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Ejector Detonation w/pics


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Glad you are okay and thank you for your post, reminds me of when I had went for my weapons training and my instructor at the time was yelling at another officer for doing the same after the training he went to clear his weapon then BLAMMO.. Trip to the ER. Recoop fast brother...

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  • 1 month later...

Glad you are okay and thank you for your post, reminds me of when I had went for my weapons training and my instructor at the time was yelling at another officer for doing the same after the training he went to clear his weapon then BLAMMO.. Trip to the ER. Recoop fast brother...

We have a local RO who upon the USC command insists on racking slower, hand away from ejection port vs. racking quickly to retrieve last round and catching it. I've queried serveral USPSA 'big guys' who've given me the okay to do this should I want to as they don't see anything wrong with the practice. I'm on the fence.

I used to own a foreign made Star Firestar 40sw. I got rid of the gun, though I really liked it due to lack of replacement parts in the US and because the ejector started wiggling side to side. I decided it was riskier than other pistols who's ejectors are immovable.

I eject the last round rapidly but avoid at all costs having my hand covering the port. I may be tempting fate but properly fitted guns should not detonate primers/bullets when USC. That fellows gun was an S_I of some sort so it seems difficult to imagine what may have gone wrong.

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this was happening to me too. I dont know why..3 time , with the one of last saturday.

I cant understand what is working bad.

Or what hit the primers.

Did u undestand what happened?

I tryed to remove the long firing pin, being back to normal one.

The loaded round that you are trying to extract (pull out of the barrel), and eject (exit the gun) doesn't have clearance to get out of the gun without getting jammed up.

The round starts to exit the gun, but the nose of the bullet comes in contact with the forward edge of the ejection port. As the nose jams into the ejection port, the rearward motion of the slide pushes it into the ejector...exposing the primer to be ignited by the ejector.

All of this requires enough energy to set off the primer (you are supplying that energy by pulling back the slide briskly).

Flex, If what you're saying is the most likely scenario then USC is a dangerous proposal?? I see 30 guys at major matches USC the fast/regular way to 2 that do it slowly. I've asked Mr. Amidon and Mr. McManus their preferred methods and unless they've misunderstood me they do it fast as well. Probably the best way to shed light would be to do slow motion and telephoto video focusing on the primer area. If I'm asked to, I USC slowly, ejection chamber facing the ground with minimal fingers close to the port and let the round drop away from me.

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this was happening to me too. I dont know why..3 time , with the one of last saturday.

I cant understand what is working bad.

Or what hit the primers.

Did u undestand what happened?

I tryed to remove the long firing pin, being back to normal one.

The loaded round that you are trying to extract (pull out of the barrel), and eject (exit the gun) doesn't have clearance to get out of the gun without getting jammed up.

The round starts to exit the gun, but the nose of the bullet comes in contact with the forward edge of the ejection port. As the nose jams into the ejection port, the rearward motion of the slide pushes it into the ejector...exposing the primer to be ignited by the ejector.

All of this requires enough energy to set off the primer (you are supplying that energy by pulling back the slide briskly).

So if i'm reading this correctly it is not possible for this to happen with a properly sized round.

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  • 1 month later...

It can happen with a properly sized round, but it usually happens with a bad case . It is mostly a situation where the cartridge gets hung up at speed and strikes the ejector.

I can also tell you that it stings like you would not believe when you do it. Grabbed a box of bullets for practice tonight that I had not gauged. The second round in the magazine was big and jammed the gun up solid with the slide about 1/4" out of battery. Pulled on the slide, would not budge. Grabbed slide in front of the port and smacked the grip, would not budge. Smacked it harder and the slide came to the rear, the round went bang, the destroyed case was down by my feet along with the bullet. My hand must have slipped back a bit because I got a big blood blister on my fore finger, and a small cut on my middle finger. When I got home I case gauged the rest of the bullets in that box and I had 2 that stopped about 1/8" from fully seated. Went downstairs and experimented a bit with my presses and have decided that I will size and deprime all my cases on my RCBS to weed out the bad ones before I run them through the Dillon.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Add my thanks for showing this. I am brand new to Action Pistol and this creates new questions for me, which I consider good. After reading this my mind is flooded with how many times over the years I've ejected a live round for a multitude of reasons. I can't remember how many times at the action range certification class, then at the qualification match that I ejected a live round. I bring this up because never once did an instructor mention this could happen and to avoid pointing the ejection port in his direction. I don't usually cover the ejection port with a hand, but my question concerns how to minimize the possibility of the round going off center and striking the ejector. I mentioned being new so that more experienced shooters might share how to avoid this.

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Good thread. Ejector detonations have happened to top shooters, even US/World champions. Also with 38 super and 45 ACP. Most often happens with a hand over the ejection port, trying to prevent a 25-cent piece of ammo from maybe getting lost on the ground at unload/show-clear.

If you had to get your wedding ring cut off (and it's gold) it can be put back together near-seamlessly by a good jeweler. I'd wear it on a chain around your neck till that hand heals completely, could be 3-6 months.

-If you're interested in safe methods to unload (there are several) take a look at this with dummy rounds:

-Remove mag. Grab last 1-2" of rear of slide w/weak hand. Rotate gun & both hands ~180 counterclockwise (lefty's go CW). Retract slide just about any speed. Watch round fall on or near your left foot. Rotate back upright. Retract slide again, show RO your clear chamber. Slide fwd, hammer down, holster. Pick up round you watched fall near your foot.

-When unloading, the ejector is on top, extractor below that, primer below that, open ejection port on the very bottom. If a round STILL goes off somehow, the blast is mostly down/left of you & the RO. Just don't stare down your magwell.

I have no interest in the flipping arguments, it's been hashed out way too much already.

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  • 5 years later...

This happened to me at a match this morning and I thought it would be a good reminder for the rest of you.

 

Thankfully there were no real injuries, but I was spooked.  The round felt stuck in the chamber so I gave it a but more force than usual racking at unload and show clear. It popped free and the slide came back really fast. The round detonating bent my ejector and sprayed some debris into my hand.

 

I'll be racking the slide with the rear serrations from now on.

 

Also, any advice for the best way to cut off the bent ejector so I can get the slide off and install a new one?  I don't want to try and bend it, but a dremel would be too big to fit into the ejection port.

 

Thanks to David D. (A106456) who let me borrow his Trojan to complete the match.

ejector.jpg

hand.jpg

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Reading all these just now. The first time it hapened to a friend and I personally witnessed years ago, I cut all my EXTENDED ejectors to the shortest possible they still eject reliably. Mine are 2011s in 40 and 38s. Havent seen it happen in Glocks yet. 

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We had a guy have this happen during a match, clearing a jam you should remember to also point the ejection port away from yourself and others.  This guys brass hit him in the chin and went up the jaw bone 

 

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