John Schneider rails against Alec Baldwin for claiming he ‘didn’t pull the trigger’

John Schneider is sharing his thoughts on Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” movie set shooting.

On Oct. 21, Baldwin was rehearsing a scene on the New Mexico set of his planned film “Rust” when a gun he was holding discharged. A projectile from the weapon fatally struck cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

An investigation into the incident has been underway for a month now, and Baldwin spoke out Thursday night, claiming during a tell-all interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that despite holding the gun, he “didn’t pull the trigger.”

Ahead of Baldwin’s interview, a preview was released, which featured Baldwin’s comments, and Schneider, 61, shared his thoughts on the matter in an 18-minute video titled “Seriously Alec?“

Schneider claimed the interview was “all designed to make us feel sorry for Alec Baldwin” and claimed the actor’s teary-eyed emotional responses during the interview were “bulls–t.”

Transfer bars are only on a few SAA type revolvers. The gun in question, having seen a video of the same model used in the movie, has a hammer mounted firing pin as was the original design of the Colt SAA pistol.

However, there are three notches and four clicks that occur when cocking these SAA models and their non-transferbar clones.

The first click is a quarter-notch safety that happens at nearly the same moment you begin pulling back on the hammer. This safety was incorporated to hold the hammer (with firing pin) back far enough to not rest on the primer of a live round when the cylinder is loaded with six live rounds. It must be utilized manually by the user and should protect against an unintended strike against the hammer which might ignite the primer of the cartridge — firing the gun. It also acts as a last level of protection if you fumble thumb the hammer while cocking and let the hammer unexpectedly drop back towards a live round. This safety is active only if the trigger remains forward. It is not a robust safety and in all cases it is recommended you treat the gun as if it does not exist and never park the hammer on a live round by leaving that chamber empty. This is where a transfer bar safety mechanism could be considered superior as it is protecting that firing pin from being struck by the hammer at all times, unless the trigger is pulled.

Second click at half-notch comes up next as you pull the hammer back. This is the notch the hammer is held in that also allows the side loading gate to be released and is where you can load/unload the pistol. Again, trigger remains forward and the quarter-notch safety is still in play if the half-notch safety were to not be engaged properly or was faulty. This is also the point where the cylinder engagement lock is released and the cylinder is allowed to rotate freely.

As you pull back to the approximate three quarter mark the cylinder rotates to line up the next round to be fired and you hear the cylinder lock mechanism click into the cylinder notch to prevent it from rotating (located in an area on the frame above the trigger). This is not a hammer related component and produces a noise, but does not affect hammer retention. The half and quarter-notch safeties are still in play though, should the hammer be released unintentionally and the trigger is not pulled then the hammer should still be prevented from falling on a live round in the cylinder.

Last click and third hammer notch is the fully cocked position. Here the trigger is moved back slightly to engage with the hammer and trigger sear to retain the hammer in a ready to fire position. Depending on the hammer and sear geometry, the final pull of the trigger may be heavy to light. Heavy might be 5-10 ft lbs of force and light might be as little as a pound (often called a hair-trigger). No idea if the gun in question ever had its trigger altered, but I would think the pull from the factory may be in the four to eight range. Higher grade firearms will typically try to get that pull down to around two or three lbs to keep it light and still be positive (meaning that the hammer will still move minutely backwards when pulling the trigger to fire). Typically, the hand work involved to get the trigger geometry and engagement correct is what makes the higher grade pistols more expensive. Again, the half and quarter-notches are still in play if you fumble the hammer while attempting to fully cock the pistol.

All of these safeties are defeated the moment you pull the trigger. Unless there were failed components in the gun that allowed the hammer to drop unhindered when the trigger was still forward, then AB is a trouser arsonist!

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