LCR drop safe?

[ChaseN]

I know it's a crazy question but hear me out...

I'm an experienced semi auto shooter. Very comfortable with a gadget equipped Glock carried AIWB 99% of the time. However, I'm an avid mountain biker and I've had some fairly spectacular, violent crashes in my day. Currently I carry my G43 on the bike but the partially cocked striker + .001% chance of some elaborate mechanical failure during crazy G-forces/impact bothers me. So I'm looking at DA pistols where the fire control system is totally at rest. I nearly 'pulled the trigger' on picking up a P30SK but the added girth and weight concerns me - I like a gun that is nearly completely unnoticeable while I'm riding - I want to focus on the trail, not the lump of steel/plastic shoved in my pants. So, the LCR has caught my eye. Nice and light and that cylinder is noticeably slimmer than I expected. The .327 option is especially attractive to me thanks to the 6 round capacity and breadth of (admittedly boutique) ammunition options you can run in it. Buffalo Bore's "outdoorsman" 327 FM round seems like a nice bonus for biking in VA and PA black bear territory. Want to avoid being a news story like we heard out of Washington State recently with the cougar

Now to my question...clearly the transfer bar system prevents impacts to the hammer from firing a round. But is the "floating" firing pin itself at any risk of firing a round if the impact is just right? I'm thinking 1911s here, where non series 80 models CAN fire even with a lightened pin and heavy spring. On the flip side I'm guessing the LCR's fp is so much lighter than the long 1911 fp that the risk is diminished? What say the revolver hive? These wheelguns are outside of my wheelhouse....

[Duelist]

First of all, you can throw the Glock out of an airplane and it won’t fire. The striker is blocked. The trigger is blocked. It won’t fire.

The LCR competes with the Jframe S&W. I haven’t looked at the mechanics for the LCR, but the JFrame firing pin is of such low mass, even if it didn’t have a transfer bar and require the trigger to be fully pulled before it can fire, I can’t imagine a drop fire from it.

[ChaseN]

First of all, you can throw the Glock out of an airplane and it won’t fire. The striker is blocked. The trigger is blocked. It won’t fire.

I know it doesn't seem like it. But I am intimately familiar with the glock striker system. Still want a completely dead striker/hammer/firing pin when I'm flailing through the air over my handlebars after picking the wrong line down a rock every couple years. I'm a human and therefore irrational sometimes. Trust me, I'd rather stick with my 7+1 9mm, and will continue to do so for my myriad other outdoor activities that don't send me hurtling at rocks every now and then

The LCR competes with the Jframe S&W. I haven’t looked at the mechanics for the LCR, but the JFrame firing pin is of such low mass, even if it didn’t have a transfer bar and require the trigger to be fully pulled before it can fire, I can’t imagine a drop fire from it.

That's what I assume as well. Just want to get some better informed advice on it before I spend my moneys for this specific application. Wish that Smith still made the 431PD as a competitor to look at as well.

[willie]

Because the firing pin has such low mass and because it also has a spring applying pressure to keep it at rest and because the distance that the firing pin can travel is so small that it can't gain velocity, I say that there is no risk of discharge from dropping or subjecting the revolver to sudden stop as in slamming. I've had two LCRs, a .22 and .38 spl, and have only praise for them. Note, though, that some specimens are rough out of the box, and for this reason I would not buy one that I did not inspect first. Some would make a case against the 327 round's effectiveness from a snub length barrel. I am not doing so. I'm uninformed about the cartridge. If I were an active young man like you who roams in wild places, I would carry two handguns--your 43 and the LCR that you like. Neither will put you at risk of unwanted discharge. Holster choice is critical for your mountain biking/roaming hobby. 9mm ammo may be more effective than the 327 against targets with teeth. That's my guess.

[OlongJohnson]

You seem to be getting wrapped a bit around the axle. You're nervous about a system that has a striker fully blocked in multiple ways, so you sound like you want someone to tell you that a floating firing pin is actually 100.0000% safe.

Yes, the block striker block can be moved inertially, but any force that would do that is going to tend to maintain engagement of the trigger bar against the striker. And as noted, the trigger bar cannot disengage from the striker without moving toward the rear by the full trigger press. The back of the striker would have to break off at the same time that the striker block was inertially moved for it to fire. An inertial event can't simultaneously move the striker block and move the trigger significantly to the rear.

The problem with the P320 was that an inertial event in a single direction could move the striker slightly rearward to relieve any contact force at the sear and/or the striker block while simultaneously tending to both disengage the striker block and disengage the sear.

There were some later versions of the S&W 3953 that didn't have the "enhanced" DA trigger. Just a normal, fully at rest, full stroke DA. That's about 24 ounces, though, may be more than you want to carry on the bike. It's kinda like an officer-size 1911, but slimmer because it's shrink-wrapped around the 9mm cartridge and has a DA trigger with no safety/decocker levers.

431s are out there, but I think you can get about three Rugers for this price:
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/771533288

My choice for a carry J frame is the M&P 340 no-lock. Steel cylinder and shoots .357s if you want.

[GJM]

If you are really concerned, you could carry the wheel gun on an empty cylinder or your Glock with an empty chamber.

[JoeSixPack]

Suppressed Uzi


Seriously...GJM's suggestion makes a lot of sense if an OTB experience is only a heartbeat away on any given ride. +1 for the LCR or J-frame since a trigger pull still makes it go bang.

[RJ]

I just bought a Ruger LCR 357 Model 5450. The manual has this statement about the trigger bar, fwiw: