oops I dropped it.

[Guest buttonhook]

I dropped my wather pps on the driveway the other night. . I had shown it to my mother and as I was putting it back in my holster she handed me an arm load of stuff (you know how mothers can be) in a hurry to get the stuff from her I got the tail of my shirt barely in the holster with the gun. I knew it but I didnt worry about it because by this time I had stuff in my hands (my mother handed me in a hurry) and the gun was fully in the holster and I planned to correct the problem once I put the stuff in the truck because it was heavy and I didn't want my mother holding anylong than she had to but before I could, my mother adjusts it for me by jerking the tail of my shirt. the fabric snaps out of the holster which in turn slings the gun high in the air and out of the holster to the ground (asphalt driveway). As it was falling I put myself between the gun and my mother and ducked for cover(the truck)...It landed muzzle straight up hammer side hit directly on the pavment...what do you know it did not go off. It did leave a mark in the asphalt, some ground asphalt in the rear of the slide and a very very small mark on the poly. frame., but no marks on the slide/finish.

After this I was pissed about the marks on the gun and what she had done, but I calmly (she is my mother) explained to my mother that she should never do anything like that again. I explained to her that although she means well I carried my gun LOADED and ready to fire and what she did was very dangerous because if the shirt had been in the trigger guard it could have pulled the trigger or it could have hit the ground and fired which could have shot me, her, or someone else. I explained that she should never mess around with anyone's gun unless.....

1. they know your going to do it and have told you it was ok to do.

2. they are unable to control their gun (medical reasons, shot, killed, etc.) and you need to control it.

3. you are fighting for your life and need to get the gun from them to survive.

Now my mother is not stupid and she's comfortable around and shooting guns (she's a HCP holder as well). She just didn't think! I hope now she will just tell me to correct something like that and not try to be the mother and fix it for me.

What I learned was

1. Always make sure you have your gun completely situated before doing anything else it just takes a second

2. Always be in control of it!! no matter who your around or what you are doing.

3. Expect the unexpected and be ready to react.

4. Your mother will always act like....well your mother so be ready and just try to enjoy it!!

Edited December 14, 2010 by buttonhook

[Steelharp]

it could have hit the ground and fired

Get a different gun.

[Guest buttonhook]

it didn't and I dont believe it would have so I'll keep it, but other guns might have....the walther uses the same type of firing/saftey system as your glocks. In fact it is really alot like what a "single stack" glock would be. I'm just use to guns with a hammer 1911, revolvers, etc..the point was she didn't know it wouldn't go off so she should be ready for it to happed becuause you never know for sure if it will or not becuase some guns will and have

[BrasilNuts]

One more thing to keep in mind here is that you allowed you shirt to go into the holster with your pistol. Big no no.

[TGO David]

One more thing to keep in mind here is that you allowed you shirt to go into the holster with your pistol. Big no no.

This.

[Guest buttonhook]

I know thats what I covered under lesson #1 for me...one more reason why I said "I dropped my pistol". it was my fault. If I had done what I should have it would not have happened.

That being said I didn't tuck the the shirt into the holster with the gun it was laying between the holster and the gun (IWB holster). I pulled my shirt up and holster my gun, then let go of the shirt and leaned over to get the stuff from her. Becuase i had my shirt up and leaned over the shirt slipped between the gun and the holster (the flap that protects my skin from the grip). When I stood up it pinched the shirt between the gun and the holster. When she popped the shirt out (like snapping a whip) the shirt tail wrapped around the grip and flipped it out. I should have just pulled the shirt tail out and over the gun to begin with...but I didn't lesson learned and no one was hurt.

Edited December 14, 2010 by buttonhook

[Jonnin]

Glad everyone was OK. If you have to have an incident with a gun, its best when no one gets hurt and everyone lives to learn from it.

I think you are correct: the odds of a modern firearm going off from a light drop is slim. Possible, but unlikely. And equally likely for pretty much any brand/design. I dont see a 1911 as any more dangerous; possibly less so given that hammer back, safety - on setup + a grip safety means quite a bit of unusual circumstances to make it fire by dropping. A revolver, it could happen but the force needed would exceed a 10 foot drop, not a 3 foot fall from your belt, the force just isnt there.

There is no reason to get a new gun at all. It would have been equally scary no matter what type of gun it was, IMO, moreso for a few models and older guns, but about the same panic no matter what.

[Guest mrkirker]

". . . . no reason to get a new gun at all."

Well, there is that 'poly. frame' issue! (LOL, ducking!)

