A question about a gun jamming and safe ways to clear

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summitxho

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One thing in my course we never seemed to get much into depth about is your firearm jamming, I would like to know about this before it happens to me and how to go about dealing with it safely, I have seen a few videos on youtube, and plan on taking a few courses which cover this, but I was hoping to run it by someone with more experience to be sure I have it down pat before it happens in the mean time, I guess you could say I prefer the cautious approach and to be prepared.

From what I have seen with a semi-auto handgun, if the spent casing is hung up on the slide and another round is not chambered you simply need to keep it pointed in a safe direction, pull back on the slide, removing the stuck casing and chambering a round from the mag, if the casing is still in the chamber with another round trying to chamber, you smack the bottom of the mag with your other hand while pressing the mag release, and pull the mag out which should empty the chamber and have the stuck ammo fall out, then rack the slide 3 times to be sure all ammo has been removed. Is this about it, or is there more to look into? I have heard of some using a multi tool to pry the ammo out of a really bad jam, is this also acceptable? I would hate to damage my firearm doing this

Is there ever a case where a jam is so bad that your unable to get it out, if so what is the procedure for such a thing? You cannot take it to a gun shop since its technically a loaded firearm for transport.

I ask simply because I was watching some toughest soldier show some time ago, and a guy with extensive training and education on firearms had a jam in his 1911 and had considerable problems clearing it, so being very new I am curious to hear some input.

I did do a search but it kept coming up with "found no results" so I do apologize if its been covered and I missed it, I did have a look however.
 
I've cleared a few guns using questionable methods. Do you think it's a coincidence the sks cocking handle is tough enough to hammer, or say bang on the edge of a shooting table? Lol. Point in a safe direction, glance around and see if anyone's looking, and have at it.
 
Always be mentally alert to possibiity of a misfire, particularly a primer pop. If a round seems to be a dud, don't immediately eject the casing. It could eject with a live projectile intact on a delayed burn. The rule of thumb is to wait a minute in case it goes off a bit late. Also, if you do eject the casing and the bullet has been fired, there's a chance its lodged in the barrel due to a primer pop (primer fires, but gunpowder doesn't, giving only enough force to unseat the bullet from the casing and jam it in the barrel). A secondary hazard with a round jammed in the barrel is that you could easily damage the barrel's lining if the round isn't properly removed. And of course, igonring a primer pop round and firing again could be hazardous to your health.
 
Dakk said:
Always be mentally alert to possibiity of a misfire, particularly a primer pop. If a round seems to be a dud, don't immediately eject the casing. It could eject with a live projectile intact on a delayed burn. The rule of thumb is to wait a minute in case it goes off a bit late. Also, if you do eject the casing and the bullet has been fired, there's a chance its lodged in the barrel due to a primer pop (primer fires, but gunpowder doesn't, giving only enough force to unseat the bullet from the casing and jam it in the barrel). A secondary hazard with a round jammed in the barrel is that you could easily damage the barrel's lining if the round isn't properly removed. And of course, igonring a primer pop round and firing again could be hazardous to your health.
Click to expand...

Yep. Plus, if a round fails to feed, or eject, find the round and inspect it. I almost lost a skorpion when a loosely crimped .25acp round popped into the bore, and the brass ejected manually. Lodged the bugger in the barrel, next round would have been a sad day one with that toy... luckily I investigated.
 
Well there are some occasions where a case will get stuck in the chamber, it can happen if there's damage or corrosion to the chamber. In those cases, people have use wood, brass, or polymer rods to hammer it out. The key in such cases is to use something softer than the steel of the barrel/chamber, or you could do some serious damage.

Lacking a suitable rod, mortaring the rifle can occasionally be done. It involves holding the action open and smacking the buttstock into the ground. Look on youtube for a video of a guy mortaring an AR15 with a collapsible stock. It collapsed onto his hand and I think it broke a few fingers.

I can't say I've ever heard of a live round getting stuck in the chamber, though I suppose it's certainly possible.

Whatever the problem is, remain calm and take a moment to think about it, finger off the trigger, muzzle in a safe direction. I've heard all sorts of fun stories, my instructor told me about a lady whose pistol jammed so she brought it over to the range officer, pointed it at him, and pulled the trigger a few times to demonstrate that it was not shooting.

There's many possible causes of a malfunction. With my first pistol I had put some lubrication on the firing pin, which was fine while the pistol was hot. When I shot it the next time the lubricant had thickened a little, enough that the firing pin didn't have enough strength to even touch the primer. The ammo was fine in that case, shot great after the pistol had warmed up a bit.

Other times, ammo has different primers. Norinco ammo often has military primers, which are harder and might not shoot in guns with weaker springs.

There are some tools that can help with clearing jams. The Leatherman MUT and MUT EOD are intended for people using an AR-15. It has a little hook that you can use to snag the bolt and pull it back, sparing you from potentially damaging your charging handle while trying to pull the bolt open.
 
