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Well... I had my first... squib.

L

Lugnut

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Well it was sure to happen after shooting many, many thousands of rounds. Several thousand of reloads most recently. It was quite a surprise. I was shooting fairly fast out of my 1911. The loads were 3.8gr of Clays, with 230gr Berrys bullets. It was bang, bang, bang, blip. I'm kinda glad I got to see what it was like at my range instead of at an IDPA match. The good thing was that the slide did not move back enough to eject the empty case and load another in the chamber. Another good thing was the round was not stuck in the barrel although the recoil was so light I was shocked it wasn't. My range has an angled steel back plate so I decided to see if there was anyway I could find anything down range. Most of the bullets were mushed like small pancakes... but amazingly I found the squib bullet. Almost all the bullet was enclosed in the copper plating still and I could clearly see the rifling on the bullet although the bullet did have a big "dent" on the front. I would have loved to find out how slow that sucker was going! I did see a small grease ring a couple inches below my group... it basically just ripped the target and was not a round hole.

I guess I'm lucky though I'm disappointed that this happened. I use a Hornady LNL and an RCBS powder cop. Oh well....
 
If you load long enough, you are bound to get one or two (or more). I've never had one that actually cycled the slide or bolt of any of my rifles or handguns.

For handguns, I carry dowels cut down to slightly longer than the barrel or various diameters. Most of the time I can dislodge it in that manner and get the handgun back in service.
 
Here's my first.....luckily I was using my trusty SW625, the cylinder gap blast was quite impressive when I shot the next round (my loads don't have much recoil, even though they make major PF) into the back of the squib.

Yes, BOTH bullets in barrel. No bulge, nothing bad happened (IPSCDRL can verify- he was the RO)- just shooting too fast to realize it. Lesson learned, light mounted above press to make sure that if I have a brainfart, it won't be at the powder station anymore.
 

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Mooney said:
Here's my first.....luckily I was using my trusty SW625, the cylinder gap blast was quite impressive when I shot the next round (my loads don't have much recoil, even though they make major PF) into the back of the squib.

Yes, BOTH bullets in barrel. No bulge, nothing bad happened (IPSCDRL can verify- he was the RO)- just shooting too fast to realize it. Lesson learned, light mounted above press to make sure that if I have a brainfart, it won't be at the powder station anymore.
Click to expand...

WOW. That is amazing.
 
It's never fun when you get a squib load. I've had 1 or 2 over the years. Not a big deal in an auto as it won't typically cycle the slide. It's obvious when it happens and kind of embarrassing. It's actually a great lesson to be learned. You'll be a lot more careful when you're loading from now one. One thing I like about loading .38 super is that you fill the case 95% with powder so it's obvious if you are missing it.

Another reason to buy a Dillon... HAHA J/K as it's happened to most of us regardless of the press.
 
I do faithfully and carefully watch the powder cop plunger. What I can't see is whether or not the load is high or low since the .45ACP loads hardly fill the case at all!
 
I had my first squib shortly after I started reloading. I'm not sure how it made it past me as I was weighing each round back then. Must of had a brain freeze or something. It happened at the last Shirley shoot and because there was so many people firing, I didn't notice the lack of "bang". To me it just felt wrong. I was shooting my SA Champion at the time and it did cycle the slide. Luckily the bullet only went into the bbl a little so the next round couldn't chamber properly and the slide did not go into full battery. I had no idea at the time why it was happening, but I was informed by the guy standing next to me who recognized what my problem was. Took a wood hanger apart at home to make the wood dowel. A couple whacks on the dowel and the bullet came out easily enough. Didn't effect the bbl any as it was just as accurate when I took it to the range the next day to see if there was any damage.

The only good thing that came out of it was that I now know what a squib feels like. Hopefully I'll not experience one again.
 
here is from a squib load in my FAL....commercial malaysian surplus ammo. ( This happened about 8 years ago)...

fal_kb1.jpg
 
"Did the bbl just split or was there any shrapnel flying around when it broke open?"

Well....I assume there was shrapnel.
I was alone at the range that day. I was test firing the rifle, slow fire. The last round before the "explosion" I was looking through my spotting scope and saying to myself...where the heck did that round go?? could not see where it hit, and all the previous rounds were a fairly good grouping...it must have been entirely off the paper !!!!! ( Never thinking that the bullet was still stuck in the end of the barrel)...So I sighted in and squeezed the triggerr to fire the next round....

....next thing I know is I heard 2 bangs, and the buttstock swung hard left ( I am right-handed), knocked my glasses and shooting earmuffs off...and I sat there kind of dazed going WTF happened...??? I looked over the rifle and didn't see anything wrong, broke open the FAL action, removed the bolt, and peered down the barrel....when I didn't see a perfect circle of light from the muzzle end I then finally looked at the muzzle and saw the split...Sure ended the shooting for that day. There was no bullet still stuck in the barrel from either the first stuck round or the subsequent 2nd round, so I assume the lead exited via the muzzle end and/or the split. I'm kind of glad no one was there to my left, and also glad nothing worse happened to me.
This kind of shows a positive thing too as far as the strength of the FAL action. I sent it back to the gunsmith, had him check it all out and install a new barrel. He said no damage occurred and the rifle was good to go. He wanted to keep the split barrel, but I wanted it back -> I have it hanging on the wall above my gun-work bench, as a reminder to always be careful, and if you ever question where that round went, to maybe check to see if the barrel is clear before firing that next round....
 
Wow- that's a tough one to swallow hiker- glad only replaceable parts were broken!

I KNOW how mine happened at least- I was having issues with one of the plastic guide pieces on my Dillon, and hadn't quite bothered to fix it with my spare parts (stupid). I had weighed the charge on the scale, and I must have put the case back into the station I had taken it out of, but only after I dumped the powder back into the hopper. Then I turned the dial, moving the now empty, primed case into the seating area. I immediately (upon going home) moved a light into a spot where I could load and still efficiently see into the case.

No issues since!
 

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