Have you ever had a gun fail completely?

[WeThePeople]

Being an avid shooter and a veteran, I have had all sorts of firearms "issues." I have had misfeeds, misfires, dropped magazines, grips fall off, even a trigger that didn't quite return without a little coersion. I have even had an extractor call it quits.

The most important thing is that, had I really needed to, I could have fired the weapon in all of those cases. I had never had a firearm completely fail on me until yesterday.

At the range yesterday, while firing round #89 on my Taurus PT145, the entire recoil spring assembly pushed through the front of the slide, spring and all. The firearm became completely "unfireable" in a split second. If that had happened to someone in a "situation," they would have been essentially unarmed.

I was firing 230gr FMJ in accordance with the owner's manual.

So, my question: Has this ever happened to any of you? What type of weapon? Ammo?

 

[RNB65]

Not permanent failure, but I bought a new CZ 527 Carbine last summer and on the second trip to the range, the magazine release lever came loose and there was no way to keep the mag in place after that. When I got home I disassembled the rifle and put the lever back into place and it has worked fine ever since. It looks like the mag release lever just wasn't seated properly when the gun was factory assembled.

 

[AK103K]

I've had a couple, a Glock 17 and a S&W 940. Both failed, were repaired at the factory, and failed again, in the exact same way.

The Glock's trigger just out of the blue refused to work, no matter how hard you pulled it. Work the slide, jump up and down, nothing.

Basically the same with the 940, but you couldnt even get the cylinder open, and the gun had to be taken apart to get the unfired ammo out.

 

[GCW5]

The only complete failure I've ever had was with a JC Higgens .22 rifle dad had bought in the 1950's, manufactured by High Standard. My brother and I were out trying to get a scope zeroed in for him to squrrel hunt with. I was standing behind and to his right, something hit me on the arm when he shot, and he let out a yelp. He had got some gas from the shot in the eye, we didn't know what hit me. When I looked at the rifle to see what happened, the bolt, it was stuck open about 1/4 inch and wouldn't move. We took it to the house to tear it apart, and found the bolt was cracked right down the middle end to end. It was bound in so tight that we couldn't budge it with a hammer and bloch of wood.

Dad sent it back for repairs, and finely got it back in about 6 months (after several nasty letters). None of us would ever shoot it again after that, and it still sits in a closet at his house in the box thet shipped it to him in.

 

[AK103K]

If we're talking rifles too, I had a GI M1 Garand go grenade on me. It definitely aint working now.

 

[gopguy]

Postwar Walther P1. locking block failure about 15 years ago. However I was lucky as the slide and frame were not damaged beyond repair.

 

[sarge48]

PT111

Taurus PT111 9mm, Trigger lugs sheared off while shooting 147 fmj american eagle. Approx 150 rounds. No more taurus products for me.

 

[M2 Carbine]

I recently bought a Skyy 9mm to try it out.
It started wearing excessively immediately and quit at round 180.

 

[Cawdor]

I had an early Walther P99 (KI - serial number less than 10000). At about 5,000 rounds the barrel lug broke.

 

[jonnyc]

Indian-made HiPower. Half-way through a mag, the recoil spring guide disintegrated, slide stop flew out, slide flew about 4 feet in front of me. Fortunately nothing fired out of battery and I found all the parts. No problem to fix, but it was a bit shocking!

 

[Blue4]

Had the front 2" of a Para Ordnance CCO slide break completely off and fly 10 yards down range while firing factory load 230 gr. FMJ. Needless to say, had I needed the gun I would have been out of luck. Para replaced the barrel and slide and I've put over 7000 rounds on the new parts without a problem.

 

[geekWithA.45]

While training someone on my TPH, (a 2/3 scale walther ppk in .22lr), the safety sheared and dropped clean out. Since the safety cams around the firing pin and holds it into place, I deemed it unsafe to fire, and unlikely to work if I tried.

Still have to get that darned thing fixed.

 

[1911 guy]

M9

Fortunately it happened on a qual course, not in some stink hole across the ocean. Locking block cracked, pistol didn't cycle and could not be cleared or cycled by hand. I have no idea how the armorers fixed it.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Cz97B. I had the barrel lug completely fall off and jam the gun hard. It took significant time with a rubber mallet to break the gun apart and extract the case and parts.

Diamondback. I had the screw that holds the bolt spring break and the cylinder would not lock up. It would freely rotate. If forced one could "hold" the cylinder and fire it, but I would not recommend it.

