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OlBill wrote:

Soccerdad1995 wrote:

Jusme wrote: Most ranges, where you are shooting at static targets standing in one place, will not allow for these drills. I am fortunate in that I have some private property on which to practice. There are some ranges that allow for these type of drills, but most are not close to me.

This varies greatly. I have heard of some ranges where they ask you to get a RO to clear any issues, but the indoor ranges I go to in Houston (Boyert and Memorial Shooting Center) allow you to clear your own issues. And I have been unfortunate enough to have a number of issues with the relatively few problem guns I have owned, so I naturally get some practice. If you wanted to force the practice, you could have someone else load your mags and put a few snap caps in among the good rounds. Sure you might lose some of them if they happen to end up down range, but it's not like they cost a ton of money.

Now if you are talking about the alternative approach of dropping a mag on the ground, then yes, I agree that most indoor ranges are going to have a problem with that.

I realize we are limited in time and resources and any shooting done properly is good shooting. But I won't go where I have to ask for help to fix my gun.

I have never been to a range where clearing a malfunction was dependent upon the RO. My reference was to shooting while moving, etc.

OlBill wrote:

Scott B. wrote:This is a good subject. The way we teach is it is, "Tap - Rack - Assess." Why? Let's say you're in a gun fight and while clearing your hypothetical malfunction the 'bad guy' -- so overwhelmed by your guns skills -- surrenders? But you follow up with "Bang" because that's the way you always practiced it?

Something to think about.

You bring up an interesting point.

I had already decided to shoot and pulled the trigger. It didn't bang and I never took my eyes off the threat while I fixed it. What am I assessing?

The assessment is for any possibility, for a change, to have occurred, while performing the tap, rack, maneuver. While at a range, in a controlled, environment, change will be non-existent. In real world situations, a myriad, of things can change, even if focused on the threat. Tunnel vision, is a real issue, and under stress, there are a lot of things that you won't see. I don't practice malfunction drills, while standing still, because I don't want to revert to my training, and be standing like a statue, if it happens in real life. Moving even slightly, will help open up your field of vision, and there may be something you see, which will change the decision to immediately fire. Like I said, an innocent person, may have entered the target area, a second, more immediate threat, may be presented to you, etc.. all of these things are a possibility, and while it is impossible to completely prepare foe every scenario, just practicing one way of doing things, may cause more problems in a real life situation. JMHO

CoffeeNut wrote:

Scott B. wrote:This is a good subject. The way we teach is it is, "Tap - Rack - Assess." Why? Let's say you're in a gun fight and while clearing your hypothetical malfunction the 'bad guy' -- so overwhelmed by your guns skills -- surrenders? But you follow up with "Bang" because that's the way you always practiced it?

Something to think about.

I'd hope that most people wouldn't run a malfunction drill and immediately open fire again without making the split-second determination to see if they still have a valid target in their sights. Adrenaline does really weird things to people though...

Out of curiosity how would you practice this on a range?

Most ranges, where you are shooting at static targets standing in one place, will not allow for these drills. I am fortunate in that I have some private property on which to practice. There are some ranges that allow for these type of drills, but most are not close to me.

I agree with the tap, rack, and assess, before instantly squeezing off another round, for the fact that even momentarily, the target, could have moved, given up, a non-aggressive, innocent, person may have entered the kill zone, or the BG may have succumbed to rounds on target, before the malfunction. The "assessment" should only take a split second, tap rack and bang should not be performed while standing still, because during those few precious seconds you are "out of the fight" no matter how quickly it can be performed. JMHO

Crash wrote:For many years I've heard that the proper procedure for a malfunction in a semi-auto is tap the magazine to make sure it is firmly seated, rack the slide to eject the round that is causing the problem, then pull the trigger. However, there are some cases where tapping the magazine, etc., won't help. So, rather than having to learn two different procedures, i.e., tap, rack, bang or drop, replace, rack, bang, how about just always doing the latter since that will take care of almost any failure. And, yes, I know that you're getting rid of a magazine that may still have perfectly good rounds in it, but that may be worth the risk of not clearing the failure with tap, rack, bang.

What say ye?

Crash

For me the drop,replace, rack, bang would be one extra motion, and probably more time consuming. Secondly, there is no guarantee, that your method would solve the malfunction, either. JMHO