Had my first Squib Load last week...

[DrMoebius]

During fast 2+1 drills at the range with my .40 Walther PPQ using my own reloads.

When I got the misfire, I instinctively power stroked the slide to eject and load another round so I could proceed. And just as I brought the pistol back on target, something made me freeze. I didn't know why I froze, but my brain then replayed the seeing the pistol, pulling the trigger, and a "pffffttt!" sound (I was wearing foam inserts and cans)

My shooting partner leaned into view from the side to say "What do you think?". Pretty sure I mumbled "I think it's a squib". Which is kinda weird because I have never actually seen or heard one, let alone been near anyone else that had one. The term just popped into my head.

But, the other half of my brain was worried about a delayed discharge/hang-fire due to a bad, and painful, experience 30 years ago in high with a friend's beatup bolt action rifle. I got a misfire, waited ~15-20 seconds, and as I retracted the bolt the shell went off. It tore the hell out of my palm. I imagined the same thing happening as I racked the slide to eject the round.

Luckily, no such calamity and we were able to tap out the projectile. Bore looked clean, too. But, i have to admit I was rattled because I came so close to pulling the trigger again. The thought of catastrophic failure/Kaboom! kinda stuck with me for a while(actually days). Polymer gun w/o gloves seems like a recipe for reconstructive surgery. Needless to say, I switched to .22 for a while before getting up the nerve to return to .40

I feel extremely lucky and will pay far closer attention to my next batch of reloads. I will probably limit myself to doing <500 a session for long while. Nothing is worth the risk of that.

[Nirrad]

Glad to hear you made out ok Dr.

And I think I'll be waiting just a bit longer on those hang-fires.

[kdsd731]

I had one on my lever action 30-30 a few months ago. I pulled the trigger heard a bang and proceeded to load the next round. Thank god the squib prevented me from closing the action and loading the next round. There was a lot of firing going on around me so I didn't notice a different sound when it fired. I had always thought I was careful and tripled checked everything. I can gaurantee you now. If I ever question a round, I will definately check the barrel for a squib.

[kdsd731]

I don't really get the hang fires? How does that work? Isn't the hard/sudden impact of the firing pin the only way it goes off? How does the primer go off after being hit and sitting?

[Bill Steele]

Very unusual for the bullet to get far enough into the barrel for the next round to chamber and the gun go into battery after you racked the slide. Maybe you had a little powder and not a complete missed drop?

Were you shooting lead or jacketed? Jacketed bullets can be a real tough one to pound out.

[paul0660]

I don't really get the hang fires? How does that work? Isn't the hard/sudden impact of the firing pin the only way it goes off? How does the primer go off after being hit and sitting?

My only experience is surplus .303 British that is Click................Bang, less than a second, but more than expected.

With all the rapid fire and reloading going on it is surprising to me that there are not more squibs followed by live rounds..........and disaster.

[calixt0]

glad everything is ok with you.

[the86d]

Good to hear it didn't cause a real problem.

One change I did recently is added a USB snake-light-like light to my press pointing in to the cases so I can see every charge clearly. (I should probably just send the check-sensor back to Dillon as it was broke [quiet] upon arrival, but I am lazy.)

[DrMoebius]

Very unusual for the bullet to get far enough into the barrel for the next round to chamber and the gun go into battery after you racked the slide. Maybe you had a little powder and not a complete missed drop?

Maybe, what you say makes sense. The reloads were done using a Dillon 550B, and I have a hard time seeing how it would dispense a partial charge. We refilled the powder tube well before it got to the bottom. Although, I'm pretty sure that it there was only the primer ignition. Hard to tell, though, I was going through the drills pretty fast(for me) and completely focused downrange.

The squib was maybe 1/2 to 1" past the chamber. The Range owner was the who tapped out the bullet for me, so I am guessing from just looking at it on the way to the service room.

Were you shooting lead or jacketed? Jacketed bullets can be a real tough one to pound out.

155gr Berry's plated HBRN(Hollow Base Round Nose)



Definitely a sobering experience. I will be hyper-vigilante from here out visually inspecting the charge on each reload. I am going to get an focused light that will be pointed directly into the casing in the charge position of the progressive press.

[HighLander51]

Happens fairly often in competition. Once you have heard that sound you know what to do. Here is the 'Perfect Squib"

[wtkaiser]

My 7mm mag had hangfires a'plenty until I switched to magnum primers. That's one case where magnums were absolutely necessary. Not a squib, though. So far I haven't had to pound one of those out. Or tap, as you say.

[Kappy]

I don't really get the hang fires? How does that work? Isn't the hard/sudden impact of the firing pin the only way it goes off? How does the primer go off after being hit and sitting?

I've had several squibs in the time I've been reloading. In my defense, it was my failure in setting up my progressive press and my unwillingness to throw away or otherwise dispose of 500 rounds of .40S&W which caused it. I figure... the best way to do this is just blow these rounds up while target shooting and knock out the squibs along the way. It actually made me a better shooter, since I had no idea if a round was even going to go off. I do NOT recommend this for anyone else.

I posted about my hangfire here. I was shooting a Mosin with surplus ammo. I was talking to a buddy of mine about how to load and fire it. I racked a round, fired it. Racked another round, pulled the trigger, click. I figured that maybe I hadn't loaded a round, but it felt like I had... so I opened the bolt. A round came out, so I grabbed it. I figured it was just a dud... which does happen (rarely) with this kind of ammo. I looked at the primer which had a firing pin dent and looked oddly bulged. I had time enough to say, "****" and point the primer away from me as it went "POP!" and bounced out of the back of the case. I guess it was just a bad primer which wasn't seated far enough? I'm glad it didn't go off like a regular primer, either... at least I assume it didn't. I've hit primers with a hammer before, and it seems like they have more power than that one. Seriously glad it didn't ignite the powder in the case. No idea why it didn't.

[Bill Steele]

Maybe, what you say makes sense. The reloads were done using a Dillon 550B, and I have a hard time seeing how it would dispense a partial charge. We refilled the powder tube well before it got to the bottom. Although, I'm pretty sure that it there was only the primer ignition. Hard to tell, though, I was going through the drills pretty fast(for me) and completely focused downrange.

The squib was maybe 1/2 to 1" past the chamber. The Range owner was the who tapped out the bullet for me, so I am guessing from just looking at it on the way to the service room.

155gr Berry's plated HBRN(Hollow Base Round Nose)

Definitely a sobering experience. I will be hyper-vigilante from here out visually inspecting the charge on each reload. I am going to get an focused light that will be pointed directly into the casing in the charge position of the progressive press.

Berry's are fairly soft, maybe that is why it got so far into the barrel on the primer only. I had a jacketed squib which was a major headache pounding out of a Glock barrel.

Definitely an experience which burns caution into your routine. Tap, Rack and Shoot is not a drill to practice with iffy reloads.

Quite a while ago I got one of those snake neck LED desk lights from IKEA, $10. It works perfectly to shine down into the case. You cannot miss the powder in the deepest cases with that light. I never set a bullet without seeing the powder in the case.

[Mac Attack]

Glad that you were able to catch it before you had a serious accident.

I unfortunately I too had a squib last night on my last stage with 4 targets to go. It sucks because you lose confidence in your rounds which effects your shooting. Lucky for me the RO caught it and my slide did not go all the way forwards cuz like you I did a tap rap and pulled the trigger. These were so older reloads that I loaded many years back on a reloaded that didn't have a powder check. I have since upgraded to a Dillon but nothing beats a visual check.

[bruceflinch]

Welcome to the Club, OP!