How do you prevent a hangfire?

Answer 1

Hangfire means a noticeable delay between pulling the trigger, and the weapon firing. Most noted with flintlock firearms, attention to details in loading the weapon, proper use of priming powder in the pan, re-knapping of lints, etc, will help reduce (but not eliminate) hangfires. For modern cartridge arms, ammunition that has aged, and been poorly stored may begin to exhibit hangfires. This is due to breakdown of the primer, and will eventually fail to fire- or worse, produce a "squib load", where the bullet is driven out of the cartridge, but lodges in the barrel. Changing ammo is the cure. Of course, keeping a weapon cleaned and properly lubricated does not hurt, either.