This is a rebuttal to Miguel’s post.
Like I said, I destroy guns for a living. I have become quite and expert in determining causes of failure in firearms.
Often I am asked to evaluate a firearm that someone else destroyed in a less controlled manner.
I’ve done a few dozen evaluations in the last few years on pistols and aftermarket pistol barrels that blew up. Most were due to obstructed bores, and almost all of those were with handloaded ammo.
Either in competition or some guy doing his best tactical awesomeness, gets a squib and taps and racks and fires and blows up his gun.
Why?
They didn’t take the few seconds to figure out why thir gun didn’t go bang like it was supposed to.
Sure a few seconds in a competition is winning vs last place, but is winning worth blowing up your gun?
If your pistol doesn’t cycle like it should, use your brain. Check and see if you had a squib and the bullet is still in the barrel.
Even in a defensive shoot, what is the point of blowing your own gun up and injuring yourself in front of the bad guy?
Stop all the fast tap and rack. If the gun doesn’t go bank like it should, look at it. Make sure it is in safe working condition before shooting it again.
Or you might be on the way to the hospital to have pieces if your beloved pistol surgically removed from your hand.
Excellent point! Watched a guy disassemble a high dollar AR just that way in a match as three of us were yelling “Wait!”
(fanboi)
Or… just buy an H&K 😀
(/fanboi)
seriously though, good advice on stop and inspect, regardless of the events.
Only time that has happened to me in 40 years was with a revolver. It was a Smith & Wesson model 29 .44 mag. The squib sent the bullet into the forcing cone, where it stuck part-way in. Therefore the cylinder would not rotate. Therefore, it was impossible to fire another round into what would have been an obstructed bore. So far, so good. Downside was that it took a vice and some tools and some careful hammering to fix the problem. In a gunfight I would have had to pull my snubbie to finish the fight. Not a good situation. Bad, but the only time out of tens of thousands of rounds, so, (at least anecdotally) it’s very rare.