When you fire

[Skeletor]

When you fire is there any delay between the striking of the fuse and the shot?

[csteinman]

not unless you have faulty ammunition.. or maybe a musket (not sure about that though i dont have a musket :P)

however, i suggest you read up about double/single actions (in the case of a handgun), etc... as well about 'trigger slap'

[rickrem700]

What you are talking about is lock time, It is the time it takes for your hammer to strike your firing pin, for your firing pin to strike the primer and the time it takes for the primer to set off secondary larger load of powder that creates the pressure to send your bullet out the bore of your rifle or pistol, there is another teck name for it, but it escapes me at the moment, No you will not see this in conventional ammo, As all of this happends in hundred's of thousands of a second, the only place you are likly to see this happen is with a flint lock rifle, even then you would have to look close.