Have you ever had a gun break at the range?

[4v50 Gary]

I had my S&W Model 317 huff on me after a day at the range. Cylinder literally fell out while I was doing routine maintenance afterwards. S&W did a bang up job and fixed it.View attachment 1058063 View attachment 1058064 View attachment 1058065

On S&W and Colt revovlers, you're suppose to check the tightness of those screws regularly. Did you lose the screw?

Had a Browning Buckmark that decided to be a single shot. Mag catch wouldn't hold and it turns out that PoS was plastic and wore out. Bought a spare but i'd like to hand make one out of aluminium.

 

[toxophilus]

These happened at the local range:

• Ruger MKII extractor broke at about 10K round count back in the mid 1980's; Ruger sent me a new one and it's been working well since then... up to 40K now.
• Marlin .44Mag lever action broke something inside the receiver, a spring fell out on the first outing about 6 years ago; sent it in for warranty work and it's been working fine since.
• NIB Ruger Single-Six at about 800 round count something broke internally (could hear it rattling around) early 2021, sent it in for warranty work; it's been running fine since, up to 2K rounds now.

 

[243winxb]

Hammer nose, S&W M 28, 357 Mag. The original is cast. New is available as solid steel.



Grandsons Taurus G3c mag release fell out.

 

[wally]

Like I always say, if you've never broken a gun, you just ain't been shooting enough!

The extractor on my Colt 1911 broke when I was shooting my CHL qualifier, fortunately I had been perfect up to that point and managed to shake out and single load enough rounds afterwards to score just enough to pass before the time limit expired.

The others just aren't memorable enough, I always have a spare gun for each caliber I plan to shoot for a particular range outing.

 

[Reloadron]

My initial response was going to be no and then I remembered. Around the mid 90s I took a NRA smithing course at Montgomery Community College in Troy NC. My project gun was building a 6mm PPC up on a Remington 700 action. The gun came out great and when I cut the chamber I used custom reamers from Clymer for what is called a 6PPC Tight Neck. Normally one takes 220 Russian brass and uses 6PPC dies to form the brass opening the case neck / mouth out to 6mm. Once you load a few with a light load you need to turn the case necks for the tight chamber. When you start with a barrel blank you cut about 1" off the muzzle end and then use the tight neck reamer to make a gauge. You turn the case necks down using a cutter.

I apparently screwed up on a case by not removing quite enough off my case neck. I also apparently never gauged that piece of brass. The round did chamber, the rifle went bang and I could not open the bolt. The bolt was machined, the Remington extractor removed and an insert made from a 222 bolt face for the 220 Russian diameter case head. Installing a SAKO extractor in a Remington 700/ Model Seven. Same for a Remington 700. Bolt would not lift so out came my little rubber mallet and I tapped it, Then tapped it a little harder. One more good tap and off came the bolt handle. Played hell getting the bolt out of the damn rifle. Remington 700 bolt handles are secured with a very light braze spot as I found out. Range day done for that rifle. OK I got a bolt jig and tried to braze the bolt handle back, even bought another bolt handle. I never could get that handle on right. I also lost the Sako extractor along the way. This was mid 90s and to this day that rifle sits in the back of the safe. Have thought about just sending the rifle out and having someone like PTG (Pacific Tool and Gauge) custom make a new bolt for the 6PPC cartridge. I still have all my brass including a few boxes of brand new Lapua 220 Russian. The Lapua brass is now about a buck a case.The rifle was incredible right till.... A range trip I still want to forget.

Ron

 

[AzShooter1]

Small chunck of metal came off the rear of my LLV 4 from Volquartsen. It took them a day to return it to me. Just metal wear after 85K rounds. They replaced the barrel at the same time. I shot 400 rounds to break it in and now it shoots are accurately and reliably as before.

 

[The Night Rider]

Broke the firing pin on a 6906 once

 

[Rexster]

Yes. Two 1911 pistols’ staked front sights fail, while shooting at ranges. One was a Colt Commander, and one was a full-sized Springfield Armory, Inc. These failures were considered common, at the time, before dovetailed sights became the norm. Of course, these pistols would continue to fire, but aiming was problematic.

The extractor in a Kimber Stainless Gold Match did not actually break, but it totally failed, the first time it got warm, bending like a banana, in the wrong direction. The pistol would continue to fire, but the fired case would not extract.

The firing pin, in an early Seecamp LWS-25, broke during a range session.

I am not counting broken parts that I discovered, away from shooting ranges, or such things as screws that failed, during adjustment, assembly, or disassembly.

 

[Remington1911]

Only once in all my years, not counting a squib from a factory white box.

G43, not the unholy glock kind but of the german automatic rifle kind. Bang, bang nothing....hmm, oof picked up a round from the mag and tried to stuff it into a case that was still there. Turns out the extractor went to wherever that one sock goes after it gets out of the dryer. No idea. IIRC it is held in place by a little screw looking like gizmo, and a spring. Screw, spring and extractor all gone. Took about 6 months of looking to find another. I have not shot that rifle again, as I am afraid I will loose parts. Again IIRC it is a half turn screw kind of deal, perhpas some lock tight. Need to head over to gunboards some day and ask about ways to stop that from happening again.

 

[Sovblocgunfan]

Not really “broken”, but I had a Mosin Nagant with a pretty bad burr in the chamber that would deform brass and cause ejection issues. One time I got to the point that my rubber mallet i was using to open the bolt stopped working and I literally had to kick the bolt open.

also have had a Model 11 start throwing me feed and eject problems in the middle of a dove string. I was shooting well until that, and didn’t hit anything else the whole trip after that.

 

[The Night Rider]

I mean, where else would a gun break?

They don't break sitting in the safe.

Target shooting

Handgun class

Hunting

Self Defense

Guns break when they're being used

 

[DM~]

I've seen a few "break at the range", but I had something more serous happen, I had one break in the field!

DM

 

[Rex in OTZ]

I broke a few hand spings on my EMF 1860 clone over the years.

First time I blamed shoddy craftsmanship as part was extremely crude with tool marks and burrs.
Second time (Numric Gun Parts) still somewhat crude.

Last replacement was a Uberti part thru Brownells that was a work of art.

Wether a crappy crude part or a well crafted part, they all break when abused.

When firing a cap & ball stop shooting when the revolver starts to gum up from powder residue.
Thats how I stupidly abused my revolver by trying to force a gummed up revolver to (ock.

 

[guyfromohio]

Three times that I can think of other than the loss of a few sights…..

1) SKS going full auto at an outdoor range. No danger to anyone. Was shooting down range as I should have been.
2) Was with a friend about 10-15 years ago and he was showing me his “just as good as an 870” Chinese nock-off shotgun…I believe it may have been a Norinco. First pull of the trigger (ever) and the parts went flying everywhere.
3) Remington 870 .410 trigger went all wobbly and quit firing.