October 05, 2009
UnManned Handgun Attacks, Wounds Three
Tales of the gun weird:
Michael Thourot had just pulled his hand away from the warm metal when it started spewing bullets.Moments before, Sherri Thourot had watched her husband fire and reload the Jennings 9mm. Then he set it down for her to shoot next at the range.
That's when the handgun started firing on its own, she said, spinning around in circles, landing the Thourots and an Irish tourist in the hospital.
"Nothing like that has ever happened," said Sherri Thourot on Sunday evening from her room at Lakeland Regional Medical Center.
Bryco/Jennings/Jimenez Arms designs have been a pawn shop favorite for years, filling out the market for inexpensive and basic pistols. Their reputation for durability and quality are about what you would expect in a sub-$200 handgun, and they have been on the losing end of lawsuits in the past. That said, it is exceeding rare for a stationary, unmanned handgun to spontaneously start firing.
THIS must be the handgun the Anti's are so afraid of!
Posted by: toater802 at October 5, 2009 09:20 AMI'd like to know how many rounds he had put through it before this happened and what type of rounds (besides the obvious aforementioned 9mm). (I'd want to know brand ectect.)
Sounds like 'cook off' to me, but I can NEVER imagine a sidearm getting THAT hot. Only time I ever experienced 'cook off' (definition of 'cook off' for non-gn folks: it's when the Barrel and Chamber of a weapon becomes so hot that the bullet spontaneously fires or ‘cooks off’ as soon as chamber lock is achieved) Like I was saying, the ONLY time(s) I’ve ever experienced ‘cook off’ was on an M-60A1 firing sustained full auto for over 20 minutes (yeah I was doing bursts but when you have 1000 round belts to burn and your 1SG tells you “don’t come back with any unspent ammo!!!”… well HELL full auto ROOLZ!!!!) The barrel ended up glowing red-to-white hot. My AG (asst. gunner) had to break the belt b/c it went runaway and I was hosing the entire range LOL!!!
There’s something more to this… as you stated the Jennings is a cheap gangbanger special… total POS and if I found one on the battelfield and had a choice between it or a club, I’d stick with the club as it’s safer and I’m sure I could get something better using the club.
Posted by: Big Country at October 5, 2009 11:14 AMOnly thing I can think of is that he racked the slide and left it back, then placed the gun down on the table, at which point the slide shot forward. Then the gun fired on its own plus it fired full auto.
In other words, careless handling plus multiple mechanical failures.
Posted by: Steve at October 5, 2009 11:28 AMSerial cook offs in an unsupported handgun. Most handguns would jam without strong support in the recoil process. More to this story. Maybe a sear failure, but still for a semi-automatic to function properly it needs to be supported. Most jams in a semi are caused by limp wristing or lack of support in the recoil process.
Posted by: Federale at October 5, 2009 11:32 AMWhy would you load it and then set it down?
Why wouldn't you just let your wife load the mag into the pistol? That way at least someone can control it if something does go wrong...
sounds kinda fishy to me, though!
Posted by: John at October 5, 2009 12:32 PMI agree that something sounds fishy here.
My hypothesis is that someone has made illegal modifications to this gun in an attempt to convert it from a semi-automatic to an automatic.
Posted by: George at October 5, 2009 01:57 PMThat is a level of automatic I find hard to support.
I'm not sure I think full automatic is a good idea in most applications, but this is way too far.
I've heard of Naval riles cooking off, but in a handgun?
Posted by: Larry Sheldon at October 5, 2009 03:05 PMThe barrel ended up glowing red-to-white hot. My AG (asst. gunner) had to break the belt b/c it went runaway and I was hosing the entire range LOL!!!
Did you have him change the barrel too? Oy.
Posted by: Pablo at October 5, 2009 09:52 PMConcur there is something fishy here. The probability of cascading mechanical failures required to cause this to happen as described to an unmodified weapon are astronomical.
Pablo: OF course he changed the barrel... I was the CPL and he was the PV2... gotta have them kids earn their keep!! Besides... my hands are too big to fit in the aspestos (sp?) glove.
Posted by: Big Country at October 7, 2009 12:44 PM
