History Main / ReliablyUnreliableGuns

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' has rules for malfunctions, with an attack roll that lands on or above a specific number indicating that the weapon malfunctioned (with unreliable guns having a lower target number and highly reliable guns having such a high one that only a critical failure will cause them to jam). The ''High-Tech'' sourcebook, having a thick GunPorn section, also includes information on certain guns having a reputation for firing when dropped and mentions the dangers of old single-action revolvers as detailed below in the Real Life section. Damage to the gun (deliberate or otherwise) can also have a variety of effects, from lowering the malfunction number (i.e. making it more likely to jam when fired) to decreasing the accuracy or damaging the weapon's frame or stock itself.

It doesn't matter if it's a cheap Saturday Night Special or a professional quality, $1200 SIG-Sauer, count on this one. Never mind that practically all weapons designed after 1968 include a special mechanism to stop the hammer from falling unless the trigger is properly pulled, and that gunmakers had been adding them for a long time before that. If you bump it, it will go off. That said, professionals who use weapons say [[ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld there are only two classes of weapon users]]: those who have had a weapon accidentally discharge, and those who eventually ''will have'' a weapon accidentally discharge; this is why basic UsefulNotes/GunSafety says to treat any loaded firearm as if this actually is true, just in case you're dealing with a weapon that's damaged or just poorly-designed enough that it ''is''.

* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's post-apocalyptic novel ''The Valley-Westside War'', guns from TheBeforetimes still exist, but most people use bows or muskets, since nobody knows whether a century-old gun will blow up in your face when you try to use it.

* In ''Film/SchindlersList'', Göth is about to execute a worker, [[SociopathicSoldier as he has done several times before already]], but his Luger jams. As his lieutenant tries unsuccessfully to clear the jam, Göth takes out another pistol (a CZ 27) and tries to shoot him again... but the backup pistol also jams. Göth, after multiple attempts to shoot are foiled in this manner, eventually {{pistol whip|ping}}s the worker and then leaves in a huff. [[TruthInTelevision Like much of the film, this was based off of a specific real-life incident]].

** Particularly notable in ''Far Cry 2'' is how little time a gun actually lasts; it can go from a shining, brand-new weapon to a stained, corroded wreck within hours at best, with some weapons like the USAS-12 ''visibly'' corroding with every shot and the Dart Rifle taking, at best with the reliability upgrade, ''thirty'' shots to blow up. The vast majority of guns in this game must be held together with nothing more than chewing gum and reassuring platitudes; that or the ''[=FC2=]'' universe is afflicted by turbo-rust. Another extremely silly aspect of this mechanic is that jams always happen before a gun fires while failures always happen afterwards, meaning the player character will operate the pump of a shotgun before shooting solely to catch a shell in the ejection port even though they already did so after the last shot, or a weapon will successfully fire, cycle, and ''then'' explode. And despite supposedly being a highly-trained mercenary, the player character has no idea how to maintain their weaponry, and must settle for grabbing new weapons off of enemies or from their stash at the arms dealer's place.

** 5 months prior, on November 26, 2020, Scott shot an Atlas Stone with different calibers. There, he used a similar .50 BMG SLAP round to the one which caused the accident. While the rifle didn't explode thanks to the heavy barrel modification, the scene became much HarsherInHindsight later on.

* ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'': Spacer's Choice makes Reliably Unreliable ''Everything'', not just guns. Their whole business strategy is to cut as many corners and make everything as cheaply as possible. After all, [[OurSloganIsTerrible it's not the best choice, it's]] ''[[OurSloganIsTerrible Spacer's]]'' [[OurSloganIsTerrible Choice!]] Their guns break faster than any other manufacturer's, but on the plus side they're dirt cheap to repair.

