Viking Fires
Plinker
It may sound a bit out of the realm of possibility but it has happened once to my father and once to myself where a mechanical defect has caused a semi automatic firearm to fire either full auto or burst. My father had a 22LR M16 look a like made in the Philippines which he was out shooting in the 1980s, it was just a normal 22 plinker until on one occasion he put in the magazine, pulled the bolt to the rear and let is slam forward at which time it fired the entire magazine on full auto (without even touching the trigger!) It scared the hell out of him and he wasnt sure what happened. He replicated the conditions again and sure enough it fired off another magazine on full auto as soon as the bolt slammed home, after this the rifle broke completely and would not fire at all under any conditions.
In my own experience I had a WW1 era Luger P08 that would on occasion fire 2 or 3 round bursts with one pull of the trigger, I stopped taking it to the range after that and ended up selling it. What's the legality of being in possession of a firearm that fires full auto/burst through a mechanical defect? I recall reading one case where a guy was charged for trying to sell a rifle that fired on full auto through defect because he advertised that the rifle now fired on full auto, even though he hadn't made any modifications.
I would say the best thing to do would be to take the firearm to a qualified gunsmith for repair ASAP but I have always been curious what would have happened had an ATF agent been at the range when my P08 fired off its first 3 round burst and he'd asked to see my paperwork. Any thoughts or stories about this sort of situation?
In my own experience I had a WW1 era Luger P08 that would on occasion fire 2 or 3 round bursts with one pull of the trigger, I stopped taking it to the range after that and ended up selling it. What's the legality of being in possession of a firearm that fires full auto/burst through a mechanical defect? I recall reading one case where a guy was charged for trying to sell a rifle that fired on full auto through defect because he advertised that the rifle now fired on full auto, even though he hadn't made any modifications.
I would say the best thing to do would be to take the firearm to a qualified gunsmith for repair ASAP but I have always been curious what would have happened had an ATF agent been at the range when my P08 fired off its first 3 round burst and he'd asked to see my paperwork. Any thoughts or stories about this sort of situation?