Strangest malfunction you have ever seen

[Asavage270]

Just curious as to what is the strangest firearm malfunction you have seen.

For me, my shooting partners glock 17 ejected a spent shell, and fed that same empty shell; backwards; into the chamber. Stuck to the point of pliers and curse words.

So, whatcha got?

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[Bill Siegle]

Once had a Colt Officer's model launch the recoil spring and bushing down range when I fired it. Gun was functioning fine before and ran fine after it was reassembled. Never could replicate the malfunction or figure out how it occurred. I ended up modding the gun to a more secure recoil spring assembly.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I had a model 13 Smith and a Colt Agent unscrew their barrels a half turn while firing one cylinder.

 

[Asavage270]

Once had a Colt Officer's model launch the recoil spring and bushing down range when I fired it. Gun was functioning fine before and ran fine after it was reassembled. Never could replicate the malfunction or figure out how it occurred. I ended up modding the gun to a more secure recoil spring assembly.

The ol double tap hahah. That bushing must have walked somehow under recoil.

 

[therealhitman]

Does this count as a malfunction lol? I saw this happen at the October TCGC Speed Steel match way back in 2013. I can't remember the gentleman's name now but he was a regular competitor and was shooting his own reloads. It had a red dot mounted on it that went straight up and never came down. At least we didn't find it. Not sure any warranty service from Smith occured.

 

[kmk1012]

Does this count as a malfunction lol? I saw this happen at the October TCGC Speed Steel match way back in 2013. I can't remember the gentleman's name now but he was a regular competitor and was shooting his own reloads. It had a red dot mounted on it that went straight up and never came down. At least we didn't find it. Not sure any warranty service from Smith occured.

View attachment 799874

View attachment 799875

Ouch!

 

[E4mafia]

When my old SIG 320 tossed a guide rod because there was no retainer fixed at the end when I bought it.

While deployed we had a 50 cal barrel explode because factory defects had cracks in the rifling. We found 4 other barrels with similar defects.

My Ruger Sec 9c would not extract the round after firing while attempting to near double feed.
High end handguns being picky on ammo you feed them when everyone rants about how good FN supposedly is yet nobody ever wants the damn thing.

 

[TTSX]

My HK P30 failed to lock open on an empty mag, once. I have a wild life.

 

[Stomper]

Fired an AK full auto 3-round burst, let off the trigger and it proceeded to go... BANG, BANG-BANG..... BANG all by its lonesome. Musta been the ghost of it's former owner, or something.

 

[Knute]

Squibb load of my own disaster in a 44mag revolver...really a weird feeling when you expect BA'BANG, and get a wee tiny pop instead.

I had an original Colt 1903 that I shot regularly. One time I was running the gun and thought my eyes had gone bad because I couldn't find the sight picture anymore. Then I realized the front blade had ejected itself to who knows where on the range...never did find it that day

 

[v8engin]

I have a Para Ordinance .45LDA. I really do like the LDA. Shoots well.

Once upon a time, about 15 years ago, I took it to the range and about halfway through a magazine of factory cartridges the entire front of the slide went downrange. It cracked right at the back of the spring housing; the crack expanded straight to the top of the slide, and sent it all about 5-7 yards downrange.

I, um, did not, perform a flawless malfunction drill.

Anyway, Para Ordinance was great about it. They had me send the entire gun back and (obviously) replaced the slide at no cost. They also---because I asked---swapped out the tiny and nearly unusable "concealment" safety for a full size safety. Sweet. Never had a problem since. Anyway, it broke about like this image (slide only, not the frame).

 

[UnionMillsNW]

While going through the USMC machine gunners course I was firing the MK19 (grenade launcher) when, while firing, it came completely off the mount. The range NCO ran up and started chewing my bubblegum, thinking that I didin't lock in the pinion before firing.... then I showed him the pinion had broke completely in half. Don't know how it happened, but having a grenade launching machine gun come loose in the middle of firing will sure wake you up!

 

[Capn Jack]

Not really a malfunction, but...

I was shooting my .458S with cast 325gr GC bullets. The gas checks were aluminum ones I had punched out of roof flashing. On about my third shot, my brother who was standing to the side spotting brass for me, started to laugh and snatched something out of the air. It was a gas check. He said when he saw it, it was about 10 feet in the air and then came fluttering back towards us.

 

[drstrangelove]

Had a Walther PPKS break it's disconnector and mag dump full auto. No bueno.

 

[TTSX]

Had a Walther PPKS break it's disconnector and mag dump full auto. No bueno.