[daddyo]

it didn't and I dont believe it would have so I'll keep it, but other guns might have....the walther uses the same type of firing/saftey system as your glocks. In fact it is really alot like what a "single stack" glock would be. I'm just use to guns with a hammer 1911, revolvers, etc..the point was she didn't know it wouldn't go off so she should be ready for it to happed becuause you never know for sure if it will or not becuase some guns will and have

None of my weapons will fire if dropped.

[Guest buttonhook]

I have to say the polymer frame held up better than I thought it would.....I had this sick feeling as I picked it up but it only had a small mark on it. It hit hard enough to smash the asphalt into the rear of the slide. I just dusted it off and put it back in the holster.

*** I wasn't saying the 1911 or a rev. was bad. they just have a hammer. anygun with a hammer and a blow just right on the hammer in the down position could be more likely to go off (without a hammer block of course).***

[Guest carbonarcher]

Buttonhook,

Good, Bad, Ugly or indiffent.... The walther pps is set up with the Glock stricker system. I have always explained to them that it is nothing more then a "glock" with "sig" full rails. Not to mention, that you have the "extra" safety of the removeable back strap which "shuts" the pistol down. I just completed some training and like you said, about your shirt tail getting in the holster, I have been taught to let the pistol drop. Does not matter what the make or model is, they are designed to ensure that they do not go off when dropped.

I am greatful for you sharing your "real life" happenings. I know that my eyes have been opened as per the "little" things that can happen to us.

Greatfully, no one was hurt.

Leave and learn.

Daddy always said, "It's ok to make a mistake, Don't make the sameone twice"

[Guest TargetShooter84]

Make your mother pay for those scuff marks on your gun from the asphalt.....then you all will be fair and square then.

[Mike]

What's a good carry gun that doesn't have a few dings and scuffs on it?

[JReedEsq]

Maybe I'm off topic, but here goes: Do most moern double action revolvers have a hammer block. safety?

[Guest Letereat!]

Good story that has a happy ending and several morals to it.

My Uncles still give me Gun and Chain saw safety lectures every time one is being put to use in there presence.

[Rightwinger]

Show guns to Mom in the house after clearing safely might be a good take away as well. Neighbors need not be involved this way.

[Guest Octo]

Show guns to Mom in the house after clearing safely might be a good take away as well. Neighbors need not be involved this way.

Agreed.

[Guest mikedwood]

One more thing to keep in mind here is that you allowed you shirt to go into the holster with your pistol. Big no no.

Yeah! Your lucky it just fell out.

When I had been carrying about a week I dropped my G26 on tile on the backplate and it just so happened that the barrel was pointing dead at my face when it hit. It didn't go off but I was about a mile away from Frontier Firearms and went in and got a good retention holster.

[Dolomite_supafly]

A 1911 will not go off if the hammer is down and the hammer is struck. The firing pin doesn't protrude when the hammer is in the down position. It needs the kinetic energy of the hammer falling to overpower the firing pin spring in order for the round to go off. When the hammer is down there is no way a blow to the rear of the gun will make it go off.

Now a blow to the front of the gun could potentially cause the gun to accidentally fire. It doesn't matter if the hammer is down or up. It could be forceful enough to make the firing pin overpower the firing pin spring and strike the primer. The series 80 Colts have a firing pin block that prevents this.

On a 1911, as long as the thumb safety is engaged there is no way the hammer will fall. The thumb safety locks the sear against the hammer preventing it from falling off the hammer hook. The 1911 can fire from a fall if thumb safety isn't engaged even if the grip safety isn't depressed. The grip safety only prevents the trigger from moving rearward but it doesn't prevent the sear from being bumped off the hammer during a fall. But even with the thumb safety engaged a good drop on the nose has the potential to fire for the reasons above.

Glad it worked out for you but most modern guns are reasonably safe from a fall. The striker fired pistols are probably some of the safest because the springs are not loaded like most other designs.

Dolomite

[Guest 10mm4me]

The PPS will not and cannot fire if dropped. In fact, just about the only guns that can are 70 series Colts and pre transfer bar SA revolvers. Don't worry about it. Drop away.

[Jonnin]

Maybe I'm off topic, but here goes: Do most moern double action revolvers have a hammer block. safety?

Yes, more or less. The dangerous revolvers have a hammer that IS the firing pin. That is, the hammer is tapered to a sharp point and directly strikes the primer, there is nothing else between the two. That stuff is at least 50 years old, I am not sure when the last of them was made but I have not seen one in anything made after 1960. Its very easy to tell: good revolvers have a flat hammer, bad ones have a needle sharp point.

