Squib while shooting slow fire.

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I am humble enough to post this experience so others who reload can learn from it.
I experienced a squib reload while shooting in a slow fire competition match and couldn't get another round into battery. If I had I would have ran into some trouble. The squib stopped in the beginnings of the lands in the barrel.
I was concentrating on shooting so much that failed to pay attention to my reloads. To me this is unforgivable. What's also unforgivable is reloading a squib in the first place. I had high confidence in the steps on how I reload.
Learning from this.
1. Set the proper charge.
2. charge the case.
3. Immediately Inspect the charge in the case.
4. Seat the bullet.

I incorporated step three.

I will never forget that I am shooting reloaded ammunition when am shooting and will pay attention to the gun while firing. Even competition shooting. I was so focused on the front sight and the target that I failed to account for the squib in my series 80 45 ACP. On a casual range day I would have certainly picked up on it.
I will from now on never pass any reloaded ammunition to close friends period!!

 

[MrBorland]

What's also unforgivable is reloading a squib in the first place

Meh. Kudos for being honest and recognizing something that needs to be addressed, but it's my personal opinion that if you load and shoot enough ammo, chances are pretty good you'll experience a squib at some point. When it happens, recognize it, find why it happened, take corrective measures, move on with an improved technique, and don't beat yourself up too much.

Glad you didn't manage to fire off another round, though.

 

[ny32182]

Factory ammo isn't perfect either.
This is one reason I like auto indexing presses. To get a double or squib, you would have to manually move cases around into the wrong stations of the press. If I have a malfunction that requires clearing of the shell plate, which is rare, I immediately dump all the powder from all the open cases and start them over at the charging station. Never had a squib or double charge yet in WELL over 100k rounds loaded in the last 4+ years. In the event I'm doing a small batch in a loading block by hand, I just run a flashlight over them all before bullet seating as one final sanity check on the level of powder in each case.

I've seen several squibs happen in person though, at action pistol matches where people are often shooting a round every 0.2 seconds or faster. Each and every single time, it has played out the same way:

1) No audible indication that it was anything other than a light strike, at speed.
2) Shooter racks it and tries to shoot again
3) Bullet doesn't make it far enough into the barrel for the next round to chamber. Stage is over, go get the rod and the hammer.

Obviously that is much better than the alternative of the next round being able to chamber.

I've also seen several very light charges that just caused a "pop" rather than a bang, and probably didn't cycle the action... everyone around knew something was wrong and yelled "stop" right away. But in every one of those cases, if it was loud enough for the crowd to hear anything, the bullet at least cleared the barrel.

I hope to never see a squib that is strong enough to get the bullet out into the barrel far enough for the next round to chamber.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Very humbling to me to experience a squib.

 

[armoredman]

I had one in 5.56mm once, and it did get partway into the barrel, enough for the next round to chamber. That one was fun to hammer out. Fortunately I heard/felt the difference and stopped right away. That is why I also use a flashlight at the end of the powder stage to visually inspect all charged cases for bang dirt.

 

[lonegunman]

If you use a progressive reloader, try and sit in a position that allows you to see the case after you drop powder. That being said, you might want to include an eight inch piece of 3/8ths wooden dowel in your gun box or bag.

 

[sbwaters]

If you use a progressive reloader, try and sit in a position that allows you to see the case after you drop powder.

+1. I do. ... Or I thought I did. Had my first squib this week. Humbling. Fortunately the next round did not go into battery. Happened during a rotating stage and -- because of the noise of the target’s metal rattle -- did not hear the squib fire.

My change in procedure: (I already sit and look in every case, even with a Hornady donut powder cop.) When adjusting the progressive, from now on I will always dump the powder and pull the bullets when adjusting bullet seating. Too many things happening. One can slip by.

My want: An electronic powder cop for an LnL. I have the donut powder check die, but I want it to beep low or high. The logic should be simple enough to test only when the case tops.

 

[mjsdwash]

Ive shot fewer than ten boxes of factory ammo in the past decade, and had a squib with it. Havent had a squib with a reload since I first started, and a few years after when I got some bad powder. I got a powder check die, and have ran about 40,000 reloads without incident in the last decade. While the check die has never indicated a problem in that time, its nice to know you checked every round.