What is a jam? The answer might surprise most people; it is a thick, sweet food that is made of fruit, pectin, and sugar that is boiled until the fruit is soft. It is often spread on toast or other foods as a condiment.
Hey, wait a second, this is an article about firearms — I can hear you shouting out there. I know it, that’s why I’m setting you straight on this terminology. There are people out there who still call magazines “clips.”
There’s no such thing as a firearm “jam”; they are called stoppages. Quite simply, the firearm stops working. It has experienced a stoppage.
In this article, we will cover a few of the most common handgun stoppages. We’ll talk about how to prevent them and how to deal with them when they do happen. This is not an all-inclusive manual on everything that can happen, but rather a quick overview.
A malfunction (as opposed to a stoppage) is when there is a mechanical failure or breakage. If we are in the middle of a gun battle, it is unlikely that we will be able to reduce the malfunction and get the weapon up and running quickly. Here, a backup firearm would be the best-case scenario for us.
Also note, I am not a gunsmith; this is information that I’ve gathered over the years through experience and training.
Let’s get started!
Safety First!
Don’t practice clearing stoppages or dealing with malfunctions with live ammo! Ensure that all firearms are unloaded. Use Snap Caps instead! They’re great for dry firing and teaching new shooters how to load magazines and how firearms work.
A Note About Ammo
Another factor that many shooters do not realize: regardless of how high the quality of your firearm is, there are some brands of ammunition that a particular firearm may not work well with. Even firearms of the highest pedigree, such as Sig or H&K, might not “like” a certain brand of ammo. For that matter, even pistols of the exact same model might not work well with a particular brand of ammunition.
Firearms are mechanical devices, which can and do fail. You could have two of the same model from Heckler & Koch and one of them might not like a certain brand of ammo. Is it frustrating? Yes! Does it happen often? Sometimes. It’s just how things are.
Are stoppages dire?
On the range or in competition, a stoppage is likely not a dire situation. However, in a self-defense or combat situation, it’s a bad thing when the weapon stops working.
Here, we are going to assume it’s a self-defense/combat situation since that is most important in the broad scheme of things.
The following examples offer immediate action steps to get the firearm up and running as quickly as possible without a long pause to diagnose exactly what has happened. These actions are performed quickly as a standard procedure.
Failure To Feed (FTF)
This occurs when a round has not chambered, which could be for a couple of reasons.
Possible Causes
If the magazine is not seated properly, the slide might go right over the top of the first bullet in the magazine and not chamber it. In other instances, the nose of the round might hang up on the feed ramp, causing it to not chamber. Still other times, the slide might not have gone completely into battery. A dirty chamber and/or lack of lubrication can sometimes cause this to happen. Possibly even a worn recoil spring or improper grip.
Solution
Glance into the chamber area to see what the problem is. Visual verification of what is going on helps us with our course of action.
Tap-Rack-Bang. Perhaps you’ve heard of this one-size-fits-all solution to many stoppages.
First, firmly tap the base of the magazine while it’s still inserted in the grip of the pistol. In the event that the magazine was not fully seated, this should solve that issue.
Next, rack the slide of the pistol. This should hopefully chamber a round and get the pistol back up to firing condition.
Bang. We should now be able to fire the weapon. Let me just throw this in here to be clear—it’s smart to assess whether or not we need to fire a shot 1st as opposed to robotically firing the weapon. We’ll still call it Tap-Rack-Bang because it’s simple and has been used for decades. But assessing before firing is a good policy.
Failure To Eject (FTE)
This one is also called a stovepipe because the shell casing sticking out of the ejection port can resemble the pipe from a stove. It occurs when the case does not fully exit the ejection port and the slide closes, trapping the case in the port. The slide cannot go back into battery and chamber the next round.
Possible Causes
We’re often not completely sure what causes this, possibly a weak extractor or a dirty firearm. Maybe bad ammunition is the culprit. Improper grip might be another culprit, or something could have interfered with the slide’s movement.
Solution
You guessed it: Tap-Rack-Bang!
