A buddy of mine invited me to his member only shooting range a few days ago (really nice outdoor facility BTW). I had my 3913 and a couple other firearms and he started with his recently acquired Beretta Cheetah in 32ACP. We were about six feet apart with no barrier between us. On his 2nd or 3rd magazine I hear this really odd "poof" kind of sound and immediately looked over at him. I was fairly certain what had happened but I am certain he had no clue. Thankfully the slide had locked to the rear as the case failed to eject completely. I watched for a second as he tried to figure out what happened and then stepped over and told him he likely had a squib round. I suggested to completely clear the firearm, wait a few seconds and check the barrel. Lo and behold there was a bullet stuck about 1/2 way down the barrel. He was shocked (me too). Bottom line is no one was hurt and thankfully the slide locked to the rear. If it hadn't, I fear I would have witnessed a serious accident.
My first experience with a "squib" round
- Thread starter robrossk
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You shoot enough you'll have one.
An odd firing sound is an "immediate "
Cease and desist
An odd firing sound is an "immediate "
Cease and desist
When you have on good hearing protection, they can be hard to notice other than by feel. It’s good that you caught it.
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The only squib I have ever had was with a friend's Browning replica of a 1886 in 45-70 shooting his reloads. He was using a small amount of smokeless powder in that huge case with some sort of filler to hold it next to the primer.
With the action closed up all I heard through my ear plugs was the click of the hammer falling. But the bullet was lodged a few inches up the bore. It would have been really easy to mistake it for dud if except for all the unburnt powder and filler when I opened the action.
When I shot trap one of the guys was notorious for occasionally forgetting to add powder. The squib I had sounded exactly like his primer only shells. I always worried that one of his no powder reloads would be followed by a double charge but it never happened.
With the action closed up all I heard through my ear plugs was the click of the hammer falling. But the bullet was lodged a few inches up the bore. It would have been really easy to mistake it for dud if except for all the unburnt powder and filler when I opened the action.
When I shot trap one of the guys was notorious for occasionally forgetting to add powder. The squib I had sounded exactly like his primer only shells. I always worried that one of his no powder reloads would be followed by a double charge but it never happened.
I own a Clark "Hardball" match pistol thanks to a squib load. When I was in the Navy I frequented a gun club/indoor range in Hampton, VA. I had been working with Jeff the fellow who ran the range to develop a load to simulate .45 ACP hardball but using cast bullets. We had a LOT of free lead available to cast.
I put together some loads with Winchester 630 powder and CCI primers. RCBS/CCI always recommends magnum primers for anything which resembles ball powder. But, as I did not have any handy, I loaded standard primers. I fired a box of the ammo and it worked fine. I gave the second box to Jeff.
A couple of days later I was at the retail store owned by the same fellow who owned the range when a phone call came in. It was apparent that something was amiss. I beat feet over to the range. Here is what apparently happened....
There was a fellow named Manny who was sort of a gun club "groopie." A nice young fellow but he was always asking "can I shoot (whatever anyone had in hand)." That day he was pestering Jeff to let him try a 1911. Jeff finally said OK. Then of course "I need some ammo." Jeff gave him the cast ball loads.
Jeff was in the control booth watching the range and he saw Manny throw his (Jeff's) pistol down on the table in his shooting lane. Jeff thought "I need to tell him to treat other peoples firearms better" when Manny stormed out of the range. He told Jeff that the pistol had kicked terribly and put two holes in the target. Thinking that it might have doubled, Jeff retrieved his pistol.
The slide was LOCKED back. A quick observation of the bore showed a bulbous expansion about half way down the barrel. Some enthusiastic beating with a plastic mallet got the slide freed up enough for disassembly. I arrived about that time and had a look at the scene of the crime. The table at the lane where Manny had been firing was covered with unburned powder.
We concluded that the chain of events went like this: The last round in the magazine squibbed and put the bullet about half way down the barrel. Manny pulled back the slide to remove the cartridge case (thus spilling the unburned powder on the table). He then inserted a fresh magazine, chambered a round and fired two bullets.
Jeff's pistol - A colt MkIV Series 70 seemed unharmed except for the ruined barrel. Manny agreed to pay for a new barrel. OK.
The owner of the range was a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel who had shot on the AF pistol team for many years. He knew Jim Clark Sr. well and had two match pistols build by Jim. Jeff decided to send he pistol to Jim for the "repair" and to have it customized. I figured I might as well put mine in the shipment and I think one or two other club members did as well. It cost $200
was supposed to take about 2 months.
