What causes a double feed?

[Kevinf2349]

As I have mentioned in other threads I am having some issues (understatement) with a handgun double feeding. Lets for the sake of arguement call it a Bersa.

What can cause a double feed issue? I assume the magazine is the chief culprit, but what should I check the magazine for?

Any insight would be helpful.

[tacticool]

Is the round in the chamber fired or unfired? If it's fired the double feed is may be an extractor problem. If both rounds are unfired it's probably a magazine problem where two come out instead of one. Are the feed lips loose or damaged on the magazine?

[Kevinf2349]

The chambered round is unfired.

[The Annoyed Man]

Interesting. Sounds like a magazine issue, if both are unfired. My pocket gun can't do that.... ....'cause... the bullets in the wheel go 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round. The bullets in the wheel go 'round and 'round, and hit harder than three aye-tee.

[Kevinf2349]

My primary carry starts with a 4 though

I don't own a wheel gun............yet

[The Annoyed Man]

My primary carry starts with a 4 though

I don't own a wheel gun............yet

So do mine... ...all three of them. I was just teasing because the (hypothetical ) Bersa is almost a pocket gun... not quite, but almost. My pocket gun is a 5 shot .357.

My regular carry guns are two different 1911s and an M&P 45.

[KinnyLee]

Hypothetically speaking? There could be many things that causes double feed. Out of spec ammo, broken extractor, broken extractor spring, and mag spring all could be the culprit. Hypothetically, we could also blame he shooter limp wristing.

[Kevinf2349]

TAM the "hypothetical" Bersa could be chambered in 50mm and I still wouldn't trust my life to it.

I tried to shoot one of those wheel guns but I was too fascinated at the turning cylinder to be able to shoot straight. (I distract easily ). It kicked like a mule too, but I guess that was because it was so lightweight (titanium frame). The blow out from the weapon was impressive though in the half light of Passadena Gun Club, pretty cool pyrotechnics!

[Kevinf2349]

Hypothetically, we could also blame he shooter limp wristing.

Let me persue this one a little more just to put my mind at rest. Two shooters tried the same hypothetical gun and it jammed for each shooter, however, this still could be both of us limp wristing I guess.....so..... Are some brands of guns more susceptible to this? We had no issues with any of the other brands of pistols (including another .380 using the same ammo).

[The Annoyed Man]

I'll be the first to be man enough to step up and admit that I've busted myself limp-wristing a pistol before. Almost any semi-auto can be subject to malfunctions if not shot with a firm grip. But I think that some caliber/pistol combinations are more or less sensitive to it than others. I wouldn't call this definitive, but I suspect that the shorter the gun's grip, and consequently the harder it is to keep a firm grasp on it while shooting, the more likely you might be to experience a failure related to limp-wristing. But that's just a guess.

[MoJo]

A classic double feed is a live round jammed into a fired round in the chamber. They are caused by weak extractor or LIMP WRIST yes, some of the smaller pistols are more susceptible to this than "fully mature" guns. Magazine quality can also contribute to double feeds. I have never seen nor experienced the two live round DF you are describing it may be caused by your hypothetical mags.

[jester]

Maybe your gun is pregnant and it's eating for two?

You say the round in the chamber is live so what could be happening is
1. The old round fires and ejects fine
2. As the slide goes back, a round pops out of the magazine early
3. As the slide comes forward, it picks up a round like it's supposed to
4. The second round lodges behind the first, because it has nowhere else to go

2 could be caused by loose mag lips (like when I used a 40 mag in a 9 ) or the slide bangs against the frame at full recoil and the shock bumps a round out of the magazine or something along those lines. Either way the magazine is probably at fault, either fully or partially.

[speepdaedeesi]

Interesting. Sounds like a magazine issue, if both are unfired. My pocket gun can't do that.... ....'cause... the bullets in the wheel go 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round. The bullets in the wheel go 'round and 'round, and hit harder than three aye-tee.

halarious.






to the OP, all the before mentioned possibilities pretty much cover all the angles. i would hook up with someone with experience that can check the gun out for you; i.e. gunsmith, or maybe someone on the board here with alot of experience, and have them try to recreate the issue, and pinpoint it to a single problem. it could be any combination of any of the above mentioned things.

limp wristing is a possibility, especially if youve been at the range for long enough to start getting muscle failure in your hand.

[Kevinf2349]

Thanks for all the tips. Here is what I have discovered.

I came home from work and decided to completely strip the hypothecical gun down and give it a darn good clean...you know the kind, the kind your mother made you do behind the ears. Anyway I striped the gun, (even took the grips off and cleaned inside. re-oiled and tried to re-assemble the Bers....eerm hypothectical gun of Argentinian origin and I couldn't get the slide back on. (Regular readers will be aware that this has happened before on this particular weapon). The disconnecting rod had popped out a little ways preventing the slide from dropping into place..AGAIN!

I pressed it back into place and successfully re-seated the slide. The gun racks fine and seems to be functioning insofar as I tell tell without visiting the range.

Has anyone else had issues with the disconnecting rod working loose? Is a trip to the smith in my future? Do I send the gun back to the manufacturer? (it is still less than a year old).

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.