My first squib load.

[NeilMo]

Was shooting yesterday with my 44mag 29. Everything was fine, then puff. Squib load. I tracked it back to my hand load from almost 2 years ago. I had only been hand loading for about 8 months before. I somehow forgot powder in one case. I could see the bullet just beyond the cone. It tapped out easily. My question it, would it be wise to see a gun smith with it? Or if not what should I look for, meaning is the gun safe to shoot? Can a squib damage anything?

Thanks
Neil

 

[Pisgah]

Not really. The big problem comes when you pull the trigger, hear that "pop", then pull the trigger again and get a big "BANG!" The result is often a bulged, sometimes split, barrel. Don't ask me how I know...

 

[BE Mike]

Good for you for recognizing the problem and not following the squib up with a "live" round. You are good to go!

 

[Marshal Tom]

Just had one the other day in my M&P 2.0 Compact while shooting the HR 218 retired LE Qualification. It was stuck in the barrel. Glad I recognized it right away and did't touch off another one.

 

[smithra_66]

Was shooting yesterday with my 44mag 29. Everything was fine, then puff. Squib load. I tracked it back to my hand load from almost 2 years ago. I had only been hand loading for about 8 months before. I somehow forgot powder in one case. I could see the bullet just beyond the cone. It tapped out easily. My question it, would it be wise to see a gun smith with it? Or if not what should I look for, meaning is the gun safe to shoot? Can a squib damage anything?

Thanks
Neil

No damage whatsoever. You essentially just fired about a 5 psi load through your gun

 

[Pisgah]

Good for you for recognizing the problem and not following the squib up with a "live" round. You are good to go!

Amen! Good safety awareness, good lesson learned. Check that powder level -- check it again -- then seat bullet.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

Was shooting yesterday with my 44mag 29. Everything was fine, then puff. Squib load. I tracked it back to my hand load from almost 2 years ago. I had only been hand loading for about 8 months before. I somehow forgot powder in one case. I could see the bullet just beyond the cone. It tapped out easily. My question it, would it be wise to see a gun smith with it? Or if not what should I look for, meaning is the gun safe to shoot? Can a squib damage anything?

Thanks
Neil

Typically a primer alone won't send a bullet beyond the forcing cone: what kind of bullet were you using?

 

[jcelect]

Getting technical here! You did not have a "squib" load! It sounds like you had a primer only load, no powder at all! This causes no problem to the gun and as stated above you DID NOT fire the second round! The second round causes the problem! Most all reloaders have experienced this embarrassment a time or two in their life! A "squib" load has some powder in the unfired case but not enough to fill the case properly. A squib load has a small amount of powder that is dispersed from the bullet to the primer an below the primer hole when the round is horizontal. This causes too much powder surface exposed to the primer flash on initial ignition causing high pressure at that instant! This high pressure has been know to blow up a gun! This is why we are cautioned against shooting reduced loads of many powder types. Do not reduce powder levels below the reloading manual recommended level. Change the powder type to achieve the velocity you are looking for!
jcelect

 

[NeilMo]

Not really. The big problem comes when you pull the trigger, hear that "pop", then pull the trigger again and get a big "BANG!" The result is often a bulged, sometimes split, barrel. Don't ask me how I know...

Okay, I won't ask. As long as you don't ask me how I could of miss 10 cases with no power. 10 total. A whole row on the load block.

 

[NeilMo]

Speer 240 SP I think the number is 4456, or 4455. One of those.

 

[SMSgt]

Getting technical here! You did not have a "squib" load! It sounds like you had a primer only load, no powder at all! This causes no problem to the gun and as stated above you DID NOT fire the second round! The second round causes the problem! Most all reloaders have experienced this embarrassment a time or two in their life! A "squib" load has some powder in the unfired case but not enough to fill the case properly. A squib load has a small amount of powder that is dispersed from the bullet to the primer an below the primer hole when the round is horizontal. This causes too much powder surface exposed to the primer flash on initial ignition causing high pressure at that instant! This high pressure has been know to blow up a gun! This is why we are cautioned against shooting reduced loads of many powder types. Do not reduce powder levels below the reloading manual recommended level. Change the powder type to achieve the velocity you are looking for!
jcelect

A squib load is one that leaves the bullet in the barrel. The amount of powder--or lack of powder--is irrelevent.

 

[NeilMo]

Thank everyone for the feed back. I learned a lot from this site. And thru that have learned quite a few dos and don'ts. Pulling the trigger after a puff sound is a don't!

Thanks again.

 

[SMSgt]

Okay, I won't ask. As long as you don't ask me how I could of miss 10 cases with no power. 10 total. A whole row on the load block.

I did five in .223 cases in one loading. Fired all five (Slow learner?). The surprising thing was, on each all I heard was the hammer fall--no pop, nothing--and each acted like a misfire. Each primer had a solid strike. None of the rounds changed COL. My thought was bad primers in the pack.

Broke those cases down afterwards and NO POWDER. Each primer had fired. None of the bullets noticeably moved (did not measure with a caliper). For the like of me, I do not know how those five consecutive rounds were missed in the powder loading. But it did add another check to my loading procedure.

 

[stansdds]

To answer the original question, no, your revolver does not require a trip to a gunsmith. You identified the problem and immediately stopped shooting. Unless you gouged the barrel in removing the squib bullet, there is no damage to the firearm. A gouged barrel is pretty easy to spot. It would be a different story if it involved "bang, bang, poof, bang".

 

[steelslaver]

No damage whatsoever. You essentially just fired about a 5 psi load through your gun

Let me fix that you fired about a 5psi load into your forcing cone. That is why it didn't go through your gun.

You just got a cheap lesson in why you must check every case for powder when reloading.

 

[steelslaver]

I did five in .223 cases in one loading. Fired all five (Slow learner?). The surprising thing was, on each all I heard was the hammer fall--no pop, nothing--and each acted like a misfire. Each primer had a solid strike. None of the rounds changed COL. My thought was bad primers in the pack.

Broke those cases down afterwards and NO POWDER. Each primer had fired. None of the bullets noticeably moved (did not measure with a caliper). For the like of me, I do not know how those five consecutive rounds were missed in the powder loading. But it did add another check to my loading procedure.

I wonder if your chamber and throat was so the ogive of bullet was right against the lands and held it against the small amount of pressure created by the primer.

 

[dla]

A CCI350 or WLP primer produce enough "umph" to lodge a bullet past the forcing cone so the revolver will function for a disastrous second shot. A regular "non-magnum" primer will lodge the bullet in the forcing cone tying up the revolver, preventing a second shot.

 

[iouri]

Do you have more ammo from a batch where squib came from ? I would verify those, at least weigh them. I didn’t bother to check couple years ago, now I have a nice display piece what used to be an SP101 Point being if one round is missing powder other may have an excess.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Okay, I won't ask. As long as you don't ask me how I could of miss 10 cases with no power. 10 total. A whole row on the load block.

Maybe you need to put in a new light bulb in your room........

or something?

+1;

on double checking the ammo block before adding the bullets.

 

[NeilMo]

Yes I did weigh the rest and found 9 more, 10 total.
As a matter of fact I check all I have up. Just the one batch of 50.