Did you have a hammer block failure?

[Mountaineer]

Originally Posted by KsThumper

That is what I do with my Interarms PPK/S.

After cleaning the gun following a trip to the range, I re-assemble the gun and reload a magazine.

Then with the safety on [lever down], I insert the magazine and rack the slide. The hammer does not cock. The gun is in Condition 2 with a round in the chamber and the safety on. This is the way that I carry and store the gun.

Actually, when you rack the slide with the safety on, the hammer goes back just as far as normal. Because the safety is on, it then follows the slide back forward rather than "cocking" and staying back.

[Mountaineer]

I've been saving a story:

Back in 2007, just before buying my PPK/S, I was talking to one of the gunsmiths at S&W - trying to decide whether to buy the current S&W version or search for an Interarms version. He said, "They are absolutely the same. We don't manufacture any of the parts. They all come from Walther in Germany. In fact, they are mostly already assembled. In order to meet the distribution/import agreement, we have to do something but, it may be as little as engraving the serial numbers and mounting the slide on the frame."

That's what made my decision to buy the S&W version out of my local gun shop.

[Ogie]

Originally Posted by Mountaineer

Actually, when you rack the slide with the safety on, the hammer goes back just as far as normal. Because the safety is on, it then follows the slide back forward rather than "cocking" and staying back.

Of course you are right, but my original point, that I may not have conveyed correctly, was that the hammer does not "drop" and it would be safer to rack the slide in that fashion than it would be to drop the hammer by using the safety/decocker.

[flyfisher]

Originally Posted by Ogie

I don't understand? Can't you chamber a round by racking the slide and leaving the safety on thereby not having to touch the hammer at all since the hammer will stay uncocked? Or is the S&W version different than my W. German made PPK/S?

Yes but you run the same risk of an AD when both the slide and hammer move forward.

[Time]

No failures w/ Interarms, Manurhin or Walther PP or PPK

[Mountaineer]

Originally Posted by Time

No failures w/ Interarms, Manurhin or Walther PP or PPK

Just because they haven't been reported here does not mean that they do not have exactly the same problem.

[DJR]

I did not vote in the poll because my pistol was purchased just a few days before the recall was announced and to date has less than a box of ammunition through it. I wanted to shoot it enough to identify any other problems that may exist before it gets sent back. It ran perfectly.

This is actually my wife's pistol and will be sent back just to stay in compliance. Eventually we want to get her over to one of the womens classes at the Seattle Firearms Academy and showing up with a weapon that was deemed possibly unsafe by S&W would be irresponsible so it goes back for the upgrade.

Tried everything mentioned and can't get the hammer to hang up or feel any roughness that might lead to that. Just won't do it.

What range time we have had with it we used the method described in the manual for safing/decocking and had no failures, but that was a very limited sampling and probably not relevent to the poll.

DJR

[searcher451]

Welcome to the forum, DJR, and thanks for the good first report.

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea of the date of birth of your pistol? Even though you just purchased the gun, it's possible (though perhaps unlikely, given the frenzy of gun-buying these days, but still possible) that it has been sitting on the shelf for some time. I'd be interested in knowing whether it's two years old and works as advertised, a year old and works as advertised, or fresh out of Houlton and works as advertised.

Hope you enjoy your time at the forum.

[DJR]

Hmmm. Very interesting question. Tried a quick seach that didn't yield much but I'll keep looking. I did find a pretty interesting account of an Interarms PPK/S AD that sounds suspiciously like what we're looking at in this thread. The thread is from about this time last year and even has pictures of the hole in the hardwood floor. I haven't read through all the responses but the OP gives a pretty good explanation of what he thinks happened.

Here it is:

http://www.ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=18094

I'll keep looking for a date of mfg. The serial # is four digits 487*BAK if anybody has the records. I'm thinking it's pretty late mfg. but now you've got me wondering. It was purchased from a dedicated gun store, not a Sportsmans Whse. type store.

Thanks for the welcome.

DJR

[Deputy]

DJR: Wow!!! Outstanding link!!!! You are already a valuable addition to the forum

I especially liked this post in the link...

"If I have a pistol with a de-cocker, I always lower the hammer with a thumb. One reason I will not have a striker fired version."

My procedure exactly and it has been that way with every decocker I own. Only exception is the SIG, and they offer a much more controlled decock via the decocking lever, plus a completely different safety system. I don't think there has been ANY AD's with a SIG P-series pistol.