Could this be true ??

[Doc4570]

Hey guys,
I was reading "Voluntary Madness" by Vicki Hendricks (good book).
and in the book someone jams their hand against the barrel
of a .45 and it just clicks, doesn't fire.
Could this be true?
I even told her that was crazy, and she told me she tried it on a .45
(unloaded) and it worked.
What's the story ?
Has anyone ever heard of this?

I don't know much about pistols, so I come to the experts.
Thanks for any info
Doc

[HouseofCash]

yes, that is true. All your really doing is pushing back the slide. If the slide is back even the littlest bit you can pull the trigger, but it will not drop the hammer. That is true for all semi-auto. Some are easer to push back then others from the front. Some you cant push bach from the front like a D.Eagle. They slide from the rear.

I would not try it on a .45 rev. either.

                                           Dave.

[Doc4570]

Thanks for the quick response, Dave

Now that I've embarassed myself in front of this girl and
you guys, I think I'll slink back to the rifle forum
where I belong.

When you think about it, it's amazing that I can get an
answer to a question as obscure as mine in 20 minutes.

Thanks again, Dave
Doc

[PeterF.]

I can't say concerning other semi-autos (I think different ones have different mechanisms to provide this kind of safety ... and cheaper guns are less likely to have them) ... but, specific to 1911s, there's a "disconnector" link in the trigger-to-sear mechanism.  It moves up-&-down into a small recess in the bottom of the slide.  If the slide isn't ALL the way forward (i.e., with locking lugs "locked"), that recess isn't over the disconnector, the disconnector can't move up, and the trigger-to-sear mechanism won't release.  So, if the slide is pushed back on the barrel a little (as described by the author), it won't fire. Similarly, in the more-recent 1911s, there's a firing-pin block that won't release unless the slide is in the right position.  In any case, as I say, this a perhaps true ONLY of 1911s.  Your gun may vary.

[dicaela]

It happens with the M9 as well. One of the first times I handled one, the instructor pointed it out.

[HouseofCash]

Yeah, I went and tried it with a few of my semi-autos, works on them all except my DA only P11 Kel-Tec and my Desert Eagles<------obviously.

If I'm not mistaken, dont they teach that in hand-to-hand training in the PD academy? I might be wrong though.

                                          Dave.

[vinconco]

If you think it through carefully you will realize that it is the last of the last ditch things you could do if someone is about to shoot you at point blank range.  It would stop them from shooting you for about 2 seconds so you had better have your disarming techniques down pat.

[Doc4570]

Great information guys, thanks

She thought she had made a mistake in saying that when the slide
was pushed back and the trigger was pulled the pistol just "clicked".
Then someone told her the pistol would not even "click"
I know this is a minor point, but would the pistol "click" ?

Thanks again
Doc

[woods]

I was taught this in basics in the marines. They also taught us the counter attack for someone doing this to you. Recock the hammer with your thumb and jerk the gun back toward you, drop to one knee, while squeezing the trigger, and you will blow a hole in there hand. Don't think I would want to try it but it's supose to work.

woods

[HouseofCash]

In the case of "the click". I would have to say after trying a few more of my own semi-autos out, that if it was a SA only, no it would not click. It would be more likely to click if it were a DA only. Or maybe a D-SA on the first trigger pull if it were loaded but the hammer was not back in the cocked position.<--------That last one is a BIG maybe.

So, she is not wrong in here book. I would say it could happen.

                                                            Dave.

[dicaela]

They do teach that in the police academy. The guy in my arng unit who demonstrated it to me was a cop.

[IntrepidWizard]

As a last meassure with a wheel gun uncocked grab the cylinder tight.

[Mikey]

I know this to be specific to the 1911 but cannot account for other pistols.  This sort of a technique also works with Walther P-38s and Lugers, but only if you push the barrel back so it goes out of battery.

This may not work on double action autos or pocket pistols with fixed (or semi-fixed) barrels.  

When you do this to a 1911, the hammer does not go click, the only sound you hear is the trigger.

Grab a revolver by the cylinder - yep, that sure freezes up the action in Hollywood but the last time I saw this does the grabber lost a thumb and had to have a 38 slug removed from his stomach.  

If you are going to try gun-grabbing techniques, you had best be very, very good at it.  Mikey.

[Vern Humphrey]

Hey guys,
I was reading "Voluntary Madness" by Vicki Hendricks (good book).
and in the book someone jams their hand against the barrel
of a .45 and it just clicks, doesn't fire.
Could this be true?
I even told her that was crazy, and she told me she tried it on a .45
(unloaded) and it worked.
What's the story ?
Has anyone ever heard of this?

I don't know much about pistols, so I come to the experts.
Thanks for any info
Doc

During the Calley Court Martial at Fort Benning (that's the Mi Lai Massacre) there was an MP car parked outside the courtroom at all times with two MPs inside.

When MPs have nothing to do, they get bored.  So one genius was demonstrating that very featue -- thump, click.  Thump, click.  Thump, KA-POW!
 

Shot himself right through the palm of the left hand.

Now, if you strip an M1911, you'll notice a small plunger sticking up from the rear of the frame.  That's the disconnector.  There is a corresponding cut in the slide.  To release the sear in the M1911, the trigger presses UP on the disconnector, which trips the sear.

If the disconnector nose cannot enter that cut in the slide, the gun will not fire.

[Mikey]

Vern - I was present during that trial and remember hearing about that incident.  We must have run close to each other a couple of times at Benning.  

My favorite one however is about the canine trainer on the dog track behind the OCS buildings who thought he would familiarize the dogs to the sound of gunfire.  As the story goes he tried to chamber a round in his 45 using his holster, but he had his finger on the trigger and ran the slug right down through his right leg.  Apparently, neither the dogs or the other trainers were very impressed (lol).  Mikey.