** None of the guns jam, but this trope is played with by two of the [[TheAestheticsOfTechnology gun manufacturers.]] Bandit guns are made from scrap, covered with spikes and stupid-but-cool paintjobs, and have misspelled and grammatically incorrect names. They have huge mag sizes and decent power, but low accuracy and the slowest reloads. Tediore guns are inexpensive, plastic and boxy with drab or cheesy colour schemes and names that sound like bargain-bin-product adverts. They're below average on almost all stats, but they're dirt cheap and have a unique trait - instead of reloading, the guns are [[ThrowAwayGuns thrown away]] and explode like a grenade before reappearing in the owner's hand, giving them the fastest reloads (though with the added loss of you losing all the ammo that was left in them, since that's what powers the explosion - toss one after only a few shots and it'll be deadlier than if you emptied it). The explosion is actually a flaw of the digistruction procedure that remakes them, but they [[PolishTheTurd advertise it as a perk.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'': Spacer's Choice makes Reliably Unreliable ''Everything'', not just guns. Their whole business strategy is to make everything badly, out of very cheap materials, but at least you can repair it for cheap when it inevitably does break. The first person you meet in Edgewater is a guard who suffered a gunshot wound in his side because his shoddy Spacer's Choice pistol misfired into his side. [[OurSloganIsTerrible It's not the best choice, it's Spacer's Choice!]]

* In ''Film/TheUntouchables'', one gangster's Thompson jams during a fight. [[TruthInTelevision This was a problem real Tommy guns were frequently subject to]], which is one of the reasons it was never as widely used as gangland movies would have you believe. To the gangster's credit he tries repeatedly to clear the jam, but he gets so distracted doing this that it gives the [[BadassBookworm mousy accountant]] among the Untouchables time to get close enough to [[PistolWhipping KO the gangster with the butt of his shotgun]].

* Every non-revolver gun in ''VideoGame/Receiver2'' is prone to issues. Guns have a fairly high chance to stovepipe, double-feed, fail to feed and have out-of-battery malfunctions. Furthermore, if you don't carefully holster or unholster your gun or don't have it in a safe state when doing so, you ''will'' shoot yourself in the leg. The Colt SAA is especially bad because if the hammer is resting on a live round and you take a fall, the round is all but guaranteed to fire. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in-universe, as you're operating in the "post-mindkill environment" and the Threat is actively interfering with probability to make everything harder for you.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope ever recorded on Website/YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]] (shown on the main image), originally recorded on April 9th, 2021. When Scott was testing the durability of a fire hydrant being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (an RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle the pressure of an [[HairTriggerExplosive unstable and unusually-hot]] SLAP round[[labelnote:note]]Saboted Light Armor Penetrator[[/labelnote]] to the point where it literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he get a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital. The picture of him bloodied and [[NightmareFuel hospitalized]] was not looking pleasant to say the least.
** This is more of a case of "Reliably Unreliable ''Ammo''", as the firearm itself was up to regulations and built to withstand high pressures to chamber the powerful .50 BMG and its variants. The cartridge itself was the culprit, somehow producing [[MadeOfExplodium more than twice of the pressure, than even factory proofloads can provide]], due to poor aging or being tinkered with at some point. On top of that, there's no outward indication to use for gauging how safe it is to use one, so the best approach to prevent an accident like this is to check a round's history and simply never take, keep, and use ammo from old armories.
** 5 months earlier, on November 26, 2020, Scott shot an Atlas Stone with different calibers. There, he used the SLAP round for .50 cal BMG, and while the rifle didn't explode thanks to the heavy barrel modification, the scene became much HarsherInHindsight later on.

** This is more of a case of "Reliably Unreliable ''Ammo''", as the firearm itself was up to regulations and built to withstand high pressures to chamber the powerful .50 BMG and its variants. The bullet itself was the culprit, being something that the gun and many others like it are usually ''never'' made with in mind, as it was a certain type of round that was loaded with [[MadeOfExplodium way more powder than it should have held]], made even worse with poor aging. On top of that, there's no outward indication to use for gauging how safe it is to use one, so the best approach to prevent an accident like this is to check a round's history and simply never take, keep, and use ammo from old armories.

'''Tour Guide:''' [[LampshadeHanging Of course, for safety reasons, we don't keep the cannon loaded]]. [[RealityEnsues It's just common sense.]]

