What to do for a failure to fire

[mhdishere]

If I remember correctly, many moons ago when I first learned to shoot I was told that if you ever got a dud you kept the gun pointed in a safe direction for, what seemed to me, a fairly long time before ejecting the dud and continuing. A fairly long time meaning a couple minutes at least. Honestly, I don't ever recall a round firing after more than a fraction of a second or so after the striker falls, like in a hang-fire.

So here are my questions:

1) If a round doesn't fire within a second or so of the firing pin hitting the primer, how likely is it to fire at all? Let's assume a properly functioning firearm and that the problem is in the round itself.

2) If you did eject the dud how much harm would it do if it did go off?

3) If the same thing happened in a revolver and you squeezed to the next chamber what would happen if the round cooked off? I've heard of chain-fires in cap-and-ball revolvers and don't recall any serious damage being done provided your hands are where they belong, namely behind the cylinder.

 

[Shorts]

When I have a fail to fire, I hold the gun pointed downrange in case it did fire, wait 5 or 10 seconds, then remove the round. Same thing on therevolver, although I've never had one on the revolver. I do get them on my .22 more often. Those cartidges sit around stocked in the closet for years.

I've never had a round go off in the process of or after removing. I'm interested in seeing what others have to say on this as well.

 

[ManChicken]

The rules I was taught in NRA Basic was to wait at least 30 seconds (of course keeping your barrel downrange).

 

[Rickstir]

I am not starting anything, honest. With my Beretta 92FS I have never had a FTF in 10 years. With my other carry gun, Taurus 650 .357 snubby, no FTFs either but I have only had it about a year. This is the first I have heard of a waiting period, etc. I will be following this thread to hear what the more experienced folks say. "Listening" to the experts talk is the major benefit here for me.

 

[Shorts]

The 'waiting period' is done just in case the powder is burning, but slowly. Think of it like Black Cat fireworks. If you light one and toss it and it doesn't go off, don't go pick it up!

 

[Zach S]

1) I havent had any duds, all fired on the second hit (I could count the times I heard "click" when I should have heard "bang" on one hand - failure to slide-lock excluded), most were retried immedately (this is what I would do a SD shooting, carry gun is a 1911). After doing so it dawns on me that it would have hurt if it decided to go off while cocking the hammer a second time.

2) Probably enough to make me want to be elsewhere.

3) I have no idea. I dont think my Taurus M85 would be operable after that, after looking at the front of it (while empty of course), it looks like the bullet would hit the frame and of course be wildy innaccurate after that. While a steel frame may hold up, I dont have a whole lot of faith in my ultra-lite standing up to that.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I've had about 5 FTF's, all ammo related. 3 where hard primers that ignited on the second strike, and 2 where bona fide duds.

While "hangfire" is a documented phenomenon (primarily related to contaminants getting into the primer or propellant) it's incredibly rare.

Because my primary interest in firearms is defensive rather than sporting, and because people tend to fight like they train, I've decided to take my coaches advice on this, which is to be aware of the possibility, but not to modify the drill because of it.

If it doesn't go boom, (assuming your handgun has restrike capability), hit it again, right away.

If it still doesn't go boom, get one into the pipe that will right away, which means a tap/rack/bang drill.


Needless to say, this is considered heretical amongst the belt and suspenders crowd.

I've not seen a naked round detonate personally, but my understanding is that it's like a large firecracker going off. Because there's no chamber to contain the pressure, and no barrel to build velocity, the bullet just sort of ploops out, without much velocity. I understand that in some cartridges, the case is significantly less massive than the bullet, and it can go flying....

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

I had several hangfires many years ago on an antelope hunt. We later traced it to the stock having swollen slightly in the heat, and the cocking knob was hanging up just slightly before it let go.

It's a scary thing to pull the trigger on a 25-06, nothing happens, so you look up and BOOM!

Since then, if I have a misfire, I hold the gun on target for a few seconds before I attempt to clear it or fire again.

 

[PinnedAndRecessed]

IIRC, this scenario is known as a "hang fire." I've experienced this once in 30 years of shooting.

I bought reloads from a local sporting goods store. Two of the rounds did not fire immediately, but "hissed" for a second or so. After the "hissing", the powder ignited and the bullet fired. Very peculiar.

I was a newcomer to the shooting sports and was too ignorant to take the rest of the ammo back. I no longer knowingly shoot somebody else's reloads.

But yes, in such a case, keep the firearm pointed downrange for about ten seconds. Then unload.

 

[Frohickey]

Click and no bang means tap-rack-bang. At least for the personal defense crowd.

 

[jefnvk]

While "hangfire" is a documented phenomenon (primarily related to contaminants getting into the primer or propellant) it's incredibly rare.

For anyone that shoots military surplus ammo, this is not so rare. I've seen it on more than one occasion in the last six months.

Perhaps the scariest was when my friend was shooting his new Mosin. Pulled the trigger, click. He had enough time to pull it off his shoulder, and get it down to his thigh area, I had enough time to start to yell to keep it in a safe direction when it fired. Butt of the gun caught him in the thigh, he dropped, and since everything was OK and no one was hurt, we had a laugh at his expense.

I'll wait about 30 seconds. Most of the time it is simply a weak spring and hard military primer, and just didn't hit it hard enough. I've had this happen many times. It will usually go on the second time.

For your questions:
1) See above, its fairly likely it was a light hit.
2) I don't know. Commonsense would tell me that not much. assuming you weren't holding it in your hand, but I wouldn't want to be the one to test that out.
3) No idea whatsoever.

 

[R.H. Lee]

The only FTF I've experienced have been in my BHP with S&B ammo. I bought it used and think the previous owner did some funky 'smithin' or fooling with the springs. I've got a new set of Wolf springs and Stephen Camp's disassembly book on order, so I'll soon remedy the situation.

 

[PaulBk]

Hangfires

Thirty seconds is the rule I was taught for range shooting.

I have only had one (.22 RF) hangfire, it went off about 10-12 seconds after the striker hit. Fortunately, the pistol *was* pointed downrange and the only repercussion was my getting startled pretty badly

For SD, TRB is the way to go...

-PB

 

[Luckyorwhat]

Put it down

I think I heard that you should put the gun on the ground, muzzle in a safe direction of course, and walk 15M away and wait 15 minutes - iirc.

The story related by safety instructor goes like this:

He and some friends are taking his son duck-hunting for the first time. His young son is standing by his side, and his friends call the kid to come back to them because the muzzle report would hurt his ears.

The instructor chambers a shell and pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. The ducks are in the air so without giving it a second thought he works the pump and chambers another shell, and pulls the trigger. Apparantly there 2 types of shot-shells with similar markings and similar length, but different diameter, and he made the mistake of putting the small one in the magazine. It slid forward into the barrel, and the second shell he chambered fired, and detonated the small shell in front of it well inside the barrel. The shot-gun exploded, fragments flying to each side of the shooter, fragments which would surely have hit the young kid had he not moved. The instructor was deafened for quite a while, and was lucky to still possess 10 fingers.

With .22 rimfire I guess it does fail to go 'bang' rather often, but hey - better safe than sorry.

 

[homeka45]

Sheesh, time for some new waders as I'm sure his must have blown out too!