What's a squib load?

[Mojoe]

Pull up a chair, if you don't know what one is. They are kind of rare, and that's a good thing. Howard and I teach about them in class. It's hard to think back over the thousands and thousands of rounds we have fired, yet we both had never encountered one, or knew anyone who had had a squib load. That is, until Howard had one last year, during a class we were teaching. And now, this past weekend, I ran into one also.

 

So what is a squib load?

According to SAAMI, “A cartridge or shell which produces projectile velocity and sound substantially lower than normal. May result in projectile and/or wads remaining in the bore.” The danger in a squib is that if you have an obstruction in the barrel and the fire another round, you could have the gun explode. There are pictures out there of someone who fired six rounds and stacked in the barrel. That gun is done. They ended up cutting the barrel for a side view, it was actually kind of impressive.

 

When Howard had his, it was with some ammo we had gotten ahold of and knew it was junk. I had read up on squib loads, and seen that people who reload ammo had run into them a bit more, but I didn't see much about there being accurances with factory ammo. We have been in agreement, that the tolerances and standards for modern ammo manufacturing has come a long way, so that is a likely reason these are not common. And, then I had mine. I was shooting CCI Maxi Mag .22WMR. Gun used was a Kel Tec, PMR30. I actually hadn't notice any difference in the feel, as there is little recoil with this caliber. I did notice the sounds was not right. And in looking at the gun, I was lucky to see the slide was not seated forward. The bullet had lodged about 3/4" in the bore, blocking the next round from chambering properly. I confirmed the blockage by shining a light from the muzzle and looking in the chamber. No light shine through. I then slid a cleaning rod in to double check, and sure enough, the bullet was in the bore.

 

What's the fix? For the most part it is pretty simple. Break the weapon down and secure the barrel in a vice. Then tap the bullet out in the direction of travel.

 

I called CCI to see if they had any other issues with the lot number from the box. Another great reason to keep ammo in its original box. They asked me to write and email with the details and that they will be sending me a shipping label for the cartage, bullet and the remaining ammo. They will inspect it and then I'll get some sort of refund. They thanked me for reporting it, because it allows them to track that lot and see if there are more problems with it.

 

Here are some pics.

 

This powder should have all burned, ably about a 1/4 of it did. You'll see a bunch of it is in the guns action too, unburnt.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/dsnowgod/DCBFFB70-73FC-4C23-8B84-3F8B1FC31012_zpsn2grdcb4.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/dsnowgod/9242110B-7D23-4E89-AE43-C8BC3098507D_zpstjl17rsg.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/dsnowgod/E0FBA9BE-02CA-463D-A165-13461B085D37_zpslcqji983.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/dsnowgod/1F7FC03D-1B0A-4621-97A3-52E0745DFF90_zpsm5oxteor.jpg

Edited August 14, 2016 by Mojoe

[iwashmycar]

crazy

 

http://ingunowners.com/forums/general-firearms-discussion/364795-best-way-clear-squib.html

[Diamonds]

I always think... "what if I have a squib in a machine gun?"... it's a scary thought as it would undoubtedly end badly.

 

Cool note - some big caliber bolt guns (375, 408, 50BMG) have been known to be tested with firing another round behind the squib and everything is okay as the new round will push the squib out and the barrel will not explode.

[spankis]

Had this occur the third time I had my Mp9 out to shoot, and it was my first pistol.

 

Luckily similar deal though, where the blockage kept the next round from chambering. Also luckily, I was shooting with a very firearm savvy friend and he helped me resolve it.

 

Mine was with Tulammo 9mm, purchased from Walmart. I no longer buy Tula or other cheapies as it gave me a scare that day. I've not had an issue since, likely close to 1000 rounds later.

[RyM3rC]

I always think... "what if I have a squib in a machine gun?"

 

Hope it's too weak to cycle the action, and you catch it before tactical-ninja tap rack bang kicks in.

 

I've had quite a few .22LR that sounded suspiciously weak and didn't cycle, but never had one actually lodge in the bore. That I remember. Maybe.

[Mojoe]

Good to read the other feed back. Of all the things we talk about in our classes, this is the one thing 99% of the class has never heard of. People are like, "shit, that can happen"?

[everlight44]

Good thing you caught it. Hopefully you can get another million rounds in without another one

[unfunnyryan]

I have only had one squib in my early days of reloading, where the round had no powder, just primer. The bullet barely made it past the chamber, and the next round couldn't chamber as a resuylt.

 

Now I use fluffy powders with hotter loads so I can absolutely see the powder in each case (and bonus massive overflow if I somehow doublecharged)

 

Never seen one where the powder simply failed to ignite however.

[Miller]

Joe gets lots of squib loads in his barrel

 

 

:gabe:

[BStowers023]

Damn, all I shoot are the CCI mini-mags through my Ruger. I hope that never happens to me. I'd like to keep my hands lol

[spankis]

Damn, all I shoot are the CCI mini-mags through my Ruger. I hope that never happens to me. I'd like to keep my hands lol

 

I feel like it would take a perfect storm to create major injury to your hands, as well as a larger caliber. Wear your glasses though, always. Eyeballs are soft and there's important stuff behind them.

[Miller]

I was at a secure location with team chatbox bros when we encountered a squibly situation Saturday.

 

Amber had my m&p 9mm, firing at a fairly slow rate when I heard what sounded like a very small fart. I asked her to stop firing, release the magazine and hand me the firearm with the barrel pointing down range. I wasn't sure if we had a squib or misfire so I wanted to keep it pointing in a safe direction. Amber did awesome and followed along perfectly.

 

After about 30 seconds we racked the slide back and Rymer and I could see the bullet had only traveled about an inch at most from the casing into the barrel. Was sort of a bitch to get out.

 

This is a souvenir from me and Aarons 1st and last FedAmmo buy:

http://i.imgur.com/lz0kxCl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/o6Nvly5.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lIAN4PB.jpg

[Miller]

Sorry the 1st pic is so big. It looks like a little copper shmekle doesn't it?

[zeitgeist57]

FTFY.

 

Damn...that looks like it would've been a bear to remove. Hope you didn't scratch up the barrel too much!

 

Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon! [/bill murray]

[Aaron]

Poverty ammo, never again.

[Hwilli1647545487]

Fedammo?

 

Glad joes post has helped keep this in the forefront of people minds.

[Mojoe]

Sounds like it went well. Glad it was noticed. Would like to know more about "fedammo". Do you plan to contact them?

[Mojoe]

Update and wrap up on this:

 

I sent the remaining rounds, about 40, back to CCI. They said the rest fired fine and appreciated me documenting things the way I did. My compensation was 100 rounds from them. Considering 50 rounds is about $15, and shipping things back to them was $9, and I gave them back almost a full box. I'm at break even on this. Had I been someone who had to bring the gun to a gunsmith and didn't want to dislodge the round from the bore, I would be out money. Send me stickers, a t-shirt, 200+ rounds, any one of those would make me tell people how awesome you are. Break even on what could have been a dangerous situation, is a bit of a let down.