What Is Wrong With These Pictures?

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well, that doesn't explain what they are...

a squib load is when the bullet doesn't leave the muzzel, there isn't enough pressure to push it out all of the way, if a second round is fired then the pressure in the chamber can become so great that the chamber will rupture, causing damage to the firearm and injury to the shooter.

usually, a distinctly different sound and feel will be noticed, if this occurs DO NOT FIRE THE NEXT SHOT! stop and clear the weapon, then shine a light through the barrell or use a small rod to check for obstructions.

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY AND FIRE A ROUND TO DISLODGE THE STUCK BULLET!

you might just kill yourself.
 
wow, GhostlyKarliion, that pic just breaks my heart. was that your own anaconda that bit the dust? if so, my condolences...

hope no one was seriously hurt.
 
Nice Fish...

Oh, by the way, your barrel's got a slug stuck in there. Did you hear the difference when you were shooting? I did this once years ago with an old Colt Police Positive .32 and blew the damn thing right out of my hand. Lucky me, I still gotta hand!
 
gbran, sorry to go DI about it not knowing. You know, this is why we have emoticons over to the right... otherwise, all we have is words and we can't inject tone all that well typing like we can talking.

Between me and my Daddy- we shoot together most times- we've had two or three squib loads. If you're testing handloads in revolvers, slow fire is great because you're taking your time and paying attention to what each one did. Usually, a squib won't be near as loud, and all the pressure and flash will exit through the cylinder gap. So far, we haven't blown anything up. Guns are too expensive and a fine revolver, not to mention your gun-hand, is a terrible thing to waste.
 
gbran said:
Don't fret, just light off a hotter round to push the first one out.
Click to expand...
I couldn't help myself. That statement reminded me of the claim made by Metal Storm. There are no squibs in that platform.

I know, I know, not the same thing. I am glad you caught that, orygunmike. Those are attention-grabbing photos.

Switchman said:
Did you hear the difference when you were shooting?
Click to expand...
Switchman, did you read the opening post?
orygunmike said:
On the 5th shot of a rapid-fire, double-action string, the sound and recoil resulting from pulling the trigger of my Model 19-3 were substantially different. Substantially different.
Click to expand...
By the way, were you able to remove the blockage or did you need a Smith to do it?
 
Thanks a lot :mad: I was almost over the nightmares and you have to show me that picture.

You see about 20 year ago I had borrowed my dad's model 19 (nickel) and was shooting some hand loads a friend had given me. I few of the loads sounded light. Yes thats right "a few" and this 19 year old, at the time, idiot kept shooting. Well I finally had one that just sounded wrong and I stopped to look and there was a bullet half way down the barrel. I thought Dad was going to kill me. Come to find out it was true that Dad loved me more than any gun but I sweated it until I got to the gunsmith and he checked out the gun and gave it the OK much to my relief.

Dad is gone now but I still have the model 19 she is still as tight and beautiful as ever. But every once in awhile I think about what could have happened that day had I shot a full power after that squib loads still makes me cringe just thinking about it. :what:
 
Had one of those happen years ago when I was firing some reloads from my 10mm Parker. The sound and feel was very different and I stopped. The bullet was halfway down the barrel :eek:. When the shop put oil down the barrel to let it soak it just fell out. Have not bought reloads since.
 
I've had a couple of light loads from my hand-loading, but never a squib, thank God. One was so light, the bullet didn't pick up enough speed and I actually heard the whirring sound of it, like when you have a riccochet go whizzing by. Suffice to say, I pulled my barrel from my 40 and checked it immediately for anything extra left behind. No damage and I finished off the rest, since there was only one mag left. I've since become a lot better at making my powder thrower more consistant.
Another reason why you should familiarize yourself with a weapon before having to use it. You need to know what is normal and not.
 
I'm wondering what one of these loads does to the rifling of the barrel? I bet it scratches the SH)*) out of the barrel inside?
 
I've had that happen twice...both times with factory military .45 ACP.

One in a 1917 Colt, that bullet lodged about 2" down the tube. It was very noticable in both sound and recoil.

The other when I was acting range officer on a pistol range at Ft. Riley in a govt issue 1911A1(I wasn't shooting it). It did have enough power to cycle the action. That one went far enough down the barrel that the following round was able to chamber. Fortunately, the Sargeant shooting it knew something wasn't right, so he didn't drop the hammer on the nest round.

would've been bad in either case.
 
I had a squib in my S&W 4506 once.
My buddy had just bought a Lee Loadmaster and we were having issues with it throwing consistent charges. The gun popped a little differently and did not cycle the action. The bullet(200 grain SWC) was lodged about halfway down the barrel and took some whacking with a hammer and fiberglass rod to get it out. It happened two more times that day. :mad:
 
Once, only once. Many years ago I was loading some .38s, and got mixed up somehow. I remember getting distracted but don't know how I got mixed up. After a few rounds I heard that pop. Fortunately I had only loaded a box and pulled the rest, found several with no powder.

