Beware!!!----squib load- safety up

[freebullet]

Had a fun afternoon shootin. Took my mother out shooting in preparation for her to take her ccw class. I went over the safety basics with her as I always do. Not 20mins later as we were plinkin away I hear the distinctive sound of a primer only go off. Before I could even say stop she already knew there was a problem. She may not have known exactly what but she did stop. Upon checking the bore I was startled, scared, ashamed, & grateful all within a few split seconds. Startled because had never seen a squib with an actual projectile lodged in the barrel in my lifetime of shooting regularly. Scared because of what could have happened. Ashamed because I loaded that round which clearly had no powder. Grateful because I had given her a simple safety refresher, & that I didn't watch a bomb go off in Ma's hand on my birthday no less. 7594275943

[mroliver77]

Good on Ma! Single stage or progressive loader?
J

[freebullet]

Single.

[Stephen Cohen]

I hope you got your mum a bunch of roses, I once saw an Air Force officer, pull the trigger again after just such a thing, split and bulged Browning 9mm barrel and locked it up tight.

[bikerbeans]

Glad your mom was properly trained and responded correctly. FWIW, I have seen a number of revolvers that folks shot after a squib and all of these pistols ejected the squib boolit and the fired boolit stayed in the barrel. In one instance the squib was the first round and the fellow shot the remaining 5 cartridges. It was easy to tell this by the 5 "bumps" in the barrel of his revolver. I also saw a 1911 45ACP that was fired with a stuck boolit and it ruptured the barrel. Maybe the cylinder/barrel gap on a revolver is enough to vent the pressure before the barrel comes unglued?

BB

[mroliver77]

Single.

I asked because there are so many that rag on progressives as being unsafe and causing these problems. When I have had squibs it was always my fault and usually the result of me breaking a rule.
Thanks for posting as we will all be a bit more careful now.
J
Jay

[**oneshot**]

Good catch!

[ACrowe25]

Good catch! This is why I am always hesitant to allow others to shoot my reloads. I know how things feel, they may not. With that being said I ought to the know when things are wrong and inspect. They may not.

Safe shootin'

[dragon813gt]

Glad she recognized something was wrong. The one squib I loaded was preceded by a double charge. I changed my procedures after that incident.

[nicholst55]

Reminds me of my Colt Army Special .32-20 revolver. The original barrel had not one, but two bulges in it... Makes ya wonder!

[KCSO]

My ex SIL ruined a gun for me that way with HIS reloads that he bought cheap at a yard sale, after I told him not to shoot them. Back when we all shot 38 wadcutteres we had a range rod on hand at every shoot.

[doctorggg]

The return spring on the case activated auto powder measure on my Hornady progressive loader got weak. I hadn't noticed it stick in the up position. I had a squib load. I discarded about 100 rounds of 38 special because I wasn't sure of double or even triple loads. Yes I could have unloaded all of them but that was back in the 'days of plenty." Better safe than sorry. I am now more diligent than ever. Glad your mom didn't fire the next round. Good instructions on your part.

[shooter93]

Don't feel too bad....in the shop I help out at times I've seen three different revolvers come in with all six slugs stuck in the barrel. The only thing that stopped them from trying to shoot more was the fact that the last bullet was back far enough the cylinder wouldn't turn or open.

[JeffinNZ]

Good save. Looks like the powder storage is really cutting! LOL

[legend 550]

OK I know this is going to sound stupid. But has anyone loaded squib and really low charge loads on purpose to train a new shooter? I need to let my wife hear and be able to recognize a squib or a load that my leave a slug in the barrel.

[redneckdan]

OK I know this is going to sound stupid. But has anyone loaded squib and really low charge loads on purpose to train a new shooter? I need to let my wife hear and be able to recognize a squib or a load that my leave a slug in the barrel.

I have loaded 2.0 gr of red dot under an rcbs 200gr lswc in 45 acp. Used them for lady's night at the college range. Never had one stick in the barrel but it just goes *pop* and you can plainly see the bullet fly down range.


Sometimes a new shooter would be intimidated by somebody else shooting the hardball loads so starting with the very light loads, then light target then full loads seemed to work well. Always checked the barrel with an small light when using the powder puff loads.

