My First Slam-Fire

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Pucker Time!! I love the adrenalin.

That is why we have a 6 gallon pail of sand tipped at an angle in my shop. ALL firearms are loaded and unloaded with the muzzle pointed into the center.(carry over from working as Deputy Sheriff)

This is an AD mechanical failure not a negligent discharge.

Glad your training kept it from hurting anyone.
 
Hmmm. This is a Makarov-specific case. Makarov users are advised, if they weren't already aware (and I'll admit that it's an obscure topic) that Maks have a floating firing pin that may be immobilized by cosmoline, or gummed up with oil and fouling, and can slam-fire or go full-auto when a round is chambered, unless it has been confirmed that the firing pin is moving freely in the firing pin channel (most easily done by shaking the pistol).

We generally assume that it's fairly safe to chamber a round, without fear of a slam-fire, on a modern (I'm defining "modern" pretty broadly here) automatic pistol without any other unusual precautions being taken. This assumption can be incorrect in the case of the Makarov PM. In other words, a Mak in excellent condition (nothing broken, modified, or missing) is still a slam-fire risk if it's fresh out storage, or extremely dirty. As far as I know, this is not the case with most other commonly-encountered pistols.

Sorry to harp on this, I'm not trying to be a judgmental safety Nazi or to make Thefumegator feel bad, and of course this one of the various situations that the four rules help protect us in, but as Maks are a popular little gun (for good reason, I love mine), this peculiarity in what is otherwise in my opinion an exceptionally safe pistol should be known before using one. :)
 
I have a Mak in the 380 ACP. It surely makes it doubly important
that the correct ammo is used without a question. It is the imported
Russian with adjustable rear sights:)
 
And how did the firearms accidentally discharge...

Falling off of a shelf during an earthquake and firing pin safety failing and discharging a round?
Click to expand...

No, # edited by moderator # accidental discharge vs. an intentional discharge. Got it?
 
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Pinnedandrecessed
Attack the post not the poster. (please don't start that "#of posts" BS).

Back on topic, this was a good thread to post!

I think lessons learned (for me) are along the lines of...

-Obey Rule #2 (point in a safe direction) ESPECIALLY when dropping the slide.
-If it's not your gun and you don't know the maintenance history, treat it as unsafe until proven otherwise.
-Never use live ammo in a handling demonstration (yea for snap caps).
 
What is a good way to clean the firing pin area of a Mak fresh outta storage?
 
Wasn't there a member of this board who was accidentally shot through the hand when his Makarov went full auto at the range?
 
I don't know about a Mak specifically, but when I need to clean an SKS I use a 3-to-1 ratio of HOT water and simple-green concentrate along with pipecleaners. It seems to strip all of the grease and cosmo and crud out.

WARNING: Simple green at that concentration can be corrosive. Once things are clean rinse it all off VERY well with lots of water and then oil it up ASAP to prevent rust.
 
I still don't get why the heck you were chambering a live round inside a gun store in a weapon you don't own/maintain!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Maybe he's a gunsmith. Hard to work on them otherwise. (Or test fire them either before or after working on them.)

Glad no one was hurt, Thefumigator.
 
great topic

I am not a Mak or SKS owner (yet) and had never heard of this apparent common knowledge.

I will reconsider using my sand bucket for any slide-dropping on any semi-auto pistol, not just for hammer dropping on an "empty" chamber.
 
I don't know about a Mak specifically, but when I need to clean an SKS I use a 3-to-1 ratio of HOT water and simple-green concentrate along with pipecleaners. It seems to strip all of the grease and cosmo and crud out.
Click to expand...
I'll use brake cleaner or acetone. It strips ALL the oil out, so watch out. When the hot water evaporates (if you use hot water) it can leave rust spots, which is why I stopped using that method.
 
Glad to hear everything was okay.

This reminds me of the only question I got wrong in the PRK handgun safety test when I got my Star. Which direction should you point the gun when not firing it? In the safest possible direction. SInce there was a basement/lower floor you should have pointed the gun up, unless there was a floor above you...
I got that wrong because I never thought about having a basement or being on the second floor.
 
I am not a Mak or SKS owner (yet) and had never heard of this apparent common knowledge.

I will reconsider using my sand bucket for any slide-dropping on any semi-auto pistol, not just for hammer dropping on an "empty" chamber.
Click to expand...

That's just it. It's not really common knowledge. Always having any semi-auto pointed at a safe backstop when chambering a round is a good idea - rules 2 and 4 protect you if you fail to observe rule 3. But, as I understand it, the likelihood of a GLOCK, or a 1911, or a Beretta 92, or any number of other common automatics with firing pin return springs, out-of-battery safeties, etc., slam-firing when the slide released is extremely remote, or even essentially impossible in some designs, no matter how dirty they are.

With a Mak, the firing pin (which looks like a crude iron nail you might have pulled out of the wall of an abandoned house built in the 1700s) just sits in its little tunnel in the rear of the slide - no spring, no nothing. Remove the safety/decocker lever, and it falls right out the back. Q-tips are good for cleaning this channel. If you shake the pistol in your hand, you will hear the pin rattling back and forth in the firing pin channel.

Gunk in the FP channel of any pistol is bad - just for the opposite reason in a Makarov than in most other autos - you might get a "bang" rather than a "click".
 
"Maybe he's a gunsmith. Hard to work on them otherwise. (Or test fire them either before or after working on them.)"


All of the gunsmiths I know use snap caps, action proving dummies, or homemade dummies to test an action.
 
a snap cap would have have been a good idea, but it may have caused a bigger problem. the cap would chamber and you wouldn't have known about the problem. I gun owner would have probably found out at the range with a full mag. Just be thank full no one was injured.
 
Pinned and Recessed...

4 AD's (with that many, I bet they are ND's) in a lifetime?

Sorry to say this, but it would appear that your gun handling procedures are lacking somewhere, and that you need to study the 4 rules carefully...

MOST of us only need ONE AD/ND, and we learn... MAYBE a second one... but four?

I have had one AD... YES, it was a REAL AD, as in, my finger was NOWHERE near the trigger, and I was following all 4 rules... the gun malfunctioned, went off, and buried the bullet into a magazine loaded with .17 HM2 bullets... I still have the .22 round that AD'd, and the destroyed magazine and rounds...

IF I ever have another, it'll be a TRUE AD again, because the first one scared the CRAP outta me...
 
I haven't had an AD (yet) but I went through that same exact episode with a friend who had bought a Makarov, about eight years ago. Last I heard he was still shooting .380s through it because they were easier to find! I haven't heard from him in years, so I hope nothing bad happened.

Sorry to hear of the slam fire though. That had to be scary. Maybe you guys should put a sand filled barrel in there, just in case? AD's in a gun shop aren't as rare as we'd like to think. Never hurts to be safe though. Heck, I have one at home for loading/unloading my CCW.
 
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