Dang, it has finally happened to me

D

DavidAGO

New member
I have not been shooting as much in the past couple of years, have not been reloading as much, but was always proud of the fact that, unlike most mortals, I had never had a squib load with my reloads. I had to go back and look at my reloading notebook, over 12,000 rounds of pistol reloaded. yesterday a friend and I went to the local public range, the last round I fired did not sound right and the pistol did not cycle. Had to disassemble and poke the bullet out with a pencil.

A squib load, no powder. and unfortunately no real excuse. I thought I was going to be the first who never had one. I guess I get to rid myself of my airs and join the rest of you mortals. :D

At least the bullet was not in the grooves, so I can use it again!

David
 
LOL!!!
Welcome, nice to have another mortal in the group.:)
Over the many years of loading I have had my share.
It happens no matter how attentive you are sooner or later one will slip by ya.
 
That's a very low error rate....wish factory was that good... I have had 2 squib loads (both factory). Caught them both before things went ugly. To err is human....
 
These are my biggest fear with my reloading. I shoot USPSA and often shoot so fast I'm not sure I would catch it in time to avoid the follow up shot. Nightmares. Ugh.
 
^^^
I've only had one squib (so far) and it was in the middle of a course of fire.
Fortunately the bullet stuck so as to prevent the next round from going into battery.
Good thing 'cause I was furiously trying to clear the gun and chamber the next round.
Very glad it was unsuccessful.
Anyone who shoots and reloads a lot will probably eventually suffer a squib.
The trick to avoiding damage is to realize it.
 
Welcome to the rest of us down here on earth! :D I'm fortunate to be able to say I had just one squib many years ago and learned from that (and screwed up a revolver barrel with a steel rod, long ago before I knew better and I only had a long bolt at the time). Every handload that I crank out I visually check, with a MiniMag, the powder charge before seating a bullet. Not bragging, just a fact...;)
 
This is the land of reality. It is exactly why I don't like to give my reloads to others, and why I don't like to shoot other peoples' reloads. It is bad enough when you get a squib out of a factory box.
willr
 
I've had two in .357 mag in the last 40 years both in the same year, the first one was a real reality check, the second one seriously -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED- me off.

I haven't had one since but I also changed my reloading practice for my .357s.
 
These are my biggest fear with my reloading. I shoot USPSA and often shoot so fast I'm not sure I would catch it in time to avoid the follow up shot.
Click to expand...

This is a legit fear with a revolver. A squib won't cycle the action of a semi so there's less to fear there. You'll probably start a clear drill, but before you finish you will realize the recoil was WAY off and something is wrong.

I still fear squibs. Knock on wood... not had one yet.
 
"This is a legit fear with a revolver. "

This must be the week for first squibs. I also had my first in almost 15K reloads and I'm still not 100% sure how I missed getting powder in the case, so I have to spend more time reviewing all m procedures.

It was in a revolver, and there was no question in my mind what had happened, and I was shooting slow fire so there was no real issue. In my case, the cylinder would not turn or open, so I assumed the bullet was only part way into the barrel. When I drove it back into the case and got the cylinder open, I found it had made it all the way into the barrel. It was the primer that had partially backed out and bound the cylinder - not what I expected but makes perfect sense in hindsight.
 
I have only had two squib loads and both were done on purpose for training/testing since I didn't know what it would feel like. I have never had one from factory ammo. I have a loading process that I use and it works.

1. No wife, child, dogs, tv, or radio allowed in my loading room during powder charging period! Lock the door from inside if you have to:)
2. Charge a full load block and verify with a flashlight and in my case use high power readers:)
3. Place bullets on top of the cases.
4. Set load block away from the work area.
5. Repeat for next load block.

Note: I also never fill my load blocks with empty cases. I take them from a bowl, charge and then place in load block.

I also never shoot at targets that I can't see my bullets hit.
 
I'm up to about 19,000 rounds down the pipe without a squib. The closest I came to a problem was a high primer on a .38 special round that jammed up the gun for a little while. In that time I have had two factory squibs (one .22LR, one .25ACP). My hand-dipping technique is pretty much foolproof if I say so myself.
 
not yet. but I am only single staging it still. I wory about progressive since a few friends shoot my reloads and pretty much everyone in my family. I make sure to only prime as many as I am going to reload for at that moment, then fill up my loading trays and put the empty cases far away from me after dropping the powder. before seating bullets, use a flashlight and go over all the powdered cases and double check. I still worry though, but not with my semi-auto's so much.
 
I had issues, high pressure and low pressure, with AA2520, a dusty ball powder, and the 223. I was dumping the powder and seating the bullet on a Dillion 550B. The powder horn hole is rather small for the 223 and the dusty nature of the ball powder I was using was clogging up the orifice. This resulted in underthrows when the orifice clogged, and then when the obstruction cleared, excessive powder.
 
I've been loading 31 years. I have yet to have a squib - or any ammo malfunction. I'm guestimating about 120,000 rounds or so.

But make no mistake, it can happen. I'm not bragging. I'm human. I'm careful; but I'm human.
 
I started loading in the mid-1980s, for about 10 years, then had a 20 year hiatus with only occasional shooting and almost no reloading. Started up again a little over a year ago. So I've been shooting on and off for 30 years, but new "again" to reloading.

With my renewed interest, I've loaded at least 10,000 rounds in the past year, about half .38spl for CAS, the rest in 9mm, .223, .45colt, .44spl and .44mag and 30-06. Have yet to have a squib. Load all my pistol rounds on a Square Deal press. I like the auto indexing...

The only situation that worries me is shooting CAS where rapid fire from the single action (Ruger Vaquero) would likely cause me to fire a second round should one squib--assuming the cylinder rotated fully--before I realized what happened. These are very light (600fps) loads. I wonder what the consequences would be for a second round going off immediately after a squib bullet in the barrel? (load is 2.8g 700x with a 125 soft lead bullet).

Any thoughts as to the consequences with a new model Vaquero in .38/.357? cylinder to forcing cone gap my savior?
 
When I do finally feel the need for a progressive, I have already decided on the square deal. It looks like the most fool proof set up I have seen yet, and 370$ with dies doesn't seem too bad.
 
I had one squib, about 1980. It was a .38 spc reload with a swaged wadcutter. Made it out the barrel of my S&W 14-3 and landed about 20' away.

A few months ago, I did something potentially worse with a loading block of charged .357 cases. I got bullets seated in 20 of them before realizing that I had not visually checked the powder levels. Turns out they were charged correctly, but I really shouldn't play with an insistent kitty while reloading...
 
A squib was the reason I went to using my turret press like a single stage. This allows me to inspect each round for the powder charge. Unfortunately, the measures vary too much in reliability from one powder to another for me.
willr
 
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