What is the longest hang fire you had go bang by itself?

T

TXAZ

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We were shooting some commercial reloads and ran through a hang fire that was a solid 10 seconds before 'bang'. (I'd have timed it precisely had I known it was coming. :)

This was the second I'd ever had, the last was some French BMG that was about a 2 seconds delayed.

What's the longest hang fire you've actually had?
 
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1-3 seconds with old czech ammo for a mosin, hell even had one- must been too long and hung up in the barrel ejected the shell and it went all over my chamber and the bullet was stuck in the barrell.
 
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Don't know how long this one hung, but hung it did.

Both of this guys eyes were bruised and he was wearing eye protection.
The gun was a T/C encore in a small rifle loading from what i was told when given this picture. See attached photo below.
The story also goes; He knew the drill but thought he had just forgotten to load and hinged it open just at the wrong time!!
Had a story from my gun class last year about a hangfire with a M4 where the operating handle was pulled and the hung round went off in air and burned the shooters ear. The student that told said he was shooting in the next lane.

I have had one while hunting ducks and so Squib-ed that most of the shot had to be dumped out of the barrel and then the wad pushed out. As for how long;
Not very. :p
 

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I had a muzzle loader hang fire. It seemed like an eternity, but was probably about 3-5 seconds. No fun at all. It was a first shot of the day and I figured there must have been some water or bore butter in the nipple. From that day forward I always snapped a cap to clear the nipple before loading.
 
Several minutes!:eek:

I had a *click* no BANG with some dodgy Pakistani .303 British. There were several *click* BANG's but this one didn't fire after the usual 10 second long count so I extracted it & sat it on the end of the bench for pull down & disposal later.

I'd fired 2 more rounds & there was a horrible, acrid smell & the thing started rocking on the bench. As I stared at it, fascinated there was a kind of "POP/pooff" & the bullet jumped about 18" in the air, followed by a roman candle-like display that lasted several seconds while the case spun like a dervish & then shot off the bench onto the grass.

I don't buy POF ammo any more no matter how "good a deal" it is:D
 
One time shooting some old 8x56r in my M95. Pulled the trigger, click, no bang. Waited about ten seconds, lowered the rifle from my shoulder, got my hand just behind the bolt to cycle it when it fired. Still had it pointed down range, but it jammed the bolt back into the palm of my hand. Felt like I got smacked with a ball peen hammer.
 
Eghads.
I've never had one, even with muzzle loaders.
Good thing, too, especially with revolvers, since I mostly just keep pulling the trigger on duds to get to the next round.
 
Wogpotter,
When I was looking up causes of hang fires, the British .303 ammo from POF in Pakistan came up frequently but no definitive reasons why. Any ideas?
 
I do not shoot military surplus ammo. I've never had a hang fire of any kind. A few rimfire duds, I don't recall any hangfires, never a problem of any kind with centerfire ammo.
 
so talking about these hang fire rounds got me thinking, I probably have 200+ rounds left, can I pull these bullets, trim the case, and reload? does the primer need replaced or is it just bad powder?
 
British .303 ammo from POF in Pakistan came up frequently but no definitive reasons why. Any ideas?
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The most popular causes cited are terrible (or worse) Q.C at the factory after Winchester no longer supervied production, and poor storage of the surplussed ammo during its winding path from the state munitions bunker to billybobs gun store. Winchester had contracted inspectors at the factory until the late 1970's so POF up til then was dirty plinking ammo but not downright dangerous. After they left it went totally sideways almost immediately.

Some examples I've seen quoted. Bulk pallets of ammo stored for decades in a ships hold with no ventilation in a tropical climate. MIx'n match powders, a mix if ball & stick in the came cartridge! One documented case even of ground up non safety film base used as a propellant.:eek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrocellulose#Nitrate_film
 
several hang fires with El Cheapo .22 ammo 2 - 4 seconds.

From that day forward I always snapped a cap to clear the nipple before loading.
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that is why i love Flintlocks and make my own, my favorite is so fast it fires while holding it upside down. :D
 
I personaly saw a round detonate in the brass barrel last week. It was over two minutes after it was ejected, and thrown in barrel. It was old German surplus. The gun was a converted MG42 converted to semi auto. He waited 30 seconds before clearing the round. He tossed the dud into the brass barrel. A couple of minutes later a cease fire for target check was called. While everyone was getting ready to go down range there was a pop sound, and I turned intime to see some brass flying out of the low topped barrel. Some pieces of the shrapnel of the offending case were found in the bottom.

After that the guy pulled all of the rounds out of the links, and replaced them with factory new stuff. He kept the old stuff to make a few belts of show ammo for display. The head stamps were marked 44 with some other stuff. So I am going to guess it was made in 1944. I am unsure of caliber, as none had caliber marking. I wish I had kept one to take a pic of.
 
The only real hangfires I have experienced with modern centerfire ammo were with Pakistani 303 surplus. Several seconds in a few cases. I then ditched the rest of that crappola ammo.
 
Hangfires were much more common in the old days, seldom seen today, but it still happens sometimes. I've had a couple in my life, I think the longest was maybe 3 seconds, but it was many years ago.

We used to be taught that in the event of a failure, to wait, slowly count to 30 (NOT 10) then eject the dud round. (obviously not to be applied when some one was shooting at you, or might be...)

They are rare, its much more likely to be a complete dud than a hangfire, but hangfires can, and do still happen, it pays to wait.

so talking about these hang fire rounds got me thinking, I probably have 200+ rounds left, can I pull these bullets, trim the case, and reload? does the primer need replaced or is it just bad powder?
Click to expand...

If you are talking about the Czech ammo you mentioned before, the primers are most likely Berdan, and not worth replacing (assuming you can even get replacement primers). The problem could be the powder, it could be the primers, or it could be both. Pull the bullets for resuse and pitch the rest.

If the cases are boxer primed, you could reuse them, but get rid of the primers (and the powder), as they are suspect.
 
I didn't have a hangfire, but I did have some TulAmmo 7.62x39 that needed a second strike to ignite.

I was testing out my new Mini-30. I had one round fail to feed from a 30 round magazine. Went *click*, pulled the bolt, and saw nothing in the chamber. Rack, bang, back to work.

A few rounds later, *click*, rack, and a live round comes out. Not quite knowing what is the correct procedure with a potential hangfire on the floor, I drop the mag, grab the round, lay it on the table, use the mag to pick it up, load, chamber, aim, click, bang. Went off the second time.

I had 2 more that didn't go off, so I counted 10, racked enough to cock the hammer, and shot again, both went off a second time.

After that I figured I should know how long I should have to wait for such a situation to clear. I didn't want the damned thing going off while I was in the middle of pulling the charging handle.

In the future I think I'll stay away from TulAmmo 7.62. The Wolf and Bear ammo worked fine.
 
InterestIng Muncher. I've gone through a bizillion (+/-) rounds of Tulammo 7.62x39 and never had a problem in my Norinco AK or Draco.
But will pay more attention in the future.
 
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