We used to have to wait 5 minutes if we had a hangfire before we could do anything!

Of course we were dealing with a 3 pound Revolutionary War cannon. If we touched off the powder and the round didn't go BANG, we had to wait 5 minutes before we doused it with water down the tube and then emptied the mess from the barrel. UGH.

I seem to recall we used 1/4 lb of black powder double wrapped in heavy duty tin foil; rammed it home; pierced the foil with a prick and then filled the touchhole with either more powder or a fuse. Add a burning linstock and BANG! (We were Royal Artillery Battery "W" out of Annapolis, MD part of the Maryland Loyalist Battalion.)

I just loved that cannon. (And we rarely had hangfires.)

And I too worry about a hangfire in a revolver...and maybe based on my cannon experience, usually wait 5 or 10 seconds before I try to correct the problem.