Interesting photo

[Abbynormal]

Took a buddy to the range today. He had never shot a .44 Magnum. So I took my Mountain Gun and shot off a few rounds to show him how to let your arms act like a pivot instead of locking your elbows and absorbing all the recoil.

He took a pic of the fireball coming out of the muzzle and the beginning of
the recoil. The interesting this, the hammer is halfway back. I don't know if
the recoil did this or the recoil rotation caused me to pull back on the trigger.

The cylinder didn't advance so I'm very curious.


PS: Now that he's shot one he's hooked. He's in the market for a 6" .44 now!

 

[Onomea]

Fun pic!

I'm guessing that when the gun recoiled, you held your trigger finger steady, but that since the gun was moving backwards, the hammer pulled partially backwards, but not enough to turn the cylinder, before settling back in place.

 

[riverrat38]

Sometimes, the heavy recoil can be tragic. 24 years ago, a man with a 44 magnum let a small woman fire the revolver. She had very little experience with handguns, and none with heavy recoiling ones. The revolver fired, and recoiled so much that it fired again, more or less over her shoulder, killing the man, who was standing behind her. This happened at Wades Range in Bellevue, WA.

Pistol's Recoil Turns Deadly At Firing Range -- Errant Shot Kills Man At Firing Range | The Seattle Times

73,
Rick

 

[Eddietruett]

I've seen 500 S&W's double fire like that

 

[smoothshooter]

The deceased was obviously an idiot.
Too bad he had to involve another unsuspecting person in his demise.

Never understood the " Macho Man " thrill too many guys get out of having inexperienced, and usually very small, women shoot some kind of heavy-recoiling gun that they aren't used to which may very well give them a permanent flinch, and aversion to shooting in the future.

Poor woman has to live with accidentally taking a life.

Absolutely no sympathy for the Idiot.

 

[Heinz]

In order for the gun to double fire the trigger would need to be released so the sear and hand can reset, would it not? The OPs finger looks to have the trigger tightly back in fired position

 

[vinn]

Wade?

Sometimes, the heavy recoil can be tragic. 24 years ago, a man with a 44 magnum let a small woman fire the revolver. She had very little experience with handguns, and none with heavy recoiling ones. The revolver fired, and recoiled so much that it fired again, more or less over her shoulder, killing the man, who was standing behind her. This happened at Wades Range in Bellevue, WA.

Pistol's Recoil Turns Deadly At Firing Range -- Errant Shot Kills Man At Firing Range | The Seattle Times

73,
Rick

did they charge him ?

 

[Muley Gil]

did they charge him ?

No, he was dead.

 

[wrangler5]

In order for the gun to double fire the trigger would need to be released so the sear and hand can reset, would it not? The OPs finger looks to have the trigger tightly back in fired position

Correct. If you drop the hammer and hold the trigger solidly back, you can move the hammer backward and forward freely while the cylinder stays locked in place by the hand and bolt. The hand is connected to the trigger, not the hammer. And the bolt is dropped by an extension of the trigger, which must move fully forward in order to re-engage the bolt and lower it to let the cylinder rotate for the next shot.

 

[geekeye]

strong recoiling revolvers can actually bump fire. even as you think you are holding the trigger back after the first pull, the recoil moves the gun backwards so fast the trigger resets, then as you continue to pull, you end up pulling another shot as the recoil ends. for this to happen takes the combo of a very strong recoiling gun and a very weak grip. in videos the 2nd shot always seems to be either straight up or behind the shooter.


really impossible to know from one still photo, but given the attitude of the gun still pointing down range, i'm tempted to say you probably have a decent grip on it, and inertia is pushing the hammer back after you've already absorbed most of the recoil of the frame of the gun.


nonetheless, it's always a good idea to only put one round in the gun when letting an inexperienced shooter try it the first time.

