Mike, in the video above of Miculek, it seems like that is what he's stating. That the hammer block would prevent a cocked firearm from firing, unless a finger was on the trigger. After watching the video, I thought that was the purpose of the hammer block. Now I'm left wondering again, what is the purpose?
I think we can all agree that S&W installed it to prevent accidental discharges. But what scenarios were they trying to prevent? After RKG's last post, I'm left thinking that it's only purpose is to prevent the following:
1.) You drop your revolver, the hammer shears off, and sends the firing pin home. The hammer block would prevent this in theory. Can anyone confirm that a hammer has ever sheared off? I'm thinking it would be next to impossible, unless the revolver were dropped from 20+ feet.
2.) Your hammer rebound slide gets stuck. Thus, if the hammer were cocked and dropped, the hammer would fall and the firing pin would find it's mark. Can anyone confirm the rebound slide actually sticking back?
Can anyone think of any other scenarios? When I originally started this thread, I was thinking along the same lines as RKG. That the hammer rebound slide pretty much prevents anything. I was initially thinking that maybe S&W installed these as a kneejerk reaction to the Navy accident. On a side note, my hammer block safety is in the mail, and should be here on Wed.
Lots of good discussion in this thread, lets keep it going.