http://www.lukemccoy.com/files/Catastrophic Firearms Failure.pdf

All Armed Officers:

The attached intel report concerns the reloading and firing of handgun ammunition. If you have chambered a round and then extracted (by cycling the slide back) the same round, the force of chambering causes the bullet to seat slightly deeper into the casing.

The problems described in the attachment were catastrophic when the same round was chambered and extracted several (5-6) times and then fired, causing the barrel and slide to be propelled downrange.

Glock and SigArms confirms that this type of accident can occur by rechambering ammunition, and SigArms says in the report that rechambering a round once voids the warranty.

As a word of caution don’t rechamber a round of ammunition once chambered and extracted. We need to make sure that the extracted round is segregated from the empty casings for proper disposal.

Thank you,

Dean Fittz
SAC/Dallas
Senior Firearms Instructor