot so i can use the same speed loaders, but also so I wont have any confusion when counting the empty holes.
Alphazulu6
member
Haha. "No problem Ma'am I will empty out that nasty ole Python and ensure it won't bother another person!"
That post cracked me up.
22-rimfire
Member
I had one once when I first started shooting handguns. It was a bit embarrassing and I really don't want to give details. No one hurt. Cost me some money to repair the damage indoors. It was a valuable lesson which I will never repeat. All I can say is ALWAYS CHECK TO SEE IF A FIREARM IS LOADED if you handle it. Do not assume anything.
I have a older 22 semi-auto rifle that will ocasionally fire when chambering a round. I pay very close attention when shooting that rifle and always control the muzzle direction even when doing such normal things as chambering a round. I pretty much do that with any firearm though just in case.
I have a older 22 semi-auto rifle that will ocasionally fire when chambering a round. I pay very close attention when shooting that rifle and always control the muzzle direction even when doing such normal things as chambering a round. I pretty much do that with any firearm though just in case.
California, of course!!! I had another friend lose all his guns for 10 years (and he had a boatload) because he and some friends were off in the desert, miles from anyone, shooting water bottles. Didn't even notice the state ranger coming up on them from the flats for miles. "What are you guys doing?" "Ah, just shooting some bottles." About an hour or two later, his guns were confiscated and he won't get them back until 2015!!!
Back to the thread, pax's points about people thinking a revolver is so simple that they get careless is dead on. That said, when I hear of an accidental discharge with a revolver, I assume the user must have been a major league idiot, while when I hear a semi-related AD, I think "I guess it can happen to anyone."
pdowg881
Member
How do you safely lower the hammer on a loaded revolver?
KelVarnson
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I have a 638, which has a shrouded hammer. Because it has just a little nub of a hammer, it is fairly easy to lose control of it during a decock. So, I practice that a lot, while I am sitting at my desk reading THR.
I'm doing it right now (unloaded gun, of course!!)
I'm doing it right now (unloaded gun, of course!!)
pdowg881
Member
So is there any really safe way to lower a hammer on a loaded gun, or does letting the hammer slip mean your going to fire it?
Shweboner
Member
Went shooting with a friend of mine and we were shooting his Vaquero and I handed the pistol back having only fired 5/6 rounds. He dry fired it for some reason that I cannot recall and he put a .45LC in the ground less than a foot away from out feet!
count your shots, and empty the cylinder after every time, and expecially when handing it to another.
count your shots, and empty the cylinder after every time, and expecially when handing it to another.
busy_squirrel
Member
I've had one. If you'd searched better, than I could be saved the embarrasment of retelling the story, but no...
Anyways, was being a dumb kid with a revolver I knew to be partially loaded. (Mother was afraid of firearms, so I was never taught safety.) Problem was, I thought the cylinder rotated in the opposite direction, the guns owner had even told me so. Pointed in a safe direction and pulled the trigger on what I expected to be an empty chamber.
Good thing it was in a safe direction, the bullet went through the wall and floor of my brothers RV and into the water tank. It's still in there somewhere. But it didn't go through the wall into the neighbors house! Proof that obeying some of the 4 rules and not others CAN save you, but might not.
Then I had to fix the water tank. To this day, he's still alittle shy around me when the guns are out. Which is understandable as he was in the room at the time of the ND.
Anyways, was being a dumb kid with a revolver I knew to be partially loaded. (Mother was afraid of firearms, so I was never taught safety.) Problem was, I thought the cylinder rotated in the opposite direction, the guns owner had even told me so.
Pointed in a safe direction and pulled the trigger on what I expected to be an empty chamber. Good thing it was in a safe direction, the bullet went through the wall and floor of my brothers RV and into the water tank. It's still in there somewhere. But it didn't go through the wall into the neighbors house! Proof that obeying some of the 4 rules and not others CAN save you, but might not.
Then I had to fix the water tank. To this day, he's still alittle shy around me when the guns are out. Which is understandable as he was in the room at the time of the ND.
joab
Member
With your thumb securely holding the hammer trip the trigger,
As soon as you feel the hammer give remove your finger from the trigger.
The hammer will continue to fall (controlled) but if you have just about any modern revolver it will have a transfer bar safety.
If the trigger is not pulled the transfer bar will not engage so even if the hammer slips and falls it will not contact the firing pin.
With minimal practice it is easy, but you should always have the gun pointed in a safe direction just in case
warwagon
Member
I have taught that with the weapon pointed in a safe direction, control the hammer with the thumb of the off hand, and squeeze the trigger until it breaks. Immediately release the trigger, and slowly lower the hammer. On most modern revolvers the transfer bar, or safety bar will prevent the weapon from firing when the trigger is moving forward due to lack of pressure.
warwagon
Member
joab,
You beat me to it, same advice, worded just a bit differently! We must have been writing replies at the same time, but I am a lousy typist!
You beat me to it, same advice, worded just a bit differently! We must have been writing replies at the same time, but I am a lousy typist!
joab
Member
That's OK, I'm a lousy wordist especially when it comes to giving direction
Decent explanations above -- I just want to comment that there's more than one way to do it, and the description is best accompanied with pictures. I'll try to gin something up in the next few days, if someone else doesn't beat me to it.
Practice with an unloaded gun, many times, until you are sure you know which technique works best for you and can do it without bumbles. And it should go without saying (but being a nag, I'll say it anyway), keep the gun pointed in a safe direction while decocking, no matter how well practiced you are.
pax
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