My first squib

[hancjamk]

My dad got me a S&W 624 back in 1986. I was 14 and I reloaded every week to shot plates. By 16 I could have gone into comp. I never had a mis-fire, or any other problem. But, to make a long story short, last week I got that muffed bang. The only thing that saved me from blowing up my gun is because I've been reading this forum for about a year now. Thank God, there are people on here that educated me on that sort of thing. So, even with 25 years of experience, there are still new things people can to learn..
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[gamestalker]

It's good to know you were focused and didn't let that squib slip by. And as you said, no matter how long we've been doing something there is still more that can be learned.

I have been reloading for more than 30 yrs., and although I have never experienced a mis-fire or squib in all those years with one of my reloads, I still like to think I am alert to such mishaps. No one is exempt or immune to making mistakes or having a malfunction with their firearm, it's an inherently risky hobby even when things are working as planned.

 

[danbowkley]

I had a squib (first ever) a couple months back when I took a friend to the range. He was shooting some of my handloads in my Taurus 1911 and got the muffled pop. He was about to rack the slide and chamber another round when I had him stop and check the bore. Sure enough, there was a bullet stuck up in there. Could've been one hell of a mess!

I'm pretty sure it was due to an old batch of powder, so I pulled apart all the rounds I'd loaded from that older can (300 or so) and took all that powder in the back yard and burned it in a drywaller's mud tray. I still have that bullet, and will be casting it into a block of clear plastic as a desk ornament / reminder.

 

[gamestalker]

Danblowkley, how old was that powder? I'm just asking because I've never had powder not det, even with some very old stuff I've used over the years.

 

[danbowkley]

Probably 30 years, though could've been older. It belonged to my former roommate's late father, and lived in a very hot and humid environment in Florida. Which probably explains its deterioration.

Since it didn't smell any different from new stuff (it was Win231 and I have a new can that I sniff-tested side-by-side with it) I'd assumed it was fine. Probably the humidity more than anything, I'd guess.

Or who knows, maybe it was just that one round and the others were fine and I was just being paranoid. But a pound of powder is a helluva lot cheaper than hand replacement surgery.