So: I was shooting steel with my Ruger MK IV, ammo was Aguila super extra. I had several light strikes and just figured the gun needed a good cleaning.

But then I fired a round and when the bolt cycled, the next round fired out of battery. There was an odd sounding pop, a puff of smoke and powder dust on my hand.

Inspection revealed that the firing pin spring was broken. Apparently it had gummed up the works such that the firing pin was held in the forward position and set the round off before going fully into battery


Tandem Kross sells a five pack for eleven bucks and one's on the way.

There was no injury and no damage. I thought it was funny in a way. The spring is tiny. Maybe I should treat it as a maintenance item and replace it once a year. I shoot it more than any other gun.