You DID verify the malfunction at least once or twice, right? Gotta make sure it really is broken after all

 

[po18guy]

Posted this elsewhere, but...decades ago, was shooting my first HK91 in a semi-remote gravel pit. Surplus 308 rounds. BOOM! Case head separated and the gas pressure bulged the sides of the receiver and blew the partially loaded mag out of the well. The follower, spring, floor plate and a few rounds ricocheted off my leg. Those parts are still useable. Lived to tell about it.

 

[nwwoodsman]

Not so much a strange malfunction, but a strange occurance. Years ago my boy and I were shooting a SKS. I shot five rounds and handed the rifle off to him to finish it off. For no apparent reason the hair on the back of my neck went up, spidey senses started going off and before he fires it I told him to give me back the rifle. I looked down and the bolt was open and there was unburned power on top of the receiver. I removed the remaining five cartridges and inspected the rifle. There was a squib lodged about 1/3rd of the way down the barrel. Had he pulled the trigger he may have lost a few fingers.

 

[JuglansRegia]

Was at the range with a friend, he was new to guns and had bought a keltec of some sort in .223, anyways, he had some kind of malfunction with the wolf crap he was shooting, l got it cleared for him and discovered that not all his ammo had a flash hole which can cause loose primers in your action

 

[drstrangelove]

drstrangelove said:
Had a Walther PPKS break it's disconnector and mag dump full auto. No bueno.

You DID verify the malfunction at least once or twice, right? Gotta make sure it really is broken after all...


If you've ever shot a Walther PPKS, you would not want to have the thumping sharp slide rail slicing into the web of your hand 8 times per second.

 

[gmerkt]

Strange for me. M60 MG that locked up while on guard duty. I did an unauthorized test fire to make sure it was working; I always wanted to already know or make sure any weapon I might have to call upon for use was fully functional. So I had a short belt set in the gun, pulled the trigger and one round went off. The fired case was stuck in the chamber. Uh oh. All sorts of ideas came into my head. "Is this the night that Charlie decides to hit my sector with a human wave attack?" Never happened in my area before, but you get thoughts. So I put the butt on the floor of the bunker and stomped on the cocking handle, which opened the action. With my little L head GI flashlight that chose by some miracle to work at that moment, I could see the brass case was still in the chamber. With part of the rim ripped off. No use looking in that spare barrel bag; I already knew it contained an item which was considered contraband on guard duty. And not the spare barrel. Another uh-oh. So I got to looking at the thing, and with the barrel out, it had a locking lug machined in it on both sides. Meaning, (for some reason), the barrel could be locked right side up, or upside down, with the sight pointing down and the legs of the bipod pointing up. What a who knew. So I reversed the position of the barrel 180 degrees which gave me extractor purchase on the other side of the cartridge case rim. This time when I stomped on the cocking handle, the case flew free from the chamber. Whew. So I took the flashlight and shined it in the chamber. Which was coated with lots of red rust and was the reason for the failure. I had no oil or anything with me, so I decided to shoot some GI insect repellent in there, which I guess is oil based. Wanting to make sure of my handiwork, I broke off another short belt section, loaded it in, and let off about four or five rounds. It then seemed to be working fine. But this got the attention of the Sergeant of the Guard who buzzed on the field phone and wanted to know what idiot was shooting and exposing his position. Which really wasn't much of an issue as this was perimeter guard duty at fixed bunker sites, not dug in out in the jungle in a night laager or whatever. And the neighborhood VC probably long ago had all those positions plotted. But the army has rules and there are reasons for following them. Lessons learned, always take a look in the chamber before guard mount. Don't leave the spare barrel behind. Etc.

Possible strangest civilian malfunction for me. Decades ago when I was a teenager, I had a couple of G.43 German Army semi-auto 8mm rifles. These were made at the close of WW2, quality wasn't the best, they had foreign forced laborers making them, etc. We were out in the desert shooting, I shouldered a G.43, fired a few rounds, then dismounted the rifle from my shoulder momentarily for some unknown reason. The muzzle was pointed at the ground at about a 45 degree angle. Suddenly, the whole action sprang loose from its fastness and flew backwards and over my shoulder into the sand. Bolt, bolt housing, rods, springs, etc. Turned out the bolt housing retainer didn't want to fit well in the two holes in the receiver forging. If I'd have kept sighting down the barrel rather than lowering the rifle, all those moving parts might've gone into my face. Possibly causing an eye injury. When it came apart was not under recoil; that would've been much worse because it would've involved a lot more force than just the tension on springs.