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Missfires not so common these days


lakeside1000
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I was out last night in the wood doing a little roost shooting with my son, after selecting a nice group of tall open trees I settled down to wait, first target a fat grey squirrel scurried past me and up a tree about 30 yards away, pausing about 8 feet up to check around gave me just enough time to get a shot off, strike one.

overhead two woodies floated into the tree tops and a quick response brought down one bird, within minutes a jackdaw came past just above the trees and again the shot found its target and strike three, 

A pigeon came into a tree about 40 yards out, I lined up the shot only to get a loud click from the gun , this has never happened before, my Beretta Urika, normally 100% reliable had missfired, I quickly pulled back the bolt and latched it, carefully pulling the cartridge from the breach, the firing cap had the usual dent, dead centre , but the load was still intact.

Since switching to my cartridge of choice, the Gamebore Clear Pigeon I have had again 100% reliability, so I was very surprised to have this happen.

By the time I got the breach cleared and reloaded the bird had gone, with the light fading I decided to pack up and head home.

So two questions. 1) anyone else had any problems with these or other brands and 2) what is the best course of action with the unexploded cartridge. I have it in a safe place but have not had to deal with this before, I dont think the bin men would appreciate it being dropped in the household rubbish. :lol::lol:

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40 minutes ago, lakeside1000 said:

I was out last night in the wood doing a little roost shooting with my son, after selecting a nice group of tall open trees I settled down to wait, first target a fat grey squirrel scurried past me and up a tree about 30 yards away, pausing about 8 feet up to check around gave me just enough time to get a shot off, strike one.

overhead two woodies floated into the tree tops and a quick response brought down one bird, within minutes a jackdaw came past just above the trees and again the shot found its target and strike three, 

A pigeon came into a tree about 40 yards out, I lined up the shot only to get a loud click from the gun , this has never happened before, my Beretta Urika, normally 100% reliable had missfired, I quickly pulled back the bolt and latched it, carefully pulling the cartridge from the breach, the firing cap had the usual dent, dead centre , but the load was still intact.

Since switching to my cartridge of choice, the Gamebore Clear Pigeon I have had again 100% reliability, so I was very surprised to have this happen.

By the time I got the breach cleared and reloaded the bird had gone, with the light fading I decided to pack up and head home.

So two questions. 1) anyone else had any problems with these or other brands and 2) what is the best course of action with the unexploded cartridge. I have it in a safe place but have not had to deal with this before, I dont think the bin men would appreciate it being dropped in the household rubbish. :lol::lol:

Just chuck it on the garden bonfire.:)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Best thing to do with a misfire or flat report is point the gun in a safe direction for at least 30 seconds, just to rule out any follow-up ignition of the powder.  I personally will remove the cartridge by blocking its ejection with my hand, then quickly take it out and poke it crimp end first into the mud.  Stick your foot on it, press it well in and avoid the temptation to go back and dig it out for any further inspection!  The damp will eventually see to it that the powder is defunct thus making it safe in the extremely unlikely event that someone should come along and dig it up at a later date.  Yes, this is technically against the philosophy of not leaving any unwanted waste behind but it's better than having your fingers blown off or worse.

Last season on our game shoot, one of the guns climbed back into the trailer after a drive, mentioned how he'd had a misfire and then proceeded to wave the offending cartridge around in front of everyone's faces!  Needless to say a few sharp words were spoken!

I've had one or two duds with Eley pigeon but considering the amount I've shot the percentage is tiny.  I mostly use Hull Comp-X clay shells if I go to the shooting ground, and have had a few flat reports and some with a pellet bulging out the side so you can't load them safely.  those ones I take home and carefully split and empty.

Edited by Jim Neal
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4 hours ago, Jim Neal said:

Best thing to do with a misfire or flat report is point the gun in a safe direction for at least 30 seconds, just to rule out any follow-up ignition of the powder.  I personally will remove the cartridge by blocking its ejection with my hand, then quickly take it out and poke it crimp end first into the mud.  Stick your foot on it, press it well in and avoid the temptation to go back and dig it out for any further inspection!  The damp will eventually see to it that the powder is defunct thus making it safe in the extremely unlikely event that someone should come along and dig it up at a later date.  Yes, this is technically against the philosophy of not leaving any unwanted waste behind but it's better than having your fingers blown off or worse.

Last season on our game shoot, one of the guns climbed back into the trailer after a drive, mentioned how he'd had a misfire and then proceeded to wave the offending cartridge around in front of everyone's faces!  Needless to say a few sharp words were spoken!

I've had one or two duds with Eley pigeon but considering the amount I've shot the percentage is tiny.  I mostly use Hull Comp-X clay shells if I go to the shooting ground, and have had a few flat reports and some with a pellet bulging out the side so you can't load them safely.  those ones I take home and carefully split and empty.

A cartridge with a duff primer is pretty harmless. Don't know why the bloke got an earful.

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On 26/02/2018 at 14:55, Jim Neal said:

Best thing to do with a misfire or flat report is point the gun in a safe direction for at least 30 seconds, just to rule out any follow-up ignition of the powder.  I personally will remove the cartridge by blocking its ejection with my hand, then quickly take it out and poke it crimp end first into the mud.  Stick your foot on it, press it well in and avoid the temptation to go back and dig it out for any further inspection!  The damp will eventually see to it that the powder is defunct thus making it safe in the extremely unlikely event that someone should come along and dig it up at a later date.  Yes, this is technically against the philosophy of not leaving any unwanted waste behind but it's better than having your fingers blown off or worse.

