FJC
Member
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!
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!