Failure to Feeds...aka Limp Wristing

If you’re an inexperienced shooter, or a experienced shooter who has ever had a gun fail to feed and someone told you that it was because you may have been “limp wristing” the weapon and wondered what in the heck that had to do with anything… I’m here to explain what that had to do with anything.

This is a fairly visual and scientific explanation, but I’ll do the best I can.

When you pull the trigger on a pistol the firing pin hits the primer in the round of ammunition. The primer ignites and causes the powder in the round to explode causing the bullet to be propelled forward due to the pressure of the expanding gasses.

The recoil is the force of the explosion in the equal and opposite direction of the propulsion of the projectile. This recoil is required to push the slide backwards causing the round to reach the terminus of its travel, be expelled by the extractor pin. The next round in the magazine is then pushed upwards by the spring behind the magazine follower. The slide rebounds due to the guide rod spring; the round is then captured by the slide and pushed forward in to the barrel.

If there isn’t enough propulsion from the expansion of the gasses, the slide may not make the complete circuit, then the next round of ammunition may not have the room to completely extend in to the receiver, thus causing a failure to feed.

At the same time, if you “limp wrist”, as opposed to holding a firm grasp on the weapon, your wrist may act as a shock absorber and rob the pistol of some of its energy thus causing the slide not to extend all the way to the far back position.

So, if you have failure to feeds, don’t check the ammo or the magazine first, check your grip… that could easily be the cause.