Malfunctions: Why you should stop shooting.

[AGoyette]

If nothing else the RO should have stopped him when he blew out the mag. I too thought that the last real round sounded fine when it was shot. There are other reasons for the next round not going boom.. a firing pin that is bad is one example.. getting a bad batch of ammo? Gunk in the gun causing it to jam?
I basically just had the same issue Tues. night. Hammer falling no boom, failure to load the next round and not ejecting the round that was in there, etc. The RO (the husband) did not stop me. I have been having ammo issues. After that stage, we went to the safe area and took apart the gun. Numerous master, grand master, and A class shooters watched me shoot. None of them stopped me because they thought that there was an issue with the gun (an older 1911 45). After we took it apart, we wiped down the extractor (which I thought was totally gross, it was that dirty, but they said that it was not that bad), I checked and recleaned the firing pin chamber, relubed it and put it back together. It ran perfectly the next stage. I almost stopped because of the number of gun issues I was having with that stage. Lots of racking, dropping the mag, and reloading the gun, hammer falling and no boom, etc.
Like I said, the RO should have stopped him when he blew out the mag. I was not there, so I could not see if the rifle was going into battery or not. I do hear the hammer falling after he taps and racks..

 

[WR Moore]

I've seen maybe 7 ARs come apart. I'll also note I've seen factory ammo fail to fire/chamber, don't assume it's handloads at fault. In this particular case, the gent does watch what's coming out of the ejection port. Doesn't mean he really notices detail.

I noticed what appeared to be 1 or two possible strikes on the forward assist. BUT, after each attempt, he'd cycle the bolt. I believe the repeated chambering attempts pounded the stuck ball far enough forward to allow the carrier to close enough to allow the hammer to strike the firing pin and get ignition.

People who buy ARs should realize that the weapon can fire without the carrier being far enough forward to permit the full dwell time needed to allow chamber pressure to drop to safe levels and/or the chamber to fully support the case. The result is case failure. In point of fact, most of the AR booms I've seen have been the result of this. That doesn't appear to be the cause in this instance.

Moral of the story is that if you're not in combat or doing drills with dummy (inert) rounds in the magazine, after-at most-one tap/rack, you need to step back and see what may be causing the problem. I do have reservations about those who teach tap, rack, strike the forward assist.

 

[Rastoff]

So, if you see a bullet laying on the ground at the range and it looks like it's been there a while, leave it lay or throw it in the trash.

Every supposedly live round I find at the range get's the bullet pulled; no exceptions.

If nothing else the RO should have stopped him when he blew out the mag.

Yeah, if you watch it, the safety observer or timer, gets out of the way so the camera guy can film inside the van. I can maybe see them letting him go after multiple fail-to-fires, but after the mag gets spit out due to a ruptured case? They were clearly not watching for safety or didn't know what to look for. In either case they were running a very unsafe range.

 

[cyphertext]

Here's a oldie but a goodie. The original video was just of the M&P 15-Sport blowing up on the range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoZnCxqa4QA

Then there is this video where the rifle owner shows the carnage. Never stating that a squib is the most likely cause of his rifle blowing up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIuTVfl8G2U

Yup. Tap, rack, kaboom.

I'm not sure that was a squib... the shot sounded normal and the brass ejected and hit the wall, same as the 5 previous shots...

Looks like an overcharged round to me... If that were the case, he wouldn't see anything even if he did stop and inspect the barrel for obstruction.

AR-15 KABOOM - The Firearm Blog

 

[NJM15]

I'm glad you started this thread. That class of scenario simply scares the you-know-what out of me.

I try to be a very cautious, deliberate shooter. I'd like to think I'd stop and not just "slam home another round". And I think I would pause. I'm confident I would. It's deeply ingrained in me that guns are delicate instruments. If they're not working right the correct response is investigation - not "beat the hell out of it". But I'm old enough to know and be on guard enough to say "Never say never." We have to always be diligent. But that being said......

The round fired before his first "dry fire" sounding episode sounded perfectly normal to me. I don't see that he got a minor "Pfft".

I'm assuming (hoping) the tell-tale sign, always, is that the action doesn't cycle normally. If there's not enough pressure to cycle the action, then you need to look down the barrel and ensure it's clear.

Is there a scenario where the action would cycle and yet a squib is in the barrel? Maybe if the bullet makes it past the gas block but not out the muzzle? But even in that scenario (not enough pressure to eject the bullet) I'm hoping that also means there's not enough pressure to cycle the action.

Wow.......rambling post.....

Thanks.

