delayed fire

[ralph7]

i just read a thread in a gun magazine where the tester had a failure to fire a cartridge in a .380, so he waited 10 seconds before ejecting the shell.
i remember seeing warnings on ammo boxes that advised waiting longer periods of time than that, yet i have never experienced nor heard of a hangfire that was longer than a millisecond or a click- boom.

 

[handgunner356]

I believe the old rule use to be 20-30 seconds for a "hangfire". But like you I've never seen or heard of anyone actually having one. It either went bang or poof right now or it didn't do anything.

 

[cp1969]

I saw a friend have one once but it was a second or less.

But even at that, that's plenty of time to rotate the cylinder out of line with the barrel, and that would not be pretty. I don't know what you do if you're in a gun fight....call a timeout?

 

[Fkimble]

Once had a batch of old military surplus ammo that was 98% "Bang", the other 2% were click... must be a dud.. bang. A good 2-3 seconds, just enough time to thing it was a dud then bang. Had my hand on the bolt about to open the action on the first one when it went bang. After that I just held on for a good ten count.

 

[john traveler]

I had the same experience once. Firing surplus 7mm Mauser made in the late 1940s. Firing pin went "click" and I lowered the rifle from my shoulder and it went off. Must have been a 2-3 second hang fire.

 

[stantheman86]

I have had worse......some crap Argentine surplus 7.65 Mauser....the BEST of those rounds went off like a flintlock.....it was like "click..pffffsshhhss....BANG" the worst would hang up to 10-20 seconds. I had one go off on the ground, the bullet only went a few feet but the brass flew 10 yards away. It was a "lesson" that the round needs a chamber to contain the pressure, or else they just go "POP" and the bullet and brass seperate.

I ended up giving it to my local gun shop owner for free, telling him the ammo was crapola and he could pull the bullets out for reloading if he wanted to, I just wanted rid of that garbage!

 

[scooter123]

I've also had one hangfire, about 35 years ago with some Remington 22LR. Just about the time when I was going to eject the round it fired, probably a good 5 second hangfire. Ever since then I keep the gun on target for a good slow 10 count and if I've feeling paranoid I'll wait for a full minute. It only has to happen once to scare the you know what out of you and teach you waiting is a very good thing.