Mike Irwin
Staff
Gunslinger,
...the notches were designed as safety notches
Ever hear the old admonition about a safety, ANY safety, being nothing more than a mechanial device prone to failure?
Here's my problem with those "safety notches" and the trend toward carrying those little guns fully loaded in a pants pocket sans holster.
Get up, sit down. Get up, sit down. Get up, move around, sit down. Repeat.
Every time you do that, Your pants and the pocket fabric move independently, and often with considerable friction and force. (I can't even begin to tell you how many times the magazine has been released, or the safety popped off, from my Taurus TP-22, which I keep in my left front pants pocket--just from normal sitting and standing.)
This means that the hammer can be drawn back enough to slip out of the safety notch, and also that the cylinder can potentially be rotate enough that the hammer will come to rest on the rim of a cartridge.
IIRC, the when the hammer is in the safety notch, the only thing keeping the cylinder from rotating is the hammer nose. If the hammer is drawn back far enough (which isn't all that far), the cylinder will freewheel.
IOW, and IMHO, carrying one of these guns in a pocket without a holster (someone else mentioned one that fits rather snugly around the cylinder) is a serious shot thigh (or worse) waiting to happen.
So, do we resume our duel, or do we keep it in check this time?
Oh, by the way, my mail order Mau-Mau is clearing customs. He'll be by for you in a couple of days.
------------------
Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
...the notches were designed as safety notches
Ever hear the old admonition about a safety, ANY safety, being nothing more than a mechanial device prone to failure?
Here's my problem with those "safety notches" and the trend toward carrying those little guns fully loaded in a pants pocket sans holster.
Get up, sit down. Get up, sit down. Get up, move around, sit down. Repeat.
Every time you do that, Your pants and the pocket fabric move independently, and often with considerable friction and force. (I can't even begin to tell you how many times the magazine has been released, or the safety popped off, from my Taurus TP-22, which I keep in my left front pants pocket--just from normal sitting and standing.)
This means that the hammer can be drawn back enough to slip out of the safety notch, and also that the cylinder can potentially be rotate enough that the hammer will come to rest on the rim of a cartridge.
IIRC, the when the hammer is in the safety notch, the only thing keeping the cylinder from rotating is the hammer nose. If the hammer is drawn back far enough (which isn't all that far), the cylinder will freewheel.
IOW, and IMHO, carrying one of these guns in a pocket without a holster (someone else mentioned one that fits rather snugly around the cylinder) is a serious shot thigh (or worse) waiting to happen.
So, do we resume our duel, or do we keep it in check this time?
Oh, by the way, my mail order Mau-Mau is clearing customs. He'll be by for you in a couple of days.
------------------
Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.