Gun jams?

[DustyGmt]

This seems like a pretty diverse group of people with a broad scope of experience and practice from military, LEO, Security Contractor to just the average citizen with a ccw.

I would just basically like to hear any harrowing tales pertaining to weapon and/or gear malfunctions at crucial times when seconds counted. Anybody ever had a weapon platform completely fail them or malfuntion in a self defense situation or otherwise deadly engagement? Switch from one weapon system to another because of a failure or for that matter switch from one caliber to another for same reason?

I'm not trying to start a brand/caliber war I'm just trying to open the door for interesting stories of those experiences......for those who may care to share. -Dusty

 

[boom boom]

John Farnam's website Quips has a lot of what you seek. You can also find similar issues from Mas Ayoob and the like.

 

[bangswitch]

You mean like the time when my rifle bolt seized and I threw it down and drew my pistol to continue the fight, only to have a round stick in the magazine and not feed after a couple of shots, so I drop it and grab my backup revolver, but I get a squib that locks the cylinder, so I chuck that one, then grab my knife and have to go Medieval on the perp, since he's now within arms' length?

Nope, nothing like that to tell.

 

[DustyGmt]

You mean like the time when my rifle bolt seized and I threw it down and drew my pistol to continue the fight, only to have a round stick in the magazine and not feed after a couple of shots, so I drop it and grab my backup revolver, but I get a squib that locks the cylinder, so I chuck that one, then grab my knife and have to go Medieval on the perp, since he's now within arms' length?

Nope, nothing like that to tell.

Good share, lol.

John Farnam's website Quips has a lot of what you seek. You can also find similar issues from Mas Ayoob and the like.

Thanks, I'll check it out.....

 

[zb338]

If a person has shot for many years he will experience and/or see all sorts of malfunctions.
Many of them are the same thing over and over again. Such as a smoke stack in a semi-auto.
The most exciting thing I ever actually saw was on an Army range in basic training. A kid shooting
an M-1 a few guys over from me had a load with no powder or very little powder. We were shooting
rapid fire and there was a lot of noise. The kid pulled the slide open and slipped another round into
the chamber. He squeezed the trigger and his M-1 blew up all over the place. The soldier was not
hurt other than one scratch on his arm. We had to stop shooting until the investigation guys came
out and gathered all the pieces. The kid was given two options. Get recycled in basic training and
shoot some other time, or get another rifle and finish what he started. The kid took another rifle
and finished the course. I don't think he shot that well but he showed us all that he had guts.
Zeke

 

[lpsharp88]

This falls into the gear malfunction part of the OP, and seconds weren't of the essence, but they could have been. Was in Iraq, and serving as gunner of the rear HMMWV. Noticed during pre-mission PCC/PCI that the, can't think of the technical word for it, but I'll call it sun shade, for the gunner was loose on the turret. When I say loose, I'm talking about ready to fall off. I tell my team leader, and we decide that the best/only option was to 550 cord the crap outta it and hope for the best. We didn't have any replacement vehicles or time to do much else as we ran PSD and were on a time crunch. Well we get to rolling and it's holding fine. We get out of the gate and through the checkpoints and get onto Rte. Irish. Get up to speed, and it suddenly craps out and I guess the wind from driving has blown the shade down over on top of me and covering the turret. I obviously can't see anything and can't do my job (I wish I could have seen this from the outside in). I try putting it back where it was, but it was caught on something and just wasn't gonna go back. So I grab my pocket knife (some sort of CRKT, tough as nails), and literally tomahawk it against the turret (and its armor) to cut the 550 cord and chuck the shade. I forget how many tie down points we had, but somehow that knife's blade didn't have any damage done to it.

 

[hdwhit]

Anybody ever had a weapon platform completely fail them or malfuntion in a self defense situation...

Yes, when I was eighteen.

