Via Every Day, No Days Off a video that demonstrates grabbing the slide of a semi-automatic handgun will disable the gun.
The chambered round will of course fire, but that’s all you’ll get. As well, it doesn’t take much; he put a single finger on the back of the slide and while it hurt it was enough to disrupt the slide. Demonstrates that if you want your semi-auto to operate, the slide must be able to operate 100% smoothly and unobstructed.
From that I take two things:
- If you’re in a FUT/CQB situation and someone pulls a gun, grabbing can take the gun out of commission… at least as soon as the chambered round is fired. This applies to the attackers gun, as well as your own gun.
- It’s why I prefer a revolver for “in the coat pocket” carry.
That said with revolvers, let’s see if this guy perhaps makes the same sort of video with a revolver. That would certainly bring about powder burns, but I wonder if you could stop the double-action rotation of the cylinder. I’m not willing to risk my fingers/hand or revolver to find out. 🙂
Stuff From Hsoi 
My dad had a 45 that I think was a 1911 variant when I was young, and one of the things about it was it had a front safety. Or maybe was the way it was designed. But if you just pushed on the front of barrel it wouldn’t fire.
Of course it would take serious balls to put your hand over the barrel of a gun and push back.
Yup. Take a semi-auto out of battery and it won’t go. Contact-shots are best left to revolvers. 🙂
OK, this is really strange because I was pondering this very subject only last weekend. I came to the conclusion it would be worth a try if the situation arose, and this confirms it. Any other good info for gun grappling at close quarters? Thanks for the post!
Check out the work that SouthNarc does. http://www.shivworks.com/ I think his classes on ECQC get into the gun grappling stuff.
Also check out their related forum: http://www.totalprotectioninteractive.com/forum/ as it may have info on the topic. I would first spend time lurking and searching and reading there tho.
Grabbing a revolver cylinder will prevent it from turning. There’s far more mechanical advantage to stop the rotation than the internal mechanism has to turn it.
One may also ‘hand jam’ a revolver by getting one’s digit (thumb or finger) between hammer and frame, or a digit behind the trigger in the trigger guard.
All three techniques require being way too close to someone with a revolver who is trying to hurt the protagonist. On the other hand – no pun intended – what would one have to lose? Ugly as I am, being a corpse isn’t going to make me look better.