Jammed Up

Old joke from eighth grade:  When is a door not a door?  Answer - when it’s a jar or jammed.

Rifles have almost the same humor potential.  They are not rifles when they are jammed.  The late Pat Rodgers preferred stoppage over jammed. 

Double Feed

Many courses focus on transition to sidearm when a stoppage occurs.  It’s sleek and sexy and well worth knowing, but at what distance from your adversary does drawing a sidearm and reengaging become ineffectual?

One answer is the maximum distance can you continue to hit your target rapidly and effectively to stop the fight.  10 yards?  15 or 20 yards?  This is a personal question and you need to determine it.

So if you can’t hit effectively at distance X, what’s the answer to a jammed rifle?  The answer is stoppage clearance.

The easiest to practice comes from a either an improperly seated magazine or a defective primer.  You know that one: tug/press the magazine, work the action and get back into the fight.

The more complicated is the stovepipe and the dreaded double feed.  Every instructor has a plan to deal with them, but creating the situation can be difficult.  I worked with dummy rounds and by myself I can create the conditions.  But trying to get either of these stoppages for ten practice cycles on the line with five shooters is difficult.

My friend showed me a slick way.  He uses a wooden stick to touch and slow the bolt carrier down to create a stove pipe.  The stick can also be placed to prevent the empty from being ejected creating a double feed.  I never thought I’d be grateful to anyone for jamming my rifle, but I am.  Thanks Larry!

Just touch the edge of the stick to the bolt carrier.

If you’re working with shooters, just divide them into shooters and stick users.  Then reverse roles.

By yourself?  You could use the base of a spare magazine to either touch the carrier or to block the ejection port and fire a round into the backstop.  Your yuppie canteen would work just as well too. 

If you’re a mall ninja, this blog will wash over you like so much early morning fog.  Besides, you have your katana for close-in work, right?  

But if you’re serious about the art of the rifle and its tactical use, practice stoppage clearance.