Up today I have a guest post from one of my friends, Dave from TNgun. Dave in addition to being a blogger, Youtuber, Firearms Instructor is also an author of Understanding the Use of Handguns and the upcoming 52 Projects for a Self Reliant Life. Like myself Dave was also a guest on The Survivalpodcast. Today he has for us both an article and a video on why you should test fire your weapons after cleaning them. Enjoy the great article and video!
I want to share a tip with you that I have heard several times over the years, especially in law enforcement trainer circles, but have never actually seen a time when it happened to someone I know (until last week).
If you go out to a firing range and engage in a little target practice, hopefully you will then clean your gun afterwards. I know that this is something that is falling out of favor with the fans of the plastic fantastic, but believe me – even modern polymer guns need to be taken care of and cleaned once in a while.
Part of cleaning a gun involves function checking the gun after cleaning to ensure you put everything back in the right way. Typically you will check the slide lock and release, the safeties, magazine release, and will pull the trigger on the unloaded (and checked) gun to see if you hear a click.
Now 99 times out of a hundred if you do this and here the click of the firing pin your gun will work when called upon. However 999 out of a 1000 you can leave your home and not need your gun. Those with a self-protection mindset don’t like to gamble, and demand their defense guns work 100% of the time. As David Sensing said “ Guns are like parachutes. You may never need one, but if you do, you will need it real bad. And if you need one and don’t have one, you will probably never need one again. Or anything else.”
With target guns, cool barbeque guns, hunting guns or whatever else you keep a gun for, this tip may not be appropriate – but I have adopted this with all of my self-defense firearms.
When I break down and clean any guns that I stake my life on, once I have function checked them, I fire a single shot through it.
This gives me 100% confidence that the gun was put together correctly.
I have been told horror stories of officers cleaning their guns after the annual pistol qualification, cleaning it and dropping it back in their holster and then working all year without ever thinking about it – then finding out at the next year’s qualification that their gun broke or was put together wrong and they went all year with a non-functioning gun.
Personally I always took this as an urban legend, until last week when a former NRA pistol instructor student (and a licensed firearm manufacturer with a SOT license)
Told me that he witnessed it.
What happened was the shooter cleaned their gun with a cotton swab, and little wisps of cotton found their way into the firing pin channel and caused the firing pin to bind up just enough to cause a misfire.
This is like my article on checking your duty ammunition, statistics are such that you may never have a problem, but I find that luck is caused by preparation – and the more I do to keep Murphy away the less he comes around.
I want you to be safe, and never have to use your gun in a life threatening situation, BUT if you do get attacked I goal is to ensure that the innocent win the encounter and the bad guy is thwarted.
Stay Safe
David Nash
I don’t know about this one. I think the main lesson here is don’t be sticking stuff down the firing pin.
The firing pin channel does get gunk in it and needs to be cleaned out occasionally.
I, like many people, am unable to fire a round from home, so I can’t do this. I would consider (since I reload) perhaps firing a primed case as a function test, but that’s the best i would be able to do.
I think it is against the law to fire just a prime empty casing in city limits. All tho good luck enforcing that. I think that is a great function test idea. still got to do it in a safe open direction. I have no idea what the pressures are like on just a primer. any one else know? Thanks John for the reply.
City laws vary so much, of course. Some laws define a firearm, but many of the specific laws on shooting in the city define a firearm as anything that fires a projectile (which would then include bow/arrow, slingshot, etc). In this case there’s no projectile, but try to convince any responding officer there wasn’t a bullet at the end of the case…
As for pressures there really should be none. The primer produces a small spark or flame, but, with the case open, there is nothing to contain it and build pressure.
Wont a primer push a bullet into the barrel? Nothing like with powered. I understand there are some 22 bullets where it is just a primer and it send a 22 bullet at around 600 FPS. that ballpark. not super fast by any means.
I think I am going to try this. I actual have a few bad bullets. I have a puller and I will try it on paper. and post a video on YouTube. See what it would do. Not deadly but nasty is my hypothesis.
Clearly, the above comentators have never fired a .45 with just an magnum primer and an indoor practice round loaded.(no gunpowder) the projectile looks like a cigarette filter in size and shape and will penetrate a common inside the house door at 25-40 feet. It is accurate to practice indoors at 30feet. It will not cycle the slide on a .45, but DO NOT POINT IT AT ANYONE- with a little bad luck, you can seriously injure, blind or do worse to someone.
How come we dont see more of these practice rounds. I saw some “nato” 9mm and .308 plastic blue rounds that cost a few cents less than the real deal. The Casing and Projectile were plastic and just a primer from what I saw. This could be a real cost savings and great practice. I wish a company could do them for 3-5 cents a round. Thoughts?
@Lew – if only! I live in the city too and still worry that just the sound of it going off would get the cops called. There really is no privacy in the city.
too true on the lack of privacy.
You can also use a pencil or plastic ink pin by placing it in the beral and hold strait up. Then fire the gun if the pen/pencil jumps every thing should be working.