 

[Hondo44]

What likely happened here: Pistol's Recoil Turns Deadly At Firing Range -- Errant Shot Kills Man At Firing Range | The Seattle Times


The gun recoils backward and leaves the trigger and shooter's trigger finger behind (objects at rest tend to stay at rest) which allows the trigger to reset itself. With the shooter's trigger finger clamped firmly on the trigger, the shooter's finger tension on the trigger unknowingly pulls the trigger for the second time. The gun recoils further back and the same phenomenon with the trigger/shooter's trigger finger repeats once again for the 3rd shot.

 

[__steve__]

Watch from 3:47. The hammer does indeed bounce back with big revolvers normally, so long as it stays on intended time.

NEW 500 S&W MAGNUM WORLD RECORD!!! - 5 Shots In 0.99 Seconds - YouTube

 

[Bastogne71]

Correct. If you drop the hammer and hold the trigger solidly back, you can move the hammer backward and forward freely while the cylinder stays locked in place by the hand and bolt. The hand is connected to the trigger, not the hammer. And the bolt is dropped by an extension of the trigger, which must move fully forward in order to re-engage the bolt and lower it to let the cylinder rotate for the next shot.

When the cartridge is is ignited, the trigger is still held back, and the hammer is free, could the rearward thrust of the cartridge case impart enough force to the hammer nose to drive the hammer back? Is there any high speed photography of a 44 magnum that might show if this idea is correct?

 

[ken158]

Very interesting picture that would take forever to duplicate if you were trying. Makes you think about the momentum that was carried through the gun to move the hammer before it was reset as others have noted.

 

[Protocall_Design]

When the cartridge is is ignited, the trigger is still held back, and the hammer is free, could the rearward thrust of the cartridge case impart enough force to the hammer nose to drive the hammer back? Is there any high speed photography of a 44 magnum that might show if this idea is correct?

I'm thinking probably the equal and opposite force of the bullet going forward, pushing the gun backward would be enough to bounce the hammer. The hammer is free to move, except for the mainspring force that would be momentarily overcome by the recoil.

 

[SLT223]

Took a buddy to the range today. He had never shot a .44 Magnum. So I took my Mountain Gun and shot off a few rounds to show him how to let your arms act like a pivot instead of locking your elbows and absorbing all the recoil.

He took a pic of the fireball coming out of the muzzle and the beginning of
the recoil. The interesting this, the hammer is halfway back. I don't know if
the recoil did this or the recoil rotation caused me to pull back on the trigger.

The cylinder didn't advance so I'm very curious.


PS: Now that he's shot one he's hooked. He's in the market for a 6" .44 now!

You can see the phenomenon of the hammer moving back under recoil force in this slow motion video at about the 0:14 mark. This video also capture compression ignition of atomized ballistic gel. Pretty neat!

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6yO6y48XiSI[/ame]

 

[riverrat38]

Age restricted you tube video? Must be that erotic gel!

73,
Rick

 

[max503]

Fascinating thread.

 

[jcelect]

Trigger pull

The important part here that everyone is missing is the cylinder stop(little half round piece sticking up in the bottom of the frame window). Slight movement of the trigger rearward is what drops the stop! If the cylinder was not unlatched the trigger never moved fully forward to reset the stop! In the trigger pull action the stop is the very first function to happen and the last to reset.
jcelect

 

[Hondo44]

jcelect

I don't think everyone is missing that.

As is common, there's more than one conversation taking place in this thread:

One is about the hammer moving backward under recoil w/o the trigger being pulled. In this case the trigger is not cycled and therefore the cylinder is not unlocked and does not rotate. No further shots take place.

In the story of the three shots going off with the third killing the bystander, the trigger clearly was pulled three times albeit unwittingly/unintentionally, as a factor of recoil which DID cycle the cyl. This was no doubt made much easier by the recoil induced movement of the hammer and compression of the mainspring illustrated and proved in the video above, which happened twice in a row (2nd and 3rd shots).