A video that reminds us to be careful when modifying your firearms.

[Maillemaker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPxQsP7_ZQw

A different shooting sport than ours, but it brings home an important point. Many of us, myself included, have made modifications to our Civil War firearms. It may be tempting because it seems "easier" given that the mechanisms are generally mechanically simpler with firearms of our era as opposed to modern ones.

But last year I had a revolver, a Pietta 1858 that I had done some work on the tumbler to reduce the trigger pull. I was letting a team mate shoot it to try it out as he was considering buying it. He had cocked it, and was holding it in front of him, and it went off. I took the gun back and ordered a brand new hammer and replaced it, and it worked as good as new again. In hindsight, good firearm handling and luck saved us.

So, it's something to consider when you undertake to modify the mechanisms of your firearms.

Steve

[tackdriver]

Whoa. thank you for sharing. I have modified my sear spring on my 1853 to make an easier trigger pull. No problem....yet. But seriously, does anyone know a good place to order a new sear spring. preferably one that doesn't charge a ridiculous shipping charge!

[jonk]

I am sorry to hear what she went through.

This said: I don't think that her side of the story can possibly represent the whole story.

If the sear had been modified to the point that the hammer or striker would fall spontaneously, trigger pull would have been almost nil. An experienced shooter, or even a well practiced novice, would immediately notice this condition- preferably on buying the weapon- and replace the part.

I don't think that it is legit to blame the previous owner. Maybe he did modify that part himself. Maybe a professional smith did the work. Maybe it just had a ton of rounds put through it after that and it was honest wear that took an already modified part just a little too far. Or, maybe it happened just like she said, and the previous owner took too much metal off the part. In any case, she violated an important rule of shooting: making sure you are familiar with your firearm. Bottom line: it's HER fault for not thoroughly examining that gun, if indeed it was a mechanical issue that caused the discharge. Coupled with simple bad luck.

Even so, whoever was at fault; it is a good practice to know what you are doing before you modify a firearm in any way.

[ms3635v]

As a firearms instructor and armorer for the police department I worked for we had a very strict policy about the officers making any repairs or modifications. We had a directive that said only the department's certified armorers were permitted to service the firearms and make other repairs that were necessary, i.e., we had a problem with the draw bars which required replacement of the part. This is an important issue and should be taken seriously.

[Maillemaker]

To me the message is not who was actually at fault in the woman's photo.

To me the message is to be aware when you are modifying a firearm that there is a potential for disaster if you don't know what you are doing.

I think a lot of us in this sport in particular have at least dabbled in a little amateur gun work. As I know from personal experience, it's easy to end up with a firearm that becomes unsafe.

Steve

[Cannonman1]

It probably already exists but if not .. it should. A series of videos on safe operation and firing of the basic weapons we use in a live skirmish (cannon, musket, carbine, pistol etc..) with reasons why we do it that way.. and a "don't do this/ don't do this yourself" video for those looking at doing internal mods on black powder firearms or choice of propellants. As I peruse the internet, there is a lot of !@%! out there that we cannot control. A newbie to this sport could be misled with bad results.. I am reminded every time I am in a skirmish line that it is not only my safety that is on the line but that of my pards to the left and right of me and our hobby/sport itself. I am also reminded of some bone headed decisions I made and got away with many years back and luckily some that I never tried because some experienced person said.. "STOP and think"
These videos could be posted on U tube, on the NSSA site and other.

[jonk]

To me the message is not who was actually at fault in the woman's photo.

To me the message is to be aware when you are modifying a firearm that there is a potential for disaster if you don't know what you are doing.

I think a lot of us in this sport in particular have at least dabbled in a little amateur gun work. As I know from personal experience, it's easy to end up with a firearm that becomes unsafe.

Steve

I agree with you, mainly, in that it IS easy to come up with a firearm that becomes unsafe. My own point is though, that someone who knows what they are doing can still modify a firearm safely (which is at odds with what she says, that only a gunsmith should work on guns), and that the onus is always on the buyer to know what he/she is buying. As such, the question of fault most surely IS in question. Let's put it another way, that pertains to our sport more in particular.

Suppose a re-enactor has massively drilled out a nipple (as they often do) for firing blank charges. I then buy said gun. Bore is in good shape. I want to skirmish with it. With a stiff charge and a real bullet, that drilled out nipple shatters a cap that slices open my eyeball. Who is at fault? The re-enactor modified it in good faith for what HE was doing. He thought that a normal process. It was. For what he was doing. I bought it. I didn't do my own due diligence as to what the gun needed for my own intents. My fault. Let's say I bought a car that someone had been using for drag racing. They had bald rear tires so as to get them sticky. I, though, want a daily driver. I take it out on the snow and crash due to lack of traction. My fault for not knowing enough about tire treads.

It's a good notice, to not modify a gun if you don't know what you're doing, but it's equally true that in a shooting sport, buying used gear, you MUST know what you are looking for. She didn't.

[Maillemaker]

Again, to me the message is not about who is at fault when a firearm malfunctions.

It's about being aware of the possible consequences when you modify a firearm.

But to your point, I think you might be on shaky legal ground with your assumption that modifications made by the seller are entirely the responsibility of the buyer to note and understand.

If you make modifications to an item that make it unsafe or unsuitable for the item's normal purpose and you don't disclose that fact on selling I could see a lawyer having a field day with that. It doesn't really matter if they modified it in good faith for what they were doing at the time. What matters is how it was represented when it was sold, and then being able to prove that in court. If you modify a firearm to make it more suitable for reenacting and then sell it on as what would reasonably be understood to be a firearm, and it is subsequently bought and used as a firearm and an injury happens because your undisclosed modifications made it unsafe for its reasonably understood purpose, I could see grounds for liability there. But I'm not a lawyer.

Take the revolver I modified above. I modified the tumbler notches to reduce the trigger pull. Turns out my modifications made the gun unsafe. I did not even think to disclose my modifications as I did not think anything of them and the firearm had worked fine up until it didn't. The guy holding it had no reason to assume that the firearm wasn't safe. And it's likely that even if he took it apart he would not know from looking at the physical parts that it was unsafe or that it had even been modified. But if someone had gotten shot or property damaged from it, whose fault would it be? The guy who thought he was handling a safe revolver? Or the guy who modified it and made it unsafe? Again, I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that it would be awfully hard to peg it on the shooter as someone who somehow should have known that the firearm was unsafe.



Steve