Sad AD/ND story...

[.455_Hunter]

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17223392/detail.html

Father Shot On Men's Camping Trip

Man Dropped Gun, It Fired

POSTED: 12:42 pm MDT August 18, 2008

CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. -- A shooting in Chaffee County has claimed the life of a 71-year-old Arvada man.

Sheriff Tim Walker said Leonard Hannebaum was at a campsite Friday with his brother, son and son-in-law when Hannebaum dropped a loaded .44-caliber Magnum handgun he was carrying between his camper and his pickup.

The gun fired, killing Hannebaum.

Sheriff's investigators have ruled the shooting accidental.


I wonder what type of gun this was? Old Model Ruger Blackhawk w/o transfer bar loaded w/ all six?

 

[Rugerlvr]

Wow. A guy died the same way on July 12, in the High Uintas in Utah. The paper here called it a "junk gun." No doubt a SA with the hammer down on a full chamber.

 

[yhtomit]

Calling this "a shooting" is silly.

Sad accident (unless it wasn't an accident, as people will no doubt mention), but it's a shooting like falling off a building is an engineering problem. Yes, there was a *shot* -- but "a shooting" implies more than that it was a fired bullet that did the damage.

My opinion, yours may difer

timothy

 

[.455_Hunter]

Beside the Ruger Blackhawk, who else made "old style" SAs in .44 mag that are not safe to carry with all six in the cylinder?

 

[LightningMan]

.455 Hunter Quote: Beside the Ruger Blackhawk, who else made "old style" SAs in .44 mag that are not safe to carry with all six in the cylinder?
__________________
I'm not sure of the brand/maker but I did at one time have a .44 mag. old style SA. I think it was a Bounty Hunter or something like it. I remember it had counter bored cylinder chambers so it was hard to see the rims of the cartridges, through the frame/cylinder gap. I also seem to remember it having a frame mounted firing pin and want to say it was made in Germany. LM

 

[Virginian]

What about a Desert Eagle with the safety off? What about a zip gun? What about a modified Smith 29? Speculation is useless. Reporter wouldn't know a 44 magnum from a 22LR without help. It's a "shooting" because journalism is, by definition, a liberal art.

 

[Shade00]

I thought the Rugers were safe to carry with all cylinders loaded. I thought it was the Colts and other 'true' SAA replicas that were unsafe.

 

[PCFlorida]

Blackhawk

The "Old Model" 3-screw Blackhawks did not have the transfer bar. Ruger still offers a free upgrade on them.

http://www.ruger-firearms.com/Firearms/FAQs?site=Firearm&cat=8

 

[NG VI]

This and the other guy and the woman who was "shooting" at a mouse, all AD's (except maybe the woman) because of dropped revolvers. I'm glad mine are both S&W DA models, but this is a sad story.

 

[.455_Hunter]

Many years ago some idiot loaded his .44 magnum Blackhawk with six live rounds, and put it in his checked luggage. Somewhere during the handling process at Denver's Stapleton Airport, the bag hit something hard and discharged the Ruger, killing a baggage worker.

This is supposedly one of the documented reasons why the Blackhawk went from the "Old Model" to the "New Model".

 

[Rugerlvr]

The "Old Model" 3-screw Blackhawks did not have the transfer bar. Ruger still offers a free upgrade on them.

http://www.ruger-firearms.com/Firear...=Firearm&cat=8

All of the Old Model Ruger SA pistols are vulnerable to dropping ADs. They have a standing recall on all of them to install the transfer bar safety. I'm debating with myself whether or not to get my old model single six converted. I might just want to carry it around one day, and I hate the thought of an empty cylinder.

 

[cottonmouth]

3 screw Blackhawk

I knew and old fella who had an old 3 screw .357 that had not been converted. He kept the gun under the seat of his truck and had been shooting it one weekend and forgot to unload the 6th round. Well, he went to the store one day and his foot draged the gun out of the truck and when it hit the ground...BOOM!! The bullet went up the side of his head and just cut the skin enough to make it bleed. It's a wonder it didn't blow his head off!

J.B.

 

[Jim Watson]

There have been several .44 Magnum single actions with Colt lockwork and so subject to firing if dropped. The Virginian Dragoon is one such.

About any gun will go off if you drop it, try to catch it, and grab it hard with a finger through the trigger guard.

You can also shoot yourself or somebody else and everybody agree to SAY the gun "went off when dropped."

 

[machinisttx]

Beside the Ruger Blackhawk, who else made "old style" SAs in .44 mag that are not safe to carry with all six in the cylinder?

Colt, uberti, J.P. Sauer(IIRC), and a few others I can't think of.

 

[.455_Hunter]

Colt made Single Actions in .44 mag?

 

[Drgong]

just curious, I been told a Nagant can be carried with a round in the chamber, is this true? (I don't PLAN on carrying it, but just in case...)

 

[FCFC]

Many years ago some idiot loaded his .44 magnum Blackhawk with six live rounds, and put it in his checked luggage. Somewhere during the handling process at Denver's Stapleton Airport, the bag hit something hard and discharged the Ruger, killing a baggage worker.

Sounds like an ND to me.

And, oh-my-gawd, even without a finger on the trigger.

Sheriff Tim Walker said Leonard Hannebaum was at a campsite Friday with his brother, son and son-in-law when Hannebaum dropped a loaded .44-caliber Magnum handgun he was carrying between his camper and his pickup.

The gun fired, killing Hannebaum.

ND.

 

[shooterfromtexas]

Very sad, hard lesson learned.

 

[Jim March]

If it really was a 44Mag, and it was SA, it wasn't a Colt. The Italians used to make large-frame 44Mag SAs such as the aforementioned Virginia Dragoon; the basic concept was imported under other names too. They've now standardized on SAA-class frame sizes or sometimes smaller.

It could have been a 44Spl and the reporter screwed it up. If so it could be almost anything, including Colt, any of the Italian makers, even USFA.

Might be a Freedom Arms large frame - they have a hammer block safety of questionable reliability and have gone off by accident before.

Might have been a DA of some sort with a broken hammer-block safety. If a hammer block breaks, the gun reverts to "no safety" like an 1873 Colt. If a transfer bar breaks the gun is a doorstop (can't fire no matter what).

There are probably more pre-1973 Ruger SBHs floating around unconverted than any other possible candidate...

I think the transfer bar SAs are a better idea for carry or defense and personally would own nothing else.