Slamfire?

[247survivalmindset]

So, I have heard that guns with free float firing pins, like sks, old revolvers etc. May malfunction in a way that causes them to slamfire. Is this a real possibility? How dangerous is it? Can it be prevented? If it happens (accidentally) can you still get in trouble? Hope this is the right place for this forum. I wasn't sure where it should go.

PS I realize this is a dangerous subject legally, and I am not looking to do something stupid. This is pure academic curiosity.

 

[yotewacker]

I have an old Mac pistol. They are all slam fire. I'm think your talking about a "cookoff" where after several rounds the heat from the barrel ignites the cartridge.

 

[JettaKnight]

It can be VERY dangerous. I believe there was a thread about a guy in Indiana who was killed when his SKS did that. He wasn't expecting it and lost control of the rifle.

How would a revolver have a slamfire? There's nothing 'slamming'. A slamfire is when the firing pin is struck and protrudes from bolt and strikes the prime when the bolt closes.

What can you do to prevent it? Keep the pin channel clean.

 

[JettaKnight]

I have an old Mac pistol. They are all slam fire. I'm think your talking about a "cookoff" where after several rounds the heat from the barrel ignites the cartridge.

You definitely can't cook-off a round from a revolver or a clip loaded SKS.

Open bolt machineguns function on the same principle, but when you release the trigger, the bolt stays open as opposed to firing all rounds in the magazine "without authorization".

 

[Beowulf]

In terms of getting into trouble, it's kind of a gray area. If you notice this happening to one of your firearms, you basically need to immediately either send it in for repair or disassemble it and repair yourself. If you continue to shoot it, you have less plausible deniability that you have a malfunctioning firearm and are not intentionally trying to build an illegal machine gun. There have been people arrested for possessing a malfunctioning firearm, though how successful the prosecutions were or if there were even any, I'm not sure. It would seem to me that as soon as you had a competent expert witness testify to the operation of the firearm and that this particular one was malfunctioning and not intentionally modified, you would be acquitted. On the other hand, given the old joke about juries being made up people too dumb to get out of jury duty, I'm not sure I'd want to trust a jury of my "peers" to make that distinction.

I have had this happen to me before. I had an old Llama 1911 that went full auto on me when my firing pin got stuck after shooting one round. It blew through the 7 round mag in no time flat and scared the bejeezus out of me. Luckily, I was out in the middle of nowhere, on a 70 acre farm that abutted a 500 acre wild life preserve with farm fields all around it. By the time the gun was empty, the pistol was pointing up at an alarming angle, so those last few rounds must have gone pretty far. I immediately got it into a gunsmith. I had my firing pin get stuck on my current 1911 as well, but luckily I caught it while I was disassembling it for cleaning, rather than when I chambered a round (firing pin channel was gunked up and the pin itself was apparently warped, causing it to sometimes stick forward).

 

[BogWalker]

Yep, firing pin gets stuck in outward position. Have heard of it getting people in trouble for making a "machinegun" on accident. Very dangerous, can fire until magazine is empty. Keep firing pin channel clean. Cosmoline in bolt is a big cause of these malfunctions.

 

[coban]

My sks tries to fire more than one round at a time(usually jams on the third round). I have cleaned the firing pin channel and it still does it. I have access to another sks and will try swapping bolts to see if that fixes the problem. If not I will swap out the trigger group. Just waiting on the weather to cooperate.

 

[Beowulf]

My sks tries to fire more than one round at a time(usually jams on the third round). I have cleaned the firing pin channel and it still does it. I have access to another sks and will try swapping bolts to see if that fixes the problem. If not I will swap out the trigger group. Just waiting on the weather to cooperate.

I've actually heard about this with specific reference to the SKS. It was something about the way the bolt was designed. There are kits out there that supposedly can correct this tendency.

I did a quick google and found this one being offered (but I'm sure there are plenty more, so do a little looking around).

SKS Owners

 

[247survivalmindset]

I have an old Mac pistol. They are all slam fire. I'm think your talking about a "cookoff" where after several rounds the heat from the barrel ignites the cartridge.

yes, its the same as on a mac, but I'm referring to when it happens unintentionally. Sks can do that at times when the firing pin gets stuck.

 

[247survivalmindset]

there is a chance the old revolvers can have the blowback push the firing pin/hammer back, and so as long as you have the trigger pulled, the hammer just continues to move back and forth firing each round until the gun is empty.

 

[247survivalmindset]

My sks tries to fire more than one round at a time(usually jams on the third round). I have cleaned the firing pin channel and it still does it. I have access to another sks and will try swapping bolts to see if that fixes the problem. If not I will swap out the trigger group. Just waiting on the weather to cooperate.

they make a replacement firing pin with a return spring.

 

[Rickshaw]

I have a friend who had an SKS slamfire last year. He was struck by three rounds in the abdomen. He survived but now lives with a short bowel.

 

[ryknoll3]

I have a friend who had an SKS slamfire last year. He was struck by three rounds in the abdomen. He survived but now lives with a short bowel.

He wasn't shooting the rifle was he? Cant picture this.

 

[JettaKnight]

I have a friend who had an SKS slamfire last year. He was struck by three rounds in the abdomen. He survived but now lives with a short bowel.

That's it. I remember there was thread about this. If I recall, he lost control of the weapon and that's how he got struck himself.

 

[ryknoll3]

Still can't picture how you can be firing a 44" rifle and "lose control" and get shot in the stomach. How does a rifle turn a 180 in your hand and end up with the muzzle facing your? I can understand with full auto pistols or something really short, but a rifle? I'm not trying to be disrespectful to Rickshaw's friend, I feel sorry for him. I just don't understand the mechanics.

 

[Sling10mm]

I had a Bushmaster ACR that fired 2-3 round bursts first range trip out. The first burst I thought surely it didn't just do that. I fired one or two more rounds, and the next pull of the trigger it did it again. I immediately stopped firing it, contacted Bushmaster and made arrangements to ship it back. The ended up replacing the firing pin with a lighter one, and added a return spring.

Kind of unnerving when you don't expect it… but kind of cool too.

 

[JettaKnight]

Still can't picture how you can be firing a 44" rifle and "lose control" and get shot in the stomach. How does a rifle turn a 180 in your hand and end up with the muzzle facing your? I can understand with full auto pistols or something really short, but a rifle? I'm not trying to be disrespectful to Rickshaw's friend, I feel sorry for him. I just don't understand the mechanics.

I believe he dropped - butt flies toward ground and muzzle flips up toward shooter.

 

[bobbittle]

My sks tries to fire more than one round at a time(usually jams on the third round). I have cleaned the firing pin channel and it still does it. I have access to another sks and will try swapping bolts to see if that fixes the problem. If not I will swap out the trigger group. Just waiting on the weather to cooperate.

I certainly wouldn't be admitting to having done it more than once.

 

[printcraft]

I've actually heard about this with specific reference to the SKS. It was something about the way the bolt was designed. There are kits out there that supposedly can correct this tendency.

I did a quick google and found this one being offered (but I'm sure there are plenty more, so do a little looking around).

SKS Owners

they make a replacement firing pin with a return spring.

I have this kit, easy to do and worthwhile in my opinion due to instances mentioned upthread.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Firearms History, Technology & Development: Firearm Malfunctions: Slamfire