Suburban Law Enforcement Academy (SLEA) BA State Certification Practice Exam

What does a class 1 malfunction in firearms indicate?

1. Failure to feed/fire

2. Stovepipe

3. Double feed

4. Extractor failure

The correct answer is: Failure to feed/fire

A class 1 malfunction in firearms refers specifically to a failure to feed or fire. In this context, it represents the most basic and common issues that can occur when a firearm attempts to operate but fails to successfully chamber a round or ignite it. This typically indicates that the ammunition did not make it into the chamber or that the firing mechanism did not function properly to fire the round. The other options, while representing issues that can occur with firearms, fall into different categories of malfunctions. Stovepipes, for example, happen when a spent casing does not eject properly and gets stuck in the ejection port, while double feeds occur when two rounds are attempting to enter the chamber simultaneously. Extractor failure deals with issues concerning the mechanism that is supposed to remove the spent casing from the chamber. Each of these problems would be classified differently and is more specific in nature compared to a class 1 malfunction's general categorization of failures to feed or fire.