Bad cartridge

M

meatgrinder42

New member
Well I had my first run in with a bad cartridge in my C93 sporter. I was out at the range and was clicking away when I had a dead stop after a firing. I had someone tell me he didn't think the rifle didn't sound different, and it didn't recoil differently. The round didn't eject so I manually ejected the round and the casing was heavily sooted.

The bullet was in the neck of the chamber. An aluminum rod and a solid whack with a hammer knocked the bullet back into the receiver and out. The question I have is what the hell happened? Me and a guy at work have an idea of it might have been a bullet that wasn't fully seated and when the round went off it popped the bullet out enough that the gases went through the flutes in the chamber but didn't seal enough to drive it out the barrel or cycle the action.

It was brown bear ammo, and this is the first encounter I had with a bad round in it. Ideas?
 
But would that explain the heavy sooting on the casing? I'm used to there being soot on the cases after ejecting but this thing was BLACK.

We were leaning towards that but we couldn't think how that explained the heavily blackened case.
 
Yep, little to no powder, case wasn't sealed against chamber walls. Whatever soot there was from any powder or primer had no where to go because the bullet mostly blocked the barrel.
 
Good thing you weren't shooting at a brown bear with your Brown Bear ammo. :eek: I'd advise the company of your mishap and see what they have to say about it.
 
I've had much the same thing happen with good, American ammo, although I can only remember 3 times in the last 40 years. It's a very rare occurrence, but it does happen. Sometimes it's a bum primer, sometimes it's no powder in the case.
 
I had a dud on a hornady 45-70 ftx levergun round not long ago..........kinda bothered me..............the only time that's ever happened with any cartridge for me....except perhaps a .22.
 
Iv'e been having a lot of problems with Winchester Western lately, at least one out of each box of 20 in 30-06 that won't chamber and several of their 22's that don't fire--both long rifle and their .22 mag ammo---enough so that I won't even use it any longer. So far, all my Remington and Hornaday ammo has functioned perfectly---personally, I tend to steer clear of the bargain basement priced ammo---
 
Iv'e been having a lot of problems with Winchester Western lately, at least one out of each box of 20 in 30-06 that won't chamber and several of their 22's that don't fire--both long rifle and their .22 mag ammo---enough so that I won't even use it any longer. So far, all my Remington and Hornaday ammo has functioned perfectly---personally, I tend to steer clear of the bargain basement priced ammo---
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Problems with win .22 is why I use only CCI. Only have had a couple fail to go off out of 15K of CCI.
 
It is called a squib load and it is a very dangerous condition. I have only had two or three out of thousands of rounds downrange in over fourty years of shooting. The danger is if you hear a round that does not sound or feel quite right and there is a bullet lodged in the barrel and you continue shooting you could blow up the gun and yourself. I have nightmares of this happening on a fully automatic weapon.
 
I have nightmares of this happening on a fully automatic weapon.
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Shouldn't cycle on a squib, unless it's your minigun.

I hate it when I get squibs in my minigun. Especially when I'm using it to hunt camouflaged man-eating aliens in the South American jungle with my buddy Arnold. Ruins the whole day.

-J.
 
I think the difference in FA to a standard gun is that you don't realize it was a squib. In most cases you notice something was wrong with your last shot, in FA all you notice is a FTE.
 
Shouldn't cycle on a squib, unless it's your minigun.
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It is possible in a recoil operated rifle (such as the OP's C93) to have the action cycle with a squid load. It may still have enough back-pressure to push the bolt back. The fluted chamber could also make it more likely.
 
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