Hangfires

[Manco]

I have heard multiple accounts of extended hangfires with World War II .45 ammo, including a hangfire exceeding 5 seconds that killed a would-be murderer (he stole the gun from a World War II vet and used it to rob a gas station. The gun went *click* when he tried to kill the attendant, and he looked down the barrel).

I bet that looking down the barrel increases the probability of having a hang-fire rather than a dud exponentially.

Here's a good video of hangfires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7exg9S_5tQ

Good gracious, look at the first guy's trigger jerk! No wonder he was aiming at the planet Earth--the broad side of a barn would have been asking too much.

 

[DMK]

I had a batch of Pakistani manufactured .303 where hangfires were not uncommon - click,...1...2...bang. Once you got used to it, it was kind of neat. Bottom line, it all went bang.

I have some of this ammo too.

It's great for analyzing your follow through.

 

[willymc]

Bad ammo isn't the only cause of a hangfire. I have a Remington 700 BDL in 30-06 that I was getting hangfires from. Turns out that the firing pin was sticking for a couple of seconds after the trigger was pulled. Pulled the bolt assembly out, cleaned the heck out of it, and no more hang fires.

 

[rodensouth]

I saw it happen with a .22 pistol. My wife had just explained the possibility to our friend at

the range, and maybe 5 minutes later she dropped the hammer and nothing. Our friend

kept the pistol pointed downrange while smirking at us because of the new "rule", and it

went off. We were all very surprised and glad we went through the motions even

though it seemed unlikely. If I had game in front of me I would keep it pointed at him,

but you bet I'd be running that bolt.

 

[thorazine]

What are the chances of a hangfire? Anyone here ever experienced one?

A good friend told me a long time ago that in the event your gun doesn't go bang, you should keep it pointed down range for no less than 15 seconds to allow for a hangfire -- otherwise the round could light while on the ground.

I've never experienced one.

However I automatically go in to malfunction clearing mode and eject the cartridge ASAP and resume fire.

 

[Broken11b]

Had one on a 120 mortar... yeah, hated being the lowest ranking guy there that day
never seen one in real life for a rifled firearm though.
But thats probably why they tell us to keep it pointed downrange while clearing the weapon...
Anyone know what would happen if you tried that with a Fs200?

 

[Driftertank]

Could've extracted the powder from them to do something stupid.

Actually, there's a guy who likes to come out to the range a lot and collect brass. He was glad to take all the old 54r off my hands, I told him it was berdan primed, he said he had a deprimer for it.

Said he took a round apart and tried to dump the powder out, and nothing came out. So he got some tinsnips and cut open the case. The powder had gotten wet somehow and solidified into a single mass. He just threw the rest away.

 

[rmfnla]

I had two with some old .23-35 ammo I was shooting in my '94.

I had a box of this stuff and the first round went, "Ssssss.....BANG!"

The second round did the exact same thing so I put the rest of it away.