This is a superb example of why you train for worst-case events. Train for the catastrophic failure. Go home at the end of your watch.
THE FOLLOWING TRAINING ADVISORY WAS FORWARDED FROM A POLICE DEPARTMENT IN GEORGIA IN 2011
In September of this year a PD officer was involved in a situation which quickly became a use of deadly force incident. When the officer made the decision to use deadly force, the chambered round in his duty pistol did not fire. Fortunately, the officer used good tactics, remembered his training and cleared the malfunction, successfully ending the encounter.
The misfired round, which had a full firing pin strike, was collected and was later sent to the manufacturer for analysis. Their analysis showed the following: “.the cause of the misfire was determined to be from the primer mix being knocked out of the primer when the round was cycled through the firearm multiple times”. We also sent an additional 2,000 rounds of the Winchester 9mm duty ammunition to the manufacturer. All 2,000 rounds were successfully fired.
In discussions with the officer, we discovered that since he has small children at home, he unloads his duty weapon daily. His routine is to eject the chambered round to store the weapon. Prior to returning to duty he chambers the top round in his primary magazine, then takes the previously ejected round and puts in back in the magazine. Those two rounds were repeatedly cycled and had been since duty ammunition was issued in February or March of 2011, resulting in as many as 100 chambering and extracting cycles. This caused an internal failure of the primer, not discernible by external inspection.
This advisory is to inform all sworn personnel that repeated cycling of duty rounds is to be avoided. As a reminder, when loading the weapon, load from the magazine and do not drop the round directly into the chamber. If an officer’s only method of safe home storage is to unload the weapon, the Firearms Training Unit suggests that you unload an entire magazine and rotate those rounds. In addition, you should also rotate through all 3 duty magazines, so that all 52 duty rounds are cycled, not just a few rounds. A more practical method of home storage is probably to use a trigger lock or a locked storage box.
FURTHER GUIDANCE FROM ATF FIREARMS TECHNOLOGY BRANCH:
The primer compound separation is a risk of repeatedly chambering the same round. The more common issue is bullet setback, which increases the chamber pressures often resulting in more negative effects.
SOD RECOMMENDATION:
In addition to following the guidance provided above of constantly rotating duty ammunition that is removed during the unloading/reloading of the weapon, training ammunition utilized during firearm sustainment and weapon manipulation drills, should also be discarded if it has been inserted into the chamber more than twice. This practice lessens the likelihood of a failure to fire or more catastrophic results.
The comment : “A more practical method of home storage is probably to use a trigger lock or a locked storage box.” Is a dangerous statement. The practical aspect is to keep the firearm loaded. Duty weapons and defensive weapons should be loaded, however, trigger locks should NEVER be used with a loaded weapon. A safe or lock box would be appropriate as a practical solution. A trigger lock is NOT a practical solution.
Sorry that my first comment is contradictory to the post, however, applying a trigger lock to a loaded gun is simply a bad idea.
Regards,
Paul
Noted, Paul. I didn’t actually read it that way myself but I definitely take your point. Thanks for the clarification. Editor
[...] Read it here. [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
I will bet the reason it didn’t go bang is oil in the primer. Pistol rides in holster with primer up & oil from cleaning can run down hill. Below is my own letter sent to my gun friends.
I received this today and I pass it on for what ever it’s worth. And I add my own comments: Some few years back I came into a case of very old and partially corroded rifle ammo. On line the comments about putting loaded cartridges into a tumbler to clean them were mixed. The nay sayers said the coating on the powers would come off thus changing the burn characteristics and would be dangerous. The other camp said don’t worry, it will be fine. I called Remington and spoke to an engineer/chemist in the ammo plant. He said it was fine, then went on to say, “Think of all the ammo that rides around in military vehicles, ships, planes etc. Sometime for multiple years. The vibrations would equal many thousands of hours in a tumbler. Not a problem.” Now, in respect to the answer given on the primer, my guess is the “expert” didn’t want to say, “Don’t know why”, so he thought of something, and because he thought of it, it got boot strapped to being “truth” and is now there as new urban legend. For those with a tumbler, try this experiment: Put a full box of 50 in a tumbler and leave it turned on for a full day. That has to be more vibration than any duty policemen’s cycling rounds at the end of a shift. Go to the range, fire that box and another. See if there is any difference in the cartridges going bang. Do write back and let me know what happened. Thanks, David Lee Valdina
the vibration or a tumbler is not the issue, nor is it the vibration of a vehicle. cycling rounds into an automatic pistol impacts the round, jarring it suddenly, the motion is completely different than the vibration you create in a tumbler. It states clearly that the primer mix had come out of the primer, which could easily correspond with the situation. It has always been my practice to fire off my carry rounds each month and replace them with new cartridges. though I haven’t seen this particular issue, I have often seen rounds that are shortened do to multiple cycling, through the action, and in a much shorter time span than a year. It may not be possible for everyone to use the old rounds each month, but is makes sure that the ammo on my belt is new and ready for use if needed.