Nowdays when I reload, I charge a block of shells, then take a flashlight and make sure the powder level is the same in each case. I know, you guys with the progressive presses are laughing at me loading pistol rounds on a single stage, but I don't shoot enough to justify the expense of a progressive.

Wow, that blown up Anaconda is scary. Everyone who reloads should print that and post it by their loading bench as a reminder to be careful!
 
i shoot my own reloads exclusively in my s&w mod 27........ i know they have powder in the case because when i'm reloading i check a tray of 50 to see the powder level is right in each case before in seat a bullet in it...... sobering pictures indeed!...... the pic of the colt was heartbreaking...........
 
Treat me like a total newbie here. Is this caused primarily because of a lack of powder in the catridge? I think that is the case, but want to be 100% sure, and I am not afraid to ask people that know more than me.
 
Treat me like a total newbie here. Is this caused primarily because of a lack of powder in the catridge? I think that is the case, but want to be 100% sure, and I am not afraid to ask people that know more than me.
Click to expand...

That's one possibility. The primer itself is enough force to dislodge a bullet from the casing, but not enough to send it downrange. Its possible that the round didn't have any powder in it, or it had an insufficient charge to push the bullet out of the barrel.

Another possibility, albeit a lesser possibility, is that the powder was defective in some manner that caused it not to burn completely.


There is an infamous case of someone being killed by a squib load. Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, was killed on the set of the movie "The Crow" by one. They were using both dummy rounds and blank rounds on the set, and someone had failed to remove the primer from one of the dummy rounds. When the actor using the gun pulled the trigger, the primer fired and the bullet got lodged in the barrel, causing a squib load. This went unnoticed, so when the gun was later used to fire blanks, the squib was forced out of the barrel, killing Lee.
 
I experienced a squib once though not personally. My daughter and I were out shooting, and while I was swapping mags, the .380 my girl was shooting went "poof" instead of "BANG", I looked up and seen a little smoke coming from the rear of the Walther, and I yelled "STOP", she put the pistol down and jumped back about 5 feet. I then explained why I yelled, and explained squib loads to her. When I cleared the chamber, an empty shell ejected. Turns out the bullet did clear the barrel, but there was a good amount of powder in the barrel, so I brushed it out, and we went back to punching holes in paper.

I've noticed she's paying a lot more attention to what the gun is telling her with every pull of the trigger now. She told me she was probably just going to cycle the slide and keep going, she's not in as much of a hurry to do that now. Which is a good thing!

Thanks for sharing your experience, could have been bad, but as you are using the situation, it's a good teaching tool.
 
I have had it happen on my S&W 500!

...twice!

What caused it was too light a load of H110 powder - so much so that the primer failed to ignite the powder but did push the bullet out.

I was trying to load up some real mild loads for practice without the huge recoil. I since have learned that H110 and W296 will not ignite reliably if the charge is 3% or less than max load (not the 10% that most powders will tolerate).

Luckily my son was with me and warned me not to fire after the 'pop' load. I inspected the bore and the bullet was about an inch down from the forcing cone - a follow up shot would have been disastrous, especially with the power of a 500.

I pounded out the bullet at the range with the cleaning rod - I capped the rod with a brass casing from a smaller caliber to avoid scratching the bore. Then cleaned out all the unburned powder, which was everywhere.

I went back to firing (carefully this time) some more of my loaded rounds when, after a few successful shots, it happened again.

So I packed it up and at home read up the H110 and W296 warnings on the internet. Then pulled all my remaining loads and filled them to the recommended loading of the H110 and haven't had it happen again since.

I am much more careful now whenever I shoot my revolvers (especially the 500) and thank God my son stopped me after I heard the mild 'pop' on that first time!!

Ron
 
Interesting - you can see the yellowish crud in the forcing cone around the barrel, it looks like partially burned powder once the graphite coating burns off.

I noticed one time in a batch of .45 ACP LRN that the linkage to my powder hopper had come off on one end and I had loaded a number of rounds with no powder. I took that batch of about 50 out and shot them one at a time, found about 15 or so that didn't go bang. Only five or six had enough oomph from the primer to actually push the bullet into the barrel - those got knocked back out with a dowel and a mallet. I was glad they were cast lead.

I was putting the duds into a tupperware bowl on the table next to me when a funny thing happend (twice actually). About 15 seconds after I'd dropped the dud into the bowl, the case's grip on the bullet let go and it went "pop" and the bullet stayed in the bowl and the case jumped out of the bowl. We're not talking high speed schrapnel here, it maybe made it 8 inches across the table. It was like a damned Mexican Jumping Bean! Pretty funny...
 
I'm wondering what one of these loads does to the rifling of the barrel? I bet it scratches the SH)*) out of the barrel inside?
Click to expand...

Not sure why you think it would affect the barrel any differently than a regular shot.

I have a box of .22 Thunderbolt that I need to contact the mfg on. It gave me a few squibs.
 
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