Mike Irwin
Staff
Some time ago, in one of those incessant which is more reliable, a revolver or semi-auto I took the position that a revolver is no more likely to be put out of commission from being dropped than is a semi-automatic.
Despite some seriously bizarre scenarios, i.e.,
"if you dropped your handgun from the top of a 200-foot cliff" type stuff... Uh huh, guess the situation you need your handgun for is going to go on hold until you climb down, get it, and climb back up? Right.... Earth to disarmed guy...
YOU'RE SCREWED!
Anyway...
I finally decided that some testing was necessary.
So, my old reliable Charter Arms Off Duty .38 volunteered.
I immediately decided that it would have to be a test that REALLY tested whether a revolver could be so easily put out of action simply by being dropped on its side on the cylinder.
To that end, I started dropping the revolver out of the window of my office and onto the concrete patio below, a drop of perhaps 15 to 16 feet. I've never bothered measuring it.
After the first drop, nothing was amiss, so I put the gun in a plastic baggie to keep it from getting too badly chewed up, tied some twine around a corner of the bag so I could haul the gun back up, and commenced to drop the gun over 20 times.
The end result was that the gun was still functional, although a little dented. Timing was fine, it functioned fine, etc.
Well, someone mentioned that a revolver being RELOADED, is really the most fragile thing on the face of the universe, and a fall from belt height with the cylinder open will immediately disable any and all revolvers ever manufactured. Well, maybe not, but there was the inference.
So, back to another round of testing.
I started in the basement, which is concrete slab.
I dropped the Charter, cylinder open, onto the slab so that it would impact the open cylinder and possibly bend the ejector rod. I repeated the test several times from slightly different angles.
I did this test at belt height to simulate what might happen if the revolver were dropped while being reloaded.
Guess what?
You'll be bored by the answer.
It functioned just fine.
The ejector rod isn't bent that I can tell, ejection is still smooth, the finish continues to take a beating, and the function firing, with 5 unprimed .38 casings, resulted in 5 detonated primers with firing pin marks right where they should be.
I thought long and hard about dropping the Charter out of the window of my office with the cylinder open.
At that height it's probably a pretty good chance that yes, the ejector rod will be bent and possibly render the gun inoperable, or only partially functional.
But, once again, we're back to the question of, just how reasonable is it to expect something like this to happen in REAL life, with the expectation that you might be able to get your gun back in time to save your life?
Not really all that good, but if you REALLY want to believe that, then hey, no problem, but I think I have a deal you just can't pass up.... Wonderful ocean-front property in New Mexico, only $1.49 an acre, and all of your neighbors are recent Playboy Playmates....
And, it also begs another question, about the supposedly infalability of semi-automatics....
If it's possible for you to drop a revolver during a reload, it's also possible to drop a loaded magazine during a reload. Given that the magazine is the single most fragile part of a semi-automatic, I continue to maintain that it's a LOT more likely that such an occurrence could leave you with a gun that is, in reality, just as useless if you're confronted with a situation in which you need your gun.
So, with that, my Charter Arms Off Duty .38 now goes into drop-test retirement, having given its all for the cause of disproving once and for all the notion that revolvers are the most fragile creations on the face of the planet and will immediately be rendered permanently inoperable if dropped 2.5 milimeters onto a bed of fine damask satin backed with 2 feet of the finest, fluffiest eiderdown.
Thus ends the saga.
If any of you would like an autographed publicity photograph of the UNDEFEATED DROP TEST CHAMPION OF THE WORLD please sent $29.95 to:
6969 Don't We All Have Something Better To Discuss Lane
Realitybitesville, Some State, 0100101
Despite some seriously bizarre scenarios, i.e.,
"if you dropped your handgun from the top of a 200-foot cliff" type stuff... Uh huh, guess the situation you need your handgun for is going to go on hold until you climb down, get it, and climb back up? Right.... Earth to disarmed guy...
YOU'RE SCREWED!
Anyway...
I finally decided that some testing was necessary.
So, my old reliable Charter Arms Off Duty .38 volunteered.
I immediately decided that it would have to be a test that REALLY tested whether a revolver could be so easily put out of action simply by being dropped on its side on the cylinder.
To that end, I started dropping the revolver out of the window of my office and onto the concrete patio below, a drop of perhaps 15 to 16 feet. I've never bothered measuring it.
After the first drop, nothing was amiss, so I put the gun in a plastic baggie to keep it from getting too badly chewed up, tied some twine around a corner of the bag so I could haul the gun back up, and commenced to drop the gun over 20 times.
The end result was that the gun was still functional, although a little dented. Timing was fine, it functioned fine, etc.
Well, someone mentioned that a revolver being RELOADED, is really the most fragile thing on the face of the universe, and a fall from belt height with the cylinder open will immediately disable any and all revolvers ever manufactured. Well, maybe not, but there was the inference.
So, back to another round of testing.
I started in the basement, which is concrete slab.
I dropped the Charter, cylinder open, onto the slab so that it would impact the open cylinder and possibly bend the ejector rod. I repeated the test several times from slightly different angles.
I did this test at belt height to simulate what might happen if the revolver were dropped while being reloaded.
Guess what?
You'll be bored by the answer.
It functioned just fine.
The ejector rod isn't bent that I can tell, ejection is still smooth, the finish continues to take a beating, and the function firing, with 5 unprimed .38 casings, resulted in 5 detonated primers with firing pin marks right where they should be.
I thought long and hard about dropping the Charter out of the window of my office with the cylinder open.
At that height it's probably a pretty good chance that yes, the ejector rod will be bent and possibly render the gun inoperable, or only partially functional.
But, once again, we're back to the question of, just how reasonable is it to expect something like this to happen in REAL life, with the expectation that you might be able to get your gun back in time to save your life?
Not really all that good, but if you REALLY want to believe that, then hey, no problem, but I think I have a deal you just can't pass up.... Wonderful ocean-front property in New Mexico, only $1.49 an acre, and all of your neighbors are recent Playboy Playmates....
And, it also begs another question, about the supposedly infalability of semi-automatics....
If it's possible for you to drop a revolver during a reload, it's also possible to drop a loaded magazine during a reload. Given that the magazine is the single most fragile part of a semi-automatic, I continue to maintain that it's a LOT more likely that such an occurrence could leave you with a gun that is, in reality, just as useless if you're confronted with a situation in which you need your gun.
So, with that, my Charter Arms Off Duty .38 now goes into drop-test retirement, having given its all for the cause of disproving once and for all the notion that revolvers are the most fragile creations on the face of the planet and will immediately be rendered permanently inoperable if dropped 2.5 milimeters onto a bed of fine damask satin backed with 2 feet of the finest, fluffiest eiderdown.
Thus ends the saga.
If any of you would like an autographed publicity photograph of the UNDEFEATED DROP TEST CHAMPION OF THE WORLD please sent $29.95 to:
6969 Don't We All Have Something Better To Discuss Lane
Realitybitesville, Some State, 0100101
but a Charter will do!