Squib rounds, Thoughts?

[ComradeQuiche]

Hello all,
About a year ago my friend and I were shooting my .380 auto Baikal Makarov... I had some ammunition that I had purchased, and was using in the pistol, all was merry and well, and we blasted about 15 shots off when suddenly, the pistol *coughed*. My friend lowered the pistol, and said "Well, that didn't sound right". Long story short, we had a bullet lodged in the barrel. I clean my guns obsessivley, and had only fired the Makarov on a half dozen other occasions, each time scrubbing the hell out of it, inside and out before putting it back in my safe. Brought it to a gun smith and he said " Were you shooting "x" brand of ammo?" and I said "Indeed I was, why?" And he said that certain brands are more prone to miss-fires or squib rounds. From what he told me it is when the primer goes off, but doesn't ignite the powder. It got me thinking, what if this had happened on a higher power rifle? And a second shot was fired into the back of the bullet? He said my pistols barrel would have bulged, and the gun would be worth zip. I had never really considered this before, and it definitely stopped me from firing my guns in a rapid fashion. Any one else have this experience? Any one had their views changed on just going out and blasting off with your favorite fire arm in fear that maybe JUSt maybe you'd get a squib round? My second thought it, how about people in the military or the like that use fully automatic weapons,are squib rounds covered during training? Just figured I'd get a feel for Squib rounds in general!
Thanks!!!!

 

[Rule3]

Squibs do happen. Usually due to a lack of powder or to little powder. The primer has enough energy to lodge the bullet in the barrel.It can happen with factory ammo and more so in reloaded for those that do not pay attention.

On semi autos fortunately there is usually not enough energy to cycle the gun so a follow up shot does not happen.

One must pay attention to their shooting, A "pop" rather than bang means cease firing!

Rapid firing with a revolver and having a squib, well then you have some major issues. Bulged barrel the least of your problem

 

[Buttercup]

Squibs do happen. Usually due to a lack of powder or to little powder. The primer has enough energy to lodge the bullet in the barrel.It can happen with factory ammo and more so in reloaded for those that do not pay attention.

On semi autos fortunately there is usually not enough energy to cycle the gun so a follow up shot does not happen.

One must pay attention to their shooting, A "pop" rather than bang means cease firing!

Rapid firing with a revolver and having a squib, well then you have some major issues. Bulged barrel the least of your problem

So would squibs be more prone to happen on the lighter loads? For example 115gr vs 124gr 9mm?

 

[gm272gs]

I have never had one with centerfire ammunition - although it is possible - especially with reloads. Most reloaders seat primers in the primer pocket without any sealer. The home reloader can buy sealer and use it, but nobody I know, does. If the primer isn't sealed, the powder could get wet or absorb moisture. If the powder is compromised in this way, ignition failure is a distinct possibility. I have never heard of any commercial manufacturer of centerfire ammunition that does not seal their primers/pockets. I suppose if the ammo you used came from some place in the old Soviet Union, they may have "cut corners", though!

The moral of the story is, always listen to your firearm.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Most factory ammo is loaded to standard pressures or higher and very seldom do you ever get a squib but it can happen.

Squibs are usually from the lower velocity reloads and from loading errors that we and a company can have every now and then from faulty equipment or not paying attention and checking the loading process. It's not a perfect world and "Stuff" happens now and then.

You just have to stay alert and hope you catch a problem if it ever comes up................... one reason I am so happy that the guns and ammo are made BETTER now, to help prevent major damage to the shooter.

Nice heads up, by the way.

 

[deadin]

Here's one thing that can happen with a squib that wasn't paid attention to:

 

[joeintexas]

I have only had one squid round out of a few thousand fired and it was a factory round. Very definite poof instead of a bang but it had enough charge to leave the pistol, dropped about 5 feet in front of me. Sounds like you handled the problem right. It is a bit unnerving though.

 

[chief38]

I have has a few over the last 40+ years of shooting - MOST were Factory load too!. Doesn't happen often, but it is important to pay attention. When the last one happened 2 weeks ago I was shooting my 1911 Colt Gov't and after the squib the gun would not go into battery due to the stuck bullet in the chamber. I disassembled the slide & barrel and a few taps with a wooden chop stick and a hammer popped the bullet out. A few passes with a bronze brush just to make sure there was no residual matter in there and I was back shooting in a few minutes. No harm was done to either me or the gun because a second shot was NOT taken - we all must pay attention to each shot and it is always imperative we wear our shooting glasses - - ALWAYS!

 

[Rule3]

So would squibs be more prone to happen on the lighter loads? For example 115gr vs 124gr 9mm?

No, there is no relation. It can happen anywhere, anytime any caliber. Stuff happens, maybe just one bad apple out of thousands. Actually more powder is used in lighter bullets than heavier.

As a reloader I read about it a lot. It is generally due to failure to charge (put powder) in the case. This is due to a number of factors, too many to discuss here.
When I first started reloading I had a 357 mag squib, thank goodness I heard it and did not pull the trigger again or my 686 would have been toast. Never had one since. Knock on lead.

New factory ammo has very good quality control consider how many gazillions of rounds they produce.

Some odd ball surplus foreign stuff may be not so good.Could have been stored in a damp cave or something But even really old surplus ammo stored correctly lasts for years and years.

