Various questions about Handguns, ammo and carry

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Zephram

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Okay, this is an all in one kind of thread, ask the things I can think of that I'd like to know. If these seem dumb, i'm not trying to seem that way on purpose. I genuinely would like to know. Here goes.

a) Is there any possible way to set off 9mm factory rounds accidentally by juggling them around in your pocket or hand, etc. Essentially, can these rounds accidentally go off if you loosely carry them or some freak thing happens like pen point smacks the primer or one round bangs another right on the primer. How safe is modern centerfire?

b) What is the sear portion of a firearm. It doesn't seem to be searing anything, as far as I can tell it didn't in a flintlock either, so why is it called a sear? What does it do?

c) That round contact bit the hammer strikes when it falls on a handgun with an exposed hammer, usually looks like a round nub or something. Whats that called?

d) Is it legal to carry a pistol on your person INSIDE your home if it is completely unloaded. If not, can you carry it around in your hand? If not, where is the line between legally being able to handle it at home and "going too far".

e) Are there any such bullets that are available such that they contain no lead, either in the bullet or in the primer, aside from disintegrating bullets. Are there no "steel" bullets? If you are totally unconcerned with bullet expansion on contact, why are other substances for bullets not used for range bullets (aside from cost reasons).

f) Are hollow points available in Canada / legal to own?

g) What is with a half-#### position on a handgun with an external hammer. This is apparently a safety feature, but I don't really know how it works. If you have a SA/DA pistol with other safety features or a manual safety, what does a halfcock add to the gun?

Okay, random, whatever :) Any gun sages please impart your wisdom. Thanks :)
 
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a) I can't imagine it would happen, but I suppose it might be possible. It takes a solid firing pin hit to light a primer, though. Hold your finger over the firing pin and pull the trigger, you will be surprised how hard that pin hits your finger.
b) No idea. Historical reference?
c) Firing pin
d) Yes, it's legal as long as it is unloaded. You can legally carry a couple of loaded mags with you, though.
e) There are totally metal jacketed (TMJ) bullets that have a copper jacket enclosing the lead core. Plated bullets may also totally enclose the core, but I haven't used them. I don't know if anyone is making non-lead pistol bullets similar to the Barnes TSX rifle bullets.
f) Yes and yes.
g) Some SA designs require you to be in half #### to rotate the cylinder for loading/unloading. My understanding of the half #### position as a safety is that it holds the hammer off the primer to prevent an AD if the pistol is dropped, while not having enough force available to fire a round if the trigger is pulled. I am not an SA or cowboy shooter, so there may be other reasons as well.

Mark
 
g) half #### position. To add a little to Mark's reply the hammer cannot normally be fired from the half #### position. When half cocked the sear that engages the hammer hook is captured in more of a hook that prevents the trigger from being pulled when in the half #### position. To get back to hammer down it is required to continue cocking the hammer to full cocked and then to CAREFULLY lower the hammer down.

On the old single action western guns this would normally be done onto an empty cylinder. During normal carry duty the cowboy six guns where actually 5 guns since it was common practice to only load 5 rounds and park the hammer down on the empty sixth round except when in a big shootout where the gun would be reloaded with 6 rounds to shoot at the other side. However once the ruckus was over it would be normal to unload a round and rotate the cylinder around to lower the hammer on that cylinder. Or if it was a cap and ball revolver to remove one cap and carry hammer down on the nipple with no cap.
 
Interesting guys, very interesting... thanks for the replies.

I don't think I can try the firing pin pain test as described because in order to place my finger on it, I have to have the slide retracted (using a Beretta M9A1), and in that state the hammer can't drop.

On the same gun, which I was thinking of when I asked some of the questions, there is a half #### hammer position but its totally useless as far as I can tell because if you pull the trigger in half #### mode, it just continues as kind of a light DA pull. There is a safety decocker of course and the full DA pull is so heavy I think you would normally carry this gun with the manual safety off and a round in the chamber. As for the half ####... it seems half assed. Not sure what its for other than kind of a halfway point between SA and DA pulls. For it to function as a safety, there must be some kind of way for the hammer to catch in half #### mode before completing the drop I assume, but I don't know when that can happen.

