Safety Question: What to do if a round doesn't fire

Hi TwoNIner, back when I was in the army they told us to keep the weapon pointed down range and wait so many seconds forget how many but 10-15 sound good. Which is the best thing to do at the range I think they called it "cooking" which ment the powder was beganing a slow burn for what ever reason. I have never seen it in real life but that what we were told. What I have seen is a light hit of the fireing pin and a 2nd hit sets it off. In a SD situration you need to take the chance and get rid of the round that didn't go off by racking the slide on a auto or just pulling the tigger again on a revolver.

be safe

Hello friends and neighbors // I do the same as you even with .22 cal.

If just the primer goes off it is a good idea to check the barrel before shooting another round.

The new BP rifles are the firearms I'm most unsure of. When my friend had a misfire he waited 30 seconds with no problems. His misfired 3 times and he gave up so there might be other scenarios.

After a misfire I have never seen a round go off. Have you?

This is a great question, and if you'd allow me to expand it a bit, how can you tell if the problem is with the firearm (in the case of too light a strike from the firing pin), or with the ammo? I bought several hundred rounds of .30-06 ball ammo manufactured in 1945 and have been reluctant to use it because of the amount of "duds" I get. I, too, would appreciate the experts on this forum weighing-in on this. Thanks in advance!

I just had a click & no bang Friday from a dead primer.

It depends on your firearm as to how to react. If you save a auto that will strike without cycling the action then pull the trigger again. if not here is the generic rule: Click & no bang hold on target three seconds then open the chamber. Pop & no bang hold on target for 10 seconds then clear the firearm (mag, drum, cylinder, & chamber). MAKE SURE THE BARREL ISN'T OBSTRUCTED.

If you have the luxury of time (e.g., at the range), in the event of a total failure to fire, you should wait a few seconds (it might be a "hang-fire"), then, if nothing still happens, quickly yet carefully clear the weapon. If you just hear a "pop" (of the primer), you need to check for a bore obstruction before firing another shot, as a bullet may be stuck in the bore. Hopefully this won't happen in a gunfight.

If you just hear a "pop" (of the primer), you need to check for a bore obstruction before firing another shot, as a bullet may be stuck in the bore. Hopefully this won't happen in a gunfight.

Click to expand...

Saw this at the range the other day with a 1911. Guy fired the weapon, action cycled fine, spent case ejected, new cartridge loaded, fired again - then boom. There was in fact a bullet stuck in the barrel when the second shot was fired. The guy knew something was wrong immediately so he took the gun off the line. I was watching from behind.

I followed the owner out into the lobby/staging area and watched him strip the gun. The barrel had mushroomed in the center, but there was no cracking or breaking, it just looked like the barrel had swallowed a jaw breaker. I'd never seen this happen myself until the other day.

Personally I wouldn't have taken the second shot - I mean, you know with a .45 if the thing doesn't fire right, if there is no kick or just a little kick, take the gun off the line and see whats up. The rest of this guy's gun looked fine, no other damage.

I have a gun which needs work because the firing pin does not always strike hard enough. It’s a revolver so I waited several seconds, then kept pulling the trigger to bring the cartridge around again and that time it fired. Was not about to grab the cylinder and rotate by hand.

Gun is now in cabinet awaiting check out and repair. Might just need a new spring.

Had a dud round once in another gun, new white-box factory ammo. Primer fired but no powder in case. G-son knew something was wrong because of no recoil and had sense not to fire again. Bullet was stuck in barrel

The powder could have gotten wet or there might not be any in it.

I've seen revolvers that did the "pop" thing where the bullet wedged in the forcing cone and still extended into the cylinder.

The good news is that this effectively locks up the gun so you can't fire a second shot.

The bad news is you can't even open the cylinder until you've driven the slug back into the cylinder.

That's something I really wouldn't want to happen in a serious situation!

I have had some hang fires with old surplus ammo some .308 and some .303 that's been stored in dubious conditions. Its almost like firing a flintlock except there's no whoosh, just click and then about 1/2 second later, the boom. With modern ammo I give it a 30 count at least.

