Got the wheelies out yesterday for a fun range day. I picked up these 38 reloads last year at a LGS. Found out they are manufactured in same town as gun shop.
Anyhow I just wanted the brass to reload and had about 20 rounds left to shoot up. The very first round in the LCR went "poof". No powder, the primer stuck the bullet fully into the rifling. A little tap with a brass rod followed by a good cleaning and the rest were fired with no incident.

Besides these reloads I only use Underwood Ammo loads if they are not my own reloads. In all my years of shooting and reloading this is the first squib load I've encountered and the only one out of that bag of 50.

This was the first time shooting the 34-1 also. What an awesome shooting little pistol that is. It didn't like lower velocity LR's but shined with 1020fps solids.

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Dang I would have pulled the rest of them.

Well that is one way, to check out the weapons, rifling..... ? !

Glad things went well after, that little excitement.
It does get you thinking about all the stuff that can happen
and why you need to pay attention, while shooting.

Wow!
With all those weapons, it is going to take a long time at the range,
to give each one a little love and attention.

Have fun.

You were lucky. Mine just barely go into the barrel so you can't open the cylinder. Much more irritating.

It's especially irritating when it's your handload. I had it happen to me with one of my 500 S&W loads. It stuck halfway in the forcing cone and chamber - had to bang it back into the cylinder with a mallet and wood dowel. You definitely don’t want to light off another 500 round behind it. Seems my roll crimp was a little loose.

__________________
213th FBINA

Man that would've sucked big time. I've never had any of my own handloads fail. Hope I never do. I got lucky on this one.

After 45 years of hand loading I've had a dozen or more ploof loads from .38 revolvers. It happens to the best of us.

I've been reloading for 30 years. Single stage Rock Chucker press. I pay attention to detail and only load in stages at a time.

You are correct it can happen to anyone, it just hasn't to me. This is the first and only bag of that reload ammo that I've ever used and I won't be buying it again.

The inexpensive no-name bagged ammo could have been from a company with lax quality control and no liability insurance. Bad round could just as easily have been double or triple changed with powder. Plenty of room for 3 charges of some powders in that big old .38 special case.

I am amazed that you feel a crimp (alone?) can create a true squib in any caliber, much less 500 S &W: please advise as even the lightest start load should create enough pressure to insure the bullet will exit the barrel, should it not?

Are you sure it was not a no powder situation?

Cheers!

Glad it was what it was and nothing worse. Be safe out there.

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Jorge

I have yet to have a "Squib" with all my wild test loads ......

but I did have one load in my 3.5" C9 pistol that had all five 124 gr bullets exit the barrel
two, being a stove pipe , with the chrony blinking at me with an average of just...............
701 fps.

and in my 38 snub nose I had five 125 gr LFN, all leave my barrel with the chrony showing.......
483-579fps.

Seeing dust or a hole in a target is a GOOD thing.

Speaking of squibs. Went to the range a few weeks ago and was plinking with my k22 combat masterpiece. Everything was fine til pop. 36 grain copper plated Federal hollow point stuck halfway down the barrel. I thought oh well it’s a paper weight now.

Went home poured kroil down the forcing cone end standing it muzzle down. A week later it had soaked through to the muzzle end. Gave it another fill up. Checked it three days later the kroil had made it’s way to the muzzle end again.

Next step to my friendly gunsmith. Five light taps with a brass rod and the bullet was out. Rifling marks on it and the nose was hardly flattened. Could still see the hollow point plain as day. Consider myself extremely lucky. Have always believed in kroil the stuff is more than worth it’s weight in gold.

Called Federal the day happened it’s been four weeks now with no callback not upset with them, mistakes happen. Just want to talk to someone and give them the lot number. Other folks out there may have some of this ammunition and Federal needs to be made aware.

Amazing how much oomph A primer has. Bought some .45 Colt loads years ago that had a squib. They were fairly warm, 5 booms and one poof. End of my range session. It took some work getting that bullet out! It was lodged a 1/3 of the way in a 6 1/2 in barrel. That was the last time I ever bought ay remanufactured ammo

Had 2 squibs 1 with m15-cylinder wouldn't move until I hammered the heck out of it until the lead broke, a lot of damage, and 1 last week with my m36 3" that looked like a bad primer-just enough to get 1/4" of bullet into barrel. Was able to force the bullet to break at it's weak part. No damage to gun

Not bragging! I had a squib in 1970, no powder. I learned from that and now it is a hard and fast habit, an integral step, to look in every case before I seat any bullets (actually twice; I look in all the cases in my loading block and glance again as I put the case in my press, Co-Ax). Every case. No squibs since, no Kabooms...

This one busted, I might could super glue it back together. :-)

Have a blessed day,

Leon

I have had a LOT of those with my old W-W nickel cases that have been
loaded 20 times or more in my 38 speacial.

It happens most often with the nickel plated ones. I think it's called hydrogen embrittlement, when the cases are not stress relieved after plating. Maybe some on the folks in the know will speak up.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

What bullets we’re they?

Happened to me last year shooting factory loads. They were FMJ 350 gr. Powder was half reacted yellow blobs. Always had inconsistent and low velocity with the brand, and they always cause at least one stuck case, whether 500 or 44.

I handload now and haven’t had any issues except a few max load crimp jumps on heavily crimped loads.

I have been reloading 26 calibers for 50 years now. I had exactly ONE squib (.38 spl) about 5 years ago. I recognizes it and fired no more rounds until I cleared it. My technique is also very meticulous, so I don't know how it happened. However, as a result of that incidence my technique has been toned up a little bit.

Regardless, I have MANY squibs with .22 rimfires, first starting 20 years ago with Remington (all of them) and recently with issues with supply.

The base of the bullet looks very clean for a primer only. Normally the primer will blacken the base of the bullet while those that fail to ignite the powder leave fairly clean bases.

WHY WOULD YOU SHOOT SOMEONE ELSE"S RELOADS? I do not, will not, will never shoot reloads other than my own. No quality control, no guarantees, and good luck getting the value of a ruined gun back from the reloader. Does not matter what shape the cases were in, what bullet was used, how much powder in the case, since you have no control over how the "reloader" puts their rounds together.

Whew! glade I got that out of me. Very happy you nor your revolver was damaged. That was a very important lesson to learn. In the days of ammo shortages, it is very tempting to buy whatever is available, but the risk never worth saving a few bucks. Reloading components are becoming available again. Prices are high, but you can take full control of the reloading process and still keep shooting until the hoarding is over. I would certainly contact whoever reloaded that ammo and ask about their liability insurance coverage and inquire about their refund policy!

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Gary
SWCA 2515