Does dropping a gun make it go off?

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davinci

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I'm not really willing to do this experiment myself.

Due to a recent article,
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=302548

a question comes to mind. Is it possible for a modern firearm to discharge if it is simply dropped? How about old time peacemakers, colt navy revolvers and such?

This also came up in a hunter's safety class recently, someone said it's a good idea to never buy an open top holster for a sidearm when hunting because the brush can make the gun discharge by just 'hitting the hammer' or a 'good jolt from a fall' could make it go off. I questioned the thought, but figured it couldn't hurt anything to just let that go around, doesn't hurt to be too safe. It is mentioned in writing that "should you fall while hunting, be sure to point your muzzle straight up if possible" last time I was hunting pheasant, I'm pretty sure that I trip and fall on my knees about two times, I did point my muzzle in a safe direction, but my Mossberg 500 did not discharge.
 
Any firearm with no transfer bar and an exposed hammer is vulnerable to smacking, and any firearm (safety off) with a real light trigger is vulnerable to dropping. But most modern firearms (safety on) are pretty drop proof.
 
yes, modern guns may fire when dropped. It's unlikely, but it can happen.

As far as brush hitting the hammer and discharging the weaopn, probably not, however a jolt that will cause the firearm to discharge in an open top holster will probably cause a discharge in a closed holster.
 
And the answer is...

The answer is no. The answer is yes.

The REAL answer, of course, is it depends on the gun.

Most modern guns are "drop safe." Kimbers have a firing pin block, Glocks have a striker block, new Ruger single actions and S&W revolvers tend to have a transfer bar system, the Sig P220 series has a hammer block if I remember right.

The cheap Lorcins and Jennings, I don't know. I doubt it but just don't know.

The older single actions like you mentioned were NOT drop safe which is why it was considered bad to carry the hammer down on a loaded chamber. The old-timers would carry five in the cylinder with the hammer down on an empty or else the firing pin would actually rest on the primer.
 
My j frame hammer will not contact the cartridge unless the trigger is pulled. It doesn't have a transfer bar, but it requires a trigger pull to make the hammer go all the way forward. It is a 70s production gun I believe(mod. 36).
 
I've watched all kinds of handguns that were "drop safe," including ones mentioned here, discharge. Drop testing is done in a very controlled situation. Generally guns are dropped with the barrel vertical muzzle up and muzzle down, and with the barrel horizontal, on the left side, right side, top and bottom, according SAAMI, NATO, California, etc. specs.

The problem is that the dropping is done with a release device, onto a known calibrated surface to make sure the gun hits perfectly. What happens when the gun hit 25 deg off vertical?

One classic pistol was just fine dropping from 3 and 6 feet onto steel, concrete or 1 inch thick rubber. dropping it onto steel from one foot would cause it to discharge about 10% of the time.

Drop safeties are just another mechanical safety. Don't trust mechanical safeties
 
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Drop safeties are just another mechanical safety. Don't trust mechanical safeties.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah -- dropping your gun is a bad idea, but most people don't exactly plan to do it! :D

Seriously, though: Since the odds of a modern gun discharging when dropped are pretty small, if your gun starts to fall, let it fall. There's a greater risk of an unintentional discharge if you reach out to grab it spasmodically than there is if you just let it fall.

pax
 
pax,

I agree completely. However, there are people out there that would think nothing of throwing a loaded gun to the ground, because, "hey, its got a drop safety!"
 
i got a lot of practice dropping my pistol and letting it fall at my last carbine class, unfortunately
 
taliv ~

That's, um, a bad thing -- a symptom you were trying to go too fast for your skill level.

pax
 
It depends on the firearm. A Mosin with the safety engaged won't go off if you hit it with a world war. An old SAA with a live round under the hammer may well go off if dropped. Most modern DA revolvers and the SA's with a TSB are drop safe. Ruger went through some extensive litigation over this issue, and believe me their new models will not go off from being dropped. Without the TSB lifted, it is to my knowledge physically impossible for the hammer to do anything even if it does come loose and smack the receiver somehow.
 
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I don't think so, but on the way to the range this morning, the radio news said an 81 year old man in synagague in Texas dropped his sidearm, and it injured 3 people when it "went off", including a foot wound to his 42 year old daughter.
Anyone else hear about this? Supposedly happened very very recently.
 
Generally Speaking modern guns will NOT go off when dropped. There is always the oddball chance, say some sort oF highly tuned gun with a very light trigger, or some that have heavily worn parts.

Now the true SAA (Single Action Army) old style revolvers were made to be carried 5-up, i.e. hammer on an empty chamber. Most of the cap-n-ball blackpowder replicas fall into this category, too.

Newer SA revolvers, like the various Rugers & Taurus models that use the 'Transfer Bar' ignition will NOT got off. They only fire when the trigger is pulled.
 
taliv ~

That's, um, a bad thing -- a symptom you were trying to go too fast for your skill level.

pax
Click to expand...

thanks for the vote of confidence there, Captain Diagnosis, but actually it was a symptom of a screw coming loose in my holster. (holster broke (edit: twice) while i was running, not trying to draw the pistol)
 
A few that do not fire, in my experience, when dropped

Yes, I am sick, and have tried a few on purpose as well as lost a couple from holsters as I bent over. :eek: use a retention device when doing mat work or gymnastics :)

Please do not try this at home. :uhoh:

Note: Tritium sights do not fare well in these incidents :(

Glocks-all 2000-07
beretta w safety on 2000
Bersa Thunder 380 with safety on 2007
Smith and wesson 629 2006
Ruger GP100 2000-
Ruger Redhawk 2006-
NEW model single six 1986-
 
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i'd have never believed it jlbraun without hte article!

Thanks for the feedback gents. I'm going to try it with a primed, empty case tonight and my old springfield 1911. safety glasses and hearing protection are all I need for this experiment. I'll do it on concrete, if that doesn't work then i'm sure that dropping it on anything else won't make it happen either.

thanks again. I'll let you know how it works out.
 
taliv ~

My apologies.

When you said you'd gotten a lot of practice dropping your gun, I believed that meant you'd dropped your gun multiple times -- not that the holster had broken multiple times.

pax
 
Your question is too broad. You need to narrow it to a specific gun.

Some absolutely cannot discharge, simply from being dropped, due to design features.

Others lack the safety-design features, and may discharge if dropped in a certain way and/or dropped with enough force.
 
As much as I hate to admit it:

I've dropped a Glock 22 on concrete 3 times. It landed once on the front of the slide, once dead on the rear and once kind'a cockeyed/sideways. Each time there was a round in the pipe. Never went off.

I've dropped a S&W 638 once - landed on the front of the barrel. Didn't go off.

4 Drops isn't much of a survey but based on the safeties built in to those guns to prevent a discharge if dropped I'd have to say that the odds of setting off a modern firearm by dropping it are pretty slim.

The odds of making one go off if dropped and you try to catch it aren't slim at all in my opinion.

In each of the aforementioned instances I probably could have caught the thing on the way down but promised my self many years ago that I'd never try. If it's going down let it go. Try to catch it and you may turn a situation where your firearm simply acquires a scratch or two into one that endagers your life or the lives of those around you when you catch the sucker by the trigger guard and inadvertantly pull the trigger.
 
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