I’ve had exactly two accidental discharges with firearms. Both involved Smith and Wesson handguns, and the last one happened more than 35 years ago. It’s an interesting story.
My first firearm was a Winchester Model 250, a .22LR lever action with a tube feed. My first handgun was a Smith and Wesson Model 59. It had one dangerous flaw that I discovered once to my dismay- when you dropped it, it could go off. I dropped it once and shot a hole through my dresser and into my wall. That’s how it came to be that, when the Third Generation Smith and Wessons came out, I bought one. My first Third Gen Smith was a 4506. Without looking it up, it was, I think, the heaviest carry pistol I’ve owned. Made out of solid stainless, it was a giant boat anchor. Over the next few years, I accrued a couple of other Third Gen Smiths: a 5906, and a 4566. I ran into an issue with them.
I would take the pistol to the range, flick off the safety, and squeeze the trigger, and
nothing.
The hammer stayed back, the gun didn’t even go click. Each of my Smith and Wesson Third gens did that. I never did find out why. I just couldn’t trust them, and they stopped being carry pieces. I would have nightmares of drawing my handgun to defend my life, and my gun wouldn’t fire. I’m sure Freudians would have a filed day with it, but I think it was a fear instilled in me by three different non-functioning handguns. It was odd- they did it more often when new, they did it rarely, but it would happen every couple of hundred rounds.
Then came the day in 1991 when the 4506 didn’t fire, I pulled the trigger several times, nothing. I turned the pistol 90 degrees clockwise and attempted to see what was going on, and that is when it fired. Into the ceiling of the indoor range. My second ever AD with any firearm.
I bought a Sig Sauer 226, and eventually sold the Smith and Wessons. I didn’t buy or own another S&W for decades after that. In the interim, I owned Taurus, Beretta, Ruger, Glock, and other brands, but I was mainly a Sig Sauer guy for the next 20 years.
Looking back, the Third Gen Smiths were fun to shoot, but I just couldn’t get over the lack of reliability.
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