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Member
I feel like some general discussion is in order here as I am new to guns in the past 1.5 years (other than some shooting I did about 40 years ago). I bought a pistol and a revolver and did some range time. Then a curious event happened at the range with my revolver.
I took two 50 round boxes of Winchester FMJ 38 Special training ammo to the range a few weeks ago. I was firing the S&W 642 and one round did not go off. I knew it was way too soon for the 5 shots to be done. In the back of my mind I knew about one advantage of a revolver is that if you get a misfire, you simply pull the trigger again (vs having to manually rack a semi-auto), so I did. Actually it was not quite like that, when the gun didn't fire (so I thought with my hearing protection) I was confused and just pulled the trigger again (like one might push the button on a video remote if it failed to click the menu the first time). Pulling the trigger again on a misfire is likely a reflexive action and could be very dangerous (in a training situation).
After the last round, I unloaded the cylinder and got 5 empty casings. I didn't think more of it at the time, but then learned of squibs and thought, wow, I must have had a squib. I assume that since my revolver is a snubby, the bullet must have cleared the barrel. Could have been nasty if it were a 4 or 5 inch barrel. I would think that the safety instructions that come with a gun should warn about both squib and hang fire.
So watching videos, the first thing one does on a misfire is hold the gun pointing downrange for 30 seconds in case of hangfire (slow burn of the primer), some videos said 2 minutes. One video, the guy laid the gun down and it fired laying on the bench.
Some squibs will lodge between the cylinder and the barrel, which is the best since then you can't fire again. Well actually having the bullet exit the barrel is the best.
I am curious why the bullet lodges in the barrel, would think there is clearance for the bullet to pass through or does the bullet have to be in contact with the inside of the barrel in order to work the rifling? In the videos people have had a tough time knocking the lodged bullet out of the barrel.
Anyway, caution, eye protection, heavy shooting gloves, holding the gun away from self (that does not work with a rifle though), etc., but above all awareness and resist the impulse to pull the trigger again.
A hangfire in a revolver, if one does pull the trigger again will then come out the side of the gun and may or may not be a problem, depending on the construction of the gun. A hangfire in a pistol if you manually rack may go off while coming out of the gun, not so good, or after ejecting. Not sure what happens if a cartridge explodes laying on the ground or falling to the ground, but don't want to experience it.
Worse is if this happens in a defensive situation. Do you then do the "New York Reload"? I looked that up and it is to drop the gun and pull your backup gun.
Thoughts, comments, advice, your experience?
I took two 50 round boxes of Winchester FMJ 38 Special training ammo to the range a few weeks ago. I was firing the S&W 642 and one round did not go off. I knew it was way too soon for the 5 shots to be done. In the back of my mind I knew about one advantage of a revolver is that if you get a misfire, you simply pull the trigger again (vs having to manually rack a semi-auto), so I did. Actually it was not quite like that, when the gun didn't fire (so I thought with my hearing protection) I was confused and just pulled the trigger again (like one might push the button on a video remote if it failed to click the menu the first time). Pulling the trigger again on a misfire is likely a reflexive action and could be very dangerous (in a training situation).
After the last round, I unloaded the cylinder and got 5 empty casings. I didn't think more of it at the time, but then learned of squibs and thought, wow, I must have had a squib. I assume that since my revolver is a snubby, the bullet must have cleared the barrel. Could have been nasty if it were a 4 or 5 inch barrel. I would think that the safety instructions that come with a gun should warn about both squib and hang fire.
So watching videos, the first thing one does on a misfire is hold the gun pointing downrange for 30 seconds in case of hangfire (slow burn of the primer), some videos said 2 minutes. One video, the guy laid the gun down and it fired laying on the bench.
Some squibs will lodge between the cylinder and the barrel, which is the best since then you can't fire again. Well actually having the bullet exit the barrel is the best.
I am curious why the bullet lodges in the barrel, would think there is clearance for the bullet to pass through or does the bullet have to be in contact with the inside of the barrel in order to work the rifling? In the videos people have had a tough time knocking the lodged bullet out of the barrel.
Anyway, caution, eye protection, heavy shooting gloves, holding the gun away from self (that does not work with a rifle though), etc., but above all awareness and resist the impulse to pull the trigger again.
A hangfire in a revolver, if one does pull the trigger again will then come out the side of the gun and may or may not be a problem, depending on the construction of the gun. A hangfire in a pistol if you manually rack may go off while coming out of the gun, not so good, or after ejecting. Not sure what happens if a cartridge explodes laying on the ground or falling to the ground, but don't want to experience it.
Worse is if this happens in a defensive situation. Do you then do the "New York Reload"? I looked that up and it is to drop the gun and pull your backup gun.
Thoughts, comments, advice, your experience?
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