(AK) Goldpanner drops handgun, suffers wounds

[Drizzt]

Goldpanner drops handgun, suffers wounds



ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say a 60-year-old Kenai man is recovering after an accidental shooting last night (Saturday).

Troopers say Richard Satterlee was panning for gold near Mile 49 Seward Highway armed with a .44-caliber revolver in a holster on his belt.

Troopers say Satterlee bent over and the handgun fell out, struck a rock and discharged.

A bullet passed through Satterlee's knee and into his right hand.

Satterlee was alone but friends were nearby. They heard the gunshot and summoned rescuers.

Satterlee was transported to Providence Hospital in Anchorage by Life Guard helicopter.

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6984253

Oops...

 

[Gord]

Ouch. Not familiar at all with revolvers, but don't most have a hammer block or transfer bar?

 

[JLelli]

Ouch. Not familiar at all with revolvers, but don't most have a hammer block or transfer bar?

Not if it's an older model.

 

[BigBlock]

Yeah...I'd sure like to know how hitting a rock made it go off. Maybe he was carrying it cocked and ready to go? I could throw mine on the ground any which way and I'd bet my life it won't go off....

 

[Richbaker]

Single-action, no xfer bar, loaded round under the hammer....ka-boom!

 

[PTK]

No pictures to go by, no cartridge to go by... just ".44 caliber". Perhaps cap and ball?

 

[TehK1w1]

THROUGH his knee into his hand...ouch.

 

[Legionnaire]

Single-action, no xfer bar, loaded round under the hammer ...

holster that doesn't fit and/or with no thumb strap,

....ka-boom!

 

[ceetee]

Single-action, no xfer bar, loaded round under the hammer ...

holster that doesn't fit and/or with no thumb strap,

....ka-boom!

Either that or some salmon has just managed a heckuva leap up the evolutionary ladder...

 

[Steve499]

Couldn't have been cap & ball. First, everyone knows those things aren't REAL guns anyway. Then, he'd have had to drop it onto a rock 4 or 5 times before he got the first chamber to go off. If it did go off, it wouldn't have hit his knee, it would have missed over his shoulder since they all shoot high. If it did go off and hit his knee both, the ball would have bounced off since those things just have no power at all. What were you thinking PTK?

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

That hurts my knee just thinking about it.
I wouldn't be out in the boonies in AK without at least a .357, but I think he needs a holster with a strap and preferrably something a little more drop safe!

 

[General Geoff]

This is why double action (w/transfer bar safety) wheelguns are your friends.

 

[Jim March]

You know what they say.

A friend in knee is a friend indee...oops.

 

[KiltedClaymore]

doublepost oops

 

[KiltedClaymore]

Couldn't have been cap & ball. First, everyone knows those things aren't REAL guns anyway. Then, he'd have had to drop it onto a rock 4 or 5 times before he got the first chamber to go off. If it did go off, it wouldn't have hit his knee, it would have missed over his shoulder since they all shoot high. If it did go off and hit his knee both, the ball would have bounced off since those things just have no power at all

tell that to everyone that got killed by them in the civil war and early days of the wild west. mine shoots strait as an arrow. and if the hammer was on a cap (BIG nono) and it was dropped, it would go off 9 times outta 10. and he would have no knee left if it hit him there. soft lead roundball acts like a hollowpoint when it hits bone.

 

[PTK]

KiltedClaymore.... he was being amusingly, tangibly sarcastic.

 

[Nhsport]

I believe the whole transfer bar thing came about when two couples were horseing around somewhere out west and takeing pictures when one of the guys ,being a wise guy, dropped his pants to moon the camera and his ruger dropped ,discharged , and shot himself in the ass . Court stuff happened and Ruger developed a transfer bar able to be fitted to his older guns .
I don't know anything about the above accident in Alaska but if the old gent was carrying a no transfer bar gun with all six chambers loaded he was an idiot . Just not a wise thing to do!