G&A TV Blackhawk Serpa Promo Inadvertently Breaks Rule 3
Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone who uses guns for long enough will make a mistake or two. Sometimes, though, they make those mistakes at the most cringe-inducing times (such as this famous incident from 2004 involving a DEA agent). Unfortunately, gunsmith and firearms instructor Patrick Sweeney had a brush with firearms unsafety while filming a recent segment for Guns & Ammo TV on the Blackhawk! Serpa holster, see below at 2:23:
Uploader nickdrak isolated this segment in another video, embedded below:
We can see that Mr. Sweeney depresses the button on the Blackhawk! Serpa holster, pulls his Walther PPQ free from the plastic, and then the pressure and momentum of his trigger finger carries it onward into the weapon’s triggerguard just millimeters away from the trigger itself. We can tell that he has tried to train out this behavior because his trigger finger subsequently pulls back, out of the trigger guard, in preparation for raising the gun to the firing position. Patrick likely believed that he had successfully trained himself out of this behavior, but in a twist of irony it was the slow motion footage filmed for the Blackhawk! promo segment that revealed that not to be the case!
If you are going to use Blackhawk! Serpa holsters, it is absolutely critical that you slow down on the draw and ensure that your trigger is free and moving away from the guard before the trigger of the pistol is exposed.
Stay safe, folks!
Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.
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I remember WAY back in police training, I can't remember if ti was the Utah or Cooper course, where we were supposed to draw and shoot the revolver( this was when many LEOs had SOP restricted to revolvers) as soon as it cleared the holster - sometimes into the ground, and walk the rounds up to the target. This was theoretically to get the maximum jump on the perp so as to shoot low, and hope it bounced into the crook before he could get the jump on you. I didn't like it, but did okay. Fortunately the rake on my Safari rig was such that the barrel was already toward the target when I cleared the holster, so I usually hit the target on the first shot, although usually in the groin! OUCH! The paper target, not mine! Now I had my finger on the trigger just as it cleared the holster, and that is why I didn't like it, but the for some reason snapping the button to release the pistol with my thumb cause my index finger to straighten out enough, that I figured I had a slim margin of safety there. Sheesh! I hadn't thought about this in over 30 years!
"It's the shooter's fault when you go too fast on your Serpa...Finger slipped in".... And most shooters just accept it.. .blamed Tex, but never the holster!
This will not happen with my Bladetech even or not I go too fast beyond my limit.
It keeps me peace of mind to draw faster and faster.