Two bullets stuck in barrel?

Hey everyone! I was shooting some handloads yesterday at the range and had an interesting squib. It seems as if a bullet got stuck in the barrel, fired again, ramming the first bullet to the front of the barrel and the second halfway to the forcing cone. You can see the bullet at the front of the barrel with its jacket peeling and then another sticking between the cone and cylinder. If this is so, how did my gun not explode? And the load I was using was 4.7 grains of Unique under a 158 grain Brass jacketed round nose. Thanks!

If you need help getting the stuck bullets out and live in the So Cal area please give me a call @ 323-722-3903. Good luck, John

Hey, John! I unfortunately don't live in SoCal, but rather on the east coast. I wish I had pictures of it so everyone could see.

You normally will not have a revolver barrel explode as pressure will escape at the cylinder-barrel gap. When the bullets are removed, there may well be a bulge not noticeable until you look down the barrel and see a dark ring.

I am always careful to stop and check if there seems to be anything the least bit unusual about the report. Tough to do if you are shooting rapid fire.

Bullets are usually not difficult to remove. If the nose of one is close to the muzzle, I'd use a slap hammer or something similar to remove it, then drive the other bullet back into the chamber with a brass rod. That's one reason I always have a 6" brass rod and a hammer in my range tool kit - and I've needed it a few times over the years.

Sounds like pure luck. You didn't say what you were loading, a little hot for .38 special, pretty light for .357 magnum. Either way if you had that charge weight it should have run them down and out the barrel. One more example of "if it don't feel right, stop shooting and check things out" before firing another round. I'd be checking my powder measure for consistency.

A few years ago, one of our employees did the same thing. I was about three feet behind him when his third shot did not sound quite right. As I stepped forward he fired again and ended up with two rounds in his barrel. We were using the model 64 with bull barrel and had no injuries. I kept that gun as a teaching aid until we changed to the M&P.

Hey, guys! Well I got some pictures. The gun is a Model 10-6 with a 2" barrel. The loads weren't hot at all for this gun. I usually use 5.2 grains of unique behind a 158 grain LSWCHP, and have used up to 5.6 with no problem. The loads were extremely light and damn accurate. The .22 pistol I fired had heavier recoil than this! Here's a picture too. You can see the bullet at the front if the barrel. The guy at the range was able to pull the cylinder out a bit too the side, so I'm not positive it's a bullet stuck in the cone. A more likely candidate in my head would be a stretched case.

Pulling a jacketed bullet from a barrel is almost impossible. The lead core is very soft and a puller will tend to pull out of the lead.

My suggestion is to drill through the center of the first bullet (the one near the muzzle) about half the diameter of the bullet - in the center!! Since it is a 38, I would drill through with a 3/16" drill or .1875". Then use a short 3/16 solid brass rod to drive the second bullet back into the cylinder. You can use copper tubing cut short as a guide to protect the bore as you drill.

Then take a 5/16" solid brass rod .3125" and drive the first bullet out of the barrel AFTER you open and remove the cylinder. Put oil on it from the cylinder side to help it drive easier. Having the short barrel will help. Keep your lengths on your brass rods about 1" longer than the driving distance. This will keep them from bending. Be very careful not to hit the muzzle. Short taps are better than big swings.

These rods can be obtained from your local Ace Hardware store in 12" lengths.

I would first try a hardwood dowel rod from the muzzle before the brass rod.

I'm taking the gun to the gunsmith on Monday, so hopefully they can fix it. I'm not sure if I feel comfortable enough with my hand drill and a loaded gun in my basement xD if they can't find a way, or give me a reasonable price, then I'll definitely try though. Thanks!

Me239 said:

Hey, guys! Well I got some pictures...

...The loads weren't hot at all for this gun. I usually use 5.2 grains of unique behind a 158 grain LSWCHP, and have used up to 5.6 with no problem...

Click to expand...

For some reason I don't see your image imbedded in your post. I copy/pasted the URL and I see it there, just not here.

That seems like a very hot load of unique.


Sgt Lumpy

My old Speer book #10 shows 4.8gr > 5.5 gr Unique behind a 158 gr jacketed bullet, 5.5 gr being a +P load. 4.7 gr is below that range but only by by a tenth of a grain so any squib would IMHO be a botched powder charge (no offense).

