Hangfire/Misfire Disposition

[Halo]

After researching the internet on how people take care of hangfires or misfires when shooting personal guns, I didn't find anything about what to do about them when hunting or target shooting out in the boonies.

At a firing range, usually there are procedures for hangfires or misfires, generally placing them in a designated container.  

But when hunting or target shooting not on a range, seems like the common sense disposal is to simply take the misfire/hangfire bullet and stick it into the ground bullet down in an isolated area where it is least likely to ever be disturbed.  

If the bullet ever fired, it would just bury itself deeper in the ground.  

Does that seem like the best solution?  Any other ideas?  Certainly don't want to be carrying around any misfire/hangfire bullet.

[lazs2]

bullet weigs more than the cartrige case.... it is the case that you have to worry about not the bullet.

the case is light tho and not much energy behind it after even a few feet... just about any container will stop it including a gun case or even a zipped up gun rug I would imagine.

seen em go off in fires and the cases caused very little damage when launched... didn't even go through sheetrock.

buried bullet first into the ground would just make the case launch that much harder..   heck... better off to jus dig a little 4 inch hole and lay it in sideways and cover it with dirt.

lazs

[Terror]

This is probably not a safe way to handle the hangfire/misfire cartridge.  I would hang on to the round to dispose of it in a more predicatable manner where you know where the cartridge goes and are sure it is made inert rather than leaving it out for something potentially random happening with the cartridge.  

BTW, if a cartridge goes off outside the chamber of a gun, the bullet AND the casing are dangerous.  Equal and opposite reactions.  If the casing and bullet have the same weight and nothing else exerts any force, the bullet and the casing would have the same velocity going in opposite directions.  In your example, the casing could potentially become the "bullet" and do as much damage as the real bullet would have.  Or even worse the whole cartridge could explode causing more of a small landmine effect.  The cartridge may not be able to contain the pressure of the gasses without the chamber to reinforce it.

Another note:  Since the chamber and barrel are not there to concentrate the force of the burning powder, the velocity of either the bullet or the cartridge will be MUCH less than that of the bullet at the muzzle of a normal firing of the firearm.  

Terror

[lazs2]

case weighs much less than the bullet and... it loses its velocity and therefore energy very rapidly..  

There are some rifle cases that are fairly heavy but..  the energy would be divided between the case expanding (no chamber) and the bullet and case working against each other as artificial breeches.  neither the bullet nor the case would have any control over instability (no barrel or rifling) and so lose energy rapidly.

you still don't want to be near one tho.

lazs

[capt. apathy]

I've only seen one guy hurt, and he did absolutely the wrong thing.

bolt action .22, mis-fired, so he tips it over to the left, and looks at the action as he ejects the round.  it went off before the round was completely ejected.

the bullet and about 3/4 of the case were still in the action, the last little bit of foil/razor-blade, put a little slice in his forehead.

it bled a bit, but wasn't deep at all.  I wiped the blood off and put some duct-tape on it, a couple days later you couldn't even see it.

Laz is right, the bullet has the mass to stay put, the case ruptures and frags, it's sharp and jagged but very light and not at all aerodynamic so it slows down to harmless in just a few yards.

what I've always done is to simply kick a divot out of the ground.  eject the round (with the open action facing away from you and anybody you wouldn't like to see fragged), kick it into the hole, put the divot back in and step on it to pack it down.

[Scootter]

Smokeless powder is NOT an explosive, it is a gas producing combustible.

If a round cooks off say in a fire (done it) most likely the case splits and goes pop, no real granade effect, the brass is to soft to build up any real pressure without the chamber around it.

The way to handle a mis-fire is to wait 5 min. then remove the round, make sure the bullet is not in the barrel and is tight in the round (so you don't spill powder everywhere) and take it home for disposal. If you reload like me you want to break it down to see why the misfire and to salvage the bullet. I have found Remington Primers can be a bit hard to seat in the case and if not fully seated the blow from the firing pin can use up energy seating the primer and not firing it. I have also (I hate to admit) primed but not powdered a round and caused a soft-fire, no fun.

A hang-fire is easy, as it means a delayed firing, so keeping the weapon pointed in a safe direction is the only action you need to take, most hang-fires only last a sec. or two at the most.

If you ever have a soft fire, stop everything, wait one and open the action and check the bore for a lodged bullet. If you fire another round with a bullet in the barrel the weapon WILL explode in your hands. If you find a lodged bullet in the barrel take it to a gunsmith if you value the accuracy of the weapon. Don't try to hammer the obstruction out with a cleaning rod or some such thing you can screw up the bore. If you are using lead and not jacketed bullets you can try to tap the bullet from the receiver toward the muzzle but be careful.

Always protect the crown of the rifle (the counter sunk area at the muzzle) never let the cleaning rod or anything touch this area.

[lazs2]

had a few hangfires and a lot of missfires over the years... hangfires are not a problem byu their very nature unless you are rapid fireing a revolver.

missfires... I don't have a lot of patience... I wait about 20 seconds and then eject the round into my shooting case/ammo/gear box.   have one or two missfired rounds on the loading bench right now... I save em and use an inertia bullet puller to salvage the components.   Have never had a missfire go off later... not saying it doesn't happen just that is hasn't to me.

22's are a bugger because they missfire more than any other round... I pretty much wait about 10 seconds and then (keeping my face away from the chamber) eject the round down to the ground... I pretty much ignore it after that.

lazs

[Martlet]

I usually just give them to the kids to play with.  Is that bad?

[lazs2]

depends on the kids.

lazs

[Martlet]

Originally posted by lazs2
depends on the kids.

lazs

Liberal hippie kids.