Help me out with a Glock argument

Echo9 · Feb 28, 2011

I'm not exactly a math person, and I don't even own a Glock, but someone is trying to tell me that they discharge easily when dropped.

Let me make this perfectly clear: I KNOW A GLOCK WILL NOT NORMALLY DISCHARGE WHEN DROPPED.

The other guy doesn't see it that way.

The only way it's possible with a healthy Glock is if it's dropped onto its rear. Let's take a loaded Glock 22 for the example. To me, it's reasonable to assume that inertia could deactivate the trigger safety if the pistol is dropped onto its rear. But how high would this pistol need to be dropped from for the trigger to move fully rearward, and why?

Glock lists the weight for a loaded 22 at 34.38oz. Let's assume a 4.5lb trigger.

gofastman · Feb 28, 2011

But how high would this pistol need to be dropped from for the trigger to move fully rearward

I think the guns terminal velocity is lower than the speed required to make the gun go off, in other words you could drop it from the top floor of the Burj Khalifa and it wouldn't go off

Echo9 · Feb 28, 2011

You're saying the gun would be destroyed before discharging?

RancidSumo · Feb 28, 2011

You would need more info than that such as the weight of the trigger and other things. Easy way to check- UNLOAD your gun, drop it, see if the firing pin stays cocked.

27Contender · Feb 28, 2011

My uneducated guess, given the success of the line, is that they thought of that.

REAPER4206969 · Feb 28, 2011

It is mechanically impossible for a Glock to fire when dropped.

Also, preventing firing by inertia is the entire point of the trigger safety.

RancidSumo · Feb 28, 2011

You're saying the gun would be destroyed before discharging?

No terminal velocity is the maximum speed that an object can fall. If you fell forever and never hit ground, you wouldn't continue to speed up, eventually you would reach terminal velocity and would just maintain that speed. For example, a skydiver won't get much above 120mph (unless they use a bullet like posture to decrease wind resistance). A firearm would be able to fall faster than that because it has less wind resistance than a person but it would still eventually reach its terminal velocity and stop accelerating.

What he was saying is that even at that speed, the gun would not go off. I don't know if that is true or not.

Echo9 · Feb 28, 2011

REAPER4206969 said:
It is mechanically impossible for a Glock to fire when dropped.

Also, preventing firing by inertia is the entire point of the trigger safety.

How could that be? Don't you think dropping it onto a hard surface on its rear would carry the trigger safety down and disengage it?

gearhead · Feb 28, 2011

Short answer: No. Not enough mass in the trigger safety. These things are easy to calculate for an engineer, and they are the FIRST things tested.

Echo9 · Feb 28, 2011

.....I don't suppose someone knows how much a Glock trigger safety weighs.....

27Contender · Feb 28, 2011

Depends on how fast it's falling.

Echo9 · Feb 28, 2011

27Contender said:
Depends on how fast it's falling.

We're assuming it was dropped from average waist height.

Shawn Dodson · Feb 28, 2011

There's more to it than trigger safety movement. There's striker spring resistance and striker block safety spring resistance to overcome.

Echo9 · Feb 28, 2011

Shawn Dodson said:
There's more to it than trigger safety movement. There's striker spring resistance and striker block safety spring resistance to overcome.

Right, but we can agree that disengaging the trigger safety is a prerequisite to discharge. All resistance from the striker spring, striker block safety spring, etc, totals 4.5lbs in our hypothetical.

Shadow 7D · Feb 28, 2011

MY understanding is even if you manage to disengage the trigger/other safeties, that the striker block won't be overcome, as all the forward pressure of the striker holds it in place.

Echo9 · Feb 28, 2011

That sounds about right to me, but I'm asking about how high a Glock would need to be dropped from in order to pull the trigger. Pulling the trigger disengages all of the safeties.

alxshml · Feb 28, 2011

I'm no expert, but I thought the one of the bigger/est selling points of Glock was that it was 'drop proof'. I believe there are four different safeties?

jawn · Feb 28, 2011

You can't pull the trigger without applying pressure to that center blade on the trigger, and even if you somehow could, given that the entire gun is moving at the same inertial frame of reference, there wouldn't be any change in momentum at work on the moving parts of the gun. When you bring a rolling suitcase onto a moving sidewalk in the airport, the bag doesn't move at a different speed than you do.

Sam1911 · Feb 28, 2011

I think he's asking if the gun could ever go fast enough, simply by being dropped, that the negative acceleration due to the gun hitting the ground would impart enough of an impulse (change in momentum over time) to the trigger blade to overcome the spring tension which holds it forward.

And I think the answer is no.

Yarddog · Feb 28, 2011

"[I'm asking about how high a Glock would need to be dropped from in order to pull the trigger.]"

It would have to be dropped on you finger on the trigger, ONLY WAY ; )
Y/D

Echo9 · Feb 28, 2011

Sam1911 said:
I think he's asking if the gun could ever go fast enough, simply by being dropped, that the negative acceleration due to the gun hitting the ground would impart enough of an impulse (change in momentum over time) to the trigger blade to overcome the spring tension which holds it forward.

And I think the answer is no.

YES. That's what I'm asking.

But you don't think that would ever happen? EVER? That seems unlikely. There must be a speed at which it would happen. It may not be a realistic speed, but it's hard to believe it's impossible.

steveo77 · Feb 28, 2011

I seem to remember long ago reading about some military (not US)testing of the glock,they dropped it from 12 ft at a precise angle so it would land on back of slide,after hundreds of drops no discharges,

RancidSumo · Feb 28, 2011

But you don't think that would ever happen? EVER? That seems unlikely. There must be a speed at which it would happen. It may not be a realistic speed, but it's hard to believe it's impossible

It will not happen within the realm of what could reasonably occur.

David E · Feb 28, 2011

A stock Glock is NOT going to fire, no matter how hard you throw it, or how high you drop it.

Your "friend" is wrong and I'm sure he has no facts, just his "gut" telling him that it'll fire.

The trigger safety prevents the inertia angle.

The striker safety prevents that inertia angle.

Again, it WILL NOT FIRE.

An improperly modified or poorly maintained one? Possibly, but that's true of anything.

27Contender · Feb 28, 2011

Echo9

We're assuming it was dropped from average waist height.

That was sarcasm. Again, I don't think it would be as widely used by LE and the military if it had a tendancy to AD.

Help me out with a Glock argument

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