I bought some military surplus 30 round magazines for my Universal M1 Carbine and didn't test fire them before loading them and putting them in a magazine pouch. In a tense situation a few weeks later involving some trespassers that was ultimately resolved verbally, I put one of the magazines in the rifle and charged it, setting the rifle aside, but within reach if the trespassers were to attempt to enter the house. After the situation was over, I went to unload the rifle and discovered the magazine was letting the bolt ride over the cartridges. Had I needed to use the rifle that night, it would have simply gone "click" and I would have been left fishing for a Plan B.

I learned a number of lessons from that experience, not the least of which was to check every part of the system before use.

 

[mnrivrat]

In 1962 I was small game hunting in the wooded area along the river. As I came back to the car that was parked in a little clearing I heard a noise.
Looking up I was being aproached by a pack of wild dogs (10 to 15). The noise was snarling and the front two dogs were moving forward torward me.
I had borrowed my older brothers .22 rifle rifle and I quickly put the crosshairs on the lead dog and pulled the trigger - the gun went click

Lucky enough I had also borrowed his revolver or I would have been dog poop a long time ago. This was a serious pack of ferrel dogs that had attack others, but that's a whole story in itself.

 

[MoDoc]

You mean like the time when my rifle bolt seized and I threw it down and drew my pistol to continue the fight, only to have a round stick in the magazine and not feed after a couple of shots, so I drop it and grab my backup revolver, but I get a squib that locks the cylinder, so I chuck that one, then grab my knife and have to go Medieval on the perp, since he's now within arms' length?

Nope, nothing like that to tell.

Yeah!! And I like your avitar too........

 

[Mr Woody]

Years ago in the middle of the night I went out on the interstate to finish a deer that had been hit by a car. All the G&F and Highway patrol guys were long in bed. Pulled out the 870 and ran the slide but it jammed solid and I could not clear it. Gave up and used my revolver. Back at the office the shell was still stuck tight and I left it for the Firearms Instructor to figure out. A couple days later that shotgun won a real gunfight and worked just fine. I don't know the cause

Dear hunting a couple years ago with an 6.8 AR-15 that failed to fire at a nice buck. Found I had short stroked the charging handle and failed to pick up a cartridge. Operator error

 

[Drail]

It's all about the "7 p"s....... I would tell you what they are but I fear I would be banned.

 

[Ironicaintit]

Proper
Prior
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

If that's what ya meant...

 

[jeepnik]

M-16 (original configuration) case head separation. Required armorer to correct the situation. Remington Rand 1911A1 worked as advertised. Found an M-14 and kept it till I departed SEA. Still will not trust an AR of any stripe. Once burned, twice shy. Besides I figure the Springfield Scout/Squad is really what we should have had.

 

[herrwalther]

Never had any personal malfunctions in military firefights of weapons. But I am aware of some happening. Those of us who could replaced some or all of our issued magazines with PMAGs. Everyone got the enhanced Magpul followers to put in their issued magazines. Some people did not replace the followers even though they had them. I know of at least 2 weapon malfunctions on M4s using old generation GI magazines. Immediate action always got the weapon back in the fight with someone nearby picking up the slack for a few seconds.

As far as catastrophic failures. Yes I have seen those happen. One of our vehicles flipped over and rolled down a 50 foot hillside. On the first flip, the weight of the 14ton vehicle snapped the barrel off the M2 on the top. Apparently, as we all found out, that causes the round to become stuck in the chamber with no real easy way of getting it out. The mission was scrubbed because of minor injuries and the downed weapon. Back at base, a few of us used 3 thermite grenades to get the round out of the M2 to make the weapon safe (enough) to get shipped out and replaced. Round was pretty mangled and would have made a great souvenir, if I was allowed to bring it home.

 

[strambo]

Plenty in training, mostly due to dirty blanks and/or old magazines. A few in training with my pistols. None with my personal ARs. With a good quality center-fire gun in non-extended combat conditions the odds of a non-user induced malf. should be close to zero. The gun just has to run for 1 magazine-ish.