 

[Whirlwind06]

Charter Arms undercover

Transfer bar broke. Made a good club after that. Haven't bought a revolver since. When I do buy another it will be a big heavy over build Ruger

 

[doc2rn]

I bought one of those Taurus Instant Back-ups in .17. It totally locked up and it took 3 consecutive trips to the factory to be replaced with a new one. Each time I had to take it to a Gunsmith just to get the ammo out.

 

[Jim K]

I have had a number of failures of one kind or another with auto pistols, but the only guns that completely failed were revolvers. I had an early S&W Model 36 hammer pin break, and a Colt firing pin break. I have also seen Colt hammers break off at the thin part.

This is in addition to various revolvers that let go due to overloads and improper hand loads. There seems to be some sort of myth that revolvers, especially Rugers, can't blow up. They can and do with ammunition loaded by a fool.

Jim

 

[BobCat]

Broke the hammer strut (hammer spring rides it) in a Browning High Power - broke where the pin holding it to the hammer goes through.

Over several years I've broken three slide stops in my CZ75B. Haven't broken one since adding a plastic a shock buff and changing recoil springs every couple thousand rounds on advice of the CZ-USA gunsmith.

Neither of these was shot with "hot" loads. Either Winchester White Box or 5 grains of Unique / 115 g ball - a mild load that cycles the action, no more.

Anything and and everything can break, and will if you use it enough.

Regards,
Andrew

 

[CajunBass]

My wife's Bersa Firestorm 22 failed one day at the range. Pulling the trigger did nothing at all. It felt like the safety/decocker was in the "on" position.

On the way home we stopped by the Gander Mountain where we'd bought it figuring to leave it with the gunsmith. He looked at the gun, turned it over in his hand a few times, then went to the back, and took the grips off. He put the rubber grips on a grinder for a few seconds and bought it back.

The way he explained it, there was some rubber mold flashing on the inside of the grips, that for some reason started to press against the trigger bar and push it into the "on safe" position. Maybe some unburned powder had worked in there. He said he had seen one other one with the same problem, and remembered it. He said the first one he had a heck of a time figuring out what the problem was, until he noticed it worked fine with the grip off, but not with the grip on.

I don't pretend to understand it, but all he did was grind on the grip a little. No charge. Never had another problem with it.

 

[saltydog452]

Colt Officers Model.

Firing pin stop fell down, firing pin and spring launched past right ear.

Recoil spring and plug went downrange.

Dumped live rounds on the ground.

Failed to fire..occasional slight dimple on primer, but no 'bang'.

Feeding and ejection problems as well.

When it did go 'bang', there were firing pin drag marks across the face of the primer.

This was a replacement sent to me by Colt for another OM that was returned to them for similar reasons as posted above.

Good news is 1911Tuner fixed it.

salty.

 

[steelhead]

.44 Mag Ruger Vaq hammer broke.

Kel Tec P3-AT same problem as you had with your Taurus

Para Ord P10 had a cracked frame after 400 rounds

SIG 245 broken trigger bar

 

[10-Ring]

Do kabooms count? When my G21 kb! it was unfireable...not good!

 

[Confederate]

Transfer bar broke. Made a good club after that. Haven't bought a revolver since. When I do buy another it will be a big heavy over build Ruger.

Please don't hold revolvers accountable when you buy a Saturday Night Special and expect it to work. Charter Arms are the only revolvers I've had that have failed, except for a Virginia Dragoon stainless .44 mag. After about three shots, I set off a round only to have the hammer shatter like glass. Turns out it was a poor heat treat part. Interarms installed a new hammer and it worked flawlessly thereafter.

Getting back to Charter Arms, they're made so cheaply that most of their problems are binding. Recoil breaks in most guns and makes them more reliable, but with cheesy construction recoil just causes problems with fitting. Parts that weren't rubbing together now are and the thing just stops.

I had a .44 Bulldog back years ago and never had a problem with it. But so many other Charter Arms were having problems, I got to where I just didn't trust them. Still don't.

 

[Whirlwind06]

I haven't completely written off all revolvers. I just haven't gotten around to buying another. I had a Ruger 44 mag that was perfect but after injuring my hand it was no longer fun to shoot. I'll get another one sooner or later. Either a S&W or a Ruger.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

The only failure I've ever had was with a muzzleloader. Pulled the trigger and the primer went off, but not the main charge.