Todd G maybe you could help with this one. Last night I had agents on the range preping to do some low-light shooting with their
M&P45’s and I had one agent ask for help with his M&P. This is what he told me. During the drill he fired a round everything was fine, when he attempted to fire the second round he recieved a click, he assumed failure to fire and immediately performed and remedial action, tap, rack, and fire. when he attempted to rack he was unable due to the slide being locked up tight in battery. Several instructors attempted to clear the handgun but all failed. I took the M&P off the range to an adjacent range. I used a barricade to put pressure on the front of the slide and my thumb to put downward pressure on the chamber hood and it finally broke lose about 1/16th of an inch. At that point I removed my hand from the chamber area and reposition to the forward serations and attempted to clear the live round. That’s when I heard the primer pop and at the same time the live round ejected from the weapon. Casing was bulged around the crimp, ammo was gov contract Federal Cartridge Co. 230gr. ball. and the primer hole was empty and no flash hole. What the hell happened! I have my armorers looking at the gun and round right now. I will post the answer they give me. Has anyone had this happen to them or at least heard of this happening.
Sounds like a bad round, not a gun issue.
Your answer is “no flash hole”. I saw this happen with a Glock 21, it locked up very tight. We had to hold the slide very tight, and slam the web of the hand into the backstrap to unlock the pistol. It was a Fed factory 45 acp. Evidently the primer goes off slams into the breechface, and locks the pistol. I’ve only seen this happen one time.
If there isn’t a flash hole then the primer ignited causing the case to expand; therefore, locking the gun up. It isn’t the gun’s fault, it is purely ammo related. Did the gun run after you cleared it?
I edited the title of your post to reflect the ammunition situation.
Unfortunately, it happens from time to time and there really isn’t a way to tell if you’ve got a flash hole in your case or not until you pull the trigger, unlike a rolled or improperly crimped case or bullet set back.
Millions of rounds produced each year, unfortunately crap gets through.
Glad no one was hurt.
Have you tried to fire the weapon since this happened? Does it appear to have been damaged at all?
Bad round.
Next.
C4
Shit. Where did I pack that ankle holster?
Thanks guys, bad ammo is the same answer I got from our armorers. No the weapon did not work to my satisfaction afterward. Had a failure to fire, light primer hit 3rd so we took it out of service and issued a new one.
Wow, I would jumped a bit on hearing the pop.
Faulty ammunition as others have stated. I’ve seen a primer loaded backwards in a WCC 9mm cartridge recently. Not sure how this slipped past QC, but since ammo mfr’s are loading at the speed of light these days it can happen.
sorry, brainfart.