Ignorant neighbor grrr

[S&W Fan]

I have a neighbor I've been friends with for 30 years, he's a couple of years older than me at 67. A good guy, has owned a lot of guns (his brother is an ffl) but really doesn't know as much as he thinks he does, never taken any kind of training. all self taught-not a disqualifier just explaining his background.

He was over and we got to talking about any new purchases. I told him about the pristine 4" 66-3 I recently picked up. I grabbed it ouf of the safe and brought it over with the cylinder open-you may see where this going-and handed it to him.

After looking it over, ooing and ahhing, his "Hollywood training" comes to light and he flips the gun for the cylinder to close. Aaarrrggghhh!!!! It was like I could see it happening in slow motion and started to reach for the gun but was too late.

I immediately grabbed it and let him know in a very stern manner to never, ever do that to someone else's revolver ever-don't care if he does it to his own. He was shocked and had no idea why it's a bad idea. I used it as a teaching moment but I was pretty upset, he did apologize and all is good. Doesn't appear any damage occurred from the action, but I was really shocked though maybe in hindsight I shouldn't have been.

Ok, thanks for hanging with me while I vented.

 

[bamabiker]

At one time I was not the know it all I am now and use to do the same thing with a 4" model 66 I owned.
As far as I know it never hurt the gun but I did learn not to do that.
We learn as we go.

 

[paplinker]

I have watched employees at more than one LGS do the flip close.

Luckily not with anything I was looking to buy.

 

[wood714]

I'm that guy that tells people not to close the cylinder like that as soon as I hand them one of my revolvers.

 

[moralem]

I never hand anything to anyone without first explaining to them how to handle it. Whether that be a tool, electronic device, optic, gun, watch or anything that I don't want them to mishandle. If I don't care I freely hand it to them otherwise they get explained my rules for handling.

 

[03hemi]

I have a neighbor I've been friends with for 30 years, he's a couple of years older than me at 67. A good guy, has owned a lot of guns (his brother is an ffl) but really doesn't know as much as he thinks he does, never taken any kind of training. all self taught-not a disqualifier just explaining his background.

He was over and we got to talking about any new purchases. I told him about the pristine 4" 66-3 I recently picked up. I grabbed it ouf of the safe and brought it over with the cylinder open-you may see where this going-and handed it to him.

After looking it over, ooing and ahhing, his "Hollywood training" comes to light and he flips the gun for the cylinder to close. Aaarrrggghhh!!!! It was like I could see it happening in slow motion and started to reach for the gun but was too late.

I immediately grabbed it and let him know in a very stern manner to never, ever do that to someone else's revolver ever-don't care if he does it to his own. He was shocked and had no idea why it's a bad idea. I used it as a teaching moment but I was pretty upset, he did apologize and all is good. Doesn't appear any damage occurred from the action, but I was really shocked though maybe in hindsight I shouldn't have been.

Ok, thanks for hanging with me while I vented.

No way to treat a lady.

 

[NFrameFred]

Too many "cool" P.I.'s, cops, and bad guys in old movies and TV shows teaching know-nothings about handling a revolver. Bogart/Sam Spade, Dragnet, Peter Gunn . . . . all those old shows seemed to think that was the cool 'tough guy' way to do it.

I've seen people almost come to blows over someone flipping a cylinder closed on a revolver or dropping the slide release on a 1911 race gun with a perfectly stoned sear/action job on an empty chamber.

I stopped assuming everyone knew how NOT to handle MY firearms years ago after seeing innocent/clueless/dumb (take your pick) folks do that in gun shops and on the range to other guy's guns. I make sure they know before I hand them one of mine.

The most memorable offender I've seen was a match official at the pre-match inspection table (who definitely should have known better) do that slide drop trick on a guy's brand new Wilson custom comp gun that he had just shelled out big bucks for. The ensuing words that came from the owner of that Wilson convinced me that anyone in ear shot of that conversation would never again make that mistake . . . .


Also, I've repaired more than one 1873 design single action when some ham hand overpowered the trigger and pulled it on through the first two notches. Stupid/ignorant people do stupid/ignorant things. I value my firearms too much to not do a bit of instructing with people whose knowledge of firearms is unknown to me if they want to see/hold/shoot one of mine.

 

[Old cop]

Same thing happened to me a few years ago & I reacted in a similar fashion. Hollywood has done more to destroy how guns should be safely handled than anyone else.

 

[Breakaway500]

Ive been telling my wife not to fling the refrigerator doors closed for 40 years..but now I digress..

 

[BB57]

I'll be the devil's advocate here (some will think literally) and suggest it's not flipping the cylinder back into the revolver that does the damage. That's not really where the problem lies. There are far worse things to do to a revolver.

Cylinders, particularly loaded cylinders, have a lot of mass and when they are spun, there is a lot of kinetic entry. All that energy has to be dissipated against the locking bolt and locking recesses in the cylinder if the cylinder goes back into the frame in that spinning condition.

That's the big problem, damage to the cylinder recess and the potential damage to the locking bolt as they engage and have to immediately dissipate that energy. It can move metal in the softer recess and potentially break the harder locking bolt.

In short, it is not flicking the wrist to flip the cylinder back into the frame that does damage, it's flicking the wrist to flip a spinning cylinder back into the frame that does damage.

