hangfire

[GavB]

Had my first hangfire on friday. Went for a quick practice at the local ground and shot the first traget and pulled the trigger on the second and "click" as im bringing the barrels back down while looking at the gun it went off down range. cartridge was i think a rio 21g plastics

 

[Hamster]

That sounds nasty/wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-frown.gif, I've never experienced or seen one thank god. It can be a real problem apparently for rifle ammunition but not such a problem with shotgun ammo. Once in a blue moon when I fire the first barrel of my 682E, the trigger goes slack, like it hasn't cocked properly as can happen when not letting go of the trigger when anxious. The tiniest touch of the trigger is then enough to set the shot off /wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-yell.gif.  It rarely happens unless I'm wearing gloves. Are you certain the gun went off of it's own accord and not similar to my example?

 

[GavB]

No the finger wasnt on the trigger as far as i recall anyway

 

[TobyM]

Get it looked at ASAP, IMO. Can't mess about if it's safety related.

 

[Will Hewland]

That wont be the gun. More the cartridge itself. Maybe a tired firing pin was not helping though..CSC3

 

[Hamster]

I'm genuinely really interested in this issue, one of the first things you learn through books on shooting talks of NOT opening the gun upon hearing the classic firing pin click and pointing it in a safe direction for 10 seconds or so yet I have NEVER come across a situation where one has actually gone off in this period!  This is despite the fact that I have seen hundreds of subsequently ejected shells display a clear dent on the primer; without fail these shells will fire perfectly well if used again through a different barrel or gun but often through the same barrel too.

 

[Fuzrat]

thankfully really rare these days as even the worst cartridges have decent quality control, most misfires are tired pins or a hard primer. I had one 20 odd years ago with my semi hammerless bsa single 12. Mind you I was shooting a carrier bag full of odds and sods one of the old beaters gave me, mostly printed with cyrillic script /wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif

 

[Hawkeye]

Rare? I have witnessed a dozen or more of one brand this past summer and autumn from one shooter, tried the misfired shells in my MK38 and still wouldnt fire, I know the shooter has nearly a full box of misfired shells to return to his dealer. ALL the same brand and batch

 

[Hamster]

Hawkeye said:

Rare? I have witnessed a dozen or more of one brand this past summer and autumn from one shooter, tried the misfired shells in my MK38 and still wouldnt fire, I know the shooter has nearly a full box of misfired shells to return to his dealer. ALL the same brand and batch

  Struck but unfired shells are by no means rare, I meant a proper hangfire.

 

[Hawkeye]

was commenting on the previous post to mine

 

[Fuzrat]

Sorry hawkeye, to clarify I meant hangfires being rare. Miss fires are 2 a penny :-( my dodgy grammar and brain working quicker than my typing.Fuzratu

 

[GavB]

Ive only had about 5 struck but unfired shells since starting shooting however I havent had my gun serviced so i may have it done sooner rather than later

 

[JonSkeet2]

Hi All, As i'm sure you are all aware there is a proper procedure for a hangfirehard primer. I had one on Sunday at Hornet; fortunately everyone but the scorer knew what was going on. If you experience one call "hangfire" and keep the gun in the shoulder pointed downrange for 20 seconds before trying to break or unload it.  If it's a registered comp do not break the gun until instructed to by the referee or make sure they are handed the gun to verify it was a gun malfunction and not failure to release the trigger otherwise you will lose the bird. I have had maybe half a dozen hard primers in the last couple of years but never a real hangfire, I think the term originates from the black powder era where hangfires were far more common. Cheers, Jon.

 

[Hamster]

You are quite correct there Jon, except in practice even at registered shoots the chances of the scorer being clued about these things is rather remote.I've witnessed this dozens of times over the years, gun goes click, nine times out of ten the shooter simply breaks the gun and either catches or removes the dented shell with a puzzled look simply swapping it for another.You can have a point deducted like you say but I've never known it to happen.

 

[JonSkeet2]

Yep,I'm new to sporting and due to the number of scorers required I can see they wouldn't know the rules; However my background is Skeet and I know of very very very few grounds where you get anything bar a qualified ref and they know the rules.Once we had finished shooting the stand I took the time to briefly explain what had happened, why I did what I did and recall members of the squad also explaining to her what had happened. She had never seen a semi auto before as the first empty made her jump.If we weren't rushing off to WW I'd have explained in a bit more detail.I'm a CPSA Safety Officer and ESK Referee Cheers,Jon.

 

[Darkside]

The phesant syndicate I was in two years ago had a spate of hang fires, all with Rio game shells, click, one, two, BANG!!! Well spate, two one the first day and one another shoot day, different guns. None of them will shoot Rio's now.......

 

[EdSolomons]

You are quite correct there Jon, except in practice even at registered shoots the chances of the scorer being clued about these things is rather remote.I've witnessed this dozens of times over the years, gun goes click, nine times out of ten the shooter simply breaks the gun and either catches or removes the dented shell with a puzzled look simply swapping it for another.You can have a point deducted like you say but I've never known it to happen.

The first time I ever had a miss fire I opened it and got docked the pair! (it was simmo). Best way to learn, Ive never done it since!

Ed

 

[40UP]

View this once and never forget

Hangfire.wmv

Note how only the recoil of the gun saves our chappie.

 

[Cookie]

View this once and never forget

Hangfire.wmv

Note how only the recoil of the gun saves our chappie.

Unbelievable, I would not have thought that anyone involved with firearms of any type would look down the barrel of a known loaded gun to see what had gone wrong.