What would happen if you were to forcibly hold a bolt closed while firing a semi automatic weapon?

Question

I know bolt action weapons are designed to be manually operated, but what if you held the bolt of a semiautomatic rifle for example closed while firing? Would it damage the gun or simply require you to cycle that round before contiuing. Even worse, would it cause a rupture or something more dangerous?

EDIT: Unless I was provided with a bullet proof glass wall in the same style of mythbusters, I have absolutely no intention of testing this idea. I was curious while deep cleaning one of my guns, the thought occured to me since I have both lever/bolt style guns and semi auto. Thank you to everyone aside from the first poster.

EDIT: Oh and by first poster I do not mean DJ, someone else made a nasty comment and I think it was removed. Thanks all.

Answer 1

In the millitary we often called the result of this a "Beretta Bite" this phrase was coined because of our use of the Beretta M-9 and improper holding during fire can cause the slide to cause a nastey gash in yoru hand. On any gun this is pretty dangerous and it will most certainly injure you to a certain extent, the most common mechanical problem would probably be stovepipe jams, this is when the bolt reachs the farthest of its rearward travel and the extractor ejcts an empty cartridge the bolts innability to complete its travel would cause the exctractor to improperly eject the cartridge and in many case the cartridge becomes jammed in the action, also because you would be stopping the recocking action by not allowing the bolt to make full travel you would need to recock the weapon as if you were loading an empty mag and unless you have an empty chamber you stand the chance of losing a potentially expensive round that may or may not have chambered. The simple thing here is to NOT do it, Berreta bites hurt and often require stitchs and almost all semi-autos can do this to you in some form or another.

Answer 2

I probably shouldn't even tell this story. I'm going to start off by saying what I did was VERY unsafe, dangerous, and downright stupid!

This past summer I bought a Feather AT-22 rifle from a good frind of mine i shoot with at my range. It's a 20 round, semi auto 22 rifle that looks like a space gun. So me being the "clever" guy I am, I decided to load ONE 22CB long in it and try exactly what you described. A 22CB long is almost as long as a long rifle round, but with MUCH less power and powder. So I load up the magazine with one cartridge, cycle the round into the chamber, take aim on my intended target, place my thumb on the charging handle and squeeze off the round. I have no idea if the bullet hit the target, I was too busy holding my thumb which had been jammed backwards by the charging handle trying to do what it's designed to do. I didn't break anything, but my shooting hand thumb was VERY sore for every bit of 4 days. Keep in mind i was using a very low power cartridge, even less powerful than a 22 short.If I had used a standard velocity, or God forbid a High velocity 22 cartridge, i can tell you with almost 100% certainty that i would have broken my thumb.
In closing i will say, I will never do something as stupid and dangerous as that again. I've been around firearms and shooting sports for well over 30 years, I should have known better, I should have NEVER attempted something as stupid as that.With anything larger than a 22, I can pretty much assure you that you'll probably lose a thumb or finger completely.

The only reason I decided to tell this story, is so hopefully you or anyone else reading this will be able to learn from my mistake. I certainly learned from it, i should have known better, it was a very foolish thing to do and I do NOT recommend trying it.

Answer 3

bang!!! crack!!!
hey what was that cracking sound and where did your hand go?
don't think it would cause the gun to explode but i also don't think you would have the strength to hold it closed
lets look at 30/06 cartridge going 1700 fps with a 180 grain bullet that's 1155(1149.9733)ft lbs of energy at the muzzle also the same amount pushing on the bolt lots of force
would not recommend it but submit it to the mythbusters they might test it

Answer 4

I once accidently fired my stainless steel Beretta 3032 Tomcat .32 acp with the slide locked. It fired normally but just did not eject the fired casing and I had to drop the slide stop and manually rack the slide to continued shooting. Of course, I wouldn't try holding the bolt closed on even a .22 semi-automatic.

Best.

H

Answer 5

It won't break anything but you'll probably hurt your hand.

It would depend on what kind of rifle it is. For something like an AR-15 for example, you couldn't do it, the charging handle doesn't move with the action. On one with a forward assist I guess if you pushed it really hard it wouldn't let the bolt go back, that might break something though.

It's not something I'd reccomend.

Answer 6

Depends on the firearm.
Semi Auto pistol would likely jam, failure to extract. You could damage the extractor. Probably bruise you hand.

Semi Auto carbine/rifle probably jam. In a rifle like the M1 Garand it would probably bend the operating rod. In a piston gun like an SKS/AK it may damage the piston. Expect a bruised hand and possible broken bone.

Answer 7

i once made a mistake of putting my hands behind the bolt with an auto shotgun, (got used to shooting pumps and single shots). when i fired, that cocking piece that hangs out the side come back and smacked almost all my fingers. i wasnt hurt that bad, but the pain lasted a few hours.

Answer 8

Most suppressed semi-auto pistols were set up to lock the slide in the closed position to improve silencing...
to try this by hand ? carpal surgery time.

Answer 9

Unless you can hold alot of pressure, even a .22lr, I wouldn't think it was possible. If it was then it would probably jam. And you'd really hurt your hand.

Cabrerapi is wrong also

Answer 10

it would destroy the weapon. I wouldn't recommend doing this. If it is a semi automatic the gas fed back wanting to reload the a new round and eject the old one would be cycled back into the gas feed and would rupture it. The firing pin would break and the old shell would be stuck in the bore. there is also the possibility that the firearm would explode because the gas from the round fired would not have any place to go.