Saboteur operating on armslist?

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call BS on this...to not check the barrel is akin to buying a car without counting the tires.
 
Seems more than a little hokey to me too. Kind of sounds like fiction with a bit of unsubstantiated conjecture thrown in for good measure.
 
A squib bullet will have soot all over the back and sides from the primer. You don't get a clean/complete burn like you often do in a normal pressure firing.

No soot = 100% chance it was not a squib, in my opinion....

That said the story sounds like BS as presented to me too. Anyone smart enough to know a squib from a non-squib is smart enough to check the bore, etc.
 
rcmodel said:
In all my 50+ years of buying, selling, and trading guns??

I never walked away from a deal without first inspecting the gun, and then getting the other persons name and address, and more lately, a cell-phone photo of the drivers license.

I have a loose-leaf book about 4" think with sales receipts, bills of sale, photos, and buyer / seller I'D's dating back to 1962 in the book shelf of every gun I ever bought or sold.

The buyer who posted the incident is as at fault as the seller.

Whether his intentions were criminal, or he was just stupid and sold a gun he knew nothing about.

I'm not ready to run outside and yell "The Sky is Falling!' just quite yet, based on that poorly transacted transaction.

rc
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Wow you go through a lot. I don't think if someone wanted to take a cell phone picture of my ID I'd follow through with the transaction. Two different opinions I guess.
 
I bought a new .22 Astra Constable many years ago.. from a gun store. Well, I actually traded a home-built 1911 for a few new guns there.
That Constable was made to not work from the get-go. Got cash or money back from the GS the next day for the .22.
 
Of all the used guns I've ever bought, I can't recall a single time I didn't shine a bore light through it at the time of purchase/inspection.

Could the seller had been stupid or psychotic enough to sell it in that condition and the buyer too lazy to check the barrel even once? I guess, but the story does sound a trifle suspect.
 
Along with clearing and doing a general pre firing inspection, it's also a step I've incorporated into the process that precedes firing any weapon. I believe it is included in most owner manuals of new weapons, and for good cause too.

It's also something I've always taught in hunter safety classes.

GS
 
The story does sound a little fishy. I even look at the bore of new guns at the store before I buy them. When advertised as new I want to see the gun looking like new condition including the bore. So an experienced gunny not looking the gun over thoroughly sounds suspect as mentioned.
 
When I got the bullet out...it was never fired. Brand new bullet hadn't seen powder, case or primer. He just took a Speer jacketed hollow point and jammed it up the bore.
Click to expand...

A squib bullet will have soot all over the back and sides from the primer. You don't get a clean/complete burn like you often do in a normal pressure firing.

No soot = 100% chance it was not a squib, in my opinion....

That said the story sounds like BS as presented to me too. Anyone smart enough to know a squib from a non-squib is smart enough to check the bore, etc.
Click to expand...

I had a squib once when I was shooting someone else's gun and ammo. I held onto the bullet afterwards and it looked brand new aside from the rifling.
 
I heard of some reloaders actually reloading already fired FMJ's. I don't buy it, especially the part about buying a firearm and not looking down the bore and inspecting the chamber before parting with the cash. And although a primer can definitely jam a bullet in the barrel, it isn't going to leave much, if any sure sign of having been propelled into the bore. And also, if that bullet had been jammed into the bore as stated by the OP, it would have some indication of making contact with the object that was used to jamming it up there, he made no mention of any marks or indentations on the bullet, and in fact said it looked brand new other than rifling marks.

I think someone wanted to make up a story, maybe bored, or simply has something against Armslist?

GS
 
It seems that the storyteller has nothing to gain by making it up, so I believe it happened. I also would never fire a gun, "any gun" that came from an unknown source, without field stripping it "at least" and cleaning inspecting and lubricating it.
I could imagine someone firing it without checking, although it's a long shot to assume a buyer of used guns would not at least give it a cursory examination.
If a plot it was, it failed miserablly and was poorly thought out and executed, with too much at risk for little return. The more I type the worse it gets, so it most likely is true.
 
It's got to go in the "possible but unverified" file for now. I would have liked to have seen detailed photos of the bullet, a better ID of the seller and some details on how the fellow learned about the pistol for sale. Even without ID from the seller there's almost always a paper trail of some kind or an internet ad.
 
gym said:
It seems that the storyteller has nothing to gain by making it up, so I believe it happened. I also would never fire a gun, "any gun" that came from an unknown source, without field stripping it "at least" and cleaning inspecting and lubricating it.
I could imagine someone firing it without checking, although it's a long shot to assume a buyer of used guns would not at least give it a cursory examination.
If a plot it was, it failed miserablly and was poorly thought out and executed, with too much at risk for little return. The more I type the worse it gets, so it most likely is true.
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Good policy on field stripping and cleaning. I bought a mossberg semi auto (151k?) and while I did shine a borelight down in I did not clean it. Took it out to the hills to shoot and another guy was already there. Loaded it up, pulled the trigger and Brrrraapp and the sound of a whole lotta brass rolling over the rocks. Needless to say I loaded up my truck and left while getting a very strange look from the other shooter:scrutiny:. Luckily all it needed was a good cleaning and no one had modified it.
 
It seems that the storyteller has nothing to gain by making it up, so I believe it happened.
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LOL, sure the storyteller has something to gain. It may not be financial, but s/he gets to claim to be the victim of an intended act of sabotage that purportedly could have blown him up! Not only that, the teller also takes credit for buying the gun and keeping somebody else from being injured.

Of course, the hero of this little story is hoping to help all of us out by sharing with us his near brush with disaster from a person that could be a "homicidal lunatic" in order to protect us as well. So he is getting Good Sam points for saving the world.

No, this guy has plenty to gain from fabricating a story.

If it was a true warning, then the teller would have provided us with more information about the purported seller other than it was a chatty male in a Mini Cooper S.

This story fits typical urban legend myths in that it has some pretty amazing claims, very specific details in some areas that aren't critically helpful (car driven, bullet), vague details in the areas that would be critically helpful (license number, name of seller), and absolutely no way to verify anything as being true.
 
45_auto said:
How can he tell that it was never fired? What kind of marks does firing a bullet leave that it doesn't get by being "jammed" halfway up the barrel? Did he expect the base to be melted or something? I see FMJ bullets dug out of a range backstop all the time that look brand new except for the rifling marks.

My guess would be that the rest of the story is equally true.
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It is easy to tell if it was never fired.
If you've ever squibbed a round you would notice that the base of the bullet becomes black with soot.

I also doubt the veracity of the story.
 
The buyer who posted the incident is as at fault as the seller.
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The heck he is! The late Principle of Sandy hook is as much at fault for the children's deaths as Adam Lanza? It was a simple oversight on his part. Murderous intent on the other.
 
There necessarily would not be powder burns on the bottom of a squib bullet. I fired some .380 Auto factory ammo a couple years ago that burned so cleanly, the insides of the fired-cases appeared shiny and good-as-new, save for a fired-primer.

The insides of the cases were unbelievably-clean!

I remember thinking "I wonder what kind of powder the factory used in making these loads!"
 
It is easy to tell if it was never fired. If you've ever squibbed a round you would notice that the base of the bullet becomes black with soot.
Click to expand...

I guess my squib was magical huh?
 
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