breakthrough
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Accidential Discharges of FNS 40 Pistols
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Hard to say. A pistol that truly has an internal failure where the striker is released without activation of the trigger and the firing pin block also fails should be pretty exceedingly rare. My initial reaction would be that the officers are lying to cover their asses. Of course there are the two other cases brought up as a concern so maybe FN really has a problem. Only time will tell.
Tucker 1371
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This.
Beyond that... Maybe the holster they're carrying wasn't designed too well, if it locks on the trigger guard and there's enough play... maybe the locking mechanism activated the trigger
... Gotta admit I'm just grasping at straws here trying to play devil's advocate.I rrrreally doubt FN would allow such a design flaw or such low quality components leave their facility.
The incident should be on camera, you would be able to tell exactly what happened.
"Hey guys I really dig these new BOOOOOOMM............
Fred, John, Larry, Dave, Steve, we all say it happened when holstered or else I'll tell chief you all milk the clock30 minutes every single day
The incident should be on camera, you would be able to tell exactly what happened.
"Hey guys I really dig these new BOOOOOOMM............
Fred, John, Larry, Dave, Steve, we all say it happened when holstered or else I'll tell chief you all milk the clock30 minutes every single day
Tucker 1371
New member
^That made me laugh 
Walt Sherrill
New member
I read about the incident in question on the FNH forum. A lot of questions come up:
1) the supervisor checked the gun after the incident and found the spent case stll in the gun (and implicitly, still in the chamber). That means the slide was held closed when it fired. I know that some retention holster MIGHT keep the slide from moving very far, if at all, but did the officer in question have such a holster? If not, the round should have been fully or partially ejected.
2) There were no witnesses. Just folks who hear the sound of the weapon firing.
3) the weapon has four built-in safety mechanism:
It seems that at least a couple of those safety features would have had to have failed for the gun to fire without someone pressing on the trigger -- for as long as the firing pin safety remained functional, anything other safety mechanism failing on its own would not have caused a discharge. And if someone WAS pressing on the trigger, theywould have had to have held the slide shut -- or put the fired casing back in the gun!
It would seem that there had to be at least SOMETHING broken inside the gun for it to fire as it did.
While I have two FNS-40s (a 40 and a 40L) I've not been able to learn whether the striker is fully or only partially charged before the trigger is pulled, and I can find nothing in the literature that explains it. Only a few striker-fired guns fully charge the striker spring, and trigger movement is needed to complete the "charging" process and to release the striker. That may NOT be the case with the NFS design. If the trigger didn't move, something might have broken inside the gun.
It may be that the officer in question truly had a currently unexplained "accidental" discharge; it may also be it was a truly "negligent" discharge and he's just covering his butt. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out after FNH's technical experts get a chance to examine the gun.
1) the supervisor checked the gun after the incident and found the spent case stll in the gun (and implicitly, still in the chamber). That means the slide was held closed when it fired. I know that some retention holster MIGHT keep the slide from moving very far, if at all, but did the officer in question have such a holster? If not, the round should have been fully or partially ejected.
2) There were no witnesses. Just folks who hear the sound of the weapon firing.
3) the weapon has four built-in safety mechanism:
- A trigger safety, similar to that seen on a Glock, which prevents the weapon from discharging without pressure on the trigger.
- A firing pin safety which prevents the striker from hitting the primer without the trigger being pulled.
- A drop safety which prevents the sear from rotating to release the striker unless the trigger is pulled.
- An out-of-battery safety which prevents the sear from releasing the striker if the slide is not fully forward
It seems that at least a couple of those safety features would have had to have failed for the gun to fire without someone pressing on the trigger -- for as long as the firing pin safety remained functional, anything other safety mechanism failing on its own would not have caused a discharge. And if someone WAS pressing on the trigger, theywould have had to have held the slide shut -- or put the fired casing back in the gun!
It would seem that there had to be at least SOMETHING broken inside the gun for it to fire as it did.
While I have two FNS-40s (a 40 and a 40L) I've not been able to learn whether the striker is fully or only partially charged before the trigger is pulled, and I can find nothing in the literature that explains it. Only a few striker-fired guns fully charge the striker spring, and trigger movement is needed to complete the "charging" process and to release the striker. That may NOT be the case with the NFS design. If the trigger didn't move, something might have broken inside the gun.
It may be that the officer in question truly had a currently unexplained "accidental" discharge; it may also be it was a truly "negligent" discharge and he's just covering his butt. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out after FNH's technical experts get a chance to examine the gun.
Closed as a Drive-by cut and paste posting
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