History Main / ConvenientMisfire

* ''Film/OperationDaybreak''. An SOE assassin steps out in front of the car carrying Reinhard Heydrich and pulls the trigger on his Sten submachine gun, only for it to jam. This scene was TruthInTelevision; Heydrich would have survived if his driver had sped off, but instead the driver pursued the gunman who'd [[RunOrDie thrown down the Sten and fled]], leaving Heydrich to be fatally wounded by a bomb thrown by a second SOE agent. Apparently the jam was caused by the weapon being packed in straw, which got into the weapon (not that the Sten gun was particularly reliable anyway).

* As noted above, during the attempted assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the gun jammed, the other culprit being the vegetation that the agent had been gathering in the pocket with the gun. Why all of the greens in his pocket? To feed his pet rabbit.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty is saved repeatedly from being shot by Libyans because their rifles keep jamming.

* Jack Ryan is able to prevent the assassination of the Prince of Wales in ''Literature/PatriotGames'', as the [[RenegadeSplinterFaction ULA]] terrorist has a jammed AK-47. Instead, Ryan and the terrorist shoot at each other with pistols, Ryan kills the terrorist, the terrorist only manages to shoot him in the shoulder. Discussed later, in that the terrorist had taped the magazines end-to-end, which made a jam upon switching the magazines more likely.

* UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}}'s Vice President (and former President) Cristina Fernández de Kirchner survived [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Cristina_Fern%C3%A1ndez_de_Kirchner an assassination attempt]] in 2022 when the assailant's gun failed to fire while inches away from her face.

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* Subverted in ''[[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndofHopesPeakHighSchool]]''. Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student, is about to fire upon series antagonist Junko Enoshima. However, his luck is literally *canceled out* by [[spoiler: Izuru Kamukura]], whom has every talent *including* luck. Meaning his gun inevitably fails to fire.

* In ''[[Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid]]'', Xia Yu Lan's gun jams while she's trying to kill Kaname. She quickly and methodically clears the jam and resumes firing, averting some other tropes associated with gun jams, but the momentary reprieve saves Kaname's life.

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* In ''Comicbook/LeTueur'', the killer's gun misfires right as he's about to kill himself with it. Of course, once he's fixed it, the suicidal urges have evidently passed.

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[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Film/{{Infamous}}'': During a convenience store robbery, Arielle is wounded when the clerk [[TwoshotsFromBehindTheBar grabs a shotgun from under the counter]] and fires a shot that hits her in the shoulder. She is only saved when the gun misfires as he attempts to take a second shot.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Crime fiction novelist Mary Rinehart (TropeMaker of TheButlerDidIt) was almost killed [[LifeImitatesArt by her servant]]. He walked into the room and aimed the gun at her, but it jammed. A chase ensued, but she survived with the help of some of her other servants.

* Subverted in ''[[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndofHope'sPeakHighSchool]]''. Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student, is about to fire upon series antagonist Junko Enoshima. However, his luck is literally *canceled out* by [[spoiler: Izuru Kamukura]], whom has every talent *including* luck. Meaning his gun inevitably fails to fire.

* Crime fiction novelist Mary Rinehart (TropeMaker of TheButlerDidIt) was almost killed [[LifeImitatesArt by her servant]]. He walked into the room and aimed the gun at her, even delivering a cool PreMortemOneLiner, when it jammed. A chase ensued, but she survived with the help of some of her other servants.

* ''VideoGame/{{Mafia}}'': Sergio Morello is one lucky bastard. The third assassination attempt on him has the [[CoolGuns/SubmachineGuns Tommy Gun]] jam when Paulie tries to gun down the target in front of the Rainbow Garden Restaurant.

* In ''Series/CSIMiami'', Speedle's nearly killed when his weapon jams from lack of cleaning. [[spoiler: He doesn't learn his lesson and gets Killed Off For Real when it jams again.]]

* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': After one of Sarris' soldiers shoots Quellek, his weapon malfunctions, giving Alexander Dane an opening to avenge him.

** Justified as before the scene Munny was out in the pouring rain for an extended period. Older firearms cartridges were much more easily ruined by exposure to water than modern day ammunition. This is especially true of then-era shotgun shells due to the nature of its design versus a rifle or pistol cartridge.

* ''Literature/YoungSherlockHolmes'': When Sherlock attempts to shoot Gilfilian in ''Red Leech'', the rifle jams. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as the two of them had been wrestling for control of the gun on a muddy riverbank, and Gilfilian comments that the rifle has a delicate mechanism and is susceptible to grit.

* In ''Series/BlackSails'' a drunk Charles Vane is accosted by some men he has previously wronged. One of them pulls out a pistol an shoots Vane point blank in the head. The pistol misfires. Vane does not give him a chance to try again and beats the would-be-shooter to death with his bare hands. The series takes place in the early 1700s so it is not unusual for a flintlock pistol to misfire.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/HumanTorch https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/strange_tales_106_012.jpg]]]]

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty is saved repeatedly from being shot by Libyans because their rifles keep jamming. They are shooting AK-47s, which, in RealLife are famed for their reliability even under the harshest conditions.
** This is kind of an apple to oranges comparison. AK's are famed for their ability to continue to operate even when their owner/user shows complete disregard for maintaining the weapon such as cleaning and lubrication. Common jams such as stovepipes, and double-feeds (the latter of which is usually the result of a defective or worn-out magazine regardless of the rifle's design) are at least as common in an AK as other conventional automatics. Some would even argue the former is more common in the design.
** It's also possible that the guns are fine, and the frequent jams are from poor-quality ammunition, not implausible since they probably bought both the weapons and ammo as black market surplus of unknown age or manufacture. It may also be a joke on Gaddafi-era Libya, a country whose military was almost entirely equipped with 1960's-era Soviet hand-me-downs of very variable quality.