Four months later my enlistment was up and I headed for West Lafayette, IN to attend Purdue University - without may Clark Hardball pistol
I had shot Intercollegiate smallbore pistol at a small engineering school in New Jersey before going in the Navy and was planning to shoot again at Purdue. Surely a Big Ten university would have a pistol team. Wrong 
Anyhow, five months after arriving in Indiana I got a call from the club in VA. My pistol had finally come back from Clark's and arrangements were made to get it to me. The day it arrived the temperature was about 5 degrees. I picked up the pistol and took it to a horse farm where a friend was the care taker so I could try it out. I fired one magazine then thawed out my hand and waited for spring. So I guess all squibs are not bad. It was very fortunate that the Colt pistol was strong and the .45 ACP was a relatively low pressure cartridge.
Ken
I put together some loads with Winchester 630 powder and CCI primers. RCBS/CCI always recommends magnum primers for anything which resembles ball powder. But, as I did not have any handy, I loaded standard primers. I fired a box of the ammo and it worked fine. I gave the second box to Jeff.
A couple of days later I was at the retail store owned by the same fellow who owned the range when a phone call came in. It was apparent that something was amiss. I beat feet over to the range. Here is what apparently happened....
There was a fellow named Manny who was sort of a gun club "groopie." A nice young fellow but he was always asking "can I shoot (whatever anyone had in hand)." That day he was pestering Jeff to let him try a 1911. Jeff finally said OK. Then of course "I need some ammo." Jeff gave him the cast ball loads.
Jeff was in the control booth watching the range and he saw Manny throw his (Jeff's) pistol down on the table in his shooting lane. Jeff thought "I need to tell him to treat other peoples firearms better" when Manny stormed out of the range. He told Jeff that the pistol had kicked terribly and put two holes in the target. Thinking that it might have doubled, Jeff retrieved his pistol.
The slide was LOCKED back. A quick observation of the bore showed a bulbous expansion about half way down the barrel. Some enthusiastic beating with a plastic mallet got the slide freed up enough for disassembly. I arrived about that time and had a look at the scene of the crime. The table at the lane where Manny had been firing was covered with unburned powder.
We concluded that the chain of events went like this: The last round in the magazine squibbed and put the bullet about half way down the barrel. Manny pulled back the slide to remove the cartridge case (thus spilling the unburned powder on the table). He then inserted a fresh magazine, chambered a round and fired two bullets.
Jeff's pistol - A colt MkIV Series 70 seemed unharmed except for the ruined barrel. Manny agreed to pay for a new barrel. OK.
The owner of the range was a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel who had shot on the AF pistol team for many years. He knew Jim Clark Sr. well and had two match pistols build by Jim. Jeff decided to send he pistol to Jim for the "repair" and to have it customized. I figured I might as well put mine in the shipment and I think one or two other club members did as well. It cost $200
was supposed to take about 2 months.Four months later my enlistment was up and I headed for West Lafayette, IN to attend Purdue University - without may Clark Hardball pistol
I had shot Intercollegiate smallbore pistol at a small engineering school in New Jersey before going in the Navy and was planning to shoot again at Purdue. Surely a Big Ten university would have a pistol team. Wrong Anyhow, five months after arriving in Indiana I got a call from the club in VA. My pistol had finally come back from Clark's and arrangements were made to get it to me. The day it arrived the temperature was about 5 degrees. I picked up the pistol and took it to a horse farm where a friend was the care taker so I could try it out. I fired one magazine then thawed out my hand and waited for spring. So I guess all squibs are not bad. It was very fortunate that the Colt pistol was strong and the .45 ACP was a relatively low pressure cartridge.
Ken
Valmet
Member
Only ever had one- in an early Glock 42 using reloads from North GA Reloading (not to be confused with GA Arms), and they were JUNK. Kinda surprised I only had one in that batch. Glad all worked out ok OP.
Stories like this cause me to worry. I've been handloading since I was 12 - 44 years and counting.
At least half of those years have involved loading upwards of 20,000 rounds per year. I've loaded everything from .32 ACP and .22 Hornet to .45-70, including cast bullets in numerous rifles and pistols and both black powder loads and reduced power loads using Unique in my .45-70 Sharps, .30-30 1885 High Wall, and Model 94 in .38-55. I've also done some slightly off the map things like developing handloads for the distinctly different 1895 Nagant.
In that 44 years with that wide range of reloading activity, I've had exactly 1 squib, and that was with a federal factory 9mm load that had been submerged in a leaky ammo can during hurricane Irene.
