Mine would fire, if I pulled the hammer back 1/2 - 3/4 of the way, it would have enough energy to activate the primer.
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This is a perfect opportunity to petition the Screen Actors Guild or the California Legislature (or both) to require that everyone on the set of a movie with firearms to complete a NRA Firearms Safety Class before touching a firearm.
Hollywood Liberals want more “gun control” so let them have more for themselves!
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The Hollywood crowd is always talking about the need for more laws to eliminate gun violence. Here is one, a National Occupational Safety Rule that prohibits any firearm capable of discharging a projectile from being on any movie set. How can the Hollywood crowd object to such a sane and sensible rule? It will eliminate gun violence on movie and TV sets entirely and make them safe from such tragic incidents as the Baldwin killing. They could even name it in honor of him, The Alec Baldwin Gun Safety on Filming Sets Act.
The Colt in question does not have a transfer bar. If you look carefully at the demonstration piece, you will see that the firing pin is attached to the hammer. Half cock is supposed to be the safety device. Ever hear “He went off half-cocked”? If the gun is not in perfect working condition, sometimes it can slip out of half cock and result in a negligent discharge. The gun is not supposed to complete the cycle from half cock with stroking of the trigger, but an unsafe gun can have the hammer fall with a negligent discharge if the trigger is stroked.
Early Rugers, even though they had a frame mounted firing pin, worked the same way as Colt Single Actin Armys. Ruger will rework any old style Ruger single action free of charge and return the removed parts to you. Older model Rugers lose some value if they have been converted to the safe mode of operation. Colt Single Action Armys, to the best of my knowledge cannot be so converted. Those firearms should not be in the hands of actors with too much money and too little brains.
While I don’t consider that I have expert level experience with Ruger sing actions, I do consider that I have considerable experience with Ruger sing actions, raging from convertibles to the old style Rugers with should always be carried with the hammer on an empty cylinder.
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I only feel remorse for the 2 victims in this case. God bless them and their families. As far as Baldwin is concerned I hope they bankrupt him. He has no business handling any firearms for the rest of his life and to make an example of him I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing him spend a couple of years in jail for his blunder. He is a classic “know it all” that through his actions people have probably suffered their whole lives just being associated with him.
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I have a 22 pistol I carried hunting when I was 16 and my dad used the pistol before I did. I’m 82 and when you cocked the hammer it would not fire until you pulled the trigger so I think the only way it could fire itself would be if the gun was wore enough to let the hammer go by itself. Mine still works fine.I agree with you about the range rules he broke.
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Thanks to everyone for all of the great discussion. I’ve learned a lot about firearms on movie sets from this discussion. I have been around firearms for all of my adult life, including a 20 year military career. So firearms safety has always been paramount to me. The common thread in most of these posts is that there was complacency and a disregard for firearms safety rules leading to this tragic accident, whether that be the “4 rules of firearms safety “, or whatever protocols are appropriate for a movie set. Complacency + firearms = bad outcomes.
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Karma is a fickle bitch. I have no use for this tool. Alex and his Twitter account were always among the first posters out there denigrating and shaming all manner of people invloved in shooting incidents whether justified or not, and always well before all of the facts were out. Now all of a sudden the fingers are pointing at him and he is blaming everybody but Donald Trump. I wholeheartedly believe that it was a tragic accident and there is plenty of blame to go around but his inability to accept responsibility for his part in this tragedy shows just how shallow he is and how insincere his earlier apology was. Alex Baldwin is showing everyone the true worm he is.
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USCCA did a video on this and the revolver will not fire without the trigger being pulled. Watch the video.
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When we took our CCW training in CO our instructor’s were Deputies from Larimer, County. Often he’d say “every gun is” and you better know the answer. (answer: a loaded gun) period. Even toy guns that look real could have a form of ammo in it. AND if you point a loaded gun at someone but better be prepared to kill.
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I’m glad someone posted this video because I actually got my old 1962 Colt single action revolver out of the safe and checked it out. I did it to confirm that you can inadvertently release a hammer and the hammer will simply lever reach the firing pin. It always stops prematurely.
Rather than focus upon the firearm, let’s truly look at the root issue. MONEY. As a producer, he was one of the individuals responsible for financing the picture. Money is always tight during a production, so corners are cut constantly, when you can do it safely.
First, he hired a very young, inexperienced armorer. The experience issue is less a factor than the age. My bet is on the crew being bored, was plinking during time off. Therefore, someone brought live ammo to the site. With an inexperienced armorer, she had no clout with the crew–she may have said, “do not shoot those firearms in your off time. I don’t want any live ammo around.” She might have said that, but the crew ignored her. SOMEONE knowns exactly how live ammo got onto the set. And they know it. They just haven’t come forward. Most likely, only the LE personnel will finally get that information extracted. The production department made the conscious decision to save money on a young armorer. For a firearms-heavy motion picture, that might have been shortsighted.
