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WTC - pistol cocked in the holster


Bushy Blonco

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ATB Shooter draws pistol and fires all five, holsters pistol with hammer down on last fired round; as he pulls his hand off the holstered pistol, his hand or sleeve catches the hammer and cocks the holstered pistol to half-cock. 

SDQ for a cocked gun leaving the shooter's hand?

Thanks. 

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21 minutes ago, Bushy Blonco said:

ATB Shooter draws pistol and fires all five, holsters pistol with hammer down on last fired round; as he pulls his hand off the holstered pistol, his hand or sleeve catches the hammer and cocks the holstered pistol to half-cock. 

SDQ for a cocked gun leaving the shooter's hand?

Thanks. 

 

YES.

 

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I agree with PWB.  The shooter created the situation.  Here's an alternative that happened over a decade ago.

 

At a regional match one year the shooter started with a big fringed blanket in both hands (I was the Posse Marshal and TO at the time).  At the buzzer, drape it over the fence, shoot 1 pistol, shoot rifle, move position for other pistol.  After pistol 1 and rifle, the shooter started to move, I called a "cease fire".  The fringe of the blanket was tangled up on the hammer of the "hot" pistol and had cocked it. Had he continued to move, the cocked and loaded pistol would have been pulled from the holster and dumped to the ground. I called a reshoot for prop failure - the Match Director verified the call at the scene.

 

Doc

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This is a real potential problem that results with the hammer exposed by the top of the holster being cut lower than the tip of the hammer spur!  Should this occur with a Colt's style sixgun, even with the hammer initially down on an empty chamber, if the hammer was cocked far enough to rotate the cylinder in alignment with the firing pin, it is possible that the safety notches might not catch the hammer if it fell, allowing the live round to go off, with possibly tragic results!  This is why, with one exception, I always recommend holsters cut high enough to completely shroud the hammer!

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2 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:

This is a real potential problem that results with the hammer exposed by the top of the holster being cut lower than the tip of the hammer spur!  Should this occur with a Colt's style sixgun, even with the hammer initially down on an empty chamber, if the hammer was cocked far enough to rotate the cylinder in alignment with the firing pin, it is possible that the safety notches might not catch the hammer if it fell, allowing the live round to go off, with possibly tragic results!  This is why, with one exception, I always recommend holsters cut high enough to completely shroud the hammer!

I don't think I have ever seen a holster cut that high.  I would think a holster cut like that would increase the likelihood of cocking the hammer by rubbing it against the holster shroud.

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45 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:

No, sir! If the hammer spur projects a bit, the holster is formed out so that won't happen.  In addition, I always recommend when holstering a sixgun, to place the thumb on the back of the hammer.

Could you post a picture of a holster like that?

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3 minutes ago, Captain Bill Burt said:

Could you post a picture of a holster like that?

Go to www.gunfighter.com/trailrider . You'll see a number of holsters like that.  Interestingly, until the 1890's or so, most holsters were cut high, almost burying the gun.  For the mostpart, they didn't use hammer thongs to retain the guns, either.  But, I put them on my products as insurance against losing the gun during rough activity.

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20 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:

Go to www.gunfighter.com/trailrider . You'll see a number of holsters like that.  Interestingly, until the 1890's or so, most holsters were cut high, almost burying the gun.  For the mostpart, they didn't use hammer thongs to retain the guns, either.  But, I put them on my products as insurance against losing the gun during rough activity.

Nice looking rigs.  I've never seen anyone around here wearing a rig like that. Most, including mine, are cut much lower in the front and have a fully exposed trigger guard.

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6 minutes ago, Captain Bill Burt said:

Nice looking rigs.  I've never seen anyone around here wearing a rig like that. Most, including mine, are cut much lower in the front and have a fully exposed trigger guard.

Thank you.  These are based on originals from the 19th and early 20th Centuries.  If you look in the book "Packing Iron" you'll see quite a number like these.  Most of my patterns were taken from originals that I either owned or had made available to me in years past.  Obviously, some of the patterns had to be changed a bit to accommodate larger guns (Ruger's versus Colt's, various Smith & Wessons, etc.).  I won't make a holster for double-action revolvers with the triggers exposed, as it is too easy for brush, twigs, etc. to snag the trigger and either cock the gun or at least jerk the gun from the holster if a retention strap isn't fastened.  As a (now retired) aerospace engineer, charged with Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, I went through a lot of analysis on holster safety and designs, especially for my 96X series of hunting/field holsters.  I don't get into modern law enforcement rigs; there are plenty of former-LEO's who produce those type rigs (John Bianchi, et al). 

Ride easy, Pard, but stay alert!

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At the police range where I'm a safety officer we had two Holstered ADs....one resulted in hole in floor other was hole in leg..ouch!

Glock pistols with officeres wearing jackets with string ties on bottom and those little spring loaded "barrels" to tighten up in the strings. Barrel gets in trigger guard, jacket removed, barrel pulls trigger, gun goes boom!

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Unfortunately, almost no one wears a rig like that in SASS shoots. Most of the  shooters near me wear holsters where most of the top third of the revolver is showing, most of the trigger guard and certainly all of the hammer. Installing ultra light springs can certainly contribute to the problem of an easily cocked hammer, but that is the direction we have taken and I see no going back. You just have to go no faster than keeping control of the gun dictates.

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