1st Squib load ever

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Powdersmoke

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I had an interesting experience over the weekend. I was shooting my Ruger SR9C and when I went to fire the first shot of my second magazine all I heard was a click. I removed the magazine and ejected an EMPTY shell case, which seemed odd given the fact that I hadn't heard a bang! After double checking to make sure the gun was empty I checked the barrel and sure enough there was a bullet lodged about 1/3 of the way up the barrel. Up to that point I had been feeling bad because I hadn't automatically executed a tap/rack and kept on shooting when my gun went click. At that point I was very glad I hadn't! Very scary!! Until I ejected the empty shell case there was nothing to suggest I'd had a squib instead of a missfire or an empty chamber.
 
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Very interesting.

Factory ammo or reloads?

New ammo or old?

A primer going off all by itself usually gives you more than a ‘click’. But maybe with hearing protection and other shooters nearby it didn’t sound like more than a click. Was there any powder residue or unburned powder in the chamber, the case or the magazine? It’s possible I suppose that no one put any powder in that cartridge. I’m assuming the primer on the cartridge DID go off or how else would the bullet get a third of the way down the barrel?

If it's new factory ammo I guess we could jump to the conclusion that quality control might be slipping due to the rush to make more ammo during the current shortage.
 
Disconcerting isn't it?
Now you'll probably go through the rest of your life wondering what made you stop and check the barrel for an obstruction.
(I know for a fact that I wonder that a lot!)
 
Glad you decided to check, Have never had one happen yet, and I hope I never do. As Hal said-- This will make you think everytime something doesn't sound right. So what do you make of it?. Forgot powder it seems, Was this done on progressive press?.
 
Now, that will make for paranoia.
I had one in the middle of a run n' gun match.
The only thing that saved the gun, and maybe me, was that the bullet was stuck in the end of the chamber and wouldn't allow the next round into the barrel, the one I was furiously trying to chamber.
But at least it was a reload, and something a guy has control over.
Factory squibs are the kind of stuff that keep us up nights.
Glad you weren't hurt.

But then again, a bullet stuck in the barrel doesn't always end in disaster.
At a match, a fellow had one in his High Power.
All it did was bulge the barrel some.
The stuck bullet exited along with the fired one.
He said the bulge actually tightened up his groups and never did replace the barrel.
 
First time I ever went shooting in my life, a First Steps class, I had a round of factory 40 S&W with no flash hole. Just popped the primer out of the back of the case.

First time my wife ever went shooting with me, we had a squib load in a factory 32 S&W long.

What are the odds of that?

Told my wife she didn't pull the trigger hard enough. ;)
 
This should be a lesson for anyone letting new shooters shoot their guns to tell them if they every pull the trigger and the round doesn't go off, to stop shooting, keep the gun pointed downrange, and let you assess the situation. They may not know any better and blow up your gun.
 
Years ago I had bought a bulk can 500 rounds of new Federal 9mm at a gun show was running some thru my Hi-Power and during a magazine refill one of the rounds had the primer in backwards, only time I've had a problem. I do check each and every round before loading it.
Good on you for checking before trying another!
 
Had it happen in a IDPA match not good,Tap rack nothing ,tap rack nothing.
Then reality sunk in and I froze,pulled the barrel in my g19 and there was a bullet.Iwas lucky that it was not in far enough to let it go fully into battery.
Almost had to go home and change.In the heat of the match I tried to blow myself up twice.
 
Always a little scary! Glad you caught it.


Mine was on a reload back in the day.

squib.jpg
 
pointoneseven-wow. Talk about ALMOST made it.

I would have a very hard time NOT telling people I made that picture using my Nikon KXD67J with the ultra-fast shutter and extreme-intensity lab grade electronic flash. :D
 
A similar story to PointOneSeven:

I was shooting outside with some friends years ago. One of my friends was ex-USAF, very good with weapons and a good reloader. He was shooting a revolver.

We were in a free-fire time, basically just slinging lead. Noise was deafening. Suddenly, my friend held up his hand, his revolver had jammed.

Turned out a bullet had lodged between the cylinder and barrel, blocking the barrel but also locking the cylinder from rotating. When he was reloading, he apparently just forgot the powder in this one case.

With the rapidity we were firing and the noise, had the bullet cleared the cylinder but still lodged in the barrel, I doubt my friend would have noticed and he probably would has discharged another round into a blocked barrel..........
 
That is odd. Just a few days ago I was shooting my fathers Glock 21. I was using some UMC ammo when I heard a pop but the gun did not cycle. I did the tap/rack but fortunately for me the bullet was stuck very near the chamber and would not allow the gun to go back into battery.

Sometimes the tap and rack technique can be dangerous. If the bullet was stuck another 1/2 inch into the barrel I may not be typing this now.
 
Powdersmoke - glad you caught the squib and all is well . . .

Hey, it can happen on factory loaded or re-loads . . . .

I have shot for 50 + years and never had pme . . . then I started reloading. I do everything on the "safe side" but when I was reloading some 38 spls . . . and I know exactly when it happened . . . my wife interrupted me to ask a question. When I went back to the reloading, I missed dropping a powder charge. It was MY fault . . . not hers. I should have removed the casing front he turret press and started over . . . and it taught me a valuable lesson . . . PAY ATTENTION! Pay attention when reloading and pay attention when shooting.

I was shooting my Model 36 snub at the range and was using my reloaded WC. In the second cylinder full, I shot 3 rounds and the 4th just did a "pppfff". I knew something was wrong immediately and my mind instantly went back to when I was reloading and my wife asked me a question. Yep . . it was that cartridge - no powder at all. I was using CCI small pistol primers and was a little surprised when I found the WC slug lodged in the barrel, just beyond the forcing cone. It was a good learning experience and I'm am so thankful that I caught it. But . . . it was a valuable lesson to be remembered each time I shoot now. :)
 
Google images is truly impressive. Did a search for 'guns' and 'stovepipe' and found a lot of images.

Here's one of a 'stovepipe'. They're associated with semi-auto's and not revolvers (unless you've got an auto-loader revolver like Jim March.)
stovepipe.png

There was some discussion a while back about getting a stuck bullet out of a barrel and whether to use a wood or metal rod to tap out the bullet. Folk argued both ways.

For me the metal folk won the arguement with one TFL member saying a wooden dowel he used splinter and jammed the bullet really, really badly.

He had a picture of the rifle with the drill and stuff they had to use to get the bullet and wood out. Wish I had saved the picture now but it's in TFL somewhere if someone wants to hunt it down.
 
Good Catch

I never had a squib, knock wood. My Tap Rack procedure is slower than most because I specifically watch the case as it comes out, I want to know if it still has a bullet in the case no matter what the situation, as long as I see a complete round hit the floor, I'm good.
 
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