Just checked the CA DOJ. The drop test consists of dropping the pistol or revolver on a concrete surface from 39.4 inches. A primed case is in the chamber. All done in a laboratory.
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Thank You Bulldog, thank you thank you very much That was very nice of you. I was just curious you know a few years ago I dropped my Taurus PT111G2C on the floor of our bedroom, I was home alone putting my holstered gun on my belt to go out for the day. Well my fully loaded gun with round in chamber dropped on floor, butt hit floor so barrel pointing up dead straight at my face. Everyone knows Taurus USA had some problems in the past; but that was pre-PT111G2’s. The gun behaved as the manufacturer states and never self-fired. I would have been dead had it fired because it was pointed directly at my face as I said so tying this all together and bringing it home, I thank you for checking that out. I always am curious about these kinds of things.
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Most firearms go through a drop-test by the manufacturer, altho a quick google search didnt give me any official sources on what this entails (if i do a more thorough search later I’ll post again). I remember when Sig had their drop issues with the P320 (the civvie version of the M17) they repeatedly mentioned that they dropped the pistol according to some spec and it passed. But the drop failure was if the pistol was dropped (or hit) at just a certain angle then it would go off. So they said from now on they would do additional testing outside of the spec to cover these edge cases.
Generally speaking, most firearms are inherently drop safe except for shotguns which are inherently NOT drop safe.
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@Harvey Well to reiterate a story, I am a retired Funeral Director/Embalmer/ Funeral Home Owner. More suicidal cases than not deploy the use of a shot gun than handgun. I’ve been at more crime scenes than 12 police officers removing bodies Apparently people who use a firearm to end life as they know, must know about bouncing off a shotgun shell on a hard surface.
Also; when I was in the Army 50 years ago the pistol of the day was the.45 Cal Colt/Remington so all the new lingo is new to me here. My company was one of the very first issued the M16A1 rifle.
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AHA! I found it! SAAMI to the rescue again. The PDF is available at the bottom of this page at saami.org.
Abstract:
This Standard provides procedures for evaluating new firearms designs and applies to rifle, shotguns, pistols and revolvers. In the interest of safety these tests are structured to demonstrate to the designer of new firearms that the product will resist abusive mishandling. These procedures are specifically understood not to apply to muzzle loading and black powder firearms of any type.
This is voluntary testing standards that manufacturers can adhere to. It’s a short read, only 12 pages. It’s basically a bunch of variations on dropping a rifle, shotgun, or handgun. IIRC, this is what Sig said they tested the P320 to when they launched it, and it passed. The way that people dropped it, or hit it, was not at one of the angles from the test.
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A tough old cowboy told his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning.
The grandson did this religiously and lived to the age of ninety-eight.
When he died, he left sixteen children, twenty-nine grandchildren, thirty-seven great grandchildren, and a fifteen-foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.
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That’s funny. I could have used that story several years ago before retirement but most funeral directors have zero sense of humor like I do but most won’t laugh if their life depends on it. You get 20 funeral directors in a room and they would not get that. Most of them are a Yawn to be very honest.
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The article did not say what brand/model handgun it was that fired when dropped. I’m guessing it was some sort of striker-fired semi-auto, but who knows. I won’t carry one of those. I carry DA/SA with a round in the chamber and the hammer down and the safety on (either a Beretta or a Bersa). You could hit either one of those with a hammer and they wouldn’t fire. Striker-fired weapons are O.K. for duty carry, and perhaps open carry, but not for concealed carry. I remember seeing a video on the news last year about an off-duty federal agent break dancing at a wedding and his weapon fell out of his holster and fired. I’m thinking it was a Glock. Sad.
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It didn’t fire when he dropped it… he accidentally fired it when he was picking it back up.
Can’t find any info on what kind of firearm it was though. Anyone?
BTW, striker fire is what I usually carry for CC, I’m 100% comfortable with it.
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I haven’t seen (and boy i looked) what he was carrying, but I think it’s safe to assume it was his issued firearm, and AFAIK FBI uses Glocks in either 9mm or .40.
That was definitely a case of operator error. The gun hit the floor and bounced and did not go off. It was when he reached for it, he put his finger in the trigger area and pulled when he closed his hand.
A well designed striker-fired pistol is as good a choice as any for concealed carry. People tend to associate a lack of an external safety as meaning “it has no safety” when in fact Glocks (and I believe this is common among most/all other striker fired) have THREE internal safeties. A glock will not go off unless you pull the trigger.
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That’s exactly why you should never try to catch a falling gun… its counter intuitive but pretty darn important.
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I tell new firearm people “if you drop it, DONT try to catch it. Just let it fall, it wont go off”
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I’ve never seen the a Glock hitting the ground discharge. And if there’s any nicks or scuffs, they add character.
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BTW @JeffMinar … I’m a bit surprised at the final outcome on that one… no longer at the FBI from what I read, but still has his carry permit. Seems like someone who needs to rethink his need-to-show-off-while-carrying plan 
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I definitely want an invite to this.
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It’s on video securely locked with my firearms.
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