Re: [Semi-OT] Blackhawk Down

Thomas Barclay wrote:

> I reply:
> John, there are several ways this kind of
> catastrophe can be prevented. These track
> back to and include not having your finger
> inside the trigger gaurd and having a well
> designed weapon (some weapons are
> actually poorly enough designed as to go
> off when dropped or banged on something
> a little less gently). Having said that, a
> safety _can_ be a useful thing.
>

A particularily poor weapon was the sten gun.  A very cheap and nasty
weapon that operated on a blowback that had a fixed firing pin.  The
safety was having the blowback forward on an empty chamber.  Before
firing, the blowback was pulled back (it would lock in the open
position).  If the trigger was pulled, the blowback would no longer
lock, and the recoil spring drove it forward, stripping a round from the
magazine and chambering it and, due to fixed firing pin, firing it.  The
recoil pushed the blowback to a position where, depending on trigger
pressure, it may lock (after also extracting the spent casing).

What you may have noticed from the above technical description that
there is a window of probability that a sharp blow to the butt will fire