OR

At the range Thursday a fellow shooter had his Uberti SA 6" conv ,Colt/acp he fired off an overload scared the ----
out of me , I was next to him, the cylinder locked up
casings wouldn't eject He played with it and got the cylinder to
move drove the casings out with a punch, and started shooting again,
I said Charlie put that thing in the case and have it checked out and repaired, he said he thought the manufacturer would not honor his warranty because he was firing reloads I said they would have to prove it
in order to reject service. The hardhead said he was going to take it home and continue working on it !

 

[otisrush]

A few years back I found a YouTube video where a guy was was describing some supposedly-common issue with a pistol he owned. He said you needed to "beat the hell" out of the slide when it got stuck.

I found that to be all sorts of extremes: Hilarious. Scary. Stupid. Etc. I've never heard someone say that some activity associated with a gun required "beating the hell" out of it.

Some people.....................

 

[Rastoff]

I'm not sure that was a squib... the shot sounded normal and the brass ejected and hit the wall, same as the 5 previous shots...

I don't know. If you look at the 16 second mark, he pulls the trigger and seemingly nothing happens. I believe this is when the squib happened. He then pulls the charging handle and that's when you see the empty casing come out. It's the shot after that that destroys the gun.

This is just speculation from me. The sound on the video is not clear enough to make any determination.

 

[caribe]

Never had a squib in my rifles, I did have on in my M&P. It sounded like a low volume bottle opening. Knew right away what it was. In a way I was glad too experience it in a controlled environment. I was using factory Winchester white box.

 

[NJM15]

At the range Thursday a fellow shooter had his Uberti SA 6" conv ,Colt/acp he fired off an overload scared the ----
out of me , I was next to him, the cylinder locked up
casings wouldn't eject He played with it and got the cylinder to
move drove the casings out with a punch, and started shooting again,
I said Charlie put that thing in the case and have it checked out and repaired, he said he thought the manufacturer would not honor his warranty because he was firing reloads I said they would have to prove it
in order to reject service. The hardhead said he was going to take it home and continue working on it !

Up date, I received a call from my friend today
he did some fiddling (filing,sanding)with his revolver and took
it back to the range, well the result was a catastrophic
failure. It blew up , the cylinder shattered injuring his hand
pretty good, minor injury to another shooter three spots down.
Possibly had a crack in the cylinder from the first incident he failed to see. I never said I told you so, I really didn't have to.
He admitted the cause of the first incident was possibly an over load,
he said he doesn't trust the over 100 rounds he loaded and will break them down. He wont send the gun back for warranty, saying it would probably be denied.

 

[sgtsandman]

Up date, I received a call from my friend today
he did some fiddling (filing,sanding)with his revolver and took
it back to the range, well the result was a catastrophic
failure. It blew up , the cylinder shattered injuring his hand
pretty good, minor injury to another shooter three spots down.
Possibly had a crack in the cylinder from the first incident he failed to see. I never said I told you so, I really didn't have to.
He admitted the cause of the first incident was possibly an over load,
he said he doesn't trust the over 100 rounds he loaded and will break them down. He wont send the gun back for warranty, saying it would probably be denied.

Even though I'm not a reloader, even I know that there is a reason they specify certain loads and types of powder to use for that cartridge.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Who manufactured that cracked reciever?

 

[NJM15]

Who manufactured that cracked reciever?

It is a Uberti cowboy action Colt45

 

[cyphertext]

It is a Uberti cowboy action Colt45

Phil is referring to a post by Rastoff that seems to have disappeared... He had a receiver crack where the receiver extension screws in.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Phil is referring to a post by Rastoff that seems to have disappeared... He had a receiver crack where the receiver extension screws in.

Yes, I'm curious about the manufacturer.

Here is the pic that was posted.

 

[AGoyette]

Yes, I'm curious about the manufacturer.

Here is the pic that was posted.

It almost looks like it cracked at a seam...

 

[BigBill]

Mushy trigger means stop somethings wrong it's not the norm but let's push it anyway. Safety first.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

It almost looks like it cracked at a seam...

Kinda does. It would be interesting to know who manufactured the lower. Rastoff?

 

[Maddmax]

Virtually every kaboom I'm aware of was caused by handloads, and the biggest share of them were gun show handloads. Never shoot someone elses handloads. Develop your own procedures to guard against any possibilities that you may create your own defective ammunition.

I've loaded well over 100K cartridges since 1974 and have never even blown a primer. Handloads do not need to be a hazard.

I never buy gun show ammo (seen and heard too many horror stories). I've also been reloading since the early 70's and never had any problems with my own loads.