Two squibs in a week. Need help!

[Ironicaintit]

I used to be much more diligent about it but I guess I got to big for my britches. Luckily it didn't cost me my gun or my hand!

Yeah, its in our nature to get used to doing a thing, and then become complacent.
Im glad you only payed for the lesson with your pride, and not with blood and/or steel!

I love the art and process of the handload; I do what I can to always feel like a newb about it, and dont take any steps for granted.

 

[Bula]

Was there any powder noticed around the feed ramp and in the action etc.? Sounds like your not sure if it was an under charged case or an empty one. Primers popping will move a bullet into the barrel. Any way under loaded case will be sooty and may or may not operate full ejection in an auto.

 

[gamestalker]

What concerns me when I hear about such events, is if a reloader is having this type issue, what else might he be doing, or not be doing that could get him into some serious trouble.

Stuff like loading with more than one powder canister on the bench, more than one box of bullets of varying weights, and so on. There's no room for time saving short cuts that open the door to increased risks.

GS

 

[WessonOil]

What issues are you having with the Lee 1000 that is making you use a hand primer?

 

[BSA1]

I've been reloading for about 7 years and I've recently gotten my first squib load. The first was in my Glock 23 with a 124 grain frangible projectile and about 5 grains of Titegroup. The second squib happened yesterday in my 9mm AR-15.

Your real concern should be if you have two rounds that are double charged.

 

[mongoose33]

In general with handguns, 1.0gn of ANY pistol powder will produce enough gas to get the bullet out of the barrel. A bullet gets stuck in the barrel if the velocity is below about 450 fps. For that, you will almost always have a primer-only condition.
LOOK in every charged case before you place a bullet on the case or dedicate a station to an RCBS Lock-Out die or Dillon Powder Check die.
Light is important.

I use the RCBS Lockout die--As I'm sure is the case with almost everybody who uses a progressive, it's easy for the mind to wander and maybe you're checking every case for powder before you seat the bullet, maybe not.

The RCBS lockout die will lock up the stroke if it doesn't detect powder in the case, meaning it's as if you had a mispositioned case under the sizing/decapping die.

The beauty of it, for me, is that it'll catch a no-powder condition as well as a double-charge. It'll also catch a light or heavy condition as well, which I like.

I have some cases with corks driven into them to simulate various powder levels; when the lockout die is set up to allow the middle powder level, which is a normal powder level for what I use, it'll lock up the press on all the other ones shown.

So it's more sensitive than you'd think, and I like that. And best of all, it'll catch it if my mind wanders. I still look in the case anyway, but this is, IMO, the best way to go.

 

[murf]

sounds like sunray is talking about a revolver (with a cylinder gap) and ljnowell is talking about a bottom feeder.

i think you are both right.

murf

 

[ljnowell]

sounds like sunray is talking about a revolver (with a cylinder gap) and ljnowell is talking about a bottom feeder.



i think you are both right.



murf

That may be the case murf. I was thinking the OP was discussing auto loaders. I'll have to go back and look.

 

[walnut1704]

There's sort of two issues here. One is catching the defective rounds through inspection. The second is what's causing the lack of powder in the first place.

The same thing happened to me. One here, one there, then it hit about 10%. I had great difficulty visually inspecting cases because of the small charge in the .38 cases. I really didn't feel like dumping my Dillon and completely changing everything after 30 years of no problems. I just needed to figure out what was causing it.

I finally figured it out. The spring return on the Lee Auto-Disk I used was failing to return the disk. It's hard to spot with the black on the black housing. I put a colored sticker on the side of the disk to help me spot it's position.

I tried all sorts of things to correct the issue, to no avail. It even failed on a completely different Auto-Disk. I came to the conclusion that the spring return system is just not reliable. I figured a way to mount the chain they give you as an option which drives the disk closed.

If you're using a spring return Auto-Disk, that might be it. I used the spring for years with no problem. The it went south on me. A search of different forums tells me I'm not the only one this has happened too.

 

[ljnowell]

There's sort of two issues here. One is catching the defective rounds through inspection. The second is what's causing the lack of powder in the first place.

The same thing happened to me. One here, one there, then it hit about 10%. I had great difficulty visually inspecting cases because of the small charge in the .38 cases. I really didn't feel like dumping my Dillon and completely changing everything after 30 years of no problems. I just needed to figure out what was causing it.

I finally figured it out. The spring return on the Lee Auto-Disk I used was failing to return the disk. It's hard to spot with the black on the black housing. I put a colored sticker on the side of the disk to help me spot it's position.

I tried all sorts of things to correct the issue, to no avail. It even failed on a completely different Auto-Disk. I came to the conclusion that the spring return system is just not reliable. I figured a way to mount the chain they give you as an option which drives the disk closed.

If you're using a spring return Auto-Disk, that might be it. I used the spring for years with no problem. The it went south on me. A search of different forums tells me I'm not the only one this has happened too.

Springs fail, whether they are on cars, guns, or reloading presses. I prefer the chain pullback on my progressive also.

There are lots of people that are using metal rods to make a pull back system with the lee powder measure.

 

[walnut1704]

Springs fail, whether they are on cars, guns, or reloading presses. I prefer the chain pullback on my progressive also.

There are lots of people that are using metal rods to make a pull back system with the lee powder measure.

The chain is fine the way I have it rigged, it's right in front of me when I'm loading. Not like I'm not going to notice it if it breaks.

I prefer a fixed disk measure, and Lee makes the only one I know of that can be automatically actuated. I just drilled a hole in the bracket Dillon provides for their powder measure rod and ran the chain through it.

 

[joem1945]

Just had one today. I know I screwed up and had some oil on my fingers. It didn't take much to get a squib.