introduction

A pistol going “out of battery” means that it won’t fire, because the action (slide/breech) isn’t fully secured in the proper forward position.

This can happen when you are in a scuffle and the pistol is pressed against the assailant, causing the slide to be moved out of it’s proper position (out of battery).

One way to prevent this is to use a weapon mounted light that sticks out past your slide / barrel (like a Surefire X300U on a Glock 19, for example).

real life situations of guns going out of battery, and how it ended

Tony Cowden (Sean Ryan Show) – was on his back being attacked by an assailant, while the assailants bodyguard was trying to shoot him, and his Glock had gone out of battery in the scuffle. He felt the Glock go into battery, pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He racked the slide down the assailants back, and was able to take out his two attackers, and get away. (video ~8:00 minute mark)