Body Parts

[1874Sharps]

I had a very strange occurance at the range today. I was shooting a little Sauer & Sohn 32 ACP from the 1930s. It is a great little shooter and a ton of fun to shoot. It jammed on the fourth round (shooting my 70 grain LRN boolits with 2.2 grains of Bullseye). The slide looked like it went into battery properly but it would not fire and it would not eject the chambered round either. I took out the magazine since it has a mag disconnect for safety. While keeping the gun pointed downrange I started to unscrew the rear of the mechanism so that the firing pin, firing pin spring and bolt could slide out. I figured that would be the safest thing to do before trying to get rough and clear the jam. It is good the gun was pointing down range because just as I nearly had the cap unscrewed off the back it went BANG!!! The slide went downrange and the cap, firing pin, spring and bolt went to the rear. Somehow nothing whacked me as it disintegrated. The good Lord does watch over fools and children, I suppose. Now I was born with ten fingers and two eyes and have become quite fond of them over the years and do not want to part with them. Fortunately my right hand fingers were tingly for a few minutes and that was the extent of the damage. I had nary a scratch. But I am still scratching my head trying to figure out why this happened. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Bret4207]

Hang fire? How long a period of time elapsed between the last time the pin might have struck the primer and the discharge? I've heard reports of several seconds (6-8) going by before the hang fire let go, but I've never seen it myself. Primers usually need a percussive strike to set them off.

Another possibility would be contaminated powder causing a hang fire.

[98Redline]

Sounds like something that you were doing by unscrewing either let the slide slam the rest of the way forward (possibly not all the way in battery) or released the firing pin that may have been released already but was being held back by a mechanical obstruction aganst spring pressure.

In either case, I am glad you are ok.

[1874Sharps]

The time from pulling the trigger to the time of discharge was over 30 seconds and I did not feel the firing pin strike when I pulled the trigger. I think it is true that it did not quite go fully into battery, too. I think the case was just a fuzz too long (the chamber is maybe a little tight). It still boggles my mind how this happened!

[mooman76]

I had the same thing happen with a Glock 22 in 40 cal. I wasn't trying to take it apart but It wouldn't go into battery quite all the way and I couldn't get the slide to work either. I was fooling with it and it went off. I could feel the presure on my hand, being close to the muzzle. I had been debating getting rid of it because I had another 40 and the Glock just made me nervous reloading for it. I never had problems until then. So I desided when I was getting stupid with a gun, it was time to get rid of it.

[home in oz]

Yes, you were lucky.

How many pieces did you find?

I would guess grease or crud was slowing down or holding back the firing pin.

[1Shirt]

Kind of go along with Bret, as I have never seen or had a hangfire on a center fire rifle over maybe a second or so, but have heard of them being much longer. Have had a couple of maybe 2-3 second hang fires on percussion and flintlocks when I was shooting them.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[1874Sharps]

You know, not only was I lucky not to lose any fingers but was lucky to find every last part even though the parts were strewn about a 30 foot areat! I staightened out the recoil spring sufficiently for it to assemble and function although I have misgivings about shooting it again. It might just be time to keep it in the safe at least until I figure out what happened and then keep it from happening again.

[seppos]

It is those striker fired weapons and they tricks.
I assume that it has striker mecanism? Without hammer?
Well.. as you unscrewed it open.. the stricker got some more space to move and was not supported by the sear.. It went past it.. And.. well.. you know the rest..
Clock has also the striker system..

S

[Char-Gar]

Lets see, what was the first rule of gunsmithing? Oh yes, now I remember. "Make certain the firearm is unloaded."

[fryboy]

umm thought it was keeping it pointed in a safe direction :-P

i'm going with the released firing pin part aggravated by the fact it was almost torn apart and not locked up , the cartridge could of been as stated - too long too fat ..something ... or debris was blocking it from locking , a good good cleaning and lubing , a few extra cycles then perhaps some dummy ammo , if it repeatedly cycles ( manually of course and dont ease the slide shut ) put it back to the live fire test

[1874Sharps]

Seppos: Yes, it is a striker fired weapon and your theory does make sense. As the cap on the back was being unscrewed at the firing line it must have freed up a little more clearance and allowed the striker to trip the sear. I think I will place a very slight roll crimp on the ammo and try some dummy rounds as Fryboy suggests and see what happens.

[rintinglen]

I believe that when you dismounted the striker retaining cap, you disabled the Magazine safety by changing the engagement between it and the sear and allowed or caused the slide to move enough to deactivate the disconnector, allowing the striker to release and drive forward, where it hit the primer. The gun then went bang.
If you have a round stuck in the chamber of an auto-pistol, remove the magazine, spray a penetrating oil(WD-40, or my favorite, Kroil) down the barrel and set the gun down on th bench with the muzzle slightly elevated and wait 5 minutes, then turn the pistol to the other side, and wait 5 more minutes. After the oil has a chance to soak in, try to "snap" the slide to the rear while making darn sure your boogerhook is off the bang switch. Jerk hard on the slide while shoving forward with the grip. Most often, this will free the round. DO NOT TRY TO RE_CHAMBER THAT ROUND. Carefully inspect the gun to make certain the chamber is clear and then clean and lube the gun before continuing. In my shade-tree gunsmith days, I twice had customers bring me guns with live rounds stuck in the chamber. T'aint funny, Magee.