hang fires in a revolver?

[coosbaycreep]

The misfires with my .44 got me to wondering about what would happen if you had a hangfire in a revolver, especially during rapid fire or something where you might not have a chance to quit pulling the trigger before you realize the round didn't ignite.

Would that blow your hand off or something? Depending on where the cylinder was aligned when the round went off, it seems to me like there would still be a good chance of serious injury, but I've never read about it happening.

Any thoughts?

 

[roklok]

Hmmm......It could be trouble. However, other than muzzleloaders, I have only experienced one hangfire in the many thousands of rounds I have fired in my lifetime. That was in a .22 rimfire rifle, and just hung enough that I could hear the click of the firing pin impacting cartridge seperate from the report of the rifle. I killed the pigeon I was shooting at. The delay would have been a couple milliseconds at most. Not enough time to make a revolver chamber to turn out of alignment, unless you you shooting like Jerry Miculek on crack.

This would make an interesting side thread, who has actually experienced a hang fire of any meaningfull delay in a modern arm ?

 

[Oyeboten]

Depending on how long the delay, and, where the Hang Fire Cartridge is positioned in the continued rotation of the Cylinder...it could strain things I am sure if the egress of the Bullet were being blocked by the Frame.

I have never heard of this happening...but, in theory, it could - where a Hang Fire finally went off when that Chamber were at in inconvenient position to the Frame.

I have never had one...if a few times, I have had a Primer or Percussion Cap which wished to be struck by the Hammer a second time...which I had treated as a Hang Fire, by waiting to a slow count of 'ten' anyway, and making sure it was not a Squib, before going on with things.

 

[David E]

I've had one hangfire........and I know what caused it.

Eons ago, I cleaned my brass with a liquid cleaner. (it didn't work very well) All of them were dry, I thought, but one of the primer pockets apparently wasn't quite dried out when I reloaded it.

When I shot that cartridge, it went "click-BANG!" Maybe 1/2 second, but probably 1/4 second delay.

I don't worry about hangfires.....and I don't use liquids to clean my brass !

 

[jaybirdjtski]

Depends on what you are shooting. How stout is your gun and what is the pressure of your load. I forgot to save a pic from a Dan Wesson forum. The kid had a hang fire but kept shooting, 2 more times. The revolver is intact. The interior of the bbl has 3 distinct bulges. The kid was lucky and probably firing 38 target loads in the DW Model 15
357, a very well built and stout firearm. The guy writing the article was the dad of the kid's girlfriend. I guess pounding out the bullets was a surprise. Oh look! There's another one!
Anyway, I've wondered about these things and always try to listen carefully. Sometimes, the range gets so noisy you would never know!

 

[Jim Watson]

I have had very very few true hangfires over the years, most in reloaded shotshells.
It is not something I worry about in a revolver.
The stuck bullet "squib" is much more common and damaging.