Posted on 11/01/2021 3:58:29 PM PDT by xxqqzz
On Oct. 21, the 42-year-old was accidentally shot by Alec Baldwin with a loaded weapon that was handed to the actor by an assistant director who mistakenly believed it was safe to use on the New Mexico set of "Rust." Responders flew the 42-year-old in a helicopter to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Director Joel Souza was also hit and injured but has since been released from the hospital.
On Wednesday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said in a press conference that a lead projectile that was taken from Souza’s shoulder came from the F.LLI Pietta Long Colt .45 caliber revolver that Baldwin, 63, fired during a dress rehearsal for the Western at the Bonanza Creek Ranch studio. The weapon in question is described as a black revolver manufactured by an Italian company that specializes in 19th-century reproductions.
"When you’re using period guns from the Western era of the U.S., they don’t require any modification at all to fire a blank," weapons armorer Bryan W. Carpenter told Fox News. "The guns from the 1800s are all mechanically operated. Meaning you have to do something each time to make the cylinder rotate and the gun fire. In the case of Alec Baldwin's gun that he used on this set… you would have to physically cock the hammer back with your thumb each time you wanted it to fire and then pull the trigger. Then cock the hammer back and then pull the trigger each time. It’s done manually."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
A clone of the Sam Colt's great Single Action Army model. Worked for great grand-dad, and will still work for you today. They really don't get much simpler than that.
I don't think the AD should have handed the gun to Baldwin at all, as a previous commentator has said. But regardless Baldwin shouldn't have failed to check the condition, and should not have pointed it anyone.
I also re-load my ammunition. Once when I was putting powder in the brass I missed one. When I fired it (revolver) the primer forced the bullet into the cone at the back of the barrel. Luckily it was between the cylinder and the barrel and the cylinder wouldn’t turn. If that happened and it was all the way in the barrel the gun would explode when the next round was fired. Been re-loading since 1968 so I have had a few screw-ups.
I load 12 calibers, rifle and pistol.
The scene called for dummy rounds, not blanks or an empty cylinder. It's obvious now that no one checked the weapon.
3D animation of Colt Single Action
Suggest muting sound as is only bad music
“The armorer also indicated that the Assistant Director should not have handed Baldwin the weapon. Only the armorer should have handed it to him. Also, she should never have let it out of her sight. Presumably, the way it was handled on “Rust” someone could replace the gun or load a bullet into it, and it might be hard to determine who did it.”
You add labor disputes and someone might have been just trying to sabotage the filming. They might have thought nobody would point a gun directly at anyone and pull the trigger. I wonder if everyone who worked on the film has to take lie detector tests? Also suspect police are checking ammo purchases in this caliber.
If he had his finger on the trigger, the hammer would have dropped the moment he took his thumb off it.
The scene called for dummy rounds, not blanks or an empty cylinder.
An accentual discharge could occur if one’s finger was on the trigger while cocking the hammer back. If Baldwin was practicing fast-draw, fast shooting, I suppose he have done that. But it was a rehearsal. No need for anything to be in the gun.
“But where was the armorer? Why didn’t she hand it off?”
Too busy taking selfies?
“...I wouldn’t leave the hammer down on a live round...”
Exactly...That’s why with a “six shooter” revolver, you load only 5 rounds and leave the empty chamber in the cylinder under the hammer and firing pin...
wi all these guns going off by “accident” where are the LAW SUITS against the gun makers since the guns are obviously all DEFECTIVE... right???
I used to reload shotgun shells....I loaned my reloader to friend once and when I got it back, I went to reloading my own shells...
I didn’t realize he was left handed and had turned the “O” bar around...
After loading just a few, I went out back to fire a round...A flam shot out of the barrel about 3 feet!!!!
I had been loading powder with the shot hole and shot with the powder hole in the “O” bar...The shot hole is about 2 1/2 times bigger than the powder hole...
**It is also very easy to see if they are blanks or not.***
At an amusement park near here several years back I noticed the shooting revolvers had black brass cases. All the other non-firing revolvers were front loading revolvers with the nipples removed.
One of my favorites also and my carry gun in the woods.
