Zach Brantley saving the world
SIGO sends us a link to the story of Zach Brantley a former soldier who was walking with his sister and his nephew in Melbourne, FL when they were approached by a man, Andrew Samaj III, 29, with shotgun. The man told Zach to move away from his sister with the boy, Instead, Zach attacked;
Brantley tackled the man in the parking lot and wrestled for the gun.
In the process, the shotgun fired, but nobody was hit.
Brantley said his sister retrieved his .45 Sig-Sauer from their car, but the gun jammed when she tried to cock it. He said they had to rack the slide several times to clear the jam and then held the suspect at gunpoint until police arrived.
“Her brother saved her life,” said Sgt. Scott Lindsley.
Kick ass, Zach, kick ass.
Category: Real Soldiers
I own several Sigs and have run all kinds of ammo through them, while in various stages of cleanliness, and never once had a jam. I’m wondering what the hell she did.
@1: Panicked?
Shai Dorsai!
Proves that if you have a CCL, you need to carry. Always. If you don’t have a CCL, get one. Carry. Always. If you carry, practice. Always.
I. Won’t. Be. A. Victim.
Sig Sauer jammed? I am thinking that she didn’t pull the slide far enough back to fully cycle it. If she weren’t proficient, and in obvious panic, that would be an easy mistake to make. I wouldn’t hold it against the Sig people.
Didn’t know how to rack the slider?
Good for Brantley but he might want to spend a little time on firearm maintenance or buy better ammo. When seconds count the police are only minutes away.
I think that the key part of the story regarding the trouble with the jam is that his sister tried to rack the slide and that’s what caused the malfunction in the first place. I know that some women can’t rack the slide of a semi-auto pistol (my wife has a hard time with my XDm).
@7 That’s why for a female a revolver can be an excellent choice, although the obvious slower reloads and such become problematic…for a lesser experienced individual I’ve always thought a revolver was a decent option because of ease of operation but also harder to fire accidentally as well…just an opinion….probably not shared by many.
Strongly suspect someone was carrying with an empty chamber – almost always a Bad Idea. Old Trooper, a truly excellent web site for female aspects of firearms ownership can be found by googling “Cornered Cat”. Kathy Jackson, owner and trainer, has a great tutorial on slide manipulation – I use it in classes all the time for students.
Revolvers are like a fork. You pick it up, and it just works.
If you’re not going to spend a lot of time getting proficient, or if you have small, weak hands, it’s probably the best choice. Better to have 5/6 rounds that work than 15 that don’t.
Women that do want to use an auto need to know how to manipulate them. Pulling the slide is often difficult, so grasping the top of the slide and pushing it back is usually a better option for them. They just need to learn to do so while not pointing the muzzle at themselves.
Al T.– Glad you’re here b/c I did you wrong yesterday regarding the military pension issue. Please see cmt 25 in the “Another Army NCO…” thread. You get to see me fall on my sword. Ouch.
Chances that the mainstream media will glamorize the legal use of a gun in self-defense as much as they cast the spotlight on the illegal use of a gun during the commission of a crime? Zero.
What’s the over/under that they talk about the bad guy with the shotgun and pretty much gloss over or ignore the good girl pistol?
@9/10: Yeah, I worked with my wife so that she was proficient at racking the slide and it is no problem for her, now. In this case, I think that she wasn’t trained on racking it, because it wasn’t her weapon, but her brother’s, and that led to the improper racking and the subsequent jam.
Another good idea is to field strip, clean and oil your Weapon that you carry. I do it once a week with the1911 that I like to carry, whether I fire it or not. It’s a leftover habit from my time in The ME.
As I see it, you take care of your firearms, and they help you take care of yourself when you need them! But yes, a revolver IS more reliable, if you have a bad round in one, you just pull the trigger one more time!
A well placed choke out woulda worked here too
have always found it easier to teach weaker folks to grab/hold the slide with their weak hand and push the gun away from the with the strong hand…. when I push them into panic mode they typically push the gun past its limit which more or less rips the slide from their grasp and lets it chamber a round as it should with no riding the slide forward. Just my experience.
The ‘gun in the truck’ is common…. ‘way too many folks get some big heavy stopper which they fail to carry too often. A .32 in the hand beats the hell out of the .45 in the truck. Not that I object to the .45, I’m just too old and slow to sprint that far any more and want my gun RFN.
Good for both kids for handling adverse circumstances.
@8 VOV: A revolver is the weapon of choice for a backup in big game country. Twice in this area (that I’ve heard of), men have been jumped by bears, and had a semiauto jam when trying to defend themselves. Why? Contact malfunction: Stress caused the shooter to shove the pistol into the animal, causing stoppage, probably from the slide being pushed out of battery. A revolver will fire when jammed against something’s ribs; an auto sometimes won’t.
This is why I have both a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver and a little .22 Taurus semi. The .22 is black and the .357 is brown so that way I always have one that matches what I’m wearing. (joking)
Seriously though. The .357 is my Daddy’s old service revolver and it has some rust spots. What’s the best way to handle that? I’ve been told if I want it “re-blued?” I will have to send it back to Smith and Wesson and I’m too scared to ship it off somewhere due to the sentimental value it has for me.
