Re: Squeezed and nothing happened.

Have you ever had a mis-fire that resulted in a hang-fire with a modern primer?

  • Yes

    Votes: 28 25.5%
  • No

    Votes: 82 74.5%

  • Total voters
    110
  • Poll closed .

dahermit

New member
Re: Squeezed and nothing happened.

In reference to a thread in the auto handgun area.
The poster wanted to know what was the proper procedure for dealing with a round that went click...failed to fire. Given that all shooters and hand loaders will eventually have to deal with that situation, it made me think. I have never had a misfire that was also a hang-fire. How frequently does it happen, if at all with modern primers? Thus, the poll.
Hang-fire= The primer is struck and the round fires after a noticeable hesitation.
 
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Been there - done that - still gives me the willies...

Modern primer yes - factory load, no.
My own handload, early on in my handloading & I was too carelees when it came to handling the primers.

The loads themselves were very heavy.
A big dose of Herclues 2400 under a 240 grain JSP.

The gun was a Virginian Dragoon .44 mag.
The gun itself has a firing pin return spring that's just a coil too tight and it does experience light primer strikes,so, failures to fire are not unknown with it.

I'd initially believed this was just another instance of a light strike, but, followed through the count to ten w/the gun pointed downrange as I'd been taught. I don't recall how soon after it was that the round went off..one and a half maybe?

There are confirmed instances of it happening with factory loads though.
 
Ive only ever had but a couple of hangfires, and it was with fairly old, foreign "surplus" ammo.

As far as commercial ammo, or even my reloads, on very rare occasions Ill get a round that doenst go off, but it seems in those cases, the primer was bad, and the round didnt go off on subsequent strikes. Never had a hangfire with either though.
 
The only perceptable hangfire I ever had was with a 12 ga trap load reload.
I called for the bird, it flew, I swung through it and pulled the trigger.
Click.
I let the gun off my shoulder, just an inch before
Boom.
Kind of startling.

I have seen a couple in other people's rifles from strange powder choices.
 
Seen it happen with a 12 gauge factory target load. Was out shooing clays with a couple of friends. One guy pulls the trigger, click, he pulled it off of his shoulder and got it down by his side before it went off. Luckily it was still pointed down range. Shook him up pretty good because he knows he could easily have turned or something before it went off. I guarantee he'll keep it on his shoulder next time.:D
 
Hal said:
My own handload, early on in my handloading & I was too carelees when it came to handling the primers.

Same here, I figure I got some sizing lube on a few, placing them in the primer arm. Its better to never touch primers and use a priming tool, hand held or press mounted.
 
The only hang fires I have had were with my muzzleloader. It has happened twice and caused me to miss a deer both times.
 
I was shooting a Colt Anaconda with Winchester Silvertips when it went "click."

I had never had this happen in all my life. I knew I couldn't just lay the gun down or even as bad, just open the cylinder. I was sitting in a chair with the gun pointed down toward the ground explaining to my wife why I was just sitting there holding the gun and about a minute into the explanation it finally went off.

Scared her badly. I was hoping it would do this so I wasn't as surprised but it was still a little nerve wracking, especially the sitting and waiting.

If it hadn't finally went off I'd probably still be sitting there wondering.

At least in a semi-auto or bolt action you can get rid of the round fairly quickly. With a revolver it ain't as easily done.

I hope this never happens again!!!!!!

No I did not stain my paints but I almost wet them.
 
Define "modern" primer. Every time I've had a misfire with brand-new commercial ammo or my handloads, the round either never went off at all or it didn't go off until I gave it a second strike. I have, however, had military surplus ammo (.303 British, 6.5 Carcano, and 7.62x25 Tokarev) that hangfired, meaning a short delay between the firing pin striking and the round going off.

My procedure for a misfire is as follows: with a revolver, single-action semi-auto pistol, semi-auto rifle or shotgun, or any other type of firearm that cannot be recocked without opening the action, I wait 30 seconds before carefully removing the cartridge and giving it a second try after I've finished the magazine/cylinder. With a DA semi-auto, I simply pull the trigger again to see if the round will go off and, if it doesn't, I then do the same thing as I would with the aforementioned action types. With a rifle or shotgun with exposed hammer/striker that doesn't require opening the action to recock, I recock the hammer/striker and give the primer another hit. If that doesn't work, I do my wait and remove drill.
 
Yes with hand loads and commercial manufactured. The commercial stuff was a click/bang delayed just long enough to know the hammer had fallen. The hand loads maybe 2 seconds at the longest. That why I stop when ever a round just goes click, and keep it pointed down range for a slow count of 60 then unload still keeping it pointed down range just in case.
 
In this past year, only one round in a revolver. Waited 30 seconds and did a second strike. Still no bang. Waited 30 more then discarded the round. It was a self load and about 15 years old.
 
I've never had a hangfire.

I've had plenty of light strikes, particularly with Romanian 7,62x25, but never a hangfire.
 
I've had hang fires with old surplus ammunition and with a muzzleloader. With the surplus ammo, the pause was so brief that I didn't have time to move the rifle off my shoulder even if I wanted to. With the muzzleloader, the delay was a bit longer.
 
I had one failure to fire with Wolf or some other cheap steel cased .40 S&W in my Glock 22. At first I thought I shot the weapon dry, then I realized the slide wasn't locked back. Kept it pointed downrange for a while, racked the slide and fired the remainder of the magazine. Examined the dud, primer strike was fine. I've never bought steel cased ammo since. It didn't hang fire though.
 
I have seen hundreds of thousands of rounds fired and I have never seen a hang fire or a squib from a modern cartridge I'm highly suspect of anyone who says they have. A primer charge is enough to push a bullet clear of the barrel. So for a squib you would have to have a bad primer and bad powder. I'm not saying its impossible but highly unlikely.
 
. A primer charge is enough to push a bullet clear of the barrel. So for a squib you would have to have a bad primer and bad powder
Barrel or case?

A primer can push the bullet clear of the case, but, not clear of the barrel.

I've fired quite a few primer only charges working up soft/light shooting indoor loads using all sorts of bullet materials.

I've managed to get .36 cal round lead balls into the barrel, but, never got any conical lead bullet to clear the forcing cone.
 
A primer might push the round into the barrel, but barring some strange circumstance, theres no way its going to push it through 99.9% of the time.

I make loads for my .308/30-06's that use a primed case with a small charge of pistol powder and a .310 lead ball. The powder charge just gets the ball out of the barrel, a primer alone, wont. Ive tried it.

Had the same happen with a couple of pistols with cases that had no powder. Bullet lodged in the forcing cone on one revolver, and just into the barrel on a 1911.
 
I have fired surplus 303 Brit rounds that were loaded with cordite that would go click--------bang. The first one was a little un-nerving. After that I got used to it. After about 5 or 6 I just put the rest of the box on the shelf as antiques. I did disassemble a few to see the cordite.
 
Years ago, I bought my then wife a Browning .25 auto. She was shooting it for the first time & it just clicked when she pulled the trigger. I told her to keep it pointed down range & lay it flat in my open hand. Just as she did, it fired. The action operated laying in my hand. Gun went flying through the air. No one was hurt & the gun was returned the next day. Factory ammo. I don't know if it was a hangfire or maybe the firing pin hung up on something, but I did hear an audible click.:eek:
 
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