Last season on our game shoot, one of the guns climbed back into the trailer after a drive, mentioned how he'd had a misfire and then proceeded to wave the offending cartridge around in front of everyone's faces!  Needless to say a few sharp words were spoken!

I've had one or two duds with Eley pigeon but considering the amount I've shot the percentage is tiny.  I mostly use Hull Comp-X clay shells if I go to the shooting ground, and have had a few flat reports and some with a pellet bulging out the side so you can't load them safely.  those ones I take home and carefully split and empty.

What exactly do you think is going to happen? 

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On 26/02/2018 at 14:55, Jim Neal said:

Best thing to do with a misfire or flat report is point the gun in a safe direction for at least 30 seconds, just to rule out any follow-up ignition of the powder.  I personally will remove the cartridge by blocking its ejection with my hand, then quickly take it out and poke it crimp end first into the mud.  Stick your foot on it, press it well in and avoid the temptation to go back and dig it out for any further inspection!  The damp will eventually see to it that the powder is defunct thus making it safe in the extremely unlikely event that someone should come along and dig it up at a later date.  Yes, this is technically against the philosophy of not leaving any unwanted waste behind but it's better than having your fingers blown off or worse.

Last season on our game shoot, one of the guns climbed back into the trailer after a drive, mentioned how he'd had a misfire and then proceeded to wave the offending cartridge around in front of everyone's faces!  Needless to say a few sharp words were spoken!

I've had one or two duds with Eley pigeon but considering the amount I've shot the percentage is tiny.  I mostly use Hull Comp-X clay shells if I go to the shooting ground, and have had a few flat reports and some with a pellet bulging out the side so you can't load them safely.  those ones I take home and carefully split and empty.

WOW! 

Best way is definitely try to shoot it again, if it doesn't go bang, cut it  and take the powder out.

Should it explodes with the crimp obstructed you can kiss goodbye to whichever limb you're using to push it in the mud.

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40 minutes ago, Continental Shooter said:

WOW! 

Best way is definitely try to shoot it again, if it doesn't go bang, cut it  and take the powder out.

Should it explodes with the crimp obstructed you can kiss goodbye to whichever limb you're using to push it in the mud.

Don't make me laugh!

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47 minutes ago, hambone said:

Try to fire it again or this :good:

My old gun nearly push the firing pin through the cap , so I don't think it would make any difference trying to fire it again , not only that , I don't want to spend a morning walking the reed beds out hoping a misfire in the gun will work fine when the only pheasant I put up after three or four hours trudging through the reeds , far easier to put another shell in the gun :lol:

Strangely enough , I haven't yet had a mis fire in a non toxic cartridge , not that I have fired 1000s but since they had been a requirement I have used a good few running into many 100s.

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6 minutes ago, Continental Shooter said:

there's nothing to laugh about ....

I've always been tought not to speak when i don't have enough knowledge or proof to back up my assertions; and i never do ... but each to their own 

Lose a limb? Not going to happen!!

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On 26/02/2018 at 20:14, motty said:

A cartridge with a duff primer is pretty harmless. Don't know why the bloke got an earful.

Totally agree, after a minute or so a hang fire ain't going to happen...imo

Edited by ips
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34 minutes ago, Continental Shooter said:

Right, all fingers then, sounds better?

Whats the rationale behind your thinking??? Just for the sake of writing something or is there any technical  knowledge? 

If that's the case I can tell my Godfather to stop lying and pull his 4 fingers out of his fake mutilated hand....

You said limb....

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When we were kids we used to shoot at 12g cartridges with an air rifle hoping to hit the primer,  the ones that were hit and went off just burst the case with very little force and most of this came from the primer, so not sure how an hang fire once removed from the gun could do much damage, the plastic case will not hold long enough for the charge to burn and build up pressure, I guess if you were holding it and it went off you may suffer burnt fingers but I don’t think there is enough force to remove limbs.

Now we never tried this with black powder cartridges and I would imagine they could possibly go off like a banger, anyone tried it?

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4 hours ago, old'un said:

When we were kids we used to shoot at 12g cartridges with an air rifle hoping to hit the primer,  the ones that were hit and went off just burst the case with very little force and most of this came from the primer, so not sure how an hang fire once removed from the gun could do much damage, the plastic case will not hold long enough for the charge to burn and build up pressure, I guess if you were holding it and it went off you may suffer burnt fingers but I don’t think there is enough force to remove limbs.

Now we never tried this with black powder cartridges and I would imagine they could possibly go off like a banger, anyone tried it?

We also had hours of fun shooting at shells, trying to hit the primer. Agreed, when they went off there was little more than a fizz from the powder and a split case, often with most of the shot remaining.

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1 hour ago, Clodhopper said:

We also had hours of fun shooting at shells, trying to hit the primer. Agreed, when they went off there was little more than a fizz from the powder and a split case, often with most of the shot remaining.

I must also confess to doing the same as a youngster. Always an anti climax when you did finally connect with the primer. Never did manage to make a .22 rimfire bullet go off!:oops:

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