Misfire (Mythbuster).....how long should you wait?

[Rembrandt]

OK you armchair Mythbusters, help me out here.....I'm familiar with blackpowder "hangfires" (delayed ignition after trigger is pulled), and I've seen people treat metallic cartridge misfires the same. Can't say I've ever had this happen. Myth or true?

 

[Heavy Metal Hero]

Is this like when you light a bottle rocket and it doesn't go off, but you decide to wait and creep up to it slowly only to find out the fuse fell out?

 

[Big Calhoun]

I was taught to tip, tap rack. Tip the barrel downward and downrange, tap the bottom of the magazine, and finally, rack the round out. I would say I would take 30 seconds between each action and that should allow enough time for the cartridge to ignite if it is.

 

[GunnySkox]

A friend of my brother's was firing handloads in an AR, and after one didn't go bang, he set the rifle down on the bench (pointing downrange, of course) and turned around to do some shouting about it, and the cartridge finally fired some moments later.

So it happens, but I think it's very rare.

~GnSx

 

[KINGMAX]

Hold on tight for 30 full seconds

I would hold my weapon tight and down range for atleast 30 full seconds. Count it off, it may seem like a long time, but place safety first, 30 seconds is not that long.

I usually take an ammo box along to the range just to place any misfires or jams that may crease the casing, any strange round that may have a defect or QA issue.

 

[Cosmoline]

Hangfires do indeed happen with smokeless rounds. I had a batch of Turk 8x57JS with about 1/8th of the rounds prone to bad hangfires. There was the primer pop, then a beat later the boom of the round. Usually they're pretty quick, but I wait ten seconds at least before yanking that breech open.

 

[Starter52]

I've had my share of misfires, but never a hangfire, so I just open the action after a few seconds. I agree with Gunny that smokeless hangfires are very rare.

 

[Nhsport]

I have been shooting all types of trash ammo for years and have only had a small handfull of hangfires,they were all of fairly short duration,about 1 sec or less. Surely 30 seconds would be quite safe.
One batch of hangfires I did run into was a older gent at my club that was shooting a pistol he got from his father that was 38rimfire!
His father gave him the gun (a converted cap and ball revolver) because he didn't think he would ever find ammo for it. Whan the kid was 14yo he took his paper route money and rode the train from Stradford CT to New York City and bought a case of ammo from Bannermans.This was during WWII and the ammo was made in the 1880's! Bannermans was a surplus dealer that got its start after the Civil war.Of these 38 rimfires about 1/3 would not fire at all,some would fire on the first hit and some took two or three wacks,with the cartridge being turned between tries. Of the rounds that fired about half would hangfire from 1/3 of a second on up to 4 or 5 full seconds!

 

[BobMcG]

With over thirty five years of shooting and tens of thousands of rounds behind me, I don't recall a single hang fire with smokeless or black powder cartridges. Over the course of thousands of rounds through my flintlocks though is another story.

 

[Axman]

I bought a batch of WWII milsurp ammo for my SMLE several years ago. Many were misfires or hangfires. I still have about 75 of these left as I have been afraid to try anymore. About 1 in ten rounds were faulty. Out of the 500 rounds of ammo about 50 failed. I suppose I may just take them to the range and spend them just to get rid of them. I have been sticking to new factory loads.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

If you just go ahead and eject the misfired round from the action, and it went off after it was out of the chamber, would it do any harm anyway?

In other words, without a chamber and barrel to build up pressure and velocity, how far would the bullet travel if it was out of the gun and on the ground?

 

[American_Pit_Bull]

In other words, without a chamber and barrel to build up pressure and velocity, how far would the bullet travel if it was out of the gun and on the ground?

It would be like a firecracker with potential bits of shrapnel.

 

[DDrake]

I had a hangfire once with my ruger 10/22. I knew something was wrong, I kept it pointing down range and a few seconds later the gun goes off. I then made sure nothing was obstructing the barral and started shooting again.


I heard they are more common with the 22 ammo (esspecially cheap-target practicing ammo) because the boxes are hitting against each other when shipping them, and the primers can come loose or something.

 

[Heavy Metal Hero]

In other words, without a chamber and barrel to build up pressure and velocity, how far would the bullet travel if it was out of the gun and on the ground?

I'd be more worried about the cases blowing up back at you. Had an uncle who hit a .22lr with a hammer when he was real young. Still has the shrapnel scar on his leg.

 

[Tinker2]

I have had some old 8mm Lebel rifle shells that would
hangfire one or two out of three shells.

had 8 mm Lebel pistol shells hangfire two or three out
of 20.

I never had one that took longer then 12 seconds to
cook off.


Tinker2

 

[HammerBite]

If you just go ahead and eject the misfired round from the action, and it went off after it was out of the chamber, would it do any harm anyway?

An unconstrained round wouldn't do much of anything, but if the round fired in the chamber while the action was unlocking you might have a problem.

 

[Fn-P9]

I'd sure like to get some hang fire rounds in 9mm. Might really cure my twitch problem

 

[Libertyteeth]

There was a case in Montana years ago of a hunter who placed a misfire from a high powered rifle in his shirt pocket. It went off and killed him.

I couldn't find a reference, it was years ago.

 

[JesseL]

I fired some fairly old 30-40 ammo through my Krag that had a perceptible delay between the time the striker fell and the round fired, for every single round.

 

[TimboKhan]

I have seen one hangfire in all the time I have been shooting, and it was a .30-06 round in a Garand my dad had when I was a kid. Obviously, I don't recall the specifics about the cartridge, but I distinctly remember my dad standing there for probably 5 seconds before it went off. He gave me a lecture on "keep gun pointed in safe direction" that day, and it has always stuck with me.

 

[chris in va]

The subgun 7.62x25 ammo I bought for my CZ 52 hangfired fully half of the cartridges. I only put two mags of the #%$% through it, tossed the rest. Pure junk.

Click........BANG.

 

[MilsurpShooter]

One hang fire on my Yugo M-48. Ecuadorian Surplus from the 50's that would often require a double strike to set off. Pulled the trigger, click but not bang. Waited for a sec or two, cursing under my breath at this crappy ammo mind you, and suddenly got the bang and recoil. Only hang fire I've ever had, usually it's a FTF requiring a double strike or a normal round.

 

[dfaugh]

I've had it happen a quite few times with .22s, and a handfull of times with commercial/(fresh) handloaded centerfire rifles.

In all these cases there was only a slight delay...Instead of BANG its click...pause...BANG...just about the way you'd say that, so the "pause" was only a split second.

But BECAUSE I have had it happen more than a few times, if I get a click, I wait several seconds with the gun pointed down range. These have all been complete misfires, however.

 

[javacodeman]

I usually take an ammo box along to the range just to place any misfires or jams that may crease the casing, any strange round that may have a defect or QA issue.

My range actually has a reinforced metal box to handle such rounds. I actually had to pleasure of using it once...

I pulled the trigger on my Walther 22 and nothing happened. "Oh crap!" I wait for some amount of time and nothing happens. I rack the slide, put the ejected cartridge in the box, and go back to the firing line.

Aim, squeeze, nothing again. "What is going on here!" I look down at my pistol and notice that the safety is on.

java

 

[Rodgerp]

I have had hang fires with the following:

Surplus 9mm dated in the 40's.

.303 British dated in the sixties, it was loaded with cordite. Several rounds out of about 150 had perceptible delays.

.22 Federal bulk pack. It was like, "Click, pause, pffft!" This was also a squib load so I had to push the bullet out of the barrel.

Rodger