Bullet stuck in barrel...

[JY-]

I took my new SIG P228 to the range the other day for the first time. The first shot went bang then the second went poof, and the third round would not feed. I cleared the gun then stripped it and could not find anything wrong. I had two cases in front of me and only one hole in the target. The guy next to me heard the poof and asked to see the barrel. Sure as ****, the bullet was still in the barrel as if it was chambered case and all. The case did not look as if it had been fired, but it had enough energy to cycle the slide. So my neighbor gets a cleaning rod and pokes the bullet out without any problem. I'm just glad that the bullet didn't get lodged further up which would have allowed the next round to chamber, then Kaboom . The gun functioned flawlessly and was dead accurate.

 

[yankytrash]

What kind of ammo was it?

 

[JY-]

The ammo was factory Winchester white box 115gr FMJ 9mm. I have never had any problems with it till now.

 

[Bobarino]

sounds like you had a cartridge that someone forgot to put the powder in! ya shoulda bought an HK, that was one of thier tests at the factory. the intentionally lodged a bullet halfway down teh barrel then fired a round behind it. the gun still worked and fired a 2.5 inch group immediately following. but theni'm a little partial
;-)

Bobby

 

[landisbear]

WOW-- this sounds like the making of a real good URBAN LEGEND.

 

[Al Thompson]

Nope. A UL has noticable problems in tracking down the original poster. FWIW, I've seen the same thing in military ammo.

 

[Jim K]

Hi, Bobarino,

Are you sure they didn't test with a bullet just ahead of (up against) the chambered round? Most barrels will accept that OK. But with a bullet lodged part way up the barrel, a round fired behind it will just about always bulge the barrel, and I don't think HK is an exception. Whether the gun will work with a bulged barrel depends on where the bulge is and how bad it is.

Jim

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I've never heard of a primer being enough to cycle any semi-auto. It's the one thing a semi-auto has over a revolver. Squib loads do not cause catastrophic failures as they do in a rapidly fired revolver. When one goes bang and the next one goes phut, the third will generally never chamber as the second is not even cleared. Damn, what size is that recoil spring?

 

[JohnKSa]

The H&K story is true. They intentionally lodged a bullet about halfway down the barrel and then shot it out with another round.

It bulged the barrel a tiny bit, but not enough to prevent function. The gun was fired for accuracy and function. Both were satisfactory.

When the USP was first introduced, H&K released this story along with pics of the bulged barrel to show the overengineering of the pistol.

 

[444]

I have done that a few times.
I have also fired a second round with a bullet lodged in the bore. One was with a Ruger PC9 carbine. The action cycled fine, the shot sounded normal, recoil was normal; but the second shot was very loud. I knew something was wrong and discovered that I had a plugged bore. No damage was done to the gun. I knocked out two bullets with a wooden dowel.
I filled a Model 27 S&W 6" barrel from one end to the other with bullets. The story is long, but basically I was firing a new gun with very light loads that had worked fine in a 2" and a 4" barreled revolvers but did not in the 6". Since the gun was new to me, I was shooting at paper and just figured I couldn't see the holes at that range. There was no damage done to the gun or shooter.
Recently a buddy of mine was firing my Sten submachine gun. He had what he thought was a jam, he cycled the action and fired again. What actually had happened was that the first round was a squib. The second case blew to bits. Again, no damage to the gun or shooter.

 

[Detritus]

reminds me of my own "aw h#!!"

had a similar ammo failure about 3/4 of the way through the first IDPA match i shot.
gun was a Ruger P95, I screwed up.

stage was sort of a "house clearing" type set up, went through engaged the required targets with first 10 rounds (don't remember exact course of fire) , reloaded preceeded to next target series, rounds one and two ok,(the next few step happened almost fast enough that the RO didn't catch it in time) third round makes a funny noise but I don't notice difference, empty stovepipes, i rack slide and tip gun to the right to clear the stovepipe, next round fails to fully chamber, rack slide again, THAT round chambers, i go to fire on next target..... RO screams "STOP!!!", i freeze, RO tells me to clear teh weapon, i do so in a slightly fumbling manner (i'd just had an Ex-Drill Instructor scream at me from less than 2 feet away, i was just happy i hadn';t peed my pants), RO takes the gun, look in chamber and hen down bore tells me i have a bullet stuck in teh bore and to clear it.
cleared the stuck bullet and was ready to proceed again after taking a few mins to breathe deep adn shake it off.

please excuse this part i feel i can't tell this story without telling the REST of the story.

now comes the part that truly PISSED me off b/c if not for this i would have finished the match.
i was only 19 at the time so my father was present it being his gun that was being used. unlike me HE is near unnerved by the whole thing. while i'm trying to get ready to go back throught eh stage again he keeps asking if i'm sure i'm all right, etc. etc. tot eh point that he causes me to lose count of the rounds i've loaded into my mags, and i have to strip and reload/count TWICE because he won't shut up so i can concentrate (at that time i didn't have the nerve to tell him i need him to be quiet for a moment). my father grabs the straw that my obvious distraction has provided him adn declares that i'm "obviously too shaken to continue" adn that we're going to pack up and go home!! this was an unfortunate day for the relationship between Dad and me b/c if not for his putting his fears over on me, we might have been able to start enjoying cmpetitive shooting together even if i was the one doing the shooting while he watched. but his actions that day have caused me to pretty much keep him away from any competition that i've done since i turned 21.. and that truly saddens me

 

[JY-]

Squib

Thanks, I coudln't remember the term for it.

 

[blades67]

I now carry a squib rod in my range bag. I went to Home Depot and picked up some wood dowels, cut off an eight inch length and put it in the bag. Cheap insurance.

 

[coonan357]

Blades you might want to call brownells and get some brass sqib rods as I used to carry wood ones in my RB , until i had one shatter in the bore and had to have it... ahem drilled out . its worth the 10 bucks for the brass ones .

 

[Archie]

Squib Rods....

Ladies and Gentlemen:
Go to a hardward store (Home Depot for us west coast types). They have threaded brass rods, usually in two foot lengths. Different diameters, I bought 5/16 inch as that will fit down a 38 / 9mm bore pretty easy, and will also serve for 45.

Cost is a couple bucks each and no waiting for shipping.

 

[Kahr carrier]

Thanks looks like I wil have to check Home Depot out,Theres a reloader that shoots at the range I shoot at and he usually has a squib every session he doesnt watch his powder measure like he should. He uses a steel rod to clear his lodged rounds. Ouch