HOM: MisFired: Bob

Bob was resting in bed and thinking about a discussion Don & I had had about trigger pulls. In a handgun, there are basically two types of pull, single action and double action. In single action, the gun is already cocked and a light touch of the trigger fires it; in double action a long and heavy pull on the trigger both cocks and fires the weapon. The discussion was over DA automatics, where the first pull was a long and heavy DA but all subsequent shots were a light SA, and how the change in pull between the first and second shots tended to throw the gun off-target. He picked up his bedside pistol, a DA auto, unloaded it, and played with the two types of pull and watched the way the grip shifted in his hand between them. (Bob was VERY analytical, a trait that made him a superb mechanic, machinist and gunsmith.) After a number of trials, he reloaded the pistol and put it away while he mulled over what he had seen and noted while he was testing it. After a while he decided he needed to test the DA pull again and recheck his first impressions. He picked up the pistol, concentrating on the way he held the grip, carefully aimed it at the clock on the wall, and squeezed off the long DA pull, . Yeah, he forgot one detail: He'd reloaded the pistol. He took out the clock and the mirror in the bathroom on the other side of the wall and very nearly took out Lorena who'd been using that mirror a few moments earlier. The concussion from the gunshot was loud, but he said when Lorena came though the bedroom door she was even louder and the repercussions lasted a lot longer. I don't think he ever did hear the last of that from her. TBC (Me) (Blacktail Books)