In the past, I rarely heard about squibs, but the last several years, I've heard things like the post above "if you shoot long enough, you'll have one", which is true in the same sense that if you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with type writers for an infinite period of time, they'll randomly type the works of Shakespeare. Unfortunately, I am seeing way too many handloaders regarding a squib as inevitable.
The fact is that a squib in a handload is 100% due to poor practices by the handloader and if he or she is getting squibs, he or she needs to either get his or her act together, or find another hobby that doesn't require attention to detail.
Similarly, if you are buying commercial ammo and are getting squibs, you need to re-consider the ammo you are buying and buy better quality ammo.
----
As for my 9mm flooded factory 9mm ammo squib, I noted the lack of recoil immediately, and upon investigation noted the 115 gr FMJ poking just out the end of the barrel. I'll see if I can find the picture...
----
As to using Unique in a .45-70, I get excellent accuracy (1 MOA 5 shot 100 yard groups with commercial cast 405 gr RNFP bullets, with black powder velocities but without the black powder mess. It makes a superb short range load in my Sharps for plinking at plates out to 300 yards or so.
However, I use a 1"x1"x1/4" polyfiber wad (cut from 1/4" polyester quilt batting) stuffed in the case on top of the powder with the eraser end of a pencil. Don't quote me on it, but IIRC the load is about 14 grains - a very small charge in a .45-70 case.
If you forget that wad, one of two bad things is going to potentially happen:
1) a squib with the powder sitting in the front end of the case failing to properly ignite, or worse,
2) an excessive pressure condition due to the powder sitting in the rear of the case, being blown forward and scattered and igniting much faster than intended.
Those kinds of handloading activities are in the big league and you need to both know what you are doing, and pay very close attention to what you are doing.
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I cannot remember what powder my friend was using, it was 30 years ago. But I do remember the filler was a coarse powder like media for a brass tumbler or corn meal. Judging by the results not as effective as the wads you use.
Reloading is safe but you have to pay attention and not take shortcuts.
ArchAngelCD
Moderator, SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
I have only experienced 1 squib. It was a .38 Special loaded by a friend in his levergun. We were playing around with a Cowboy Action stage so I was firing as fast as I could. Half way into the string the round just didn't feel right when fired.
Well, like I said I was shooting fast. After firing that round I cranked the lever, touched the trigger but my mind was screaming STOP STOP! Thank goodness my finger listened and I didn't shoot. The truth is I came very very close to shooting because of the pace I was shooting. The bullet was only 6" into the barrel.
When you get a bad feeling while shooting, stop. Our subconscious mind works much faster than our conscious mind.
Well, like I said I was shooting fast. After firing that round I cranked the lever, touched the trigger but my mind was screaming STOP STOP! Thank goodness my finger listened and I didn't shoot. The truth is I came very very close to shooting because of the pace I was shooting. The bullet was only 6" into the barrel.
When you get a bad feeling while shooting, stop. Our subconscious mind works much faster than our conscious mind.
Some years back I was letting a son-in-law shoot my prize Cole SAA in .45LC I had schooled him to be careful of squib loads and to NOT fire another round if a shot felt different in anyway.
Well you guessed it bang, poof, bang-goodby barrel.
I was lucky to find a smith with another barrel who was able to fix my prize.
Well you guessed it bang, poof, bang-goodby barrel.
I was lucky to find a smith with another barrel who was able to fix my prize.
S&WIowegan
US Veteran
Squib load at IDPA match
We had a young man who shoots regularly with us show up with a new S&W Model 66. He had been watching me shoot revolvers in in previous matches and got the bug to try it.
He even made 38 Special handloads and was doing well until the fifth stage. I didn't witness the squib closely. The bullet had only gone part way into the barrel and managed to lock up the revolver. They couldn't open the cylinder to clear the gun.
I convinced the RO to let me handle the problem. I carry squib rods and brass hammer in my range bag. We held the revolver straight up braced on the table safe area. The bullet pounded back into the brass and freed the cylinder. No harm to gun or persons. New handloader learned important lesson.
We had a young man who shoots regularly with us show up with a new S&W Model 66. He had been watching me shoot revolvers in in previous matches and got the bug to try it.
He even made 38 Special handloads and was doing well until the fifth stage. I didn't witness the squib closely. The bullet had only gone part way into the barrel and managed to lock up the revolver. They couldn't open the cylinder to clear the gun.
