Ever Had This Happen?

[GJH77]

Ok, now that I have your attention, my question is about what happened at the range today while shooting my model 28.
I was on my second cylinder of shooting 38 special 158 semi jacketed HP, and I thought one round sounded funny. I have had a couple of rounds that the primer fired, but apparently I had missed the powder in them, and the rounds stuck in the barrel. So I was aware of what did not sound right. But I had fired 7 rounds and there were 7 holes in the paper. So I cleared the cylinder, stuck my wood dowel in the barrel, and it would not go thru. Something was in there, but I had holes for all 7 rounds in the paper.
So I go home, and expecting to have to pound out a very stuck bullet I am surprised to find that it moves very easily. Instead of a bullet, I push out the empty copper jacket of the bullet. It had apparently separated from the lead when it fired????
I was relieved I did not have to pound it out, but had never expected this.
Common occurrence or just a fluke?

 

[spaniel]

Never had that happen but have heard of it.

Are you sure you forgot the powder, or did it just not ignite? If there was a lot of unburned powder evident it could be the latter, and you need to check the load you are using. If the former, your reloading practices need some careful attention to avoid such dangerous situations in the future. I've reloaded thousands of rounds and never had one make it off the press with an inappropriate charge. Mistakes happen but you should have a check process in practice to avoid this before seating a bullet.

 

[Mike_in_VA]

Since you described the bullet as semi-jacketed, I'm guessing that they were Speers. These bullets are known to do just what you described, with light power charges.

What recipe were you using?

 

[2152hq]

It used to be more common when people swaged their own 1/2 jacketed pistol bullets.
A poorly constructed bullet that left the lead core loose from the copper jacket teamed up with target type loads could leave the jacket in the bbl.
The copper jacket has more resistance in the rifling than the lead and not being swaged and crimped together properly let it come apart and stop in the barrel. The lead portion continues down range.
It can happen with factory bullets too. Anything is possible.

 

[gunman1960]

ive had this happen. it happens every once in awhile to me to. i tap it out to,never had the copper and lead separate.

 

[jimkim]

I once saw the core fall out of a Remington factory round. The cores were loose in several more.

 

[dirty gary]

I've never had to pound out a bullet because I missed the powder. You may want to evaluate your loading procedure to ensure that it doesn't happen. I have a small mirror mounted above the powder station on my Dillon 550, after every stroke of the handle I can see the charge in the case. Also no distractions while loading ammo.

 

[Krogen]

Speer's half-jacket bullets gave me trouble one time by separating the lead slug from the jacket. Not quite what the OP has experienced, but a real pucker time for me. I was using an inertial bullet puller on some 44 mag loads using these bullets. Not wanting to deprime live primers I was popping them in my M29. I "carefully" looked in each case before popping the primers, but one had that jacket still in the case over a full load of 296. I did not see it as it looked like an empty case. I should have looked for the flash hole. Correct safety rules saved somebody from getting hurt when I "popped" that primer. I can't imagine what the velocity was, but that jacket put a divot about 2" in diameter in the basement foundation. Glad I had eyes and ears on too.

 

[GJH77]

Thanks for all the replies. These were Zero brand bullets, in a target load, and I have been using them in several calibers. Never had the issue before.
Spaniel- on this round, the powder was there, and it did ignite, it just did not sound the same as normal, now I realize it was because the bore was not open. Since that first one I had without the full load of powder, I visually check each round as I am loading so that does not happen.
By the date of the load, I traced that round back to one of the early days loading we were having trouble with the primer feed. I believe I either had pulled the rounds out to unclog the feed or was not able to complete the stroke and did not realize it. So it was a lesson learned.
And the last line of safety was realizing that the sound of the fired round was different and the gun needed to be checked before firing again.

 

[blujax01]

I've never had to pound out a bullet because I missed the powder...

Confession time. I've done it.

Once.

So far...

 

[David Sinko]

I recently pulled a bunch of unknown .357 Magnum handloads that had the Speer 146 gr. half jacket bullet. I wanted to reload the bullets. I pulled them by hammering the inertial puller and never had any problems with separated cores and they shot perfectly after I reloaded them.

The only reason I can think of that a jacket would stick in the barrel is a faulty powder charge. Either it didn't burn properly or there wasn't enough of it. If the core is tight enough that it doesn't fall out during routine handling, then it should not fall out if the bullet is part of a properly assembled handload.

The two faulty handloads that I have assembled over the years both involved cast bullets, so there was no core to separate from a jacket. I did have a 125 gr. JHP that somebody else had loaded stick in the bore of my Model 64, but it did not launch the core. And I also had somebody else's old JHP handload squib to the point where I could actually see the bullet in flight in my peripheral vision, and it struck the target at point of aim with enough velocity to penetrate the cardboard. Again, no jacket stuck in the bore. But I see how it could happen if conditions are slightly different.

Dave Sinko

 

[TwoPoundPull]

Something wasn't right, decided to pull........Go figure.......