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I’m not the most technical gun guy in the world. In fact, I’m at the bottom of that class, just above the people who wil never, ever understand the difference between single and double action triggers. Yes, Virginia, there are people who own guns who can’t get their heads round that simple distinction. Ironically enough, most gun gurus recommend revolvers for shooters with that sort of non-command of technical concepts. Load (see the bullets?), point (a.k.a. aim) and shoot. Slow down partner. You might want to try that pointing part again. Besides, revolvers are safer than semis. Aren’t they? Apparently not always . . .

According to Sgt. April Stanley, investigations and statements from witnesses suggest Lovett had gone outside to start their vehicles due to the weather.  He went back inside the home and the couple continued preparing to go to work.

Stanley said Lamonds’ back was toward Lovett as he was about to leave thru the front door, when a 44 caliber revolver fell out of Lovett’s pocket onto the wooden floor, causing it to fire through the holster and hit Lamonds.  According to authorities, Lovett carried the gun in his coveralls as part of his daily routine.

Investigators have not found any evidence that suggests any domestic violence between the couple.

According to the sheriff’s office, “this incident appears to be a tragic accident, pending lab results and tests from the weapon fired.”

Thank you wect.com. My Colt .32 will fire if you hit it hard enough; the Internets told me about a man who done killed himself with a dropped Hammerless. But I thought you could throw a revolver—any revolver—against a wall and do nothing more than damage the wall and scratch or crack the gun.

Someone set me straight. What sort of revolver is susceptible to this sort of negligent discharge?

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8 COMMENTS

  1. Most modern revolvers have a transfer bar that transfers the internia from the hammer to the firing pin and this transfer bar is only in place when the hammer is pulled back, therefore it won’t fire when dropped. This system has been in place for a long time, but I don’t know how long. Either he has a really cheap or very old revolver or its BS–I am betting on BS.

    BTW… I will be happy to show you the difference between single and double action

  2. I thought they started doing the drop test in the ’60s. This guys carry piece is a 50+ year old revolver? This story is BS.

  3. I have a pistol from the 1950’s without the transfer bar, so it was most likely late 60’s early 70’s that it started. They’d have to report the actual make and model to know more.

  4. I’ll bet it was a very cheap gun. It could be really old too, but I doubt many people use antiques for everyday carry. However, there is no shortage of people willing to buy cheap firearms.

  5. If I remember right, it is much more difficult to do a transfer bar on a single action, and that Ruger was the only one doing that–Others have a hammer block or no safety at all, so even modern versions could be non-drop-safe.

    On the other hand, what .44 would fit in a pocket?

  6. It could have been a Charter Arms .44 Bulldog. Unlike any .44 magnum revolver I know of, a Bulldog will fit in a pocket. I also doubt that a Ruger or Taurus (which all have transfer bars) would drop-fire, and it seems equally unlikely that a 50 year-old Model 29 or an SAA reproduction would end up as a daily carry gun.

    If it were a non-Ruger single action, he should never have carried it with all six chambers loaded anyway.

  7. He had it in a holster in his pocket? A .44? Why was he carrying a holstered gun in a pocket? How big are his pockets, anyway?

    I’d like to know more. A lot more. Like, what kind of gun? Why was he carrying it? Was there a history of marital problems or domestic violence? Because “I dropped the gun and it went off” sounds an awful lot like an excuse made up after the fact.

    BTW, S&W revolvers don’t have transfer bars (at least the K and N frame guns I’m familiar with don’t) but they do have an intertial firing pin with a safety device that will not allow the firing pin to protrude from its hole unless the trigger is being held back (Robert, try it with your 686: On an empty gun, pull the trigger and hold it back, you’ll see the firing pin protruding into the area where the bullet would be. Now take your finger off the trigger and you’ll see the pin retract back into the frame. You can even cock the hammer, then pull the trigger while holding the hammer with your thumb. Then release the trigger and let the hammer fall. The pin will not protrude because the trigger was not being held back.)

    • The article said that it was a coverall pocket, so pretty big.

      Many Smiths don’t have transfer-bar lockwork. Is it really that unreasonable to think that the kind of guy who wears coveralls to work every day carries a decades-old Smith & Wesson? Those ideas go together like pancakes and syrup in my mind.

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