On a single action revolver, the quintessential "old west" or "cowboy" gun the trigger does only one thing: release the hammer, causing it to drop and hit the bullet primer, firing the gun.
To fire a second shot from the same gun the shooter will need to pull the hammer back with their thumb. When pulled all the way back the hammer will hold itself in the cocked position. The hammer being pulled back will rotate the cylinder so that the next chamber is under the hammer. Pulling the trigger will now fire the next round in the cylinder, until all six (only five are usually loaded on old guns, as another safety precaution to prevent the hammer from resting on a live primer). The most famous single action revolver is the Colt Single Action Army:
The other type of revolver, and the one that was widely used by law enforcement from about 1900 to 1985 (when they began all moving to semi-automatic pistols, and away from revolvers) is the double action revolver.
The term double action refers to the two actions pulling the trigger accomplishes: a long (about 3/4") trigger pull cocks the hammer, rotates the cylinder AND fires the pistol by releasing the cocked hammer, all in one smooth motion.
This was considered a big advantage. The shooter no longer has to manually cock the hammer between every shot, merely pulling the trigger over and over will cause the gun to fire all six (or however many) rounds are in the cylinder.
The classic double action revolver is the Smith and Wesson, of which there are hundreds of different models all following the same general design. Here is a 4" Model 686, a very popular police revolver chambered in .357 Magnum/.38 Special.
There is one little twist with the double action revolver like the Smith & Wesson: it can still be fired like a single action. Most (but not all) double actions the shooter could still thumb the hammer back until it locked in the cocked position. This would have the effect of moving the trigger back in the guard about 1/2 and inch, reducing the travel needed to fire the weapon from the full 3/4" in double action mode to a mere 1/4 inch in single action mode, with a commensurate decrease in trigger pressure, from about 12 lbs in double action, to about 4 lbs in single action mode.
Police were taught to always use the gun in double action mode. That (as you point out) is much more effective for defensive shooting. Only one simple motion to master: the long double-action pull. It was also considered much less likely to result in an accidental discharge (or negligent discharge, and some prefer to call them) - because of the heavier and longer trigger pull.
Handgun hunters often prefer to fire them in single action, to get the shortest, lightest trigger pull, which helps with long-distance targets.
The other bid advantage of the double action revolver is that the cylinder swings out and all six chambers can be emptied of spent brass with a single movement of the small ejection rod. It can also be loaded much faster than the older cowboy style gun.
Despite being an antiquated design the Single Action style lives on. Some of it is the historical vibe they give off. Others, mostly hunters, don't need the self-defense double action capability of the more modern Double Action style, and prefer the strength and simplicity of the old design, which lends itself particularly well to magnum loads.
Lucky guy! I have a Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum. It's the handgun I've owned the longest. I've always wanted a (regular) Blackhawk, and my favorite of the available calibers would be the .41.
How long are the barrels on them, and which do you prefer?
It is quite easy to see if a revolver is loaded with blanks or real rounds. The nose of a blank looks nothing like the nose of a real round. Just spin the cylinder while looking at the holes!
Dummy rounds may be a bit more difficult but not impossible.
great explanation - many thanks
Hmmm, I think I might disagree with this a bit. Or I'm missing something, and you could school me.
I'll assume you are not going to point that muzzle towards yourself to see the front of the bullets in the cylinders to see if they are in there, and try to ascertain that what is in the end is not bullets by cotton wading.
So, if you are keeping the barrel pointed at the floor (into a sand trap box, possibly) you could easily tell if the gun was loaded by flipping the loading gate open and revolving the cylinder - BUT - that would not easily tell you if the rounds were blanks or live (seeing as that's only really obvious from the business end, not the primer end.)
Perhaps I'm missing something. I've thought about this since the accident, and decided that if I were handed a loaded Single Action Army clone on a film set I would probably unload it to verify they were blanks, and then reload it myself.
Since it’s a revolver with open cartridge cylinders can’t you just look and see that what are in the cylinders are cartridges with bullets and not blanks?
Agreed, Baldwin was probably cocking the hammer while drawing, with his finger on the trigger. Or possibly using the palm of his off hand.
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