Clearance drills

I was thinking of ways I could help train to better clear malfunctions.

I have decided to use dummy rounds to imitate failure to fires.
Empty brass for fail to feeds.
And 102 grain handloads for failures to eject and stovepipes.

My plan is to start at the minimum load for this bullet and load down until I get stove pipes. I'll load about 50 at that charge, then work down further until I get FTEs.

What do yall think?

I could sneak dummy rounds, empty casings, FTE loads, and stove pipe loads into a magazine to practice clearing.
 
What if your light (failure to cycle light) loads leave a bullet stuck in the bore?

Have a pencil or something similar to check the bore has a hole all the way through.

While you CAN clear and inspect the chamber from the breech,

Everyone will get real exited if you look through the bore from the muzzle.

Its just the wrong thing to do on the firing line.
 
Joshua you can easily practice tap, rack, bang while doing your normal drills. Double feeds, the same way. I would not load rounds for the purpose of causing a failure. Just get comfortable with the mechanics of clearing the weapon...
 
I'm not going to load a squib. I have complete confidence in my reloading abilities. However I also have complete confidence in my weapon where I've never had a malfunction of any kind other that a light primer strike.

Using the method I mentioned above is the only way for me to expose myself to such malfunctions.
 
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"double feed"

I'd kinda like this term to fall by the wayside, replaced by simply "failure to feed."
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You might like it, but it wouldn't be correct. A "double feed" is a specific malfunction, feeding two live rounds from the magazine at once. It is also a failure to feed, because two rounds cannot be chambered, but it is different from other failure to feed stoppages.

Many people misidentify a failure to feed AS a "double feed" when they describe it though.

I'm not going to load a squib. I have complete confidence in my reloading abilities.
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I once thought that way, as well. For 43 YEARS I thought that way. Never handloaded a squib. Until I did.

Keep the faith, but remember, Murphy doesn't believe like we do....:D
 
Shoot matches, lots of them in a variety of conditions. You will get malfunctions when you are not prepared for them. When your familiarity lets you know when you have fired to an open bolt, or slide lock, or a jam, you will see how you respond. Then learn and adapt. If there was only one failure type, one drill would suffice...but such is not the case.
 
I'm not sure what you mean James K. How does "carry a gun and ammo that works" and "Can you say revolver?" have anything to do with this thread? Evidently it ain't 'Nuff sed.
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Hmmmm.....sorta touchy
 
I'm not going to load a squib. I have complete confidence in my reloading abilities.
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:eek::eek::rolleyes:This kind of cocky attitude just makes me laugh. I have confidence in my reloading abilities, BUT
I have had squibs, primers that fail to ignite, and a double charge in 40 S&W that destroyed a Beretta barrel. Luck has it that it WAS the Beretta, with the open slide the top of the chamber let go. It will happen just a matter of when.
 
Back when I was shooting USPS there was a shooter for team S&W named Tom Campbell, who only shot factory ammo

He was at some big match and in the middle of a string of shots got a "click" instead of a bang. The cause? No flash hole in the new, factory loaded round.

It's not a matter of if, just when.
 
All guns fail at some time.
All guns are unloaded until they aren't.
Handloads are more reliable until they squib or blow up.

Your heart has been reliable for years until it isn't one day.
 
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