No, not a stoppage. No matter how reliable you believe your handgun is, you need to know how to clear a stoppage. Most of the time, these are user induced, sometimes they're equipment induced, but they are temporary and not going to permanently end the function of the firearm.

Have you ever witnessed a failure? I've seen a few happen, and when I worked for a gun shop, had a variety brought in.

Many, many are related to overpressure handloads, or bad commercial reloads, or the odd factory ammo double load, or an unknown squib. The rest, are outright breakage of parts of the gun.

What have you personally experienced?

Does watching your Ruger 1911 launch the front sight into space count? Mine was on its FOURTH front sight in less than a year when I decided it was time to move one.

I'd file that under annoyance, but it doesn't really take a gun out of a fight. a bullseye competition, sure. Which is not to say I'd like my front sight falling off. There are solutions for that.

No, I'm talking about things that make the gun into only something you can either hit someone with or throw at them.

Sig P320 - I broke the trigger bar, originally thought it was a spring. Till I took the gun apart. Completely useless at that point. Round count was about 4K.





Now, this may be a rare occurrence. I've been know to run stuff hard. Unfortunately this killed the P320 for me. Probably just a mental thing I can't get past.

One of the first ones I saw in person was a cracked frame rail on a P229 in .40. It was a Marshal in for some practice, and they came out and asked one of us to shoot their gun because it was going low to the left. One mag, then a field strip to find the rail about 1/2 cracked through enough that the slide could rotate slightly.

I was at a shooting range with my cousin, and we got to see this guy's revolver in the next lane explode. It was some kind of big N-frame Smith, probably a .44, but I can't remember. It split the whole edge of the cylinder and launched the top strap into the ceiling. It was very impressive! No one was hurt in the accident.

I once exploded a Taurus 85 with +P.
And a Mini 14. In case of the Mini 14, blew off the extractor and the gas went down the magazine, blowing off the base plate. Once the extractor was replaced, the gun ran fine. Magazine was destroyed.

I had a Ruger SP101 .357 blow the entire barrel off the gun. I think that counts.

One of my fellow officers brought her Glock 19 into the armory. She indicated the trigger did not always reset, and she'd been carrying it that way for months. I found that the left rear frame rail had broken completely off, which allowed enough play between slide and frame, that the firing pin skipped over the trigger bar and failed to reset. I had Glock replace the frame. She knew something was wrong,knew her gun wouldn't always fire, and still carried it that way for months?!?!?!

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
I had a Ruger SP101 .357 blow the entire barrel off the gun. I think that counts.

guy I used to work for had that happen with a Super Black Hawk,

another friend had a reloading error, as in got some powder mixed up,
found out when he kaboomed a Smith 29, then a year later, kaboomed an AR,, got the AR fixed, then kaboomed it again when his son was shooting it in a high power match
(found out he had mixed 2400 and 748 by accident)

I have seen several Keltec pistols lock up beyond field expedient repair.

I have had a revolver lock up tight due to crap under ejected star.

I watched a Para Ord seamingly spontaneously self disassemble itself. No idea what happened.

That’s about it for fight ending type stuff.

I think the pistol was called a BP9? Made by Bersa.
Nice looking pistol and was easy to carry. At around 600 round count, the trigger went dead. Wouldn't reset at all.
Sent it back to Bersa and they sent me a new one. Immediately sold it when I got it.
Glad it happened at the range and not in a self defense situation.

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
I had a Ruger SP101 .357 blow the entire barrel off the gun. I think that counts.

guy I used to work for had that happen with a Super Black Hawk,

another friend had a reloading error, as in got some powder mixed up,
found out when he kaboomed a Smith 29, then a year later, kaboomed an AR,, got the AR fixed, then kaboomed it again when his son was shooting it in a high power match
(found out he had mixed 2400 and 748 by accident)

On the range, we had a patron shooting their handloads pile up 3 bullets in a .44 before they realized nothing was hitting the backstop. I don't remember the brand of the pistol, but the frame was fine.

quote:

Originally posted by arcwelder76:

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
I had a Ruger SP101 .357 blow the entire barrel off the gun. I think that counts.

guy I used to work for had that happen with a Super Black Hawk,

another friend had a reloading error, as in got some powder mixed up,
found out when he kaboomed a Smith 29, then a year later, kaboomed an AR,, got the AR fixed, then kaboomed it again when his son was shooting it in a high power match
(found out he had mixed 2400 and 748 by accident)

On the range, we had a patron shooting their handloads pile up 3 bullets in a .44 before they realized nothing was hitting the backstop. I don't remember the brand of the pistol, but the frame was fine.

this one split the cyl and bent the top strap,

he was lucky, in all 3 no one was hurt,

several suggested he give up reloading for a bit, or toss all his powder and start fresh,


he shot at the last position during a high power match,
I had position 19, right next to him, a couple matches,

I'll admit I was a bit nervous ,,,,

I had a Wildey .45win mag shatter the bolt cage under the slide.

Sent it back and they repaired for free no questions asked.

how about when some putty head puts the guide rod recoil spring in backwards,

and the slide locks back on the fifth fired round?

tight !, I mean real tight, rubber mallet tight

Mine was the cracked frame on my newly acquired Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless, circa 1918.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...630049934#1630049934


Locking Lugs by GaryBF, on Flickr

I got an LCP and first round I shot the slide shot down range about 5 feet. Sheared the takedown pin.

Locked my 1895 Marlin up tighter than a bulls ass by being cute about ejecting shells at the end of a hunt. Spent a good twenty minutes under a Coleman lantern with a leatherman ( no mars despite my ham handed efferts ).

Now I run that lever like I hate it, never another problem.

I had the firing pin spring on a SMLE shatter into about 15 pieces on the range one day. Couldn't figure out why first I was getting light strikes, and then why the gun wouldn't cock and strike at all. The spring was 100 years old when it let go, so I don't suppose it owed me much. Fixed it with a new one from Brownells and the gun is right as rain.

I've also had a revolver lock up from insufficient crimp on some .44 mag loads, but I just tapped the bullets back in, and it went back to proper operation.