The flat ones strike a "floating" firing pin which in turn strikes the cartridge. In order to fire a modern gun by dropping it, you would have to cock it first then drop it hard enough to either release the hammer by stress or by inertia (trigger inertia overcomes the trigger pull weight). Uncocked, its going to be "nearly impossible" to set one off. Possible, yes, I will say that any gun when dropped *could* fire if just the right things happened, but its extremely unlikely, one in a billion chance or less sort of stuff.

So long as you do not drop a cocked revolver, you should be fine. Drop it cocked, and, well, just don't DO that...

You are more likely to snag the hammer on clothing and pull it back, then let go, causing a discharge, than you are to set it off by dropping it. This is also unlikely: the partial hammer pullback half rotates the cylinder and the primer is out of phase with the pin.

Its not something to worry about. Do your best to not drop them, maintain positive control if you cock the gun, and you can feel safe enough that if you do drop it it will not go off apart from freak accidents. If you want to worry about something, you are far, far more likely to die from fast food or a car accident than by dropping a modern firearm a short distance.

[Guest The Highlander]

Jonnin,

With all due respect, your information is very good, except for one detail...S&W (and likely others, not as familiar with Colt's) made hammer-mounted firing pins at least 20 years after 1960, if not 30. The "newest" one I own with a hammer-mounted firing pin is a Model 19. Don't remember exactly when I bought it, but it was purchased new in the 1990's. Now, it could have been sitting on the gunshop shelf for a while, and I've never checked its born-on date, but I doubt seriously it had been there since the 1960's!

The Highlander

[Guest Sgt. Joe]

Yeah! Your lucky it just fell out.

When I had been carrying about a week I dropped my G26 on tile on the backplate and it just so happened that the barrel was pointing dead at my face when it hit. It didn't go off but I was about a mile away from Frontier Firearms and went in and got a good retention holster.

I also dropped my SR9c on a tile floor right after getting it, it too landed right on the back of the slide and was pointed square at my face.:eek:

Obviously it did not fire or I would not be typing about it.

I had started to try and catch it but caught myself and didnt. It had just slipped out of my hand when I picked it up off the counter, no holster involved so a new one was not needed.

Kinda scary for a moment or two but it reassured me of the design of todays firearms.

[Steelharp]

You haven't lived until your BHP Practical falls out in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and you accidentally kick it across 5 parking spaces, let me tell you!

(Yes, I... uh, I've lived... :lol:)

[Guest tnxdshooter]

I dropped my wather pps on the driveway the other night. . I had shown it to my mother and as I was putting it back in my holster she handed me an arm load of stuff (you know how mothers can be) in a hurry to get the stuff from her I got the tail of my shirt barely in the holster with the gun. I knew it but I didnt worry about it because by this time I had stuff in my hands (my mother handed me in a hurry) and the gun was fully in the holster and I planned to correct the problem once I put the stuff in the truck because it was heavy and I didn't want my mother holding anylong than she had to but before I could, my mother adjusts it for me by jerking the tail of my shirt. the fabric snaps out of the holster which in turn slings the gun high in the air and out of the holster to the ground (asphalt driveway). As it was falling I put myself between the gun and my mother and ducked for cover(the truck)...It landed muzzle straight up hammer side hit directly on the pavment...what do you know it did not go off. It did leave a mark in the asphalt, some ground asphalt in the rear of the slide and a very very small mark on the poly. frame., but no marks on the slide/finish.

After this I was pissed about the marks on the gun and what she had done, but I calmly (she is my mother) explained to my mother that she should never do anything like that again. I explained to her that although she means well I carried my gun LOADED and ready to fire and what she did was very dangerous because if the shirt had been in the trigger guard it could have pulled the trigger or it could have hit the ground and fired which could have shot me, her, or someone else. I explained that she should never mess around with anyone's gun unless.....

1. they know your going to do it and have told you it was ok to do.

2. they are unable to control their gun (medical reasons, shot, killed, etc.) and you need to control it.

3. you are fighting for your life and need to get the gun from them to survive.

Now my mother is not stupid and she's comfortable around and shooting guns (she's a HCP holder as well). She just didn't think! I hope now she will just tell me to correct something like that and not try to be the mother and fix it for me.

What I learned was

1. Always make sure you have your gun completely situated before doing anything else it just takes a second

2. Always be in control of it!! no matter who your around or what you are doing.

3. Expect the unexpected and be ready to react.

4. Your mother will always act like....well your mother so be ready and just try to enjoy it!!

Of course it didnt go off. Why do you think that semi-auto's have internal drop safety's?