Hello again class,

We have all heard terms out at the range, in videos, or just in common conversation with each other on certain topics. Three of the most common failures that I have heard slang terms for are: Failure to Feed, Failure to Fire, and Failure to Eject. I can't tell you how many times that I have heard a failure to feed just referred to as "its jammed" or "double feeding". While double feeding is a very specific issue, the term "jammed" could mean a variety of malfunctions such as your slide getting hung up not just a round getting caught up in the magazine or stuck on the feed ramp. The next common failure that I hear referred to is the failure to fire. Often times I have heard this referred to as a "dead trigger' or a "dud", however both of these are not very specific and could be cause by a variety of factures. The malfunction in this case could be caused by either a light primer strike, bad ammo or a problem with your firing pin. Light primer strikes could be a problem with your trigger spring (I own a Q Fix in 6.5cm and its notorious for that, I even missed an opportunity on a deer last hunting season due to a light primer strike.). Lastly and in my opinion the most common is Failure to eject. This failure is one I have personally experienced the most as I reload my own ammo for competition. I have heard and even used the term "stovepipe" commonly when referring to a failure to eject. This term is commonly used when a spent casing is not properly ejected and gets caught by the slide as it cycles forward. The spent casing gets stuck in the ejection port and often time points straight up resembling a chimney or "stovepipe". This is usually an indicator or an underpowered ammo loading as it typically doesn't have enough pressure to fully move the slide to the rear and eject the round with enough force to clear the cycle.