(I'm not even going to try to address rifle malfunctions: too many types of actions, and generally the resolution is "go home, you're screwed", such as when you can't extract a fired cartridge.)
Here are the five most common types of firearm malfunctions, and the things you can do with them. The first three are typical of semi-automatic pisols, and the fourth is typical of revolvers: but SQUIBS can happen to everyone!
1: Failure to Feed
2: Stovepipe
3. Uncategorized
4. locked cylinder (Revolver Only)
5: Squib
Failure To Feed - slide is in battery
Generally, this occurs when you have just performed a reload (changed magazines in a semi-automatic pistol. The symptoms is that you fire a shot, and the next time you pull the trigger the gun goes *CLICK*!
This should be an indication to you that you have failed to insert the new magazine fully .. it didn't mesh with the magazine locking mechanism of the gun (keeping it simple). Sometimes, when you perform a reload with a round already in the chamber, the loaded round will fire and then the magazine will drop to the ground. This is embarrassing. Don't do that.
IF the magazine hasn't fallen out, you can perform the TAP/RACK/BANG procedure.
. Keeping a firm grip on the pistol with your strong hand, TAP the base of the magazine so that it engages the magazine locking mechanism ... thus fully seating the magazine into the pistol
. RACK the slide, to feed a round from the magazine into the chamber
. Pull the trigger; the magazine should have fed a round into the chamber, and the gun will go BANG as a good gun should.
IF the magazine HAS fallen out ... don't try to pick it up; it is not only wasteful of time, but it may have picked up detritus from the ground surface which might foul the action. Instead, grab another magazine from your magazine carrier and use IT (being sure to smack the new magazine smartly into the pistol grip!)
If you don't have another magazine (poor prior planning produces piss-poor performance), and you absolutely must continue firing, pick up that dropped magazine. If you have time, wipe the outside of the magazine on your shirt or trousers before you insert it. Again, insert the magazine smartly into the pistol grip and continue firing.
Failure To Feed - slide is NOT in battery
In this case, the next round in the magazine gets 'hung up' when the slide attempts to chamber the cartridge. This can be caused by a fault in the ammunition (reloaded either too short or too long Over-All Length), a weak magazine spring, fouled gun (usually gummed up feed ramp) or a light powder load in the preceding cartridge doesn't allow the slide to cycle properly.
Assuming (as you must) that this is a one-time anomaly, all you can do is to clear the gun and restart as quickly as possible.
The first thing to do is drop the magazine. This allows you to clear the gun without the next round in the magazine becoming a complicating factor.
Then rack the slide, allowing the round which did NOT feed to clear the chamber.
Then insert another magazine (don't have one? Did I mention "prior planning"?), rack the slide, and continue shooting.
NOTE: if you have retained the extracted magazine, you might insert that instead of a different magazine. However, since you do not know for sure what caused the malfunction, your better choice is to use a magazine which may not, for example, have a weak magazine spring. Also, doing a 'tactical reload' (retaining the extracted magazine) forces you to limit the use of your weak-hand while you're trying to do a reload, and may slow up the process. In this kind of situation, two seconds may be an eternity.
STOVEPIPE:
This is not a common malfunction. It occurs when the case from the just-fired cartridge does not clear the chamber. You'll recognize it immediately, because the slide has returned from the recoil but the 'expended' brass is sticking up in the air, held in half-ejection (I just made up that phrase) like a stove pipe; hence the name The common causes may be a weak extractor, underpowered (handloaded?) ammunition, a fouled chamber (when's the last time you cleaned that pistol?) or you might consider replacing the recoil spring, eh?
All you have to do is SWEEP your weak-hand over the top of the slide; the edge of your hand will knock the empty case out of the way of the slide. This will clear the fired case and allow the slide to go forward. Usually, you will not even have to perform the TAP/RACK/BANG procedure, as the slide will chamber the next round in the magazine ... if there is a round left. It takes about a second to clear this MALF, not counting your reaction time.
(If the slide does NOT pick up the next round, perform the TAP/RACK/BANG procedure anyway.)
UNCATEGORIZED:
Generally speaking, if you can't immediately spot the problem, fall back on the TAP/RACK/BANG procedure. Any malfunction which will not be resolved by using one of these procedures indicates that the problem is too complex to be immediately resolved. Examples are: extractor too weak (replace extractor), ejector worn, or loose (replace ejector), springs too weak (replace spring ... usually the recoil spring).
