We-the-People
Regular Member
imported post
Posted here on OCDO because all four of us present are members of this board and ANY firearms safety issue such as this is important to ALL firearms users.
This is an excellent lesson in just why muzzle discipline/awareness as well as trigger finger discipline is so important with firearms.
Smith and Wesson M&P 15 (their AR-15 model). Round fired while safety lever was in the "SAFE" position.
This just happend to my wife today. Four of us were on the range and I was supervising my wife firing her new AR. She had it on "SAFE", magazine inserted, charged the chamber, aimed and attempted to fire. Observing, I did not inform her the safety was still "SAFE" so that I could observe her technique at trigger pull and see if she was jerking the trigger or anticipating the recoil.
Imagine my surprise when she squeezed the trigger and the round fired!!!!!!!!!!
I immediately took control of the weapon while it and she remained in place and made a safe weapon (removedmagazine,cleared the chamber, bolt locked to the rear). I then operated the safety lever to "FIRE" and back to "SAFE", hand loaded a single round and attempted to fire. The trigger moved, the hammer fell, but no discharge. Cleared the chamber and observed an obvious dent in the primer.
I reloaded the same round and repeated with no firing resulting but again, the trigger moved fully and the hammer fell.
I recharged the weapon with the same round andstruck the forward assist 3 times, aimed and the rifle fired.
I installed a new round and struck the forward assist three times, aimed and the weapon fired while in the "SAFE" position on the first attempt.
I repeated with a third round with the same results, fired on first attempt.
I made a safe weapon and then separated the upper and lower receivers. The hammer was observed to be at an odd angle and repeatedly fell when the trigger was pulled in the "SAFE" position.
Closer examination revealed that the through receiver pin on which the hammer rotates had slipped (from left to right) so that it was only supported on the right side of the receiver. This allowed the hammer to twist inside the receiver and apparently renders the safety inoperative.
After reinstalling the pin correctly, the weapon was tested while disassembled and functioned properly as regards the fire/safe lever and hammer release. Reassembled the weapon and had no further problems.
This weapon is only two weeks old and has just under200 rounds of factory ammo through it but 120 of those rounds were "bump fired" over the course of a week on two separate occasions. After the range time was over it was realized that the last three full magazines (90 rounds) through the weapon had all been "bump fired".
My conclusion is that the "bump firing" caused the pin to move in the receiver allowing the hammer assembly (including the disconnector and sear) so that the safety lever was not capable of properly engaging. With the hammer twisted slightly in the receiver it was not able to deliver a consistently sufficient impact to the firing pin to actuate the primer without the forward assist being struck. It is not clear if my wife had stuck the forward assist when she charged the chamber but that is how I've taught herin familarizing her with the weapon so it is most likely that she did. This would account for the difference in (faulty) operation when I initially tried to fire without use of the forward assist.
I will be inspecting the orientation of the pin after bump firing as well as before, during, and after, regular firing to see if the problem persists. I will also be contacting the manufacturer and will consider "staking" the pin depending upon their reply.
Posted here on OCDO because all four of us present are members of this board and ANY firearms safety issue such as this is important to ALL firearms users.
This is an excellent lesson in just why muzzle discipline/awareness as well as trigger finger discipline is so important with firearms.
Smith and Wesson M&P 15 (their AR-15 model). Round fired while safety lever was in the "SAFE" position.
This just happend to my wife today. Four of us were on the range and I was supervising my wife firing her new AR. She had it on "SAFE", magazine inserted, charged the chamber, aimed and attempted to fire. Observing, I did not inform her the safety was still "SAFE" so that I could observe her technique at trigger pull and see if she was jerking the trigger or anticipating the recoil.
Imagine my surprise when she squeezed the trigger and the round fired!!!!!!!!!!
I immediately took control of the weapon while it and she remained in place and made a safe weapon (removedmagazine,cleared the chamber, bolt locked to the rear). I then operated the safety lever to "FIRE" and back to "SAFE", hand loaded a single round and attempted to fire. The trigger moved, the hammer fell, but no discharge. Cleared the chamber and observed an obvious dent in the primer.
I reloaded the same round and repeated with no firing resulting but again, the trigger moved fully and the hammer fell.
I recharged the weapon with the same round andstruck the forward assist 3 times, aimed and the rifle fired.
I installed a new round and struck the forward assist three times, aimed and the weapon fired while in the "SAFE" position on the first attempt.
I repeated with a third round with the same results, fired on first attempt.
I made a safe weapon and then separated the upper and lower receivers. The hammer was observed to be at an odd angle and repeatedly fell when the trigger was pulled in the "SAFE" position.
Closer examination revealed that the through receiver pin on which the hammer rotates had slipped (from left to right) so that it was only supported on the right side of the receiver. This allowed the hammer to twist inside the receiver and apparently renders the safety inoperative.
After reinstalling the pin correctly, the weapon was tested while disassembled and functioned properly as regards the fire/safe lever and hammer release. Reassembled the weapon and had no further problems.
This weapon is only two weeks old and has just under200 rounds of factory ammo through it but 120 of those rounds were "bump fired" over the course of a week on two separate occasions. After the range time was over it was realized that the last three full magazines (90 rounds) through the weapon had all been "bump fired".
My conclusion is that the "bump firing" caused the pin to move in the receiver allowing the hammer assembly (including the disconnector and sear) so that the safety lever was not capable of properly engaging. With the hammer twisted slightly in the receiver it was not able to deliver a consistently sufficient impact to the firing pin to actuate the primer without the forward assist being struck. It is not clear if my wife had stuck the forward assist when she charged the chamber but that is how I've taught herin familarizing her with the weapon so it is most likely that she did. This would account for the difference in (faulty) operation when I initially tried to fire without use of the forward assist.
I will be inspecting the orientation of the pin after bump firing as well as before, during, and after, regular firing to see if the problem persists. I will also be contacting the manufacturer and will consider "staking" the pin depending upon their reply.