Help diagnose this squib...

[FJC]

After nearly 20 years of reloading, I had my first squib round today.

As you may know from my other thread, I recently set my 550B up to do 9mm (did .45ACP on it for years). Just for background, I've loaded thousands of 9mm and .45 in the past on a single stage.

Last night I loaded up 50 rounds of 9mm. 124gr Remington JHP, 1.1 OAL, 5.3gr of VV N340. Rounds look great, measure great, and go through a check gauge just fine.

I took them to the range today with my Glock 19. Clean gun.

Put about 40 of the 50 rounds through the gun, then when I expected a BANG I got a *click*. I thought maybe it was a light strike, so waited a few seconds, then went to eject the round. Instead of a full round, out popped an empty case. Next round then loaded into the chamber, but wouldn't quite go into battery.

I immediately realized it might be a squib, unloaded the pistol, and field stripped it. Sure enough, there's the bullet lodged in the barrel just in front of the chamber. I believe close enough to stop the next round from going completely in, thus the not-going-into-battery comment above.

So - apparently the squib had enough power to cycle the slide enough to recock the G19, but not enough to eject the empty case?

Note that the empty was very sooty on the outside, which leads me to believe it never expanded. What has me confused, though, was how sooty it all is - the outside of the case, the inside of the case and chamber, and the rear of the bullet. You can barely see the copper jacket of the bullet, there's so much soot.

Can all the soot be from just a primer, i.e. I had no powder in the case? I'm trying to figure out if I had a completely powderless round, or a very small amount of powder, or just some sort of other malfunction.

Everyone says it, but I'm a very fastidious reloader - I visually check every case before I place a bullet on it to verify the powder level, and stop and weigh the charges thrown at least once per primer tube (100 rounds). Hard to believe I'd let a completely empty case slip by, but in absence of other evidence, it sure looks like I must have. If it would be helpful I can try to take some pictures later, as I saved the case, and haven't pounded the bullet out of the barrel as of yet.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[Mal H]

"Can all the soot be from just a primer ..."

Absolutely. You'd be surprised (well, actually I guess you already are) how sooty the primer mixture is when there is very little pressure to continue burning the residue.

Most likely there was no powder at all in the case, even a little bit will usually get the bullet out of the barrel and down range a few yards.

I guess you just have to be doubly sure that you're taking a peek inside every case.

I'm curious as to why you say the Glock recocked itself? You said you cycled the slide and the empty fell out. Could be wrong, but I think manually cycling the slide recocked it, not the squib.

 

[Car Knocker]

It's called human error. Everybody is susceptible to it. That's why I use a lock-out die. Even though I try to verify a powder charge in every case, sometimes I fail to (I get distracted when I fumble a bullet, a case rim doesn't feel quite right, I glance at the powder measure level, etc.). That's why it's nice to have a mechanical backup.

By the way, a primer-only round is very sooty.

 

[FJC]

Thanks for the info - As I stated and you're all agreeing with, I simply must have let one slip by with no powder. I was just surprised at how much soot just a primer deposits.

Ahh well, now I'll double my attention in that area.

As for the powder check, I'd love to have something like that, but I don't believe I can on a 550B, as I'm already using all four station (resize/prime, powder drop/bell, bullet seat, crimp/full resize).

 

[The Bushmaster]

My "old Fasioned" method has insured that I will never have a "no charge" or a "double charge". I work from a turret press and weigh every charge that I drop from my +++ Auto Disc. Both rifle and handgun. Every charge drops into the case and is transfered to my scale and trickled it up to the desired weight. Over 20 years and no "squib" no "miss fire" no "failure to fire"...You people can keep your progressive presses. I'm just not in that much of a hurry. As I have said before...I have 37 years left to reload all the rounds I will ever need... Some of my rounds may not be all that accurate, but they have all gone down range.

Too many night mares with progressive presses.

 

[xtarheel]

I would like to point out another "lesson learned" here. You stated you ejected the case and the next round would not fully chamber. What if it had? Would you have fired? You are lucky that the bullet didn't move just a little bit further into the barrel. I would say that either in the event of a squib or a shot that just doesnt sound right, you should assume that the barrel is obstructed until you can prove otherwise.

 

[FJC]

I absolutely would NOT have fired the next round. I knew the second that I hand-ejected an empty that I may have had a squib.

I likely could have closed the slide into battery with a small tap on the rear, but didn't as I had already decided I would be unloading and checking the barrel.

My concern, though, would have been in a competition or training class. There I might have just done a quick tap-rack-bang to clear the stoppage, and very well may have in that circumstance fired...