Stevebot-7 said:
Lacking a suitable rod, mortaring the rifle can occasionally be done. It involves holding the action open and smacking the buttstock into the ground. Look on youtube for a video of a guy mortaring an AR15 with a collapsible stock. It collapsed onto his hand and I think it broke a few fingers.
.
Click to expand...

To elaborate, If you are mortaring a gun with a collapsible stock do not leave it in the longest position, shorten it as much as possible.
 
summitxho said:
if the casing is still in the chamber with another round trying to chamber, you smack the bottom of the mag with your other hand while pressing the mag release, and pull the mag out which should empty the chamber and have the stuck ammo fall out
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No you don't. That doesn't make sense. Pull the loose round out, mag off and deal with the chambered thing.
 
Its good that you are thinking about learning how to clear a jam before it actually happens. YouTube provides lots of info, however, the best bet will be doing actual practice using dummy rounds. Thus I think if you can afford it, go take some courses. There are a couple different place where you can take pistol or rifle course in Vancouver. If you mainly want to shoot pistols and am interested in IPSC then Black Badge course is also a good choice.

In those course, not only you will learn how to safely handle and shoot firearms but you will learn basic skills like stance, grip, aim, clearing jam...etc. You also get to meet some great folks and make new friends!

However, if you are on a budget. Then find some experienced shooter you know, go buy some dummy rounds and ask the person to show you.
 
thanks everyone for your replies, the reason why it came up in the first place is I was cycling some dummy rounds getting used to loading and unloading and such, and I did not snap the slide back quick enough and a round of dummy ammo was jammed in the chamber while another one from the magazine was trying to feed up, it was jammed up pretty good, and did not want to have a feeling of "what do I do now" when at the range with live ammo.

Anyways, thanks again, I appreciate it, I would like to take some courses, but do not want to have to wait to shoot it until they are done, I guess you can say I am chomping at the bit to go use it, but want to be sure I am prepared for things which may come up even if unlikely.
 
"...watching some toughest soldier show..." Hi. How the military does things and how target shooters/hunters do the same thing are different. A troopie wants to get his firearm back into action as fast as possible and doesn't worry about hang firing ammo. The rest of us do not worry about how fast it's done, not usually about ammo either, but you have to consider it if you're shooting handloads. In any case, you really just need to watch where the muzzle is pointed and clear the 'jam'.
 
It's good that you are practicing (and with dummy ammo). I haven't yet had such a bad malfunction that it required a smith.

- Clean and lubricate your gun
- Make sure your rounds are seated properly in your magazines
- Insert the magazines smartly into the well when loading
- find out the proper amount of strength needed to charge your gun. Don't ride the slide forward, just release it
- usually racking will solve most problems
- if on a double feed like you are describing, removing the magazine will cause the second one to drop out and then a rack will clear the first one. You may have to use force to rip out the magazine
- remember to keep your finger out of the trigger when doing any remedial action
- remember to keep the gun pointed downrange
 
Someone in the USA is currently trying to sue Norinco because a shooter who brought his SKS down from his shoulder to deal with a malfunction. I'll be incorporating this no-no into my safety courses.

A shooter had a misfire. He did not remove the magazine prior to working the action. He tried to inspect the breech and the action (bolt handle) slipped out of his hand. This allowed the tip of the round from the magazine to act as a firing pin and discharge the round in the chamber. He was killed when part of the casing of the round in the chamber went into his chest. This could have been avoided if he had dropped the clip prior to pulling the action back to inspect.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...in-sks-kills-operator-a-warning-to-all-of-us/



 
dHb said:
Someone in the USA is currently trying to sue Norinco because a shooter who brought his SKS down from his shoulder to deal with a malfunction. I'll be incorporating this no-no into my safety courses.

A shooter had a misfire. He did not remove the magazine prior to working the action. He tried to inspect the breech and the action (bolt handle) slipped out of his hand. This allowed the tip of the round from the magazine to act as a firing pin and discharge the round in the chamber. He was killed when part of the casing of the round in the chamber went into his chest. This could have been avoided if he had dropped the clip prior to pulling the action back to inspect.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...in-sks-kills-operator-a-warning-to-all-of-us/
Click to expand...

Thank you for this, simply put if I encounter a jam, keep it pointed down range, stay calm and use your head, always drop the mag first, then deal with the casing/round in the chamber.

So just to be clear, dropping it to the side of him was the cause of him losing control of the action, but the biggest problem which resulted in the accident was the fact the mag was not dropped first which would have avoided another round being chambered correct? Is it good practive to keep it shouldered while dealing with a jam in a rifle, or only keep it shouldered until you have the mag out?
 
Most guns are designed not to blast gas/shrapnel at the shooter if there is a catastrophic failure while they're being fired. Usually the blast is directed upwards. If the guy had cleared the jam with the gun shouldered, the fragments would have passed safely over his head. He was struck in the torso because he was holding the gun at waist level.
 
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