How many have had a "hang fire?"

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Mousegun

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The squib thread is interesting. Many reloaders I know have had a squib and the possibility seems to have increased as the years of reloading went by. Some from equipment problems, others from human error (like me).

But how many have experienced a hang fire? The primer fizzles and in a few seconds after the hammer falls, the gun finally goes bang. That one I have only seen in a You Tube video.

Anyone?
 
The squib thread is interesting. Many reloaders I know have had a squib and the possibility seems to have increased as the years of reloading went by. Some from equipment problems, others from human error (like me).

But how many have experienced a hang fire? The primer fizzles and in a few seconds after the hammer falls, the gun finally goes bang. That one I have only seen in a You Tube video.

Anyone?
I've had lots of them with milsurp 8mm and .303 Brit. But I've never had one with a delay of more than a half-second or so.
 
I’ve had one hang fire. This was wirth ammunition of World War I vintage. It was a 45 ACP round date stamped 1916. I put the round into a Ruger Blackhawk, dropped the hammer, heard the primer ignite but no bang. Knowing what was happening, I kept the pistol pointed straight down to the ground at a dead still hold.

1/2 second later, there was the bang. Other than that, I have not seen or experienced any hang fires with modern ammunition.

Still, even at that, not too bad for 100 year old ammunition.

Bayou52
 
But how many have experienced a hang fire?
You beat me to it, Mousegun. I was going to ask that question because of that other thread about squibs. :thumbup:
I've never had a hang fire myself. I watched a few YouTube videos of them last night though. Man, if those videos are real, there are some genuine idiots out there. One guy was actually about to look down the barrel of his rifle when it finally went off - blowing a hole through the bill of his ball cap! :eek:
 
I had one probably in the 1970s sometime with 30-06 reloads - don't really know why. I had fired several rounds in my backyard range when one went click. I dropped the butt from my shoulder and BANG as Gomer Pyle would say Surprise Surprise. Bullet probably went over the 2 dump truck loads of sand backstop but there is nothing for a mile behind it. I suspect a defective primer.

NRA Benefactor Golden Eagle
 
Probably less than a second. 9mm top tier brand factory ammo in a Sig P320. Shooting an IDPA match and click. Since it wasn't the first shot after a reload I knew there was a round in the chamber. I started loosening my support hand grip to rack the slide when bang. Fortunately it was still pointed on-target and I hit the zero down zone. Took a glance at the RO who wasn't sure what, if anything, he should do at this point, and I went on to complete the course of fire. It is unsettling given the number of times I've racked the slide on a misfire. Or shooting revolver the number of time I've just gone on to the next chamber as quick as I could pull the trigger. Probably hesitate a tad longer in the future.
 
Had some old surplus Greek or Turkish 8mm that had hang fire back in the glory days of plentiful $50 Mausers.
Pull trigger"click"....waiting, wondering if I should recock it..."Bang!!"
Developed a flinch because of it, took some years to get over it.

I don't shoot 8mm anymore. But still, that was some really cheap surplus back in the day!
 
Probably less than a second. 9mm top tier brand factory ammo in a Sig P320. Shooting an IDPA match and click. Since it wasn't the first shot after a reload I knew there was a round in the chamber. I started loosening my support hand grip to rack the slide when bang. Fortunately it was still pointed on-target and I hit the zero down zone. Took a glance at the RO who wasn't sure what, if anything, he should do at this point, and I went on to complete the course of fire. It is unsettling given the number of times I've racked the slide on a misfire. Or shooting revolver the number of time I've just gone on to the next chamber as quick as I could pull the trigger. Probably hesitate a tad longer in the future.

There are reasons why standard protocol dictate to keep a firearm safety pointed down range without manipulating the action for an extended time period after a misfire. Tactical gun games timing and scoring should be suspended in those scenarios.
 
The squib thread is interesting. Many reloaders I know have had a squib and the possibility seems to have increased as the years of reloading went by. Some from equipment problems, others from human error (like me).

