stillaftermath
July 18, 2009, 09:50 PM
Hi all! New member here, forum was recommended by a friend... so first of all, hello. :)
Took the fiance out to the range for her first shooting session today, and I took out some of my favorite "starter" and plinker weapons out - A very nice S&W .22LR revolver, a GPG-5, a Glock 19, and the venerable Nylon 66 I've had since childhood.
A good day was had by all (Success!) with one exception - My Nylon 66 failed repeatedly! It's fired fine for the 20+ years I've had it, and probably many more before that, but today it fought back. The first rounds through it were Winchester 1280fps 36g PHP. The first shot fired, but failed to cycle the weapon fully, resulting in a chambered live round but a dead trigger from the firing pin not resetting. A check and a clear, ejecting the live round and inspecting to make sure it had not been a misfire - there was no firing pin marks - I fired the second round. Same result; next round chambered but trigger dead.
The third shot it got interesting - Double fired! I cleared it, triple-checked the barrel, chamber, and magazine tube, safed it, and put aside for a while to get back to the fiance shooting.
After a few hours, when she was done shooting, I did a little field maintenance, kicked the tires, and thought maybe I'd try a different load, this time opting for 1200fps Federal Auto-Match. Loaded 5 rounds, pulled the trigger, and all of a sudden I had a full auto Nylon 66 as it bump fired every round in the tube.
As fun as it was as a machine gun, I'd kind of like to get my old 66 working in a more reliable way. ;) Can anybody explain what might cause the bolt to cycle far enough to chamber the next round, but not reset the firing pin? Can anyone explain why it would suddenly bump-fire itself into full auto?
I'm just glad it happened to me and not the fiance - An unexpected full auto mishap could have ruined an otherwise great day. :)
P.S. - For the record - Even with the bump fire, all my shots were bullseye shooting offhand at 10 yards. :D
Took the fiance out to the range for her first shooting session today, and I took out some of my favorite "starter" and plinker weapons out - A very nice S&W .22LR revolver, a GPG-5, a Glock 19, and the venerable Nylon 66 I've had since childhood.
A good day was had by all (Success!) with one exception - My Nylon 66 failed repeatedly! It's fired fine for the 20+ years I've had it, and probably many more before that, but today it fought back. The first rounds through it were Winchester 1280fps 36g PHP. The first shot fired, but failed to cycle the weapon fully, resulting in a chambered live round but a dead trigger from the firing pin not resetting. A check and a clear, ejecting the live round and inspecting to make sure it had not been a misfire - there was no firing pin marks - I fired the second round. Same result; next round chambered but trigger dead.
The third shot it got interesting - Double fired! I cleared it, triple-checked the barrel, chamber, and magazine tube, safed it, and put aside for a while to get back to the fiance shooting.
After a few hours, when she was done shooting, I did a little field maintenance, kicked the tires, and thought maybe I'd try a different load, this time opting for 1200fps Federal Auto-Match. Loaded 5 rounds, pulled the trigger, and all of a sudden I had a full auto Nylon 66 as it bump fired every round in the tube.
As fun as it was as a machine gun, I'd kind of like to get my old 66 working in a more reliable way. ;) Can anybody explain what might cause the bolt to cycle far enough to chamber the next round, but not reset the firing pin? Can anyone explain why it would suddenly bump-fire itself into full auto?
I'm just glad it happened to me and not the fiance - An unexpected full auto mishap could have ruined an otherwise great day. :)
P.S. - For the record - Even with the bump fire, all my shots were bullseye shooting offhand at 10 yards. :D