- Messages
- 260
- Reactions
- 384
1. If the firing pin in an AR15 was to become stuck in the firing position is there any action of the trigger that would stop it from continuously firing all the rounds in the magazine?
2. If you don't depress the trigger, the firearm will continue to fire all cartridges in the magazine, correct?
3. During a runaway slamfire condition like above, if you were to hold the trigger back in the firing postion, would the hammer pop up at any point and keep the bcg from returning to the chamber?
- No, the trigger only interacts with the fire-control-group, which is no longer involved in the case of a slamfire
- Correct
- No. If you were to hold the trigger continuously, the hammer would simply stay held in place by the trigger disconnecter after catching it at the end of the first cycle. Releasing the trigger during the firing would drop the trigger to its primary sear (its normal pre-firing position) but the bolt carrier would simply continue to ride back and forth on top of it.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if the above is all true and the system does have enough inertia, this firing is unrelated to the trigger, it would begin firing as soon as you drop the bolt on a loaded mag.
As others have said, the best mechanical ways to stop this (if you can) would be to drop the magazine or depress the "catch" nubbin on the bolt release, drop the magazine, or what would most likely be safe is just to hold on and keep the weapon in a safe direction.
Side note: a free-floating firing pin (meaning one not held in its rearward position by anything, usually spring force) is considered a minor risk of allowing a firing on any bolt drop, as there is nothing preventing the pin from riding in its channel and tapping the primer. It looks like Colt actually tried out several different firing pin designs to keep this problem from occurring, deciding eventually on a pin that is light enough that it will not be able to carry enough energy to accidentally fire the gun under normal circumstances. You can however see evidence of the pin "trying to" if you let the bolt slam closed on a new round. If you load a new cartridge into a AR-15 magazine (or chamber), and let the bolt slam forward, you can then extract it without firing and note a small but visible dimple on the primer.