A question about squibs...

Status
Not open for further replies.
A ringed barrel is best felt, not seen. Either by running your fingertips over the outside of the barrel or by pushing a tight fitting patch down the bore.
 
^ It's easy to see after firing some bullets and looking down the bore. You'll see a ring of carbon fouling. But if the barrel has been cleaned, a ring may be next to impossible to see by looking down the bore. On an autoloader or a rifle, you may be able to see/feel a ring from the outside or maybe not. Running a tight patch down the bore is probably the most foolproof way to detect a ring.

Air pressure doesn't cause the bulge. Air is highly compressible.

When the bullet hits the squib bullet, that squib gets smashed. Think what happens to a bullet that hits a steel plate. It turns into a pancake. That's what happens to the squib. It pancakes. Lead isn't compressible like air. So when the bullet obturates, it deforms the barrel, leaving a ring. In fact, the bullet that hits the squib also obturates, to a lesser degree. If you look closely, you will often find there's actually 2 rings after the event. There's a large ring, then a much smaller one closer to the chamber. One ring for each bullet. This is exactly what I saw when my friend learned about squibs the hard way.
 
Last edited:
I had two squibs yesterday at the range. Both were from a box of reloaded .38's I got from my local gun store. I cocked the hammer on my S&W 686, pulled the trigger, and heard the primer fire. Yep, stuck bullet. I unloaded the gun and switched to my SP101, thinking it was just a fluke; he'd missed a powder charge. Fired the next round in my SP101 and... same thing. So I took both guns to the store and got the owner to push out the bullets. I didn't have anything to get them out at the range. He got them out and took my ammo back for a trade for some factory loads. I added a dowel rod to my range bag.

This was just a rare incident of missing powder charges. I've shot hundreds of loads from this guy and never had a problem. But it goes to show how important it is to listen to what your gun is doing and be familiar with it.

I was also surprised at how far the primer pushed the bullet. It almost pushed it completely through my SP101's 3-inch barrel.
 
This was just a rare incident of missing powder charges.
If the charge is missing in one, how do you know it isn't in a double-charge in the next one??

That right there is the one you got to really worry about!

If I had even one squib, I would stop right then & there, and go home and pull all the remaining bullets.

I have been shooting & reloading for over 50 years, and have never had a squib.
There just isn't any excuse for at all if you follow established reloading safety practices.

rc
 
If I had even one squib, I would stop right then & there, and go home and pull all the remaining bullets.

That would be my thought as well. It also gives a lot of credance to the idea of using bulky powders so that a double charge overflows the casing.

High on my list of priorities for my reloading press when it's finally set up in my new shop area is going to be a whilte LED light and a little inspection mirror on the press so I can visually check before placing the bullet.

The other thought, since I'm using a Dillon 550b with four stations but using Lee 3 die sets, is to put the seating and crimping die in position 4 and use a powder depth test guage on position 3. hard part would be figuring out how to either balance the bullet stabiliy while indexing the table or how to reach in past the depth measuring part to place the bullet in position 4. I could do it if I placed the empty case AND the bullet both with my right hand but that would seriously slow things down doing so much with the right hand and nothing at all with the left.
 
In my case it was with a VERY expensive rifle. I recognized it for what it was and didn't fire a second round. The primer pushed the bullet about six or eight inches up the barrel. This round DID have powder in it. The powder did not ignite. It might be a good idea to treat a squib as a potential hang fire and wait a bit before opening the action.
 
That's right. Just because it sounded like a squib doesn't mean its over. When it happened with my revolver, I kept it pointed downrange and turned my head to the guy shooting with me to say, "That didn't sound right." Hooray for gun safety rules like "Never point it anything you don't want to destroy."
 
Makes me wonder, though: It's pressure that's propelling the 2nd bullet, so wouldn't it's forward motion stop once inter-bullet pressure rises to the same point? IOW, why does inter-bullet pressure continue to rise well beyond chamber pressure, and why do the bullets actually collide? Momentum of the 2nd bullet?
The inter-bullet pressure will never rise to the same point.

Consider: The squib may be 1/2" down the barrel. The pressure between it and the next round is ~ 14.7 psi, that is to say, ambient pressure. That pressure will rapidly build to 4, 5, 6 or more times that pressure as the fast-moving bullet behind it closes in on the stoppped one. However, the moving bullet (even a low powered .38 Spl) has 18,000 psi behind it.

The analogy posted above regarding the stopped car and the one behind it moving at 60 mph is a good one.
 
Last edited:
A while back, before buying my own reloading setup, I saw a "deal" on handloaded .45 colt ammo at the gun show. (yes yes, Point and laugh, I deserve it)

Ignoring the voice in my head, I bought 100 rounds of the supposedly soft-loaded .45 colt and took it home. Opening the bag, the shells were oily to the touch, but I thought nothing of it and went to the range.

20 squibs (I'll just blame the oil right off the bat) 3 bullets stuck in the barrel of my 5" Schofield. I'd never had one in my life before this, and learned to check after each "Pfft!"

500 rounds of .45 colt of my own load down the range now, not one squib, not one misfire. Lesson learned. If you don't know the loader personally, Don't feed their rounds down anything you value.
 
Had squib in my trusty Colt 1911 series 80. I was shooting for time so I was shooting rather fast and did not notice the squib. Anyway, the squib did bulge the barrel and the slide was caught out of battery.

Upon disassembly (had to cut off some parts) I only found 1 bullet. I can only assume that the original squib was push out and that the one I found was the bullet that did the pushing.

Heck of mistake, that squib. Cost me a new barrel, bushing, the take down lever, and some bucks for the smith that worked on setting the barrel. Lesson Learned: never ever ever never use a buddies reloads.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top