clearing a jam

[deadeye dick]

What is the best way to clear a jam when the bullet is hung up in the rifling on a auto pistol? What I would do is drop the mag. and try to rack the slide. My question is if you can't rack the slide. I feel there are two options,Drive it out with a brass rod in the muzzle or try to force the slide back. What is your opinion.

 

[W.E.G.]

Ummm... if you have a bore obstruction, you need to disassemble the weapon and clear the bore with some sort of tool.

If its a bullet from squib, a brass rod and a hammer usually do the trick.

What circumstance involving a bore obstruction would prevent you from operating the slide?

 

[orionengnr]

A round with a high primer, or a "long" COAL round may jam the bullet into the leade.
Had this happen once with an XD9. Slide would not budge, round would not discharge.
Just stuck. Took some serious force to un-stick.

 

[deadeye dick]

Sorry didn't make myself clear. Bullit stuck in rifling due to COAL. as #3 stated. How did you do it.

 

[tly999]

If I understand your question correctly, you are asking about situations where something prevents the slide from going all the way into battery and the unfired cartridge cannot be ejected. If this is the situation you have an unfired round in the barrel, and it would never be safe to attempt to drive the live round out of the barrel with a brass rod.

I have always been successful forcing the slide open in this situation. Remember that the firearm is loaded, so observe all rules of firearm safety.

 

[W.E.G.]

In the field under life-or-death conditions, I would "pogo" the butt of the pistol against a hard surface while holding the slide in a death grip.

If it happened at the range, I would bring the gun home and clamp the slide in a padded vise. Then I would devise some sort padded block to brace against the frame of the gun so I could tap the block with a heavy hammer.

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

I have removed these by gripping tight with one hand and using the palm of my free hand hitting the top of the slide. They will come out when a vice and vice grips can't. Learned the trick from a gunsmith. I'll send you a video I made on how to do it. Not complicated.If it is stuck good it may take a few tries.

Things to keep in mind....Point it in a safe direction. (Guess you knew that) but never hurts to go over it.

 

[rcmodel]

The best and safest way is to brace the end of the slide against a wood bench edge or range post of some sort, leaving room for the barrel & guide rod to clear it.

Then jump on the grip as hard as you can!

(Finger off the trigger at all times!)

That will force the side back far enough to unlock the barrel from the slide, and should almost always pop it out.

Stuffing a rod down the barrel on top of a loaded round should always be avoided, and used Only as a last resort!

rc

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Cant load the video...photo bucket giving me a hard time. Here's a youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZdyPdlzEPs

Same results different motions.

 

[rcmodel]

Same results, until you get a really stuck round.

Then the best answer is still post #8.

It almost always works.

You have to keep the whole gun from moving when you smack the grip or the gun will move instead of making the slide unlock and popping the round out.

rc

 

[45lcshooter]

id take the gun back where you bought it from and get money back. haha. I wouldn't want to stick anything down the barrel of my gun, or smack it with an open hand on the slide or jump on the grips. I would take it to a gunsmith, some one that is certified. Lets say you jump on your grips and miss, for 1 the gun is falling, so are you, gun could go off, you break something or injure something when you fall/cant go to work. In a quick pinch i would say do smack or jump method, but the percentage of injury versus actual work getting done is not good. I would just take it to a gunsmith.

then when you get the gun back, just ask him what he did, and if he says jump or smack, then the fellers above me would be 150% spot on. but somehow i don't see a gunsmith saying jump or smack, i maybe wrong too.

 

[dickttx]

The best and safest way is to brace the end of the slide against a wood bench edge or range post of some sort, leaving room for the barrel & guide rod to clear it.

Then jump on the grip as hard as you can!

(Finger off the trigger at all times!)

That will force the side back far enough to unlock the barrel from the slide, and should almost always pop it out.

Stuffing a rod down the barrel on top of a loaded round should always be avoided, and used Only as a last resort!

rc

I had this occur at the range last week and this ^^^ is what I did, and it worked. For some reason I remembered reading about this in the past.

 

[rcmodel]

Yes, it almost always works, every time.

rc

 

[WestKentucky]

Nobody suggesting ,with good reason,"pound her on into battery and let her rip". I know of two keltec pf9s that had COAL related jams from wwb ammo. One was slapped on the back of the slide a few times to push it into battery. The other got a dowel rod down the tube that was inserted into a tree and it was then whacked on the grip until it opened. Can't really say which I like or dislike more because both could have cased kabooms pretty easily. The dislodged bullet showed distinct deformation where it impacted the rifling. The pounded in case was a sticker that was ruptured when we pounded it out. Moral of this story is that a live round in the chamber is a bad thing if it's not usable. Disassemble if possible and fix the issue on a bench or in a vise where there's significantly less chance of catastrophic failure....and if it happens one check your ammo. Don't let it happen again.

 

[mljdeckard]

When it has happened to me, I was able to force it out by hand, racking the slide. Once I had to field strip a 1911. If it was to the point where we were pulling out dowels and mallets, I would call a professional.

 

[deadeye dick]

Very good advice by all, As always, especially smacking it into battery. That's just driving the nail deeper not solving the problem. What if any strain is put on the extractor when smacking the slide back. And yes always safety first.

 

[rcmodel]

Nothing it wasn't designed for.
You can't smack the slide back by hand as fast as shooting it does!

rc