Thread: Model 15 squib
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Old 03-20-2017, 03:32 PM
mainegrw mainegrw is offline
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You could have done worse for sure: Back when I first started to load my own ammo, I had a squib incident that almost made me give up reloading altogether. At the time, I thought it would be safer to load my rounds close to the minimum powder charge, as to avoid the possibility of over charging the round. This turned out to be problematic on one occasion while shooting with a friend, as I found a box of 38 special I had loaded were too under powered for safe shooting, marked the box, and set aside to take home and unload. Mind you, I tested the ammo in a Taurus 85 snub nose I had, and of the two or three rounds fired, each was able to leave the barrel, but it was concerningly light. My friend asked if he could shoot the Ruger Blackhawk I had also brought to range, I allowed it, and gave him a box factory loaded ammo that I had also brought with me. Somehow during shooting, while I had stepped out of the range briefly, he mistook the bad box of ammo for the good and commenced firing with it. The first round was a squib, which he apparently did not notice, and proceeded to stack not just one, not two, but six rounds into the barrel of the gun. Thankfully, the batch of ammo was so under powered, that it did not cause a catastrophic failure of the gun, nor any real damage at all, just alot of hard work to fix it, and alot of heartache. There were several lessons learned here, the first being that I should not load ammo at or near the minimum loading, instead I start closer to the maximum (or just a little above the median for magnum loads), and work backwards if necessary. Along with that, I learned not to leave bad ammo anywhere accessible, now opting to take it to my car, and not put it in my range bag, or leave it on the bench, clearly marked or not. Since this incident, I have not had another loading problem, and take great care in my powder measuring, to ensure both consistency and safety. Unfortunately, problems can, and do happen, and we do our best to mitigate as many factors as we can.

Anyway, I am glad that you were able to clear your squib with ease, and without damage to the gun or yourself.

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