A Tale of a Policeman's S&W 638 AD

[bad_dad_brad]

Call him "the kid." He is a nice kid, young, friendly, good looking, and smart. He worked at my local dealer's sport-shop. He is a hunter, fisherman, and all around outdoors-man from the Pacific Northwest. But his gun savvy is mostly relegated to long guns and hunting.

Call him "the cop." He is one of our supposedly town's finest. Been around. Knows the score. He is not a detective. He is a patrolman. He carries backup, the curious little S&W humpback airweight - a good choice if you know it's manual of arms.

And so - two men make a mistake because one does not understand how things work and the other hands a loaded gun to another.

The cop comes into the gun store. The kid admires him. The cop likes the kid, hell, I like the kid. The kid, as a kid would do, asks the cop about his carry. The cop shows him, hands it to the kid. Trouble is - the kid is unfamiliar with the piece, and the cop gives it to him with 5 +P .38 caliber snakes in the cylinder.

It is a strange little weapon. No other like it except it's bigger brother the S&W 649. It looks as if the hammer is shrouded doesn't it? It is not. And the kid, drawn to it's different look, wonders what that little spur is within the hump. He holds the little revolver in the palm of his hand, and lightly pulls back on the spur, not a lot, just a bit, and innocently let's go.

Boom! An AD. In a store. A gun-shop. The kid burns his hand as the gas discharges from between the forcing cone and cylinder. It looks like a painfull semi-circular cut. It scares the crap out of every one in the store. Thank God the bullet passes harmlessly to the floor and harms no one. The kid ends up getting patched at the ER. I don't know what happened to the cop. It made the local paper. I got the details from my salesman.

This unfortunate incident is a reminder to us all:

1. Every gun is loaded.

2. If you don't know the manual of arms, don't handle or touch the gun, until getting instruction.

3. If you do know, when handed a gun, check to see if it is loaded.

4. If you give your gun to another, make sure it is unloaded.

5. Make sure he checks - both of you.

6. And for God's sake if you are a Cop, what the hell are you doing giving someone your loaded gun?

The kid quit his job. The Cop better be disciplined in accordance with departmental regulations.

A true story - this occurred several days ago - in my little town.

 

[Darrin]

I thought LEOs were not allowed to unholster a carry weapon unless there was a threat. Is that true or just good practice?

I won't say this is the officer's fault entirely. "The kid" should have either cleared the weapon or had the LEO do it in front of him.

Both deserve a good smack.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

Oh yes Darrin, it was all agreed upon by witness and reflection, that the two involved in the incident, were basic idiots regarding gun safety, and both deserve a good spanking. As I said before, thank God no one was seriously hurt or worse.

I just think, as an LEO, the guy should have known better. After all - the Kid has not been formally trained, but the Cop supposedly was.

 

[Orthonym]

I'm as vain and desirous of appearing omniscient as anyone else, but when I'm about to handle a gun new to me, I swallow my pride and say, "Excuse me, sir, I'm not familiar with this weapon. Would you show me how to make it safe?"

 

[firestar]

I'm surprised that it went off like that. I thought it had some type of safety that would prevent this. My Ruger Speed Six has a trasfer bar system that would have prevented that from happening but I am not sure about my S&Ws. I have never had my S&W revolvers apart to see what makes them tick.

 

[Preacherman]

Unless the trigger system was defective, the gun should NOT have fired like that. The only explanation I can think of is that the kid had his finger on the trigger while pulling the hammer back, and that he had the trigger far enough back to remove the firing pin block. When he released the hammer, he did NOT release the trigger first, so the hammer snapped forward with enough force to fire the cartridge. That's the only way I can see a discharge happening under these circumstances, given a gun that is in good working order...

 

[Matt G]

Preacherman took the words right out of my m- --er, keyboard.

Unless the pistol is defective, the kid had his finger on the trigger, and was even more negligent than the story first sounds.

Friends, this is a good example: NEVER assume. Never assume that they know what they're doing. Never assume that you know what you're doing.

 

[blades67]

Everybody knows that guns "just go off" without any help from the person holding it. It is interesting that a gun will only "go off by itself" while being held though.

 

[Standing Wolf]

1. Every gun is loaded.

Would someone please tell me why that's so difficult for so many people to understand?

 

[bad_dad_brad]

The story was told as related by the salesman.

The correct term for that kind of hammer set up in a 639/649 type is actually shrouded. When I said it was not shrouded I used incorrect terminology and I meant it was not an enclosed hidden hammer as is far more common.

I think there was a thread awhile back when Kentucky Rifle bought his 639. We discussed DAO snubbies versus the potential single action using the cocked shrouded hammer of the 639. Some folks thought the 639 in this mode was not necessary. This incident does make me reconsider the enclosed hammer snubbie instead of the shrouded type.

Could this have been an older like 639 model without a transfer bar maybe? I am not up on my older revolvers. They were first marketed in the 50's. Did Colt make a like model like that? Those old Colts snubbies had a firing pin built into the hammer. Finally, I know there were kits that you could install that shrouded the hammer but left the tip exposed so that it could be manually cocked.

I will quiz the salesman again, he thought it was a 639 type, but only the Kid knows what he really did to cause the AD, and he is long gone.

Of course - the bottom line is - basic gun safety was not followed. Somebody got hurt. Somebody could have been killed. The Cop should have known better. The Kid too, but I give him a slight break for being inexperienced.

 

[JDSlack]

While I agree that both parties share responsibility for this stupidity, I blame the man that handed the weapon to another, LOADED. Whenever someone asks to handle any firearm of mine, I ALWAYS unload it first, and I count the rounds I take out and double check the cylinder for revolvers, and the chamber for semi-autos. I also hand it over, cylinder out or slide locked back, and expect it to be returned the same way.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

JDSlack -

Right on brother (or sister). Me too. Seems pretty simple. That unloaded thing.

 

[Owen]

Kids finger was on the trigger....otherwise the 1) hammer block and 2) trigger rebound would have prevented the gun from firing.

owen

 

[Master Blaster]

If the trigger was no ALL the way back there is no way that this could have happened with the S&W snubbie you mentioned.

as soon as you release the trigger on a S&W revolver, any one made since the late 1920s the rebound slide pushes the hammer back and blocks it from allowing the firing pin to protrude.

For this to happen the clerk would hve had to pull the trigger all the way to the rear first (gun would have fired at that point) then while holding the trigger back worked the hammer.

Souns to me like he pulled the trigger or this story is BOGUS.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

Master Blaster,

The story is not bogus, or at least the AD was not bogus. It made the local paper (except the part about it being a cop was nicely edited to the term "customer".)

As I learn more, I suspect the Kid did pull or brushed the trigger and probably had fully cocked the shrouded hammer into single action mode before he did it. Doesn't take much effort to break the trigger when it is in this mode.

The threat of liability may have altered the story a bit I suppose. Still it is all about gun safety.

 

[Matt G]

I blame the man that handed the weapon to another, LOADED.

Interesting. I completely fault the person who fired the gun, i.e.: the man behind the gun counter.

Personal responsibility's a funny thing, sometimes.

 

[Erik]

Never hand a loaded gun to anyone to "admire."

Never, never, ever, absolutely do not, hand a loaded gun to anyone in public when you are acting in the capacity of an in-uniform, on duty LEO. Stupid. Crazy. Likely career ending. Especially given the ND. (I'd be terminated for it, I'm possitive.)