Clearing Malfunctions (Revolver)

This is a topic that most people think they always know until they actually have to employ it at the range, during shooting courses or even in a life or death situation.   These are the steps to clear the different malfunctions shooters can face while operating a revolver handgun.  It is best to practice these clearing methods using dummy ammunition to get the feel of it before you actually have to encounter this with live ammunition.  If any of these malfunctions ever take place at the range and you are uncertain of how to clear them, ask the range safety officer for assistance.  There are two main types of functional problems that may occur with revolvers, failure to fire and failure to eject cases from the cylinder.

Failure to Fire - A failure to fire with a revolver occurs whenever the hammer falls on a loaded chamber, or what is believed to be a loaded chamber and the firearm does not fire.  The most likely cause for the failure is a hang fire or misfire.  In defensive shooting situations, all rounds could have been fired off and the shooter lost count during the stressful encounter.  If this occurs at the range, the shooter should wait 30-60 seconds with the muzzle pointed downrange in case this is a hang fire.  If a shooter experiences a failure to fire during a defensive shooting situation, the proper immediate action drill is to pull the trigger again.  This will bring a fresh cartridge in line with the firing pin and hopefully it will function. 

If the second cartridge falls to fire, repeat the same immediate action.  If it happens a third and fourth time, open the cylinder and inspect the primers.  There should be an indentation from the firing pin on the primers.  If there is, the cartridges were misfires.  If there is not an indentation, the firing pin could be broken and would require repairs from a gunsmith.  Not a good time to find out your firing pin is broken!  Be sure to inspect the firearm every time its cleaned, preferably after each time its fired and during periodic cleanings.

Failure to Eject Cases from the Cylinder - Difficulty in ejecting fired cases from the cylinder may result from oversized or high-pressure cartridges, dirt in the chambers or roughly machined chambers.  If this problem takes place while at the range, stop firing the revolver, try to unload it if possible and take it to a gunsmith.

A failure to eject cases that occurs during a defensive shooting situation can prevent you from reloading and the consequences could be deadly.  If the first strike on the ejector rod fails to forcibly eject all the cases from the cylinder, strike it again with greater force.  Be careful to strike in a straight line with the rod to prevent bending it with an off-axis strike.  If repeated strikes do not eject the cases, release the rod and use your fingernails to pull the fired, partially-protruding cases from their chambers, one at a time.