[fire717]

I am pretty new to shooting/owning handguns and am not sure what you guys mean by second strike. I shoot a .40 QA and I guess the AS is better suited for second strike from what i have read. What does it mean? Also, what is FTE? Thanks

 

[Parabellus]

Hi there Fire,

Second strike is the capability to squeeze the trigger a second time on a chambered round if it fails to fire (FTF) the first time. QA can't without re-cocking the slide.

FTE is failure to eject.

Russell

 

[MGMike]

Hi there Fire,

Second strike is the capability to squeeze the trigger a second time on a chambered round if it fails to fire (FTF) the first time. QA can't without re-cocking the slide.

FTE is failure to eject.

Russell

The problem with newstand gun magazine acronyms such as "FTE" is that they have no universally accepted meaning. It could mean Failure to Eject or Failure to Extract. These are not the same thing, paticularly when describing a malfunction in order to diagnose its cause.

As far as double-strike is concerned, if you stick to fresh, high-quality (read that U.S. made) ammo, the need for it virtually disappears.

M

 

[Parabellus]

Yes Mike,

Thank you for pointing out the confusion about FTE and FTF (failure to feed?)
I must be experiencing FTT (failure to think)

So I just had my P99's first failure to completely extract resulting in failure to eject and subsequent failure to feed the next round which jammed against the spent case which may well have been caused by not-so-clean non-US-made ammo which might have fouled the extractor.

Russell

 

[MGMike]

You're right, I hadn't focused of FTF and the possible confusion between Failure to Feed/Fire. I always think of a failure to fire as simply a "misfire", which eliminates the need for an acronym.

Your particular stoppage illustrates very well the importance of the extraction/ejection distinction. One was the cause, the other only a downstream result.

Protracted neglect of the extractor certainly can and will produce stoppages, but in my experience most extraction problems are caused by a fouled chamber. Infrequently, but especially with third-world ammo, it's something more subtle-- like an extractor groove in the cartridge case not being wide or deep enough to let the extractor fully seat.