carnaby
Member
Had my first ever squib today and I want to figure out what was the cause. I loaded up 12 grains of H322 with a 160 grain Nosler Accubond for 6.8 SPC. My barrel won't stabilize the bullet with this load and it gives a big fat key-hole. I don't care about this.
I shot some other similar loads to this one, up to 20 grains of H322, and also 18 grains, 16 gains, 14 grains, and 12 grains. The 12 grain load gave about 1000 fps or so says my chrony. Anyway, after progressing through one load at each of these powder charges, I wanted to see how consistent would be the muzzle velocities.
Also note that the 16 and 14 grain loads cycled the action, but the 12 grain load did not. This load fired successfully and was not a squib. When I pulled the charging handle on my AR to eject the spent case, it came out easily but was covered with carbon fouling on the outside.
I loaded up a few more 12 grain cartridges into the mag, chambered one, pulled the trigger, and *click*. That's the only sound I heard. Thought this was funny, ejected the round and all that came out was an empty case with carbon fouling on the outside, just like the last one. At that point I figured "uh-oh, probably my first squib," and I was right. The bullet was sitting in the bore just past the chamber. The entire bullet was into the rifling and no amount of smacking on a dowel down the bore would budge it. I did check to make sure that I didn't have two rounds stacked on each other.
So what caused this squib? I'm hoping that I just somehow managed to throw a zero-charge into that case, but I'm worried about the carbon fouling. I want to shoot more of these loads, but I don't want to wreck any more barrels. Is the carbon fouling from the previous round, or did the case not seal in the chamber when this round was fired? I heard NO SOUND AT ALL except the click of the trigger and firing pin, so I'm guessing it was a zero powder charge. I weighed the rest of my 12 grain cartridges and they all have a 12 grain charge, at least nominally.
So what's the verdict? Did I miss the charge, or was there some other, more insidious, problem?
I shot some other similar loads to this one, up to 20 grains of H322, and also 18 grains, 16 gains, 14 grains, and 12 grains. The 12 grain load gave about 1000 fps or so says my chrony. Anyway, after progressing through one load at each of these powder charges, I wanted to see how consistent would be the muzzle velocities.
Also note that the 16 and 14 grain loads cycled the action, but the 12 grain load did not. This load fired successfully and was not a squib. When I pulled the charging handle on my AR to eject the spent case, it came out easily but was covered with carbon fouling on the outside.
I loaded up a few more 12 grain cartridges into the mag, chambered one, pulled the trigger, and *click*. That's the only sound I heard. Thought this was funny, ejected the round and all that came out was an empty case with carbon fouling on the outside, just like the last one. At that point I figured "uh-oh, probably my first squib," and I was right. The bullet was sitting in the bore just past the chamber. The entire bullet was into the rifling and no amount of smacking on a dowel down the bore would budge it. I did check to make sure that I didn't have two rounds stacked on each other.
So what caused this squib? I'm hoping that I just somehow managed to throw a zero-charge into that case, but I'm worried about the carbon fouling. I want to shoot more of these loads, but I don't want to wreck any more barrels. Is the carbon fouling from the previous round, or did the case not seal in the chamber when this round was fired? I heard NO SOUND AT ALL except the click of the trigger and firing pin, so I'm guessing it was a zero powder charge. I weighed the rest of my 12 grain cartridges and they all have a 12 grain charge, at least nominally.
So what's the verdict? Did I miss the charge, or was there some other, more insidious, problem?