I also had a problem with my kimber during a match last year; I couldn't insert another magazine when I attempted to reload during a stage in an IPSC match. I was done for the day. It turned out that the trigger yoke had bent and/or broken, so the slide couldn't pass the broken ends of the yoke.
REVOLVERS
Revikvers are beautiful machinery. I have a half-dozen of them, both single-action and double-action. They have two great advantages over semi-automatics:
- SPRINGS ... you can keep a loaded revolver in your nightstand for a year, and it's ready to go. With a semi-auto, you can't keep it loaded for too long because eventually the magazine spring weakens from being under constant tension, which might cause a failure-to-feed problem when you can least afford it
- RELIABILITY ... Revolvers are MUCH more reliable than Semi-auto pistols because the mechanism is SO simple that there is absolutely NOTHING which can go wrong.
About that 'reliability' thingie: Ever see a revolver which has been loaded with cartridges with a high primer?
No? It looks like a doorstop, and is about as useful.
My old friend Dangerous Dan (I've written about him before) loved Revolvers and liked to show us 'kids' how a Real Man Shoots A Revolver at IPSC matches. And he was damned good at it, too.
Until one day during a match he reloaded his revolver and after the first shot ... it wouldn't function. The cylinder wouldn't turn, because one of his handloads had a high primer.
What was worse, he couldn't even open the cylinder to reload. And of course, he couldn't leave the stage with a loaded weapon, We spend 15 minutes watching Dan bang the cylinder with rocks, a mallet, the heel of his hand, and a 1958 Volkswagon Beetle without being able to break the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned thing open. We had two squads backed up behind us before he got the cylinder broke open (I don't know what finally worked for him; I wandered off to take a dump while he was jumping up and down on the revolver, which was lying in the mud ... still loaded).
Dan never showed up at an IPSC match with a revolver again. Nobody ever asked him what he did with it, either.
ANYWAY, I'm aware that there are other things that can go wrong with revolvers, but they're usually mechanical things like timing and having the cylinder properly align with the forcing cone, and ... I'm sure there are other issues but I've already used all three of the names of parts of the revolver that are in my lexicon.
Essentially, if your revolver malfunctions, you're screwed. You can just go home, assuming you forgot to bring a very big hammer to beat on your cylinder until it opens.
Hopefully, someone who actually knows what the hell he's talking about will comment, or provide a link, or something to make this more useful.
PS: Oh, when I load my revolver? I always rotate the cylinder to ensure that it will be shootable before I depend on it for actual ... you know ... usability? That much I DO know about Revolvers, and I owe it all to my ex-shooting pal Dangerous Dan.
(Don't ask how he got the nickname.)
PPS: I almost forgot about SQUIBS. If you have one, don't shoot another round. I ruined a $300 barrel in a S&W 659 ("Crunchenticker", per Colonel Cooper) trying to double-tap with a short-loaded 9mm round which I had personally handloaded with not quite as much care in the quality control as I should have taken the night befor the match, but that's another story. Be sure to have one of those Squib Rods you can get from Amazon.
And yes it is a good idea to have a backup gun.
Is Carrying Two Pistols Better Than Just One? – Concealed Nation
2 comments:
My first duty revolver, a Ruger Security Six, had a distressing tendency for the Crane Screw to back out. Note that was Ruger's old design, their newer design does not retain the crane by means of a screw. The Auld Rangemaster did not have the required forged/milled spanner to hold the cylinder while using the correct torque-screwdriver to set the Crane Screw. I was loaned a K-frame weapon until he could acquire the tool, which cost the Sheriff $60 in 1973 (my Ruger had just cost me only $62).
When the crane screw backs out you WILL believe you have a overlength round. If you hammer on the cylinder though, you will bend the crane, requiring a factory refitting of a new one, if you did not also damage the frame, in which case maybe you can salvage the barrel and cylinder and chuck the rest.
Your club is way too rule-bound. The drill for a loaded/jammed firearm should have been: RO calls an RSO. RSO clears the bay, examines gun, determines that while loaded, it cannot be discharged, remoives the weapon to an unused bay where it can suffer your listed brogan maintenance. Match would suffer very little delay. Weapon operator would be DQ if he could not produce a reliable weapon to replace the failed one.
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