Teaches:
malfunction clearance procedure

Requires:
optional unreliable ammunition, optional snap caps

Drill:
Your primary method for learning malfunction clearance procedures should be dryfire, but dryfire practice lacks an essential element of real-life malfunctions: they are unexpected. Live-fire drills should present the shooter with the problem of (1) recognizing that a malfunction has occured, and (2) clearing it.

Any shooting drill can become a malfunction drill with the judicious introduction of ammunition that won't fire. The most common method is the surprise snap-cap (as in the Farnam Drill). Other methods involve making the gun or the ammunition temporarily less reliable:

• Shoot an unreliable gun (finally, a use for that junker you got at the flea market...)
• Shoot any ammunition that doesn't feed well in your gun. Most semi-autos have a preference for certain kinds of ammunition. Feed it something it doesn't like.
• Shoot wadcutters or semi-wadcutters in your semi-auto. In many guns, this will cause failures to feed.
• Strengthening the recoil spring in some autoloaders will make them unreliable enough to practice jam clearing. Wolff Springs sells complete kits.
• For reloaders, try seating the bullet upside-down. This may not feed at all, but if it does, it will probably be unreliable.
• Using a roll crimp can cause feed problems, BUT beware of possible overpressure. Increase the crimp gradually, using a light load, until you notice problems feeding.

Be sure you perform the proper clearance procedure even if you "know" that it's only a snap cap. Don't evaluate the malfunction--just clear it. The point is to ingrain the Tap-Rack-Ready (and Lock-Rip-Rack-Load-Rack-Ready) procedure as an automatic response to a gun that won't fire. Keep your focus on the target, not the gun.

Be sure to keep unreliable ammunition marked and separate from practice and defense ammo.