delayed reaction from primer?

[ECLIPSE45ACP]

So I was at the range the other day, and I was shooting my 5" kimber eclipse. I had an instance where I pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. Now I am not 100% sure if the hammer fell, but I was puzzled, still pointed downrange. i look away and BOOM! it went off. It scared the living Sh*t out of me, could this have been a delayed reaction from the primer? Then about 15 rds later, same thing. Once again, call me crazy but I m not sure if the hammer fell. any input would be appreciated

 

[DogBonz]

What type of ammo was it?

Were you shooting reloads?

 

[ECLIPSE45ACP]

yes they were reloads 200 gr ranier FP wichster brass winchester primer 5.0 grs titegroup

 

[ECLIPSE45ACP]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Walkalong]

Classic.... and why we are taught to keep the gun pointed downrange for a while before trying to shoot again or worse, remove the offending shell.

I have never seen or heard of it happening twice like that. Could be the primers not seated quite far enough combimed with that particular powder/charge.

 

[alamo]

I usually look down the barrel to see what the problem is

I generally see 30 seconds as the time you should wait before ejecting. Anyone believe this should be any longer?

 

[ECLIPSE45ACP]

30 seconds is what I heard too, I may have had some bad primers they were in the older winchester box I bought from my local gun store, thank god they are all used up. proably just a fluke. but still concerns me.

 

[wally]

Called a "hang-fire" pretty rare with reasonably new factory ammo and primers but it does happen. I had one with .22lr a couple of weeks ago. Scared me too, but no harm as gun was safely pointed downrange the whole time. I'm much slower to try and clear a failure now!

--wally.

 

[KHawk]

I experienced this in 1974. I was shooting Winchester factory 230gr ammo in a bullseye match. I had actually laid my 1911 on the bench (pointed down range) and the range officer and I were about to eject the round when it went off.

"Always keep your weapon pointed down range, AND do not lay it down until it is unloaded."

 

[ECLIPSE45ACP]

Well I am going to go today, you don't think it possibly could be an overlubed gun do you? I doubt it, but I am just trying to look at all variables.

 

[270Win]

Hang-fires are fairly uncommon with new production ammo, but not with surplus. I've seen a couple at my range, but luckily people were monitoring the rifle closely after it failed to go off immediately.

Anyone know exactly what causes the primer to delay firing?

 

[Ohioan]

I've had a few duds before. Which is one of the scariest things in the world.

I've had hangfires with muzzelloaders, but never with cartridge guns.

If they were reloads, did you clean the primer pocket? That's the usual cause of hangfires in flintlocks. The vent is clogged slightly. Causes the powder to have to "burn" its way through the clog.

I've seen flintlock rifles go over 30 seconds before the hangfire.

 

[billsnogo]

This post kind of scares me. Last time at the range, we had about a dozen out of the 500 bulk .22's not fire on the first pull. Had my wife eject it with the lever action and I took a look at it, and all of them had been struck, put them back in the gun and fired on the second try. Now after reading this, it sounds like I should have her leave it in the gun for a short while before having her eject it so it does not go off in my hand!

 

[Geronimo45]

69nogo, that's not always a hang-fire with the .22s. The primer strike may not've been hard enough (or the primer may've been badly manufactured). I've had several .22 rounds that didn't get a hard enough primer hit. Keep them in the gun for an hour and they wouldn't go off - took another hit.