Sadly, motion picture producers, actors, etc., are not firearms experts. You have to be around firearms for years and years to become competent, and to see pretty much every possible scenario. While actors like to THINK they are firearms experts, very few are. I think Keanu Reeves is probably an exception. He has made a conscious effort to become an expert, because he films a lot of firearms-heavy motion pictures. I’m guessing that Keanu would have checked his firearm to see if it was loaded. I would go on to suggest that he would never have pointed it at anyone, either. Baldwin has used firearms before in movies but he is getting lazy. He is truly relying upon someone else to clear his weapons? Everyone here knows that is an individual responsibility. Imagine an armorer handing a revolver to Alec and saying, “it’s empty, but to be sure, hold it to your head and pull the trigger.” That’s obviously not going to happen.
If Baldwin were merely an actor in this film, I would write it off to just bad firearms discipline. But as the producer, now you have another more important factor. He’s got hiring and firing responsibilities, and in an effort to cut corners on the budget, he went cheap.
We also heard that there were other firearms incidents earlier in that same day. Supposedly, that’s why several crew members walked off the set that day. Yet, they went on. I’ve been on sets. I’ve heard the concerns about “burning daylight.” Anytime you are on location, it is costing you money. So you make an effort to shoot as much film as you can during that time period. Rather than stop, and think, about those incidents, and suggest, “guys, we’re going to take the rest of today off and we’re all going to sit down and talk about gun safety” they decided to press on. When I was in the flying business in the Air Force, we would occasionally have an accident, where we would have a crash or a critical flying related incident. Our leadership would be told, “everyone, take a day off and discuss flying safety.” Our flying safety officers would hold a safety briefing and EVERY flyer would have to come. Baldwin, worried about ‘burning daylight’ over safety and decided to press on, despite all of these warnings in the back of his head, from earlier incidents.
Who do I blame? Alex Baldwin. He controlled the set. He was ultimately responsible for the safety of everyone on the set. He got complacent. He got cheap. And he will forever carry this accident with him. And he should. I suspect over time that LE will ultimately find him negligent of this and he will wind up with a minor fine and perhaps a 30 day jail sentence (that’s what they do for you when you’re a Hollywood type). Go look and see what sentence Claudine Longer got for killing Spider Sabich, and THAT was intentional but unprovable.
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I agree 100%, however, we are dealing with people who believe guns are the fault of gun deaths. All the revolvers I have handled, it was easy to see if loaded or not (unlike the semi-automatic handgun). Most of us who were brought up around families with guns were taught: All guns are always loaded, never point the gun at anything you don’t want to destroy, etc. Yes, it is very tragic.
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While everything you say is true: 1. He failed to function check the firearm first & 2. He pulled the trigger! He’s guilty of negligent homicide at the very least.
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There were 3 persons responsible for the weapons safety,but the main one is up to the person that actually had the weapon,it is up to the person that actually has the weapon to USE ON THE SET,to absolutely check that the weapon has NO live round in the CHAMBER,it was HIS responsibility to assure that the weapon HAD NO live round in it,that is the first rule when you handle a weapon!
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This is not intended to pick on or point at @Layton at all — but I think that there is no amount of exhortation which makes the traditions or customs of any discipline into a legally binding standard of practice in any and all contexts.
No matter how well-founded or long-standing the established tradition or custom. Especially in a context unlike that in which the traditions and customs were developed.
Investigators will investigate; charging officials will charge; advocates will advocate; juries will consider; and judges will rule — about what makes reasonable standards and reasonable performance in conducting movie stunts. Our various opinions should have no influence on what will hopefully be a reasonable outcome in determining fault and consequence.
I do not pre-judge the outcome of process, just the importance of due process and developing appropriate expectations.
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maybe I construed what i said was the wrong way,any way any responsible with a weapon should treat it as loaded until verified it will not fire
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No, I think what you said was consistent with what most folks here are saying. You just happened to be pitching when I decided to take a swing. 
ok,i will take the strike 3 and out
when i first got a 22 rifle i was brutally trained by my mother,we lived in a shot gun house and it did not take long to learn painfully to not walk in the front door with the bolt closed,it did not take long to learn by my mother making a field gold with a foot to my behind and flying through the air and out the back door it dosent,take long to automatically learn,house,bolt open
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As a Hunter Education instructor for some 30 +/_ years, the first 5 minutes of each class we instruct everyone that whether you are handed a gun or pick-up a gun, your first action is to keep all fingers clear of the trigger, the second action is to point it in a safe direction, (away from people or animals), the third action is to open the gun to insure it is not loaded. Mr. Baldwin failed to do any of these actions. For someone supposedly familiar with firearms, he is a total failure.
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@Charles409 Welcome to the community, we are glad to have you. 
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