SgtLumpy said:

For some reason I don't see your image imbedded in your post. I copy/pasted the URL and I see it there, just not here.

That seems like a very hot load of unique.


Sgt Lumpy

Click to expand...

I will admit the 5.6 grains was a little excessive, but also that the case showed no signs of over pressure and the kick was quite manageable. The 5.2 grains I use is what I got out of my Lee manual. The kick is no greater than your factory 158 LRN.

hotrod150 said:

My old Speer book #10 shows 4.8gr > 5.5 gr Unique behind a 158 gr jacketed bullet, 5.5 gr being a +P load. 4.7 gr is below that range but only by by a tenth of a grain so any squib would IMHO be a botched powder charge (no offense).

Click to expand...

No offense taken it's hard to keep track of 50 rounds with a single stage sometimes. I need to look at them more carefully.

A hardwood dowel is much more likely to break or shatter than brass. If it does you have only added to the problem. I have had to do a couple for customers over the years .

SgtLumpy said:

For some reason I don't see your image imbedded in your post. I copy/pasted the URL and I see it there, just not here.

That seems like a very hot load of unique.


Sgt Lumpy

Click to expand...

I still don't see the picture, any help?

I'm not real sure how to. I put it on imgur and used the link they provide.

SQUIBS

HG356 is right on the money, but I'd go with dumbluck as you failed to notice the first squib and fired a second. I would be surprised if the gun is in fact not damaged already, somewhere. Taking an electric drill to it will most likely, certainly ruin it. Time for a pro to hopefully salvage it. Good luck.

Also perhaps you may want to pull the rest of that batch and see if it could be operator error, or bad powder, etc. . . . because two squibs in one cylinder seems to my very amateur opinion, to be a lot of failures. Good luck tracking down the issue, and unsticking those slugs.

handgunner356 said:

Sounds like pure luck. You didn't say what you were loading, a little hot for .38 special, pretty light for .357 magnum. Either way if you had that charge weight it should have run them down and out the barrel. One more example of "if it don't feel right, stop shooting and check things out" before firing another round. I'd be checking my powder measure for consistency.

Click to expand...

This is an area where you can find conflicting data, so it's not guaranteed that a 4.7 grain load is "hot" for the 38 caliber. Hornady's data was developed using a 4 inch model 15 and features a starting load of 3.9 grains of Unique with a produced velocity of 600 fps. Sierra's data was developed with a 6 inch K-38 and features a starting load of 5.0 grains of Unique with a produced velocity of 750 fps. Looking at Alliant's data yields NOTHING for a 158 grain jacketed bullet in either 38 or 38 +P. When I run into this I tend to try out some test loads at a charge weight that falls into the overlap area between the conflicting data sets. The bad news in this case is that overlap is exactly 0.10 grain, so your initial would be 5.05 grains if that was at all possible.

In addition I really don't like it when the powder manufacturer doesn't list my chosen powder with my chosen bullet type. This sort of indicates to me that the powder manufacturer has determined that particular combination isn't suitable. What we may be seeing here is the result of a powder that wasn't well suited to the bullet chosen.

Having recently been through a poor powder choice (SR7625 with 125 gn. plated) I now spend a bit more time looking for confirmations and pass on combinations that don't confirm across several different sources. BTW, what I found was extreme position sensitivity and with the powder lying "wrong" the velocity was only 400 fps. Fact is I was real lucky I didn't squib a barrel.

A tip for those reading this and shooting with either plated or jacketed bullets. If your 38 caliber revolver starts sounding and shooting like a 22 caliber with those new loads it's time to pack up and go home. Because you really don't want to push your luck and shoot those weak rounds up. Jacketed bullets produce a lot more friction in a barrel and are much much easier to squib as a result of this. Take any remaining ammo home and recover the components for use in a different recipe. BTW, I've reused pulled bullets and they work fine for range duty.

Now about getting those stuck bullets out of that barrel. Since the one up near the muzzle is visible I would drill it out so that a wood screw will tighten up well and pull it from the barrel using a slide hammer. For that squib near the forcing cone use a brass rod down the barrel and hammer it free.

After that you'll need to get the barrel as clean as is possible and then use a penlight to check for bulges. If you find it bulged near the forcing cone it probably won't have much effect on accuracy. However you may find you have minor issues with leading that didn't exist before and you will want to keep an eye on the frame under the barrel because it might crack at some point.