Cycling immediately after a dud vs waiting...

[coldcase1984]

Yeah, I gotcha. Primer hit didn't look any different from hit to hit...

Had a squib once doing magazine dump at three yard line w G27.

Heard light report, gun cycled and trigger reseted so fired.

Felt like a ballbat broke in my hand and recoiled very much, so I stopped and checked myself and pistol. It was fine and my hand looked red.

When I checked there were right number of holes in target but one was sideways.

Best guess was there was enough powder to get round almost out bbl and cycle, and next round knocked it out.

Got Lucky

[Buckshot]

Yeah, I gotcha. Primer hit didn't look any different from hit to hit...

Had a squib once doing magazine dump at three yard line w G27.

Heard light report, gun cycled and trigger reseted so fired.

Felt like a ballbat broke in my hand and recoiled very much, so I stopped and checked myself and pistol. It was fine and my hand looked red.

When I checked there were right number of holes in target but one was sideways.

Best guess was there was enough powder to get round almost out bbl and cycle, and next round knocked it out.

Got Lucky

Understatement, Gross, 1 each

[NEPAKevin]

This topic came up from time to time at our Thursday evening practices, and a recently departed friend who was a tanker probably early 70's, would oft times relate his experiences with hang-fires and miss-fires as they applied to the gun of a main battle tank. Kind of puts things into perspective. IIRC, the process involved waiting, cursing, opening the breach and rotating the shell 180 degrees and trying again, and worst case, pulling the shell and tossing it out of the tank to a second lieutenant who had to hope it didn't cook off while he carried it to the dud storage magazine.

[TiroFijo]

I've seen a few hangfires, and also stubborn (or dead) primers quite more often. This with OLD ammo, or 22 rimfire that was not well kept. Some of the primers ignite with a second/third blow.

As many have said before, it is extremely rare with quality, modern center fire ammo that is relatively new (< 20 years) and have been stored well.

I would take the old advice of waiting a bit pointing in a safe direction IF the situation permits, in a action shooting situation (or real life) you automatically pull the trigger again as fast as you can and hope for the best.

[Luke]

I immediately tap rack. Never had one cook off at my feet so that's good lol.

[TiroFijo]

A cook off in the open would not be too dangerous if you wear jeans and eye protection, as the brass is the part that flies away and the pressure is much less than when the round is confined by the chamber.

Now, a round detonating in an cylinder hole out of alignment with the barrel would have the bullet exiting at high velocity. In some six shot revolvers (L frame and perhaps others) the two holes at 01:30 and 10:30 are partially obstructed, and in five shot revolvers the two bottom holes are partially obstructed.