I did my first club practice USPSA event this week and have a question related to failure to load (FTL) or failure to fire (FTF).
In the excitement of reloading I failed to properly seat the magazine., so when I racked the slide no cartridge was stripped from the magazine. Therefore when I pulled the trigger I only got a click and not a bang! This is where I maybe went wrong. I automatically assumed it was a FTL, immediately racked the slide again, and pulled the trigger. On this second failure I pulled the slide back and visually noticed that there was no cartridge in the chamber, realized the magazine was not correctly inserted etc, and fixed the problem.
What should I have done instead?
1) If this was paper target shooting I think I should assume it is a FTF and proceed accordingly (wait, etc).
2) For USPSA although the time pressure would suggest handling as FTL from a safety standpoint FTF might be the better choice? Of course now this has happened to me I know to also check that the magazine was fully inserted.
3) In a personal defense situation I would always assume FTL and rack the slide as not firing has potentially more serious consequences than a FTF.
Comments?
In the excitement of reloading I failed to properly seat the magazine., so when I racked the slide no cartridge was stripped from the magazine. Therefore when I pulled the trigger I only got a click and not a bang! This is where I maybe went wrong. I automatically assumed it was a FTL, immediately racked the slide again, and pulled the trigger. On this second failure I pulled the slide back and visually noticed that there was no cartridge in the chamber, realized the magazine was not correctly inserted etc, and fixed the problem.
What should I have done instead?
1) If this was paper target shooting I think I should assume it is a FTF and proceed accordingly (wait, etc).
2) For USPSA although the time pressure would suggest handling as FTL from a safety standpoint FTF might be the better choice? Of course now this has happened to me I know to also check that the magazine was fully inserted.
3) In a personal defense situation I would always assume FTL and rack the slide as not firing has potentially more serious consequences than a FTF.
Comments?