Hangfire

[buzz815]

While working the Atterbury range yesterday I saw a rare but dangerous occurrence. A young man had a .22 lever action he was sighting in. He pulled the trigger on a chambered round and nothing happened. He ejected the round and the cartridge exploded as he ejected it. No one was hurt and he continued shooting. I have seen a lot of hang fires but never one with this much delay. The book says keep it pointed downrange 30 seconds to make sure the misfire isn't a hang fire.

 

[DanVoils]

Would the 30 seconds have made a difference? I've always followed the 30-60 second rule but haven't had a hang fire in many many years. The ones I remember were maybe 2-3 seconds and were centerfire rounds.

 

[wrez]

being a black powder shooter both rifle and revolver, one must learn to relax and not hurry.

 

[VERT]

I have fired 10s of thousands of rounds and have been witness to many more. In 30 years of shooting I can not recall a single hangfire with a smokeless cartridge. Black powder sure, a lot of hangfires. Rare occurance indeed.

 

[AJBB87]

If it was lever action, it probably had a hammer right?

Wouldn't the preferred method be to re-cock and go for a second strike?

 

[parsimonious]

I question weather it was a hangfire, or perhaps the ejector may have
fired it off. The ejector probably contacts the rim, but he would have had to
really cranked it out to dent the brass. Do you happen to know what ammo
he was using?

Neat story, good post. Repped.

 

[Thegeek]

Did it go off as it was being extracted, in mid-air, or when it hit something else?

 

[shibumiseeker]

I have fired 10s of thousands of rounds and have been witness to many more. In 30 years of shooting I can not recall a single hangfire with a smokeless cartridge. Black powder sure, a lot of hangfires. Rare occurance indeed.

In 10s of thousands of rounds I have had a couple of hangfires, but both were in the 1-2 second range and both had a lot to do with excessive oil contamination of the powder and in both cases it was the second round, the one in the top of the magazine that had been exposed to the oil from the slide. It's what taught me long ago to both not over-oil the interior of the gun, AND to rotate my carry ammo, at least the first and second rounds, monthly.

 

[chezuki]

I witnessed one recently at Friday Night Steel. A guy had a misfire in a 22/45, dropped the mag (thinking it was a misfeed from a mag issue) and as he was reaching for another mag the round went down range with his finger obviously off the trigger. It was a great example of why we follow ALL FOUR rules.

 

[VERT]

In 10s of thousands of rounds I have had a couple of hangfires, but both were in the 1-2 second range and both had a lot to do with excessive oil contamination of the powder and in both cases it was the second round, the one in the top of the magazine that had been exposed to the oil from the slide. It's what taught me long ago to both not over-oil the interior of the gun, AND to rotate my carry ammo, at least the first and second rounds, monthly.

Yep oil can cause that problem. That is why I run several dry patches through the bore and chamber to make sure the cartridge is not exposed to cleaning products. Good exams of why carry ammo needs to be rotated. Which incidently I don't do enough. Good reminder.