** This is more of a case of "Reliably Unreliably ''Ammo''", as the firearm itself was up to regulations and built to withstand high pressures to chamber the powerful .50 BMG and its variants. The bullet itself was the culprit, being something that the gun and many others like it are usually ''never'' made with in mind, as it was a certain type of round that was loaded with [[MadeOfExplodium way more powder than it should have held]], made even worse with poor aging. On top of that, there's no outward indication to use for gauging how safe it is to use one, so the best approach to prevent an accident like this is to check a round's history and simply never take, keep, and use ammo from old armories.

** This is more of a case of "Reliably Unreliably ''Ammo''", as the firearm itself was up to regulations and built to withstand high pressures to chamber the powerful .50 BMG and its variants. The bullet itself was the culprit, being something that the gun and many others like it are usually ''never'' made with in mind, as it was a certain type of round that was loaded with [[MadeOfExplodium way more powder than it should have held]], made even worse with aging. On top of that, there's no outward indication to use for gauging how safe it is to use one, so the best advice to avoid having this happen is to simply avoid taking and keeping them if you know that they're from old armories.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on Website/YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], (Shown by the main image) which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment Scott tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the sniper rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (stands for saboted light armor penetrator) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital. The picture of him [[NightmareFuel hospitalized]] bloodied was not looking pleasant to say the least.
** 5 months earlier, in his video in November 26, 2020 where he shot the Atlas Stone with different caliber, he uses the SLAP round for .50 cal BMG. While the rifle didn't explode thanks to the heavy barrel modification, it became a much HarsherInHindsight later on.

** 5 months ago, in his video in November 26, 2020 where he shot the Atlas Stone with different caliber, he uses the SLAP round for .50 cal BMG. While the rifle didn't explode thanks to the heavy barrel modification, it became a much HarsherInHindsight later on.

** Another example happens during "White Nights", when Archer's stolen pistol fails to fire at a ''very'' bad time. Strangely, the pistol in question is the normally [[TonkaTough ultra-reliable]] Tokarev TT-33.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on Website/YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], (Shown by the main image) which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment Scott tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the sniper rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (stands for saboted light armor penetrator) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital. The picture of him [[NightmareFuel hospitalized]] was not looking pleasant to say the least.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on Website/YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], (Shown by the main image) which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment Scott tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (stands for saboted light armor penetrator) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and collapsed his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital. The picture of him [[NightmareFuel hospitalized]] was not looking pleasant to say the least.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on Website/YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment Scott tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (stands for saboted light armor penetrator) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and collapsed his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital. The picture of him [[NightmareFuel hospitalized]] was not looking pleasant to say the least.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on WebVideo/YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment Scott tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (stands for saboted light armor penetrator) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and collapsed his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital. The picture of him [[NightmareFuel hospitalized]] was not looking pleasant to say the least.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment he tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (stands for saboted light armor penetrator) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and collapsed his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital. The picture of him [[NightmareFuel hospitalized]] was not looking pleasant to say the least.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment he tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and collapsed his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital. The picture of him [[NightmareFuel hospitalized]] was not looking pleasant to say the least.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment he tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (which is likely outdated) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and punctured his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]] (provided by the image), which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment he tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with a .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (which has more psi than what RN-50 can allow) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and punctured his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]] (provided by the image), which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment he tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (which is likely outdated) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and punctured his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital.

* Possibly the worst incident of this trope recorded on YouTube has to be from the one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ Kentucky Ballistics]], which is recorded during April 9th, 2021. During the moment he tested the durability of fire hydrant after being shot with .50 BMG sniper rifle (RN-50 by Serbu Firearms), the rifle wasn't able to handle enough pressure of the SLAP round (which is likely outdated) to the point the rifle literally '''exploded''' in front of his face and body. As a result, not only did he have a broken arm and nose, but the shrapnel from the gun lacerated his jugular vein and punctured his lungs to the point he almost died from blood loss. Thankfully, his dad, who was recording the video, was able to take him to the hospital.