SAFETY: please think about no-fire/delay-fire ...

[Guapo]

thanks for the reminder, its great to hear this now and again to stay as sharp as can be.

[joe_sun]

Yet another reason to never buy a revolver ;-)


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[ccmc]

Thank you for this reminder.

When S&W introduced their Nightguard revolvers a few years ago their were a few incidences of no-fire that were posted on the S&W forum. The problem turned out to be a too short firing pin rumored to ensure the gun would pass a drop test to allow the guns to be allowed for sale in CA (not sure if this is true, but oddly enough one of the fixes was to replace the stock firing pin with an Apex which is a CA company - how ironic is that?). Nobody on that forum ever cautioned about possible hang fires, and fortunately there were no accidents to report. You were lucky you could get the cylinder back into position quickly enough.

[Funtimes]

I'd like to note that many of those safety rules, are not designed for defensive shooters in mind.

If "every gun is loaded" how do you dry fire? How do you do force on force? Gun disarms / techniques? NRA even goes as far to say that even orange safety / blue guns are "loaded guns." To me, "Know the status of your firearm," is much refined and more apt concept. Should not know the status, then a status check is in order.

As far as always waiting 30 seconds, what if that person is training with a .22lr, where misfires are common? That's a lot of potential for training scars to develop. NRA only teaches this 30 second stuff in first steps / basic pistol. They do mention it as you get into PPITH, but soon after, in the same book it comes into malfunction clearances. Your revolver presents some very platform specific considerations on a hangfire, one that I will have to try and consider for the future. I'm much less concerned about a handgun cartridge detonating in air than I would be a revolver cartridge that is still stuck in the cylinder. So that is something I want to kind of think about for a bit, and may even lead me more to think that revolvers are not the best idea.

Hangfires are quite the rarity in my experience. In the past two years we have done like 400+ students through our class and I have never seen one. I know they exist, we teach about them, but it's not my focus.

I think you should go to Vegas with this kind of luck :O.

I'm not trying to discount the practice of waiting, I just don't think it is practical for most people - and I don't think it's a "golden rule" so to speak.

[bwiese]

When S&W introduced their Nightguard revolvers a few years ago their were a few incidences of no-fire that were posted on the S&W forum. The problem turned out to be a too short firing pin rumored to ensure the gun would pass a drop test to allow the guns to be allowed for sale in CA...

This is urban legend and has to be false. Everyone who doesn't understand CA Roster blames Roster for everything.

The S&W NightGuard revolver series began production/issuance in 2009 - this was about a decade after DOJ testing vagaries were worked out, and prob somewhere about the same timespan after S&W moved to transfer bar safeties and removing 'spur' hammers with firing pin on them.

Whatever problems these guns may have had, they didn't have to do with the drop test.

[Now, qualifcation for CA Rostering testing does include a operation test: CA actually does apparently want your gun to actually work and not fail.]

You were lucky you could get the cylinder back into position quickly enough.

The time delay may even have been closer to 15 seconds, not sure.

A modern Ruger SA wheelgun is indeed easy to index cylinder - open loading gate, free-spin to right position, close loading gate, ensure cylinder is latched.

It's second-nature to me.

[kimber_ss]

That's good news Bill! Almost anyone could have moved the pistol from downrange position if not well trained, with that much elapsed time.

[stix213]

Glad you turned out OK Bill. I've never had a hang fire before, but I can say I can improve my patience when getting a dud and waiting to see if it is a hang fire. I've had a squib load on a .22lr rifle before, but I understood what happened before I tried to fire again and removed it from the barrel.

[gr8dragon88]

Thanks for the reminder. With crazy ammo prices, people are having less range time and could forget these things.

[Seventh7]

Thanks for posting this.

I was shooting some lower priced tula ammo a few months ago, and about every 4th round would hang for a second or two.

The hangfire was bad enough, realizing I was flinching was worse!

[Rusty Scabbard]

Great post. It's easy to pick up lazy habits going though a box of bulk cheapo 22 with a 3% fail-to-fire rate. Granted, there is minimal risk clearing a 10-22 early if exercising muzzle discipline and wearing eye protection. I'm guilty... Thanks for the reminder of how dangerous it is, particularly with centerfire cartridges and other guns. Looks like my last remaining 'green box' may take a couple minutes longer to shoot but I'll be following the 30 second rule religiously from now on.

[numpty]

This is a "hangfire" - where there is a delay in ignition of several (or more) seconds. That's why it started out with just a 'click'.

Inside it's just sizzling a bit until it finally detonates. This could be due to a weak primer, or sometimes (usu not in production ammo but "working up a load") due to inappropriate powder volume/powder type vs primer, etc.

A 'squib' round is one that somehow went 'bang' but the powder didn't fully detonate, did not detonate at a high order, or did not detonate at all and only the energy of the primer was used to move the bullet down the bbl.

In these cases the primer-only detonation often will leave the bullet within the barrel.

However, in any of these cases, the 'bang' is much weaker, etc. If you feel something "not quite right" and a very "weak" bang that has far less recoil or noise level, DO NOT FIRE FURTHER: YOU MAY BE FIRING ON TO A BULLET ALREADY STUCK IN BARREL/CHAMBER. The first (stuck) bullet will not damage anything, and a brass/Delrin rod will easily remove the stuck bullet. The bullet AFTER the stuck bullet is the one that causes damage: at best, the barrel bulges due to very high pressure, but metal splitting/debris could also occur.

Squib feels like a very light load. Think 22LR or weaker out of an 45ACP handgun. Sound will not tell you much since you're wearing muffs, but you'll feel that something was wrong with the round. The slide might not cycle, but it often does.

After your time window for a hang fire, when you eject the round, look from the breach end into the barrel and see if any light is coming through. If you have a flashlight point it into the barrel from the front and you should see some of it coming through. Remember, if you see the light it doesn't mean you're in the clear after a malfunction, just that you *might be* in the clear. If there is no light coming through, you can be pretty sure that the bullet is still in the barrel.

Thanks guys. I just bought reloads for the first time, and was a tad hesitant to take them to the range. (probably misplaced concern, but I'm rather cautious after a friend's Sig blew up in his hand...although he thinks that was an overloaded reload) This will give me a bit of confidence...think...wait...etc.

[advocatusdiaboli]

Good report to remind us that firearms harness and control massive energy releases and we to be ever vigilant when using them. complacency can kill.

Everyone who doesn't understand CA Roster blames Roster for everything.

[The Gleam]

[TheExiled]

I had a hangfire shooting surplus 7mm Mauser out of my FN-49. Pretty scary as I heard the click, waited a good 10 seconds, went to charge the gun while keeping it shouldered and pointed downrange, and as I grabbed the charging handle, "PLINK" the round fired and the casing ejected into my hand that was on the charging handle

[fallenknight308]

Serious subject, mandatory to remember.
Hope this guy learned his lesson:



Edit: OK so ppl are saying that this is fake. Well regardless, its no joke.