Valkyrie: some local gun shops/gunsmiths do weapons bluing/re-bluing. I’d suggest you check with some of the gun enthusiasts in your area to see (1) who does it, and (2) who does the best job. Local PD might also be able to give a good recommendation.
Not sure if they noted the manufacturer make to disparage it as bad quality or to hype up it being more dangerous than any other manufacturer make.
I own a sig sauer. I’ve never had a problem with chambering a round.
“cock” and chambering are also two completely separate things. “Cocking” is essentially going double action which moves the firing hammer back on double action pistols allowing for a shorter and easier trigger squeeze. It literally has nothing to do with moving a round into the chamber to fire.
@18 – depending on the size of the rust spots, coat them with
light oil, and rub them with a penny or a BRASS cleaning brush (not steel!) You may be left with a little light pitting; you can either try coating it with a little cold blue touch-up (available in gun and sporting goods stores)or just keep it oiled adequately. If you have a lot of surface rust, get a small 0000 steel wool pad, get it really oily, and GENTLY wipe the rust away. Try not to remove any more blue. Depending on how old or valuable the gun is, reblueing can ruin the value. Genrally an older gun looks better with the original finish and is worth more. Clean and oil more often.
Val, David is spot on. Pre-1982 pennies are all copper and work a bit better. Once you have the rust cleaned off (it’s pretty simple), I’ve had good luck down here in South Kackalacky using floor wax on my blued guns to prevent rust. Wipe it on, allow to dry and buff off.
2/17, no big deal big guy. My last UCMJ experience was in the late ’80’s. 🙂
I think you all are kind of missing the point of the story
What point are you interested in discussing, 12b?
I have no useable comment nor suggestion for anybody today. Wait, wait, wait. Carry high, forward cant and keep the fuel tank loaded. You wouldn’t park your car in the garage on an empty fuel tank, would you?
Well even if she had a major malfunction, it worked. Good end. I’d offer some training.
Valkyrie: do bear in mind that if you care anything about the tangible value of the gun – and you may not – refinishing an older gun WILL reduce its value. Even if the factory does the refinishing, it will not be worth as much as it will in its original finish, unless the rust is really out of control. Better to follow suggestions above and try to remove the rust without removing the surrounding finish. There are also rust remover cloths (synthetic cloths impregnated with a solution to remove rust) – use them judiciously, as again, too much and you take off the finish.
If valuation isn’t an issue – and for a common police-issue revolver, it might not – there’s nothing wrong with sending it to the factory for rebluing. You will have to ship FedEx or UPS Overnight, which is expensive, but relatively secure and insurable. I have heard S&W does a lovely job refinishing older guns. If you really want to spend money, I have also heard of Turnbull Restorations (http://www.turnbullmfg.com), supposed to be one of the best in the business.
If you want to bring that finish into the 21st century, Robar (www.robarguns.com) has several finishes, including the black Roguard and the matte-stainless style NP3, that are much more resistant to rust than classic bluing. There are also the baked-on finishes like Cerakote and Duracote, which are not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as classic blue, but again, much more resistant. Allegedly, even a journeyman gunsmith can do these for you competently.
Bottom line, you have a lot of options. Me personally, if I just had to reblue a sentimental favorite gun, and price were no object, I’d probably send it to the factory or a top of the line house like Turnbull.
Brantley, you should have known better than to have left your sig in the car. Luckily you stayed in somewhat of a decent physical shape after getting back.
Takes a good grip to rack my Glock Model 30. That is why my wife carries in her purse and has in her bedside table…a revolver, S&W Model 340 PD, that she is trained to use.
@8 I agree, that is why the wife carries and is trained to use her revolvers at home and away. Never cover the muzzle with anything you don’t intent to kill, never cover the trigger until you are ready to shoot, never let the attacker close on you. She does a darn good center mass group with the five shot S&W’s she uses. Makes me feel better when she is alone at home and away.
ExHack – Thank you for the info. I’m going to research the options you suggested and see which one if best for me. The gun probably doesn’t have much monetary value but it means a lot to me. It’s just a typical .357 Smith and Wesson revolver about 40 years old.
The value may not be much, but those old Smiths are beautifully made guns, great shooters when maintained, and in .357, great stoppers. Perfect for the a-holes harassing you on the other thread! One of the favorites in my collection (I’m a bit of a gun nut, not a professional of any sort, but an avid amateur) is my Smith K-22 Masterpiece. Made 1947 or 1948, well used but not abused. Looks and feels like an honest gun should. The Smith & Wesson royal blue has a nice very slight matte on the high points that comes with age, and the case colored bits are still bright. Not had much luck boring through paper targets, but I was using bulk Remington “golden” bullets, which frankly suck IMHO – my High Standards don’t like them either. Treasure that Smith, whether you clean it up or give it the full-boat refinish!
all this talk about the gun, anyone concerned about the child who had to witness this and what effect it may have on him
@33 What that child witnessed was this:
1. Real life. There are really bad people out there.
2. A man who was strong enough to defend his family.
3. Actions have consequences, good and bad.
Sounds like a life-lesson to me. And a good one, at that.