That makes spinning the cylinder with your fingers and then slapping it back into the frame far, far worse as the cylinder is actually spinning and spinning at significant rpm when you do it.

Some folks will say "but what about bent ejector rods!?!?"

Flicking your wrist to flip the cylinder back into the frame doesn't in some way twist the crane or bend the ejector rod, at least on a quality revolver. What bends ejector rods are badly off vertical swats with a palm to eject the rounds. It's a lot worse if the cases are sticking in the cylinder and don't immediately start moving as the palm hits the ejector rod. Unfortunately it when the cases are sticking that people are likely to hit the ejector rod the hardest and at a less than vertical angle.

It's a total non issue with the FBI reload as the use of the thumb to eject was what was intended for most of these revolvers.

It's not a big issue with the Stress Fire reload given that the revolver is held vertical in the right hand, and the ejector rod is hit with the palm of the left hand, guided and aligned by the barrel being between the thumb and fingers.

It's the Universal reload that does the damage as the revolver is held near vertical in the left hand and the ejector rod is struck by the palm of the right hand, often with a significant horizontal vector if the shooter isn't extremely diligent in striking directly downward. There's no alignment with the barrel to prevent or limit that errant horizontal vector. If you use this reload method, have sticky cases and are sloppy about the angle of your strikes, the odds are high you have bent an ejector rod or two.

——

In any case, once the reload is complete, you close the cylinder gently into the frame with the meaty part of you hand under the base of the thumb, pressing it in with no rotation of the cylinder, and once it's there, moving the palm slightly against the cylinder to index the bolt into the next cylinder recess. If you do it right with the fingers of your left hand wrapped and anchored under the revolver, it's almost impossible to spin the cylinder with any significant rotational velocity.

——-

Now all that said, flicking the cylinder back into the frame is incredibly bad form. It's like picking your nose in public. It's offensive, doesn't usually hurt your nose, but still just isn't done in polite society.

 

[BB57]

Ive been telling my wife not to fling the refrigerator doors closed for 40 years..but now I digress..

It's not that far off topic.

My wife has a habit of closing kitchen drawers with more force than needed. That excess energy has to go somewhere, and in this case the face of the drawer may stop, but the actual drawer with all that weight in it wants to keep moving.

Over time all that energy dissipation adds up to cumulative damage.

That's a pretty fair analogy to what a spinning cylinder does to the locking bolt and cylinder recesses.

Now…the fact that she also wants to totally remodel the kitchen and tear out a wall in the process might have something to do with her limited concern for the health of the drawers….

 

[Buford57]

Had a similar situation at the range when my buddy, who was teaching his grandson to shoot, flipped the barrels on my 1915 Stevens 16 gauge double closed. The kid's presence motivated me to say calmly, through clenched teeth "I know that looks cool when John Wayne does it with a prop, but please don't do it with my antiques". He didn't even realize what he'd done. Kid turned out to pick up well on the training and wants to go again. My blood pressure is down but he's never getting his hands on the L.C. Smith.

 

[John_M52]

I showed by buddy my 646. He immediately flicked the cylinder closed. Maybe since it's lightweight titanium there's not enough mass to do any damage.

Note to self - never show him another gun.

 

[sigp220.45]

I did a thread where I flipped the loaded cylinder on an old M&P .38 Special shut 100 times. The last ten I really flipped it hard. No damage.

It doesn't matter. People will still lose their minds over it.

 

[Private Bailey]

No point making a big deal about it after the fact. It's done. I really doubt there was any damage to the gun with this single occurrence. I'll admit I cringe when I see it done in the movies. I've never seen anyone do it in real life.

 

[martyd]

I was at the range one early morning and a couple of guys were "Playing" with their revolvers, trying to be the Lone Ranger and twirling the revolver.

You can see where this is going

One had a SAA and was pretty good at it.

The other guy had, it looked like a 19, and well, he wasn't as proficient. It flew out of his hand and landed on the concrete.
He did it a second time thinking he figured it out, he didn't, it hit the concrete again.

I am glad they were done shooting and left, if they had stayed I would have left.

The 19 guy is possibly a pending candidate for the Darwin Award.

 

[Baxter6551]

I'll add my wife complaint to the list - slamming car and house doors …

 

[UncleEd]

Unlikely any damage done.

I think the damage when it
occurs happens with repeated
slamming open and flicking/
slamming shut a cylinder.

I'd hate to think that a revolver
could be damaged from that
one mistake. If so, time to
scrap revolvers and go to
autos exclusively.

And that ain't gonna happen here!

 

[Yaworski]

Ive been telling my wife not to fling the refrigerator doors closed for 40 years..but now I digress..

I've been telling my daughter for a decade to not plop on the sofa. "I DON'T PLOP!" is always her response. Now the springs are shot and she doesn't understand why.

 

[Yaworski]

I was at the range one early morning and a couple of guys were "Playing" with their revolvers, trying to be the Lone Ranger and twirling the revolver.

A coworker once told me a story of his time in the Air Force. He had guard duty and being a sergeant he was in charge of the detail. So making his rounds of the various stations, he came across two airmen facing each other playing quick draw with their pistols. They hadn't bothered to unload their guns for this "exercise."