Bullet stuck...

[wbdsr1]

I just have to ask.....how do you get three bullets stuck in the barrel without noticing after the first one ??? I would think you are lucky not to have been maimed.

Three? How about getting FIVE stuck in the barrel? This happened last year at our range during a revolver combat course match. Shooting at partially obscured cardboard targets while runnin' & gunnin', neither the shooter nor the safety officer noticed that none of the targets were being hit. As the shooter turned to address other targets, the safety officer noticed that there was a bullet sticking out of end of the barrel. He stopped the run immediately. Upon examination, they could tell that there were at least two bullets stuck in the barrel, but never imagined there could be five in there.

The revolver was turned over a club member, who is a gunsmith, to have the bullets removed. Being unable to budge the stuck bullets, the gunsmith resorted to drilling them out and was shocked to discover that there were five wedged in there. Luckily, the shooter was using a beefy Ruger .357 magnum with his home brewed puppy dog .38 Special lead reloads. Luckily too, because of that, the shooter can still count up to ten on his fingers. It's assumed that the first round was a squib and the weak follow-up rounds just kept stacking up behind it and pushing it forward.

 

[scooter123]

Mythbusters did an Investigation into the Squibs blowing up revolvers and found out that this is most likely an Urban Myth. What they did was totally pack the barrel of a 6 inch 686 with squibs until they could see the first one fired sticking out of the muzzle end of the barrel. Then they loaded the cylinder with just one full powder 357 Magnum and fired it. IIRC 2 or 3 bullets were driven out the end of the barrel and there was no harm to either the cylinder or the frame. The simple conclusion is that with the 357 Magnum and any lesser caliber shooting into a squib won't blow up the gun. This is also probably the case with the 44 Magnum. However, because the 460 and 500 Magnum both operate at much higher pressures I would not assume that shooting into a squib would be safe with these calibers. Anyone who cares to see this video can find it on Youtube.

Now, while it's not really a risk of blowing up a cylinder shooting into a squib there is a long, well documented, history of bulged barrels caused by shooting into a squib. In addition I've seem many reports that in some cases those bulges can occur at the Frame/Barrel junction. This can make it near impossible to remove the barrel and it can also mean that the frame has been ruined by that event. So, it's really really unwise to shoot into a squib. So, if at any time you suddenly have a 357 Magnum that feels like a 22 caliber revolver the sensible thing to do is stop immediately and check your barrel for an obstruction. In order to do this with a larger caliber like the 357 Magnum all you need is a simple pencil that you can slide into the barrel with the cylinder open. If that pencil clears the full length of the barrel you got lucky and that near squib cleared your barrel. If you're shooting a smaller caliber the easiest test is to use a small penlight like a Streamlight Stylus to shine a light down the barrel and check for a clear barrel.

Finally, I would suggest that anyone looking at this thread read Big Cholla's reply several times and take it to heart. Because he has given the most sound and concise guidance on what to do if you ever have a squib.

I will also say that you can get Squibs from Commercial loads as well as hand loads. I once had 2 near squibs from a 250 pak of UMC 45 ACP and the second one was so weak that it left the bullet spinning slowly on the range floor about 20 feet from the firing line.

 

[Hang-Fire Hank]

I just have to ask.....how do you get three bullets stuck in the barrel without noticing after the first one ??? I would think you are lucky not to have been maimed.

1. They were all under-powered, so those that barely made it out the barrel weren't any different than the 3 that didn't.
2. No maiming likely since all the back pressure escaped out the b/c gap.

 

[k22fan]

First, welcome to the forum wbdsr1! It is always good to add another member's experiences to threads.

I was present at a ladies handgun class while a similar incident occurred. It was a beginner's class. A student firing GI surplus 130 grain FMJ cartridges stacked 6 in an instructor's 6" Python. He replaced the barrel. Most of one side of the plugged barrel was milled away. I was displayed at a gun show for years. I should add that was almost 30 years ago when Pythons were not yet absurdly priced.

Most pre-WWII S&W revolvers had thin tapered barrels. Firing bullets into obstructions in them bulged them much more readily than modern thick barrels.