[njl]

Your categorization is poor...but a while back there was something commonly referred to as a phase 3 malfunction. I had a G19 (at least I think it was the G19, it might have been my 17, but pretty sure it was the 19) that did this enough that I eventually sent it back to Glock. The phase 3 malfunction is kind of like a stove pipe, but instead of the spent shell pointing up, it's extracted, stays with the head against the breach face and is still held against the breach face by the extractor. To clear, you have to drop the mag, lock the slide back, and forcibly remove the spent shell from the breach face, either by tapping it out or grabbing it with a pliers.

Glock, in their typical fashion of not admitting an issue, fixed my G19, but wouldn't say what they did to it. Before sending it in, it'd gotten to the point where it was doing it pretty frequently, and I remember, when it came back, I went to the range with a Winchester 100-pack, and dumped mag after mag through it into the berm, didn't even bother with a target. It never did a phase 3 again.

AFAIK, NYPD had a bunch of G19s exhibit this issue. This would have been sometime in the early 2000s...I tried searching for my posts about it, but found nothing.

 

[njl]

I'm open to a better method of categorization.

The phase I/phase II or immediate/remedial action is pretty well established, though

You have a typo in the OP...

Major malfunction: Anything not fixed by remedial action, but fixed by remedial action.

And the last type of failure...the "nuclear option", a phase 3 is a good example of something not fixed by any common malfunction drill, perhaps even requiring the use of a tool, but not involving any permanent damage as would be caused by KB/overcharged reload.

A squib would be another example of a malfunction (granted, not the gun's fault), that can't be dealt with without tools, but again, no permanent damage as long as you don't attempt to fire again with one stuck in the pipe.

 

[njl]

I had some squibs with my .44 magnum reloads during a cowboy match once, if you consider that a "malfunction."

Other than that, never in about 35 years of shooting all kinds of guns.

Shooting .44mag in a cowboy match sounds like a mental malfunction