What do you do in a hang fire?

Answer 1

Hang fires are not that common with modern factory ammunition. Although with surplus ammunition you can have them. Regardles, stay in your firing position. Keep the muzzle of the weapon pointed in a safe direction. Wait at least one minute to see if the round will fire. If not, eject the round and remove it to a safe location. Dispose of properly. MUZZLE-LOADERS Wait for several minutes. Keep the gun pointed down-range or in a safe direction. For Percussion Cap black powder gun, if the cap popped but the gun did not fire, then remove the cap. It is important to check the bullet to see if it did move down the barrel. For some calibers, the cap has enough power to move the bullet, however, usually if it does go into the barrel it should ignite the powder. So, use the ram rod to re-seat the bullet. To clear the gun, you can try another cap. Or better yet, insert a few grains of powder into the Nipple before placing a cap (not sure if this is possible on modern ignition systems). As an alternate, remove the Nipple and see if it is clogged. Insert some powder into the barrel (or cylinder for a pistol) and re-install the Nipple. It is important to take Nipple Wrench when you go shooting, especially for a Black Powder Revolver. To prevent a hang-fire for a Percussion Black Powder gun, always snap off a few Caps without powder. Residual oil in the barrel will be pushed to the bottom of the barrel when you load the first round. It is important to burn out this oil. Point the gun at a blade of grass and pop a cap and watch to see if the cap causes it to move. Or insert a small amount of powder in the gun---without a bullet---and fire it to see if the powder ignites. (This may not work on long barrels as the powder may not settle to the bottom of the barrel.