Attacker's pistol jammed in Germany

[The Doc]

Gentlemen,

Yet another story of a pistol jamming, this time a FN 9mm . Lucky for the airmen who survived ..........

U.S. Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden was standing outside of a bus at Frankfurt airport when a young man first asked him for a cigarette, then whether he was bound for Afghanistan.

When Alden answered yes, the 21-year-old Kosovo Albanian fatally shot him, point blank, in the back of the head, then stormed aboard the bus shouting "Allah Akbar" — Arabic for "God is great." He shot and killed Airman 1st Class Zachary R. Cuddeback, who was at the wheel, then shot and injured two others, German authorities said Friday.

Gunman Arid Uka then pointed his FN 9mm pistol at yet another airman seated on the bus. "He pointed his pistol at his head and pulled the trigger twice, but the pistol jammed and no shots came out," prosecutor Rainer Griesbaum told reporters in Karlsruhe.

Jammed, empty shell casing prevented the weapon from firing. Those casings saved at least six other lives — the number of cartridges left in the magazine.

Read more ..... http://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/244 ... ge-hero1-1

best,

Rp.

[ckkalyan]

I truly sorrow for the young airmen killed/hurt in the random shooting, as well as for the misguided youth, Uka. What a terrible waste of promising manhood - depressing!

[dr.jayakumar]

so many lives wasted in the name of god.as said misguided.don't want to be anywhere near this brutality.

[The Doc]

Jammed, empty shell casing prevented the weapon from firing. Those casings saved at least six other lives — the number of cartridges left in the magazine.

A truly unfortunate incident where (as I can make out from the media reports) the airmen had no/little chance to retaliate in self defence. Had the pistol not been jammed, the body count might have been higher !

So the pistols jam on bad guys as well (thankfully this time) !! Let this be another reference for the extensive "pistol vs revolver" debate on IFG .

best,
Rp.

[rover12]

Unfortunate series of events... Should never have happened...
The Achilles heel of the "automatic handgun(read pistol)" exposed once again...!!!
No offense meant, just that the revolver vs pistol debate has opened... again... Gents...

[winnie_the_pooh]

Unfortunate series of events... Should never have happened...
The Achilles heel of the "automatic handgun(read pistol)" exposed once again...!!!
No offense meant, just that the revolver vs pistol debate has opened... again... Gents...

What experience do you have to back up your sweeping statement based on one incident?

[full_circle]

Why a pistol jams...

http://www.northcarolinasportsman.com/d ... php?id=485

The absolute most-common reason for a malfunction is a loose grip (“limp-wristing”), which causes the mechanical action to fail. The gun slips in the hand of the shooter, the slide moves only part way to the rear, short-stroking instead of traveling completely to the rear of the slide rails. The gun then fails to extract, or eject.

jam.jpg

This photo shows what can happen when a pistol fails to extract. In this case, the fired case has remained in the chamber. The extractor failed to pull the empty case from the chamber even though the action cycled. The slide picked up another round from the magazine and attempted to force it into the chamber, but it was stopped by the empty that failed to extract. This condition is known as a double-feed.

[xl_target]

So that would point to the inexperience of the shooter in this case then, rather than a failure of the type of action in the handgun. As with any mechanical device, if you use it incorrectly, the chances of failure are greatly increased. The way to clear a double feed is to drop the magazine, rack the slide three times, reinsert the magazine and rack once more to charge the weapon. If one knows the procedure, one can have the gun up and running in seconds. Luckily the shooter wasn't aware of the procedure.

[The Doc]

As with any mechanical device, if you use it incorrectly, the chances of failure are greatly increased.

Right, the chances of failure are greater with a semi-auto pistol as compared to a revolver, it seems.

best,
Rp.

[xl_target]

As with any mechanical device, if you use it incorrectly, the chances of failure are greatly increased.

Right, the chances of failure are greater with a semi-auto pistol as compared to a revolver, it seems.

best,
Rp.

Yes, the more mechanical parts in a device, the greater the chance of failure. However, when a well engineered device, like today's semi automatic firearms, is used properly (as designed to be used) the rate of failure is close to zero. When I first started shooting handguns, I suffered the same limitations; stovepipes and double feeds. Once I was made aware of the importance of proper grip and other techniques, I didn't have any more problems. For example, My CZ P-06 has never had a single failure to feed, failure to fire or a failure to eject and this is after thousands of rounds through the gun. I bought that particular handgun after I had been shooting for a while.

I will definitely grant you your point that if as a newby to handguns, I had started with a revolver, I would never have had any of those problems. However, it was my limitations, my lack of knowledge and my inability to use the semi-auto as it was designed to be used, that caused the problem. There are very few reasons for a semi-auto, when properly used, to fail. The reason that, I personally, would chose a semi auto over a revolver would be the number of rounds available in the gun and the ability to recharge the gun quickly. For example, in a recent IDPA styled match, I was able to shoot 9 targets (double tapping each one, as required) in 37 seconds (yeah, I know, slower than molasses) while on the move between stations. This included three magazine changes as the mag in my SIG only holds eight rounds. The only reason I bring this up is to show that if I had a revolver, it would have taken me significantly longer, even with speed loaders. None of my semi auto handguns have any feed, fire or ejection failures any more when I am running them.

I will also bring up the fact that i had to be taught to drive a vehicle. I didn't just get in the car and take off without any instruction. if i had, I probably wouldn't have been around to type this right now. I was not taught to ride a bicycle when I was a kid. I learned how to by myself .......after many cuts, bruises and some damage to the bicycle.