39-2

[Stalkingbear]

I was showing the 39-2 to a friend (unloaded of course) had he noticed that the hammer would fall when you pulled the slide back and released it. It appeared that the gun would fire and potentially be a huge problem.

Thanks to this site and some old posts, I discovered that there is a 'block' that prevent the gun from firing.

The gun is obviously unique in that even the NRA instructor had advised me not to load it because it could continue to shoot until the mag was empty. After explainig to both the friend and the instructor what I learned here.... they were impressed... what a cool feature.

Thank you for the education I'm getting.

Mike

 

[Stalkingbear]

I was showing the 39-2 to a friend (unloaded of course) had he noticed that the hammer would fall when you pulled the slide back and released it. It appeared that the gun would fire and potentially be a huge problem.

Thanks to this site and some old posts, I discovered that there is a 'block' that prevent the gun from firing.

The gun is obviously unique in that even the NRA instructor had advised me not to load it because it could continue to shoot until the mag was empty. After explainig to both the friend and the instructor what I learned here.... they were impressed... what a cool feature.

Thank you for the education I'm getting.

Mike

 

[galleta loco]

The gun should continue to fire as long as you pull the trigger and there is ammo in the magazine.

 

[Stalkingbear]

Cool! Went to search and found - posted in Feb '07 by Mortech - the manual for the 39-2.

Just what I needed and i shall now learn all about the gun before I fire it.

 

[galleta loco]

Good idea on the manual also I'd steer clear of that "instructor".

 

[akviper]

It should only let the hammer drop if the manual safety is on. If the hammer follows the slide when the safety is off you have a major problem and safety issue.

 

[BillCa]

It should only let the hammer drop if the manual safety is on. If the hammer follows the slide when the safety is off you have a major problem and safety issue.

akviper is correct.

The S&W pistols are based, in part, on the Walther P-38 design. When the safety is applied, it rolls a blocking piece in front of the firing pin and trips the sear release to drop the hammer.

 

[Stalkingbear]

Thanks.... that is where the instructor was getting confused... he thought - when it was explained - that the hammer was following the slide. It does to an extent, but correctly stops at the 'block'. The gun is just fine.

 

[akviper]

FWIW, the older Smiths and the P38 did not have firing pin type safeties like the later versions. There were rare instances where the hammer block portion of the safety broke when the safety dropped the hammer and the gun would fire. Moral of the story is do not trust the hammer block and use caution when lowering the hammer.