I've had many FTF with rim fire ammo and if its had a good firing pin strike the reason it doesn't go off is lack of priming compound in the portion of the rim it was struck or no priming compound at all. Never had a hang fire with rim fire ammo and don't worry about wait time on these rounds.

Black powder guns they say to keep down range for a full minute before doing anything but you put your hands at the muzzle end of these guns and a slow ember can set of black powder easily so the hazard is greater than most modern ammo. As a kid I remember fire crackers that you though where a dud often come to life about the time you went to pick them up.

The real danger in a hangfire is opening the bolt/breech too soon. The round can be extracted, and then go off with the breech unlocked or the round wholly or partly out of the chamber. That can destroy the rifle and is decidedly unpleasant if the round lets go in front of the shooter's face, spraying him with hot gas and pieces of brass.

If you have a dud, take the advice above and do not open the breech immediately.

(When I have posted this advice before, I usually hear from some less than bright person about the need for "immediate action" and how he has to be prepared in case this happens when fighting the "zombies." There is no need for any "immediate action" on a rifle range and video game thinking has no place when real guns are involved.)

Jim

Best thing to do is point it in a safe direction and wait. I have a Browning Model 65 lever action in 32-20. I decided to shoot some ammo that looked really old. I pulled the trigger and nothing happened, but 2 seconds later it fired. I know this is about a pistol, but just be careful with older ammo.

Okay, so you waited a bit and extracted the round, which has a small dent in the primer. Now what to do with the round?

Get an impact bullet puller and keep it in your range bag. Wump the bullet out of the case and dump out the powder - either keep the case (if you reload) or dispose of it (some ranges will actually have a container for mis-fired casings).

eg. http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=215517

Wait to make sure it's not going to fire, then re-try it or get rid of it. I'd wait at least ten seconds. So far I've seen ammo wait up to 7 seconds before going off (crappy Bulgarian 7.62x54r). Boy was it a surprise when it did go off.

Yeah, I had that happen with some old .25-35 ammo.

Pulled the trigger and it went "hsss" for 3 or 4 seconds, then went off.

Needless to say I didn't shoot any more of that stuff!

There are two ways of handling hang fires. On the range, if you seemingly hit a dead round, keep the gun pointed down range and wait about 30 seconds. If it doesn't fire in that time, go to the next round. Naturally, if you think there's a bullet in the barrel, open the cylinder and safely check it. If not, pull the trigger again until all rounds have been hammered.

In an emergency self defense situatition, just keep firing! Elimination of the threat is the primary consideration and the gun is expendible. Chances are overwhelming that an unfired round will not hang fire at all, but if it does, your gun most likely is strong enough to contain it.

Better to wait at least 30 seconds. would not want this to happen.

The only time I have had something like this happen is using reloads. My friend made up some 'Bear' loads for my Ruger Alaskan, 320 gr HC/GC loaded to the max and I was going to fire 6 to get the feel (and they do feel--LOL). I shoot 2 and the third one failed to go off. I held the gun downrange for a count of 10 and opened the cylinder and ejected the round, no harm, no foul.
I did learn one valuable lesson, NEVER, NEVER trust you life to a reload. These were rounds that I was going to use on a hunting trip where Bears are in the area. No time outs when you need them to go bang.

I'd amend that to "Never trust you [sic] life to someone else's reloads."

Too many poeple take short-cuts or ignore the basics (like don't handle primers with oily fingers if you don't want misfires!).

I don't reload anymore, but when I did I did it right and mine were reliable.

Okay, so you waited a bit and extracted the round, which has a small dent in the primer. Now what to do with the round?

Click to expand...

Put it back and fire it again.

I would listen to Jim Keenan, good advice. I shoot a lot of .303 British and have had my share of hang fires and duds. Most of the hang fires are the click-bang verity but a few have lasted 3 to 5 seconds before they went off. I don't ever want to find out what would happen if I lift and unlock the bolt and one went off. A bolt thru any part of the body would surly mess up a good day.