Squib load last Thursday

[jashobeam]

I work at an indoor gun range. Last Thursday night I had the opportunity to see the effects of a squib load.

A man had rented one of our guns (a Ruger SP101 .357 magnum) and bought some factory ammo which we require with all of our gun rentals. A little while later he came out of the shooting bay and complained that the cylinder was stuck. The employee who rented him the gun went out to look at it and discovered that the shooter had been shooting reloads (reloaded by a third party) through the gun.

One of the cartridges had been a squib load that had managed to lodge the bullet about an inch inside the barrel. AMAZINGLY, another cartridge had experienced some sort of crimp-jump in which the bullet had become unseated and extruded itself from the casing, resulting in the cartridge becoming wedged against the frame and freezing the cylinder.

If this other cartridge had not had a loose crimp that allowed the bullet to extend beyond the cylinder and wedge against the frame, the shooter would most likely have fired off another round AFTER the squib load had lodged a bullet in the barrel! What a fortunate guy he is to have experienced two malfunctions at one time, with one saving him from reaping the consequences of the other.

THIS IS WHY RANGES INSIST THAT GUN-RENTERS PURCHASE FACTORY AMMUNITION WHEN SHOOTING RANGE-OWNED FIREARMS.

 

[Boom-stick]

I watched a guy down our range shoot off 5 rounds though a taurus revolver, without making a single hole in his card, then realise he hadn't had any of the five bullets leave the barrel. All 5 where stuck in the barrel!!!

The main problem was that whilst reloading he'd forgotten to put the powder in

The second problem was that he'd just borrowed the gun from someone in the club house to "have a quick go"

 

[jashobeam]

That must have been rather embarrassing for him!

 

[ezypikns]

Happened to me once.

In my S&W Model 10. I was pretty sure what had happened after I had pulled the trigger. I took it right in to the gunsmith at the range. He pressed the lead bullet back out of the barrel and I was in business again. I thought that maybe I'd shorted the powder when I reloaded that particular cartridge, but the gunsmith assured me that if I'd had any powder (Bullseye) in the casing, the bullet would have left the barrel.
Also I recently had some Sellier & Bellot .38 sp 158 gr LRN ammo that was so poorly crimped that the bullets were constantly backing out of the casing due to recoil.

 

[BozemanMT]

I've had one squib load with my shotgun reloads in about 10k rounds
and I've had three from the Blue Federal boxes in about 500 rounds.

Why again is factory ammo better?

i get why ranges want you to do that, but it doesn't solve everything.

 

[1 old 0311]

I have shot at both indoor, and outdoor, public ranges for over 30 years and some of the idiots still scare the hell out of me.

Kevin

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Blocked barrel might not have catastrophic consequences with a Ruger.


There's a picture somewhere of a submachinegun [MP5?] barrel filled from one end to the other with bullets. Bulged a little, but didn't burst, subgun just kept humming along at 650 rounds/minute.

 

[Rockrivr1]

"THIS IS WHY RANGES INSIST THAT GUN-RENTERS PURCHASE FACTORY AMMUNITION WHEN SHOOTING RANGE-OWNED FIREARMS."

One of the biggest issues I have with this is that most ranges charge double what a box of 50 shells cost anywhere else. One of the local ranges around here knew this to be an issue so he allowed shooters to use factory ammo they bring in to use with the rental, but ony after they checked the ammo you would be shooting.

Either way though, a shooter could squirel away some reloads in his bag.

 

[R.W.Dale]

I've had a similar thing happen with two diffrent rugers but with factory ammo,

One was a Remington 22lr squib that had just enough power to lodge the bullet flush with the face of the forcing cone on my Single Six.

The other was with winchester 44 spcl when I actually got 2 rounds from one box that did not have a flashhole. They both locked the super blackhawk up solid.

On both ocassions I caut what had happend before damaging my gun.

 

[Zen21Tao]

Ok. Time to flame myself.

I am brand new to reloading. During the very first batch of reloads I made I noticed the powder measure ran low. I though I caught it in time but when I took the rounds to the range I had a few very low powder rounds fire and one round that resulted in a squib. Everything was ok becasue I was so worried that I might have made a mistake that I field stripped and checked the barrel after each low powder load finding the squib imediately when it happened.

That was last week. Today I took my second batch of reloaded ammo to the range and everthing fired flawlessly.

 

[jashobeam]

"THIS IS WHY RANGES INSIST THAT GUN-RENTERS PURCHASE FACTORY AMMUNITION WHEN SHOOTING RANGE-OWNED FIREARMS."

One of the biggest issues I have with this is that most ranges charge double what a box of 50 shells cost anywhere else. One of the local ranges around here knew this to be an issue so he allowed shooters to use factory ammo they bring in to use with the rental, but ony after they checked the ammo you would be shooting.

Either way though, a shooter could squirel away some reloads in his bag.

The range I work at isn't too bad on the pricing. I think we charge $8.65 for 50 rounds of 9mm (American Eagle and MagTech--Winchester might be $9.33). Compared to Walmart it's high, but not compared to most sporting goods stores that I've been in.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

A man had rented one of our guns (a Ruger SP101 .357 magnum) and bought some factory ammo which we require with all of our gun rentals.

Isn't it wonderful when people treat your REQUIREMENTS as only just GUIDELINES?.

 

[KIDGLOCK]

While in Alaska I'd buy my 45 acp ammo for 8 dollars a 50 from a fellow who reloaded and had a small gun shop in his house. I took said rounds to the range , I think i had 4 bags ,200 rds, Loaded all my mags 5. Then slapped one in raked the slide and puff That didnt sound or feel right!! Unloaded and field stripped it well well there was a bullet stuck in the bore. Knocked it out and was VERY carfull for the rest didnt shoot fast . Never bought any more of anybodys reloads after that.
What gets me is the odds of it being the first round in the first mag , should have bought a lottery ticket instead of going shooting.

 

[Zen21Tao]

What gets me is the odds of it being the first round in the first mag , should have bought a lottery ticket instead of going shooting.

Actually the odds of it being the first round in the first mag is exactly the same for it being any other round in any other mag.

The probability of having "ANY" of the non-squib loads in ANY givin position (bulet # within Mag #) is much higher than having the single squib load located there. It's that fact that the first available poistion is more memoriable that makes it seem less likly than any other given position. Sorry for being picky but I am in a (statistical v. heuristical) Judgement and Decision course right now

 

[shell70634]

I watched an Army helicopter pilot in 1975 have a squib load with his issue S&W Model 10. Before I could get to him on the firing line he popped off another round. The barrel held. I'd fly with him anytime.