While at the range last week I had a double feed with my AR. Off the top of my head I don't recall any past issues with this gun functioning properly so I'm chalking it up to a few one-off reasons. However, after I cleared the malfunction I was looking at the round and was a little surprised how deformed it was. It was so deformed in fact that I was able to pull the bullet from the casing with only a few feeble wiggles of the bullet. So, the question of the day is this a to be expected occurrence or a once every blue moon type of deal?

quote:

Originally posted by CEShooter:
So, the question of the day is this a to be expected occurrence or a once every blue moon type of deal?

What is the “this” in your question: damage to cartridges due to feeding or chambering failures, or being able to pull the bullet out of the damaged cartridge?

If it’s the former, I’ve seen it happen a number of times over the years, and I believe it usually results when the bolt isn’t operated correctly when manually chambering a round.

If it’s the latter, I’ve never tried pulling the bullet out of a damaged case, but being able to do that doesn’t strike me as odd. The bullet is held in the case by the tension of the case neck, including crimping, and if the bullet is bent over like that it expands the neck and reduces the neck’s grip on the bullet. If it’s severe enough, it’s understandable that the bullet would be loosened enough so that it could be pulled out. In fact, kids of my acquaintance used to pull the bullets from 22 Long Rifle cartridges by bending the bullets over with pliers and working them back and forth until the case was expanded enough to free the bullets.

shoot enough and it will happen every now and then

reinforces the need to we well-acquainted with immediate action / remedial action steps

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quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by CEShooter:
So, the question of the day is this a to be expected occurrence or a once every blue moon type of deal?

What is the “this” in your question: damage to cartridges due to feeding or chambering failures, or being able to pull the bullet out of the damaged cartridge?

It would be a twofold “this”. The extent of the damage and the ability to pull the bullet out of the casing with my bare hands.

I’ve fired probably 100x more pistol rounds than centerfire rifle rounds so I’m more used to double feeds resulting in pushed back bullets and not the rotation of the bullet. However, the more I think about it the shape of the bullet in the rifle round lends itself to acting more like a lever than a pistol round.

If I accept the leverage aspect of a rifle round double feed then I suppose it’s easier to accept that the bullet’s rotation deforms the mouth of the case enough to easily wiggle the bullet out.

If nothing else I suppose it’s a good reminder that ammo is susceptible to damage and to Sig209’s point that one should be up to speed on clearing malfunctions.