Did you have a hammer block failure?

[boatman268]

Originally Posted by KsThumper

If I am understanding this issue correctly:

The potential problem is that when the hammer is cocked and you manually rotate the safety lever from fire to safe, it is possible [probable] that the hammer will strike the firing pin, resulting in a discharge , before the large chunk of metal [which is the safety/hammer block] engages.

Yes ? No ?

I have an Interarms PPK/S and have done the above without a discharge. In fact this is what I do if I have to infrequently 'decock' the gun. When the safety lever is rotated down from F to S, the hammer falls and the trigger moves slightly forward from its SA position to the DA position.

Any semi-auto that has a safety lever along the rear of the slide uses the hammer block principal. While having to pull the trigger while attempting to carefully lower the hammer maybe the only option with some gun designs; IMO, it is not a safe gun handling technique when there is an alternative.

I only pull the trigger when I want a bang. I also prefer semi-autos that have a manual safety and hammer-firing pin versus the striker-decocker trigger action. IMO, just safer for everyone all around.

Now, having been made aware of this potential problem, I will definitely make sure that the gun is pointed downrange when I de-cock using the safety lever.

Actually, I had manually lowered the hammer and then engaged the decocker when it discharged. I routinely engage the decocker without a problem when the hammer is back.

[alloy]

no failures.

interarms
walther usa(made after interarms folded but before s&w started production)

[searcher451]

For the record, I've never had a failure of any kind with my German-made guns, French-made PP, USA-made Interarms guns (I've got a .32 that I picked up from Thiokol more than a year ago that's become a favorite range companion -- when I can find any ammo for it), nor with my S&W-made PPK/S, which is my daily carry gun.

I've put hundreds of rounds through the S&W without a hiccup of any kind. Then again, I never let the hammer drop down with the safety engaged and never have. I always consider it to be tempting fate.

[boatman268]

Originally Posted by searcher451

For the record, I've never had a failure of any kind with my German-made guns, French-made PP, USA-made Interarms guns (I've got a .32 that I picked up from Thiokol more than a year ago that's become a favorite range companion -- when I can find any ammo for it), nor with my S&W-made PPK/S, which is my daily carry gun.

I've put hundreds of rounds through the S&W without a hiccup of any kind. Then again, I never let the hammer drop down with the safety engaged and never have. I always consider it to be tempting fate.

Great, read my response real careful and slow.

[Glenn-SC]

Originally Posted by boatman268

Actually, I had manually lowered the hammer and then engaged the decocker when it discharged. I routinely engage the decocker without a problem when the hammer is back.

how did you get enough energy to set-off the primer?

[boatman268]

Originally Posted by Glenn-SC

how did you get enough energy to set-off the primer?

Now that would be a question for S & W.

[Mountaineer]

Originally Posted by boatman268

Now that would be a question for S & W.

Unless you have had a lot more success getting S&W to answer questions about this recall, I would like to hear any ideas you have about how the weapon fired after you had previously lowered the hammer??

The answer to this whole thing may be here somewhere!

[Deputy]

Originally Posted by boatman268

Now that would be a question for S & W.

Or Ripley's Believe It or Not. I can see NO way a Walther or any other firearm could fire by engaging the hammer drop/safety on a LOWERED hammer. There just isn't enough force from a fully lowered hammer to touch off the primer. And you would be camming the firing pin OUT OF alignment with the primer when you put the safety ON.

[clayflingythingy]

Originally Posted by Deputy

Or Ripley's Believe It or Not. I can see NO way a Walther or any other firearm could fire by engaging the hammer drop/safety on a LOWERED hammer. There just isn't enough force from a fully lowered hammer to touch off the primer. And you would be camming the firing pin OUT OF alignment with the primer when you put the safety ON.

I'm reminded here of the Ruger LCP. After the LCP had been out a while a gent on the Rugerforum.com posted that a buddy had an LCP discharge when he dropped it. Most forum members ate him alive and basically called him a liar or stated his buddy lied about the LCP discharging when dropped. Some forum members "studied" the LCP and concluded it wasn't possible for the gun to fire if dropped.

A while later Ruger initiated the recalll for just this issue.

Never say never when it comes to mechanical failures.

[boatman268]

Originally Posted by Mountaineer

Unless you have had a lot more success getting S&W to answer questions about this recall, I would like to hear any ideas you have about how the weapon fired after you had previously lowered the hammer??

The answer to this whole thing may be here somewhere!

Let me try this again, the board keeps cutting me off for some reason.
Once I saw that S&W had a recall for the same problem that I experienced, I asked my gunsmith about the issue. He said that the PPK/S had a nasty issue with the hammer not returning fully when manually decocked.

Sig and Walther are empathic in their manuals to always use the decocking lever to return to DA. That is what I always do without any issue, after my on error of course. Walther actually lists manually cocking as an option to go to SA, Sig does not. I still manually cock the Walther to avoid DA.

Have you received your paperwork fro S&W, I filed over a month ago and have received nothing but a conformation number. Thanks