[Name of One Who Uses]

Fixed sights work quite well on well-built revolvers. Most issues with POI, at least where windage is concerned, are simply because most shooters don't know how to properly hold and shoot SA revolvers. There's much, much more to shooting SA's straight than lining up the sights and squeezing the trigger. As to vertical dispersion, this is easily addressed by choosing one weight or at least small weight range of bullets, and sticking with it. My first SA was/is an older 4 3/4" Uberti 44 WCF to which I fitted a .44 Special cylinder. I found that if I shot only bullets in the 245-255 gr. range that I had to worry very little with trajectory. I regulated the front sight so that my 245 gr. RN loafing along at ~750 fps (small game load) shot POA at 25 yds. and my hunting load of a 255 gr. SWC running 950-1000 fps would be just about "on" at 50 yds. and a few inches low at 75.

As to the OP's problem, it sounds as though your friend, and I use that term very loosely, may have pulled the trigger while the hammer was in the safe-cock position. This likely would've either broken the tip off the hammer of the safe position or damaged or broken the tip of the trigger sear.
SA revolvers such as these are very simple and easy to disassemble/reassemble if you're ever interested in the inner works.