2 injured when gun falls out of man’s fanny pack

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Leaving a casing and a round in the barrel of the gun? Squib?

How could this happen? I'm pretty sure I could drop my cocked and locked hi power on its hammer from eye level a dozen times and it wouldn't go off
 
These idiots that wont carry their firearms properly . He should have his permit revoked
 
The article said the barrel hit the floor and the gun discharged. Lots of older-style Colt pistols will do this. That's why Colt changed over to the Series 80 firing pin.
 
I do not see how this is possible. I suspect that, as with all ND's with handguns manufactured in the last 40 years, that the trigger was pulled in an effort to grab the falling weapon. I further suspect a novice witness connected to the story was observing the next round chambered after the weapon cycled properly, likely when LE cleared the weapon and shucked the live round.
 
I admit I have dropped a loaded pistol. Twice. No discharge. I'd guess that others here have dropped their weapons at one time or another.
 
The make and model of the gun is not specified.
Yes, some will go off if dropped just right... or wrong. Most won't.
I think grabbing a falling gun by the trigger is at least as likely a cause.
 
Earlier guns without a firing pin block can fire if dropped on the muzzle. There an many factors involved, but in a nutshell, the impact with the floor imparts sufficient inertia to the firing pin to cause the gun to discharge. There is no involvement of the hammer or other components of the firing system. There have been many instances where this has happened. A friend of mine had his issued S&W model 39 fire in exactly that way. Fortunately in MOST cases the bullet merely hits the floor and there are no injuries.
 
AKElroy said:
I do not see how this is possible. I suspect that, as with all ND's with handguns manufactured in the last 40 years, that the trigger was pulled in an effort to grab the falling weapon. I further suspect a novice witness connected to the story was observing the next round chambered after the weapon cycled properly, likely when LE cleared the weapon and shucked the live round.
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Doubtful... the article clearly says that there was a "casing" and "round" (assuming they meant bullet) in the barrel of the weapon. I assume they described casing and round separately meaning that there were 2 distinct objects... an empty case and a bullet, both in the barrel.

If this is factual, it would suggest that in-fact the pistol discharged when the muzzle hit the floor and this prevented the bullet from exiting the barrel.
 
It sounds most likely that the bullet did discharge since fragments of tile were moved with enough force to cause slight wounding to nearby people. The "round in the chamber" description probably means the next cartridge in the magazine was chambered. The "casing" is probably the ejected brass from the round that fired when the gun hit the floor. It can and does happen on rare occasions with certain guns. Glad no one was really harmed.
 
I suppose a Derringer style would leave the casing and bullet in the barrel if it was prevented from exiting by impacting the floor.
 
If you drop a Remington double derringer, it is probably going to land on the heavy butt, shear the action pins, and put a bullet up your nose. Had that reported once hereabouts. Later learned that it was more likely a plausible excuse for a domestic disturbance that everybody regretted.
 
The article said the barrel hit the floor and the gun discharged. Lots of older-style Colt pistols will do this. That's why Colt changed over to the Series 80 firing pin.
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Not true.

I believe the series 70 guns had a rare potential for AD when dropped on the hammer, not the barrel.
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Correct.

The firing pin lacks the mass to impart sufficient inertia for a discharge as the result of a drop. The issue was people carrying them at half cock under the mistaken belief that it was safer because pulling the trigger couldn't drop the hammer from that position. That tenet is just plain wrong; 1911s should be carried C&L or hammer down. A series 70 type 1911, if carried C&L or hammer down, is drop safe. The half cock position is a fail safe, intended to prevent the hammer from hitting the firing pin in the event that the sear is disengaged without the trigger being pulled. The firing pin itself is also an inertia design; it does not extend beyond the breech face when flush with the rear retainer. Ergo, it requires a hammer strike to have sufficient travel and energy to ignite a primer.

Do not carry a 1911 at half cock, and you will have no problems.

A Colt single action revolver (or copy) is another story, though. If one is inclined to carry such a weapon, it needs to be carried either with an empty chamber under the hammer or with the firing pin resting between cartridges.

As for the incident, in the absence of sufficient information, the best we can deduce is that:

1) it was a cheap gun that actually isn't drop safe.

2) the gun was in a state of disrepair that rendered it not drop safe

3) most likely, trigger was pulled, be it a finger or hanging up on something else carelessly stored in the pack.
 
This is where it is critical to carry a modern handgun with drop safety technology, and a proper holster. This owner apparently did neither. Gun falls out of cheap fanny pack holster and strikes floor, discharging.

I've been saved a couple times by a drop safe pistol, and have had friends drop a pistol before too and thankfully they were drop safe. Accidents happen. In my case #1 I was wearing an OWB holster and in unbuckling my belt the weight of the gun and holster pulled the thing right off my hip and it fell to the floor instantly. In another instance, in taking the IWB holster out it slipped through my hands and fell to the floor. Thankfully in both cases the gun was properly secured in a holster that covered the trigger and the gun was drop safe.
 
If you drop a Remington double derringer, it is probably going to land on the heavy butt, shear the action pins, and put a bullet up your nose.
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I don't think the gun is going to fall far enough for the disparity of weight to cause the butt end to necessarily hit first. Tumbling out of a fanny pack, there would still be enough rotating going on that either end could hit quite easily, or the side for that matter. It just depends on how it got dropped.
 
rogerjames said:
Doubtful... the article clearly says that there was a "casing" and "round" (assuming they meant bullet) in the barrel of the weapon. I assume they described casing and round separately meaning that there were 2 distinct objects... an empty case and a bullet, both in the barrel.

If this is factual, it would suggest that in-fact the pistol discharged when the muzzle hit the floor and this prevented the bullet from exiting the barrel.
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I cannot imagine a scenario where ceramic tile would be sufficiently fragmented to cause injury by a round that failed to leave the barrel. I do not believe this press account is accurate. It would not be the first time the press has, in ignorance, failed to get a gun related story correct.
 
I wouldn't trust a reporter to correctly write any gun story. Most if not all have no knowledge of firearms.
 
AKElroy said:
I cannot imagine a scenario where ceramic tile would be sufficiently fragmented to cause injury by a round that failed to leave the barrel. I do not believe this press account is accurate. It would not be the first time the press has, in ignorance, failed to get a gun related story correct.
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I completely agree on the press thing. I wasn't suggesting that the bullet didn't leave the barrel, but struck the tile while significantly surrounded by the barrel and then rebounded back up into the barrel. I'm no physicist, but this seems more plausible then an empty case remaining in the chamber after another full round has been chambered.
 
This is an interesting thread. My video cameraman and I have been discussing doing a video on a live round drop test...engineered to make sure that the gun fires...because I have a theory that the bullet may not exit the barrel, and we intend to find out pretty soon.

This seems to lend credence to my theory.

As to the empty casing also in the chamber...it sounds like the pistol in question was, in fact, a cocked and locked 1911 and the engaged safety kept the slide from cycling.

Interesting.
 
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