Smack the base of the magazine, just in case it’s not seated. Rack the slide to get that pesky round out of that chamber area so the fresh round can be seated fully by the slide. Assess and fire if necessary.
Double Feed
This happens when the pistol does not extract the round that’s in the chamber and attempts to chamber the next round. Of course, since there’s already a round occupying that chamber, the next round can’t go in and the chamber becomes crowded. A chamber that’s “Standing Room Only” sucks and it’s not going to go bang without you doing some fancy footwork to clear things up.
This type of stoppage is more complex than most others and requires us to jump through more hoops to clear up.
Possible Causes
The extractor could be faulty or dirty. Or maybe the extractor broke (in which case, you are screwed because the weapon will require a new extractor to work). It’s a good idea to check and see how many rounds your pistol’s extractor is rated for (if the factory has such information). Just like recoil springs, extractors will give up the ghost eventually. Extractors and recoil springs on some 1911’s, from what I understand, should be replaced every couple thousand rounds.
Solution
Initiate Tap-Rack-Bang, which may or may not work. More than likely, it will not work.
If/when that does not work:
- Lock the slide to the rear utilizing the slide lock button.
- Eject the magazine, grasping it with the pinkie finger of our firing hand to hold it so it’s ready to use again. This leaves our “weak” side hand free.
- With the “weak” side hand, work the slide vigorously a few times to get the chamber free of any remaining rounds as we tilt the pistol so the chamber is facing the deck.
- Re-insert the magazine.
- Rack the slide.
- The pistol should now be ready to fire.
Carry a spare magazine!!!
We’ve all heard the “If I can’t fix the problem with (insert the favorite number of rounds here), then I’m in big trouble.” Well, yes. If the weapon has run dry and the threat is still active, that is a profound problem.
Aside from the obvious benefit of carrying a spare magazine to supply spare ammunition, there is at least one other prime reason to carry a spare mag. In the event of a stoppage or magazine malfunction, that spare magazine may be necessary to get the gun up and running again.
Magazines can and do fail. As a point of fact, many firearms stoppages are caused by a magazine malfunction. Getting rid of that faulty magazine is key, but we can’t do that if we do not have a spare magazine to fall back on!
Every stoppage listed above can also be solved by ejecting the original magazine, racking the slide, and restoring the firearm to readiness to fire. Yes, Tap-Rack-Bang is the fastest method, but in the event it does not work, we will need to jettison the old mag, rack, and prepare to fire. Having a spare mag makes that possible.
This is especially true for the double feed situation. Let’s say we try to grab that magazine with our pinkie finger, but fumble it (which isn’t hard to do when someone is shooting at us). Are we going to crawl around on hands and knees, trying to find that lost magazine on the deck during a firefight? If we don’t have a spare with us, we just might have to. Sounds like a smashing good time, doesn’t it?
It would be far more expeditious to access our spare magazine from our belt or pocket and get back into the fight.
Despite all this, I’ve heard people use all sorts of excuses to not carry a spare magazine on their person. Everything from, “It’s a pain to carry more stuff on my belt or in my pocket” to “I only need the rounds that are in my pistol” and “Jeez, how many rounds do you think I’ll need; I’m a great shot and I practice.”
Oh, you practice? That’s cute. So do I. But we don’t commonly practice against live people who shoot back and try to kill us. Believe this: when someone is trying to kill you, it is the epic game-changer of a lifetime! Trust me…bring extra ammo. I typically carry two spare magazines with my pistol most of the time.
The Last Round
Many stoppages can be cleared quickly to get the pistol back up and running. Sometimes, though, it can get complicated. Some forethought now will pay huge dividends down the road if we ever need to perform immediate action under duress.
Prepare by practicing and keeping at least one spare magazine on your person whenever you are carrying a magazine-fed firearm. Maintain the firearm—keep it clean and well-lubricated. If you put a high round count through it, it’s a good idea to have it checked periodically by a gunsmith to have parts that are wearing replaced.
After all, the life you save could be mine!
