Originally Posted by
Hawkmoon
Correct.
A body at rest will tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by outside forces.
A body in motion will tend to remain in motion unless acted upon by outside forces.
The "body" we're concerned with is the firing pin. It's inside the slide assembly, of course. If the gun is dropped in a muzzle-down orientation, everything accelerates due to the effect of gravity. When the gun hits the floor, everything is traveling downward at the same velocity. Muzzle hits floor, barrel and slide stop almost instantaneously. Firing pin keeps traveling downward until the deceleration imparted by friction and the firing pin spring can stop it. If those forces can't stop it, or slow it down sufficiently to prevent setting off the primer, the gun will fire.
The barrel and slide do not stop instantaneously, as the barrel and slide will "recoil" together until the barrel stops against the VIS of the frame; that's not much linear distance, but the recoil spring and mainspring (if the hammer isn't cocked when the gun is dropped) are slowing its movement.
If the gun has a FLGR, then the slide/barrel/frame are a solid unit, with only firing pin "free" to move on impact.
"A grip safety is just another excess moving part. I have never known one to prevent an accident, and moreover, it is difficult to postulate a circumstance in which it might." Jeff Cooper
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