What's The Most Dangerous Pistol or Revolver Malfunction You've Seen Or Experienced ?

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Malfunctions? I can think of two. First was a wartime issue PPK in .32ACP. I had just bought it. Hadn't shot it yet. Loaded it, chambered a round and dropped the safety.
Gun went bang. Scared hell out of me. Seems like some smart-a$$ German had buggered the safety to fire when used. WW-2 booby-trap???
The other was a 3rd generation Colt SA that would fire from the safety notch, half cock and had a 1.5 pound trigger pull. Seems like some fool decided he wanted a fast draw gun. Had it go off half cocked. Now I'm saving up for a new trigger and hammer.
Paul B.
 
The German manufacturing industries used slave labor during WW-II. Sabotage was not unheard of. Decocking stop on Walther PP and PPK seldom gave trouble. But when cooked, the part became brittle. It would let go at some future date. NOT GERMAN BOOBY TRAP for souvenier hunters, but a trap set for a german user. This is discussed at some length in the Feb. 1946 American Rifleman.
 
I had 2 near kB's that were too close for comfort. I had gotten a case of Wolf ammo and took part of it to my range. I proceded to shoot approx 30-40 rds. through my guns with a friend of mine. He was shooting my glock and didn't have any probs right away. I had fired 2 14 rd mags thru my S&W 5906 and it locked. I thought it might have been an isolated event, but my G19 locked within minutes. Both guns locked with the slide ALMOST closed and would not pull back.
Even the Range Observers weren't able to get the jam out (of the 5906). They were jacking with the gun as if there wasn't a live round, and I said that there might be.

I was later able to clear the Glock jam (after leaving the range) by slowly removing the slide and VERY CAREFULLY removing the cartrige. I had to push the chamber downward through the reciever to get the round out. The firing pin had made an impressive dent in the shell, but hadn't fired it (it was high).

The S&W was harder to fix. I had to hold the external extractor release down to get the slide to release. Once the gun would pull back enough to push the field strip pin through I did so. I was then able to clearly see the shell caught in the barrel. I tried standard screwdrivers to pry it out and had no success. I then put a phillips screwdriver down the barrel (to find out if it was live or a shell). It was a shell. I had to hold the action back using the decocker, frame and a screwdriver. I promptly used the phillips screwdriver and a hammer to DRIVE the shell out. I could not only see the scratches from the chamber but the shel itself was deformed to the naked eye.


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Anarchism: The radical notion that I am the sole authority when it comes to deciding what's best for me.
 
Weirdest thing I ever had to deal with was a European made Colt SAA clone, that went full auto. That's NOT a typo. Hammer mounted firing pin had a chipped nose. It would pierce the primer which would blow a jet of gas back and recock the hammer. Sort of an "auto-fan".

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Regards, Sharps.
 
The very first centerfire handgun I had was a Colt Trooper III. It had the bad habit of when the hammer was pulled back for single action shooting, the hammer would fall on its' own without pulling the trigger. Had a smith work on it, but it continued to do it. Got rid of it immediately and have never bought another Colt revolver since, (other than a used 1950's vintage Official Police from when they made them well), but have about a dozen Smith & Wessons, without any problems.
(Do have some Colt 1911's without problems)
 
John. Curiously enough, I had a fellow relate a very similar story to me just a year or so ago. I was in Louisiana, when I ran across that gun. Yet, the fellow who told me the story recently, had never been any further east than Colorado. Apparently I am not the first person to run into this problem. Though I have never seen it in print. May be I can cobble together a story that's good enough to get printed. I think I'll give it a try.

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Regards, Sharps.
 
Sharpsrifle:

I had a similar thing happen about 40 years ago with an old Colt SAA Bisley in .45 Colt. Seems recoil would cause hammer to go back on its own. New mainspring cured the problem.

marsh
 
Malfunctions, I've only had one that was not caused by bad ammo. It happened while plinking with my almost new S&W Model 15. I had too much CLP on the frame where the yolk fits against it when the cylinder is closed. A single grain of sand stuck to the frame preventing the cylinder from closing enough that it would lock-up. A single grain of sand prvented me from shooting. What if the situation had been serious?

Revolver shooters! Sop up all of that excess oil after cleaning! I have found that toilet paper is great for this.
 
Fubsy,

Do you know if the M1 that fired prematurely was a "cut-and-weld"? Some of those were put together with the receiver just a little shortened, enough that the firing pin could reach the primer without the bolt being locked.

Jim
 
Was at a bowling pin match a couple of years ago at a local range sponsored by the FOP. 2 Officers were shooting Glock 40 cals. Not exactly sure of model designation, but think both were Model 23. Both Officers had purchased reloads from that particular range. Both guns suffered exactly the same catastrophic failure with top of barrel blown up through ejection port. Barrel peeled upward from the rear through the port so that it was perpendicular to the bore, effectively locking the slide in a closed position. Luckily no injuries were recieved.
The 1st place prize at this match was a .45 cal. Glock (a 20 I believe) which was to be presented by a representative from Glock. Don't know how or if these Officers were compensated by Glock and/or the range. Do know that Glock makes/made it a point in their printed material about the use of non-factory ammo voiding all warranties. Scuttlebutt about the range went from pistols firing before going fully into battery(this from range personnel)to possible extra powder dump in the cartridges (from Glock rep.) :)
 
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