But how many have experienced a hang fire? The primer fizzles and in a few seconds after the hammer falls, the gun finally goes bang. That one I have only seen in a You Tube video.

Anyone?


Some really scary stupid arse people on Boob Tube:what:

Heaven help us!

 
Had 2 or 3 about 15 years ago on a pronghorn hunt. Rifle was a custom 1903 Springfield I had done the stock work on. It happened with both factory and my handloads. The culprit was a tiny bit of extra wood in the channel for the cocking knob. It swelled up just enough on a hot October day. Gunsmith couldn't duplicate the problem but he shaved a tiny bit of wood off anyway. Hasn't done it since.

Lost the biggest buck I've ever seen though.
 
Half dozen over the million plus rounds I have fired over the years. Some of those were on belt fed weapons where hang fires are common enough to have an immediate reaction drill: just keep it pointed where it should for 10 seconds.

Longest hangfire was maybe 4 seconds, but certainly feels like longer.
 
I've never had a hang fire myself. I watched a few YouTube videos of them last night though. Man, if those videos are real, there are some genuine idiots out there. One guy was actually about to look down the barrel of his rifle when it finally went off - blowing a hole through the bill of his ball cap! :eek:
I've seen some other candidates for Darwin awards do the same with fireworks.
 
We had a number of them back in the 90's with a couple of different cases of foreign surplus. Most with 9mm, but some rifle calibers too. If I remember right, the rifle stuff was some Brazilian 7.62 and they put a recall out on it, but I may be wrong there. I know we sent a number of cases back on their dime and they replaced it.

The 9mm stuff was mostly being shot out of SMG's, and that just adds another level to things, as most of them were open bolts. Takes keeping your finger off the trigger when the gun stops to a whole new level. ;)
 
I was shooting a box of 45 ACP reloads. I kept getting grit on me after some shots and then came a click.

Wait, wait and pop. Felt stronger than a squib, and weaker than normal.

What I think happened is that some cases either had tumbler material in them or plain old dirt from being outdoor range pickups. I fired the rest of them off without a problem other than the grit.
 
... But how many have experienced a hang fire? ...

I have experienced many hangfires, especially with old milsurp MkVII .303Brit ammo.

My first, however, was my most memorable. Shooting some 7,92x57 milsurp ammo in my maternal grandfather's old "Mauser" (a bringback gifted to him by "Uncle" somebody). There was a small crowd of family in the front field (pointing over my right shoulder thru the window, "A few hundred yards over there in front of the old farmhouse.") watching the event.

Dad fired the first shot and the BOOM was impressive to all attending. He ejected the empty case & handed the rifle to me for the 2nd shot.

I pointed the rifle downrange, closed the bolt loading the chamber and snapped up the safety. I looked around to assure that all were in a safe place, assumed the position, released the safety, took aim, got my breathing to the right place and gently squeeeeeeezed the trigger .... CLICK! :what:

My second thought had to do with the fact that I was ROCK SOLID and had not even flinched the slightest bit. Yeah, I was Proud. :D

I then slowly went thru the 30-second wait (which was probably more like 60) before a fingers-mentally-crossed recock. I aimed at the ground 10-15 feet in front of me and squeezed off the shot. The hole blasted in the ground was impressive to us kids brought up on .22RF.

Too bad that at the time none of us had any idea about the recock notches on the rear of the bolt.

2v2u13EnGxAW38L.jpg

OK, so technically that wasn't a hangfire ... but it was what the OP immediately brought to mind. ;)

With old milsurp .303Brit, shooting them slowly is the name of the game. Just to make sure.
 
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I had them with a combo of WC844 (military version of H355) and Wolf primers (KVB-5.56M)

½ second delay every time.

After ~100 round I pulled the bullets and saved the powder (still have a little more than 7lbs)
 
I've had some on my muzzle loader but not on my center fire arms. It ether fires or doesn't fire. If it doesn't fire I wait about 30 sec. then try it again. Then I toss it in the dud bucket to be disposed of.
 
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