Not talking about current Magtech, SB, Fiocchi etc. They are all excellent.

 

[BJoe]

If at first you don't succeed.............

 

[Rule3]

If at first you don't succeed.............

Hmm, never dawned on the owner that something was a mis??

Is that known as "slugging" the bore"??

 

[H Richard]

Squib loads often happen to handloaders who either are new and haven't learned to pay attention to the powder charge level or old timers who lapse in their attention to details. The only squib loads I have had were immediately following my tearing down and cleaning my Dillon 550 and "I" reassembled the charge bar (2 piece) for the powder measure incorrectly. Luckily I was loading a new load and testing them at the range and only loaded about 25 rounds. Shooting slowly off sandbags I stuck a bullet in the barrel (and tapped it out) three times, then I stopped and something drastically is wrong. I went home and reviewed every step in the loading (after pulling all the bullets) and only then discovered the one piece of the charge bar installed backwards so the relief slot was on the off side. The derlin piece that pushes the charge bar forward would bind as there was no relief cut on the upper half of the bar..in other words I failed to pay attention when reassembling the measure. Never load when you are in a hurry or distracted, doesn't make any difference how many years of experience you have, any one can make a mistake. Slow down and pay attention to what you are doing.

 

[JJEH]

Brandon Lee was killed by a squib load.

Luckily so far I never had one.

 

[Rastoff]

Brandon Lee was killed by a squib load.

Luckily so far I never had one.

No, he was killed by a blank used in a stunt that wasn't set up right. It's a completely different situation.

 

[Rastoff]

One more thing. Did you know that the NRA was founded largely due to the squib load or misfires?

After the Civil War a general was looking at rifles found on the battle field. What they discovered was many rifles were found with 5 or 6 loads stacked on top of each other. The shooter had attempted to fire his gun(muzzle loader), but it didn't fire. In the heat of battle he didn't realize that it didn't fire and just loaded another round on top of it. Of course that round didn't fire either.

So, the NRA was formed to help teach the civilian populace better marksmanship skills in the event of a foreign invasion. With a civilian populace trained in marksmanship, a great burden would be lifted off the military. The civilians could hold their own until the proper military forces could get there.

What a great idea!

 

[Arik]

You can do rapid shooting, its fine. The chances of a squib is like hitting the lottery. It can happen but probably wont.

(Winchester white box any chance? Lately everyone with under 10 posts has been talking about squibs, fast shooting and WWB)

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[kwselke]

If it was a big issue, you would think the military would quit using full auto weapons. In close to 50 years of shooting I've never had a squib load or been around anyone that had one. I'm aware of the issue, but it is not something I'm too concerned about.

 

[hangnoose]

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION

I've never had a house fire but keep fire extinguishers in various places. the old if it hasn't happened YET it never will logic, at work. it's up to you and your level of common sense. when holding something that has a remote possibility of exploding near my face, I'll err on the side of caution. those guns were well made to hold together so well, or all were squibs. I'd think a full power load would have blown the gun up.

 

[Rastoff]

As Rule3 said, a squib load that is light enough to leave a bullet lodged in the barrel probably didn't have enough energy to operate the action of any semi or auto gun.

 

[bluegrassarms]

If at first you don't succeed.............

That's a good quality gun barrel, or was.

Isn't doing that just one IQ point away from checking to see if it's firing by putting your finger in front of the barrel or looking down it while pulling the trigger to see if anything is coming out?

Like pushing the elevator button again and again until something happens.

 

[Cyrano]

Here's one thing that can happen with a squib that wasn't paid attention to:

Hatcher shows a 1917 that had a problem like that. The shooter ceased fire when the last bullet lodged between the cylinder and barrel, and the cylinder wouldn't turn ro come out.

 

[dant]

Yes, squib loads can and do happen and at any given time for many different reasons,no not by using or shooting " lighter weight" bullets but lighter or too small of a powder charge ( or the absence of powder)! or age, moisture contamination,even by "condensation" sealed or not, exposer to extreme temperature variations can cause that....some reloader that use automatic machines for "reloading" ( not new manufacture) may get oil or lube from the machinery into the powder charge...we used to get the ammo the was first run after the machines were maintained, and they tossed them in a drum, we used them for test firing 'repairs' and they would make every type of sound ,boom, bang, fffft,you could thing of,,,,one HAS to be aware of the sound their gun "normally" makes, and if you do NOT feel, hear the 'proper sound' or see the target get 'hit' ,,,STOP< and check< safety first...................those pictures above are what we also have seen, all too often, over the years of repairing guns..................
its pretty obvious, stay away from 'reloads" you have NO clue as to who made them or their history, same goes for 'old' ammo, especially if you "see" the box or container has ANY sort of water damage to the carton package............again "safety first"

 

[jimmy.jet]

Brandon Lee was killed by a squib load.

Luckily so far I never had one.

Can't vouch for it's accuracy but this is from Wikipedia's Brandon Lee entry:
"Dummy cartridges had been improperly prepared and then accidentally fired, the primer charge driving the bullet part-way into the barrel, resulting in a squib load. In the fatal scene the explosive charge of the blank propelled the bullet lodged in the barrel as if the gun had been loaded with a live round, resulting in the fatal accident."