[AW738]

I've not had a squib "yet". I would like to know how hard it would be to get it out of the barrel? I did have some 30-06 loads that were loaded to the specified COL but they were too long for my Ruger. Had a hard time getting the bolt to close and decided not to shot it. When I did get the bolt open the bullet remained in the rifling and the powder came flying out with the case. I had to shorten almost 40 rounds by just a few thousands.

[dagger dog]

My squib story, had bought 1000 rounds of military surplus range drops 5.56 Nato, boxed bulk. On opening the package found @ 10% w ere just cases primed but no powder and a lot of loose FMJ bullets, so I went through the whole lot a wound up culling another 10%, bullet set back in the case, bent necks, etc.

So I get to the range and started firing some , heard a muffled pop no recoil, so I racked the bolt on my Mini 14 pushed the bolt hold open ,an empty case ejected and it fell to the ground, popped the magazine, had to invert the rifle and look down the barrel and couldn't see daylight.

I always take my cleaning kit to the range so I had my rod, the bullet was lodged about 1" into the rifling.

Luck was on my side that day, I don't buy pigs in a poke anymore either, no matter how cheap.

[khmer6]

I've had squibs before. Luckily I was always able to notice it. Give it a whack with a dowel.

[Boerrancher]

I always keep my cases turned upside down in the reloading block until I put the powder charge in, then I inspect each charged case before I stomp the projectile on it to make sure it is charged and looks to be the same amount every time.

Best wishes

Joe

[wvmanchu]

Had my first squib load ever a couple weeks ago, was shooting my new Ruger Blackhawk w/158 gr semi-wadcutters over 14.5 grs of H110 that I had loaded on the turret press and weighed each charge individually somehow I missed one. Stopped shooting and checked the barrel it was clear but I was a little nervous for the rest of the session thinking I may have double charged a case. Don't think it's possible to get 29 grs of H110 in a 357 case without some spilling out. I always give new shooters and new to reload shooters a safety briefing to Immediately stop shooting if something doesn't sound or feel right.

[wallenba]

I never thought it would happen to me either. My squib was a 38 special wadcutter that stuck in the forcing cone of my S&W 686. I loaded them on a Lee Classic cast turret with a manually operated powder dispenser, an RCBS Little Dandy on a Lee charge through expander die. From that point on I primed and charged off press after removing the decapping pins. On my progressive I use an RCBS lockout die.

[Brett Ross]

I would like to forget my squib story but the bulged barrel on my first p64 won't let me. I pulled the trigger and before my brain got the message to my finger it pulled the trigger again. I looked down the barrel after the second shot, it was clear. I thought I dodged a bullet until I pulled the gun down to clean and noticed the bulge. I was mad at my-self for ruining a nice pistol but grateful for all ten finger's being ware the we're ment to be.

[Para82]

My one and only squib,(I hope!) was in 9mm with Berry's 115 gr plated bullet and Bullseye powder for my wife's Ruger LC9. Was teaching her to shoot and had covered safety procedures and if something sounded different to stop and investigate so she immediately stopped and cleared the pistol when it didn't sound right. Bullet was about an inch up the barrel. Knocked it out with a cleaning rod. I thought I was extremely careful when I load but now triple check charges. Pulled the rest of that box of ammo and all charges were fine. Have been loading rifle and pistol since 1993. Bad feeling having a squib with your wife behind the gun.

[freebullet]

We shot the rest of that batch without issue. The next day I was able to figure out her inconsistent accuracy issue. It was trigger slap. I worked with her on that & it brought her groups together nicely. On Saturday she passed her test without issue. I am greatful there was no double charge to follow. I regard my reloads as safe I'm very careful & check everything. I will be modifying my charge & check procedure to help eliminate this from occurring again. The boolit was stuck just in the rifling, it popped out real easy it was a purty soft boolit. Thanks for sharing yer squib experiences, I thought this woulld be a good safety reminder for us all.

[smokeywolf]

Just one of the reasons I don't let my boys shoot rapid fire with the 1911.

smokeywolf