When you rotate the safety on, the gun rotates the "nub" the hammer hits out of the way, such that the chain of contact is broken between whatever that thing is, and the eventual moving of the firing pin. I was thinking the firing pin was the actual pin visible at the back of the chamber (theres a small hole with a pin in there!). This little nub thing the hammer hits at the back of the slide, not sure what its name was.

Interesting about the full copper rifle bullets, didn't know about those. I'm surprised no one is marketing %100 lead free handgun or rifle bullets for training. I guess lead exposure as the result of being close to lots of fired rounds, picking up the casings, cleaning the gun and possible gunsmoke / leadsmoke are really a non issue if you are reasonable about washing up, yeah?
 
Zephram said:
Okay, this is an all in one kind of thread, ask the things I can think of that I'd like to know. If these seem dumb, i'm not trying to seem that way on purpose. I genuinely would like to know. Here goes.

a) Is there any possible way to set off 9mm factory rounds accidentally by juggling them around in your pocket or hand, etc. Essentially, can these rounds accidentally go off if you loosely carry them or some freak thing happens like pen point smacks the primer or one round bangs another right on the primer. How safe is modern centerfire?

b) What is the sear portion of a firearm. It doesn't seem to be searing anything, as far as I can tell it didn't in a flintlock either, so why is it called a sear? What does it do?

c) That round contact bit the hammer strikes when it falls on a handgun with an exposed hammer, usually looks like a round nub or something. Whats that called?

d) Is it legal to carry a pistol on your person INSIDE your home if it is completely unloaded. If not, can you carry it around in your hand? If not, where is the line between legally being able to handle it at home and "going too far".

e) Are there any such bullets that are available such that they contain no lead, either in the bullet or in the primer, aside from disintegrating bullets. Are there no "steel" bullets? If you are totally unconcerned with bullet expansion on contact, why are other substances for bullets not used for range bullets (aside from cost reasons).

f) Are hollow points available in Canada / legal to own?

g) What is with a half-#### position on a handgun with an external hammer. This is apparently a safety feature, but I don't really know how it works. If you have a SA/DA pistol with other safety features or a manual safety, what does a halfcock add to the gun?

Okay, random, whatever :) Any gun sages please impart your wisdom. Thanks :)
Click to expand...

A) Modern ammunition is extremely safe. The propellant powder charge must be in contact with a hot flame before it burns. The primer is constructed in such a way that it will only explode when subjected to a blow from a hard, small diameter object impacting at nearly right angles to it. There is no way for a round, rimfire or centerfire to go off from being carried in your pocket.

B) The word sear in firearm terminology is not the same definition offered by Oxford. Rather it refers to the portion of a trigger that holds the firing pin in the ready to fire position. Movement of the trigger moves the sear away from the firing pin, allowing it to move forward and strike the primer.

C) This is the back end of the firing pin.

D) You are legally able to handle your firearm within your own home. This would include practicing drawing the gun from a holster, dry firing, admiring, and maintaining.

E) There are bullets made entirely of a copper alloy, and there are bullets that use a tungsten core surrounded by a copper alloy jacket. Lead is not a bogeyman, just don't eat it. Steel is a poor material for bullets, due to its hardness, although steel can be/has been used in some bullet applications, such as solids for African dangerous game. These bullets had a lead core inside a mild steel sheath and the outside of the bullet was jacketed in copper.

F) Yes.

G) The half #### position is not a safe carry position, rather it is to prevent the hammer from striking the firing pin if the gun is dropped onto a hard surface with enough force to shear off the full #### notch. In this way the gun will not fire as the result of a drop directly onto the fully cocked hammer, which is also shielded from damage by the tang of the pistol. If the gun was carried in the half #### position, the same drop would result in the hammer moving forward with enough force to fire the pistol at which time the muzzle would be pointed strait up at the person who dropped it. The half #### position will be observed any time that the hammer is released and the trigger is released prior to the hammer falling all the way forward. Most DA/SA pistols have a hammer dropping feature, which safely(?) drops the hammer from the fully cocked position. In contrast, a SA pistol has a safety which prevents the trigger from moving thus making it safe to carry in the fully cocked position with the safety on.
 
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