I convinced the RO to let me handle the problem. I carry squib rods and brass hammer in my range bag. We held the revolver straight up braced on the table safe area. The bullet pounded back into the brass and freed the cylinder. No harm to gun or persons. New handloader learned important lesson.
Echo40
Member
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I experienced my first squib while shooting my brother's Model 10 at the range. I had never shot one before and it was so soft shooting to begin with that I was actually checking after each shot to make sure that they all weren't squibs, then finally went I pulled the trigger on the 4th round it made an extremely weak-sounding report that was less of a pop and more of a poof, then when I opened the cylinder and looked down the barrel there was no light showing through.
One and only one squib so far. I was shooting commercial reloads in a Taurus 9mm. One shot sounded off, and the next round did not chamber. There must have been zero powder in the cartridge because the bullet was about half in the chamber and half in the rifling. Tapped it out and continued shooting.
dhallz71
Member
Just had my first squib today. Was plinking at the river with a `47 vintage K-22 using Federal bulk ammo in the red and black box. Sounded like there was no powder in it, just primer. Unloaded cylinder and saw bullet stuck about 2" into the bore. A few taps with a cleaning rod and I was back in business. First time for everything I guess.
gwpercle
Member
The range is no place to be "Clueless"...Good catch . Sometimes the noise of a busy shooting range overshadows the muffled sound of a squib , I also try to detect any difference in felt recoil .
Every once in a while I might think something is amiss so I stop and look at the handgun...just to be sure it's OK... one squib in 50 years shooting is enough.
This thread also points out the need to carry a rod with you ... My sqib , all those years ago , sent me back home to get the cleaning rod .
Gary
Every once in a while I might think something is amiss so I stop and look at the handgun...just to be sure it's OK... one squib in 50 years shooting is enough.
This thread also points out the need to carry a rod with you ... My sqib , all those years ago , sent me back home to get the cleaning rod .
Gary
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S&WIowegan
US Veteran
As gwpercle points out, "feel" is very important to safe shooting. I have noticed when shooting bulk ammo 22 LR it's not unusual to feel light rounds or even extra hot rounds. Most of the time the "wimpy" round will clear the barrel of handguns. Beware wimpy rounds in rifles though because you can fill the barrel with bullets before you realize what's happening.
A shooting buddy unboxed a brand new pistol caliber AR-style rifle and commenced firing 9mm handloads. After a number of rounds were fired he realized he was not on paper. Further investigation showed bullets piled in the bulged barrel.....OOPS! Barrel ruined.
A shooting buddy unboxed a brand new pistol caliber AR-style rifle and commenced firing 9mm handloads. After a number of rounds were fired he realized he was not on paper. Further investigation showed bullets piled in the bulged barrel.....OOPS! Barrel ruined.
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gwpercle
Member
Oh Yeah ! No holes in target...watch for a lack of them too , good post !
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Shoot enough Factory ammo and you will come across a few. I've have more than my share of bad Remington's, a few Winchesters & Fiocchi's and even a couple of bad CCI Rimfire 22's. The absolute worst were 2 entire boxes of 20 rounds each - Remington brand .35 Remington caliber that none fired! One of the Club members I was shooting with had the Marlin chambered in 35 Rem and I absolutely thought there was something wrong with his rifle. I've never in all my years of shooting seen 40 bad rounds (bad primers) - but it does happen. He switched to Federal brand ammo and had no FTF the rest of the day.
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Daniel Howe
US Veteran
Buddy of mine had a Springfield 1911 fire "out of battery". He was real lucky, a small cut over his left eye but it totally destroyed the gun and his shooting glasses. He was shooting Armscor FMJ. Springfield would not cover the gun blaming it on faulty ammo even after we sent them the gun and the spent case with the bottom blown out of it. Armscor gave him a new Rockisland 1911.
silentflyer
Member
At a public outdoor range near home, a guy who was emptying clips as fast as he could pull the trigger apparently had a squib round lodge in the barrel.
The next live round destroyed the plastic and springs bottom feeder, resulting in a rain of shrapnel. The idiot wasn't wearing shooting glasses of course and ended up with a nasty cut very close to his unprotected eyes, a 1/2 difference and he may well have lost an eye.
But he certainly impressed everyone else on the range with his ability to pull the trigger super fast...
The next live round destroyed the plastic and springs bottom feeder, resulting in a rain of shrapnel. The idiot wasn't wearing shooting glasses of course and ended up with a nasty cut very close to his unprotected eyes, a 1/2 difference and he may well have lost an eye.
But he certainly impressed everyone else on the range with his ability to pull the trigger super fast...
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