First time for everything...

[GNLaFrance]

Another first today.

I've reloaded several hundred .38 Special and .45 ACP rounds so far with no problems. Yesterday I got a pound of new powder, Alliant Bullseye, and a box of 500 .38 cal. 148 grain double-ended wadcutters.

So anyway, I loaded 50 rounds last night and took them to FreeState today to see how they did with 2.6 grains Bullseye. Round #11 felt and sounded weak, and the cylinder locked up. No light through the cylinder/barrel gap.

Yup, a squib. Pounded the slug back into the case with a rod, emptied the cylinder, then popped the slug out with my bullet remover. Case is completely sooty black inside - could primer only do that?

No way to tell exactly what happened, but I'm going to rig up an LED light to shine down on the cases so I can see the level of powder at a glance. This will save me having to pull the case out to get light down inside it.

Happy with the performance of rounds #1 through 10, by the way. Mild recoil, good accuracy.

 

[august1410]

Happened to me once, as well. Pretty much the same load as well.

 

[hvymax]

Ooopsie. A handy range rod would make short work of that.

 

[GNLaFrance]

Ooopsie. A handy range rod would make short work of that.

Been looking around for one here, I might end up using a pistol cleaning rod with a brass 9mm flat-faced jag on it.

 

[Sundazes]

Wooden dowel of the correct size and a brass hammer will cure a squib...
And yes, a primer has enough power to do that.

 

[lx1x]

welcome to reloading!! lol

not pleasant to have a squib.. but good thing you noticed it.. could have gone worst.

 

[diesel-man]

Another first today.

I've reloaded several hundred .38 Special and .45 ACP rounds so far with no problems. Yesterday I got a pound of new powder, Alliant Bullseye, and a box of 500 .38 cal. 148 grain double-ended wadcutters.

So anyway, I loaded 50 rounds last night and took them to FreeState today to see how they did with 2.6 grains Bullseye. Round #11 felt and sounded weak, and the cylinder locked up. No light through the cylinder/barrel gap.

Yup, a squib. Pounded the slug back into the case with a rod, emptied the cylinder, then popped the slug out with my bullet remover. Case is completely sooty black inside - could primer only do that?

No way to tell exactly what happened, but I'm going to rig up an LED light to shine down on the cases so I can see the level of powder at a glance. This will save me having to pull the case out to get light down inside it.

Happy with the performance of rounds #1 through 10, by the way. Mild recoil, good accuracy.

Bullseye is sooty powder.
I stole this from another forum:
An old Bullseye shooter, who'd shot tons of ammo and used Bullseye powder because he preferred it, asked me this question:

"How long does it take to clean a gun shot with "clean" powder and how long does it take to clean a gun shot with "dirty" powder?"

The answer, is of course, it takes the same amount of time if one does a thorough job and knows what one is doing. Since he asked me that question, I no longer consider the cleanliness of the powder, since I know I'll be thoroughly cleaning my guns after each range session.

It is a combination of a reduced load (wadcutter is all inside the case, reducing the case capacity vs a 158gr jacketed that takes more powder) and the bullet lube causing soot. Try a 125gr or 158gr jacketed bullet and see how the soot problem goes. Try it in some 9mm as well. (higher pressures in 9mm)

 

[lseries]

148 gn. DEWC over 2.6 gn. Bullseye should have enough oomph to get it out of the barrel. I regularly load them with 2.2 gn. Bullseye. It's very low recoil, but no squibs. Also, as you noted, quite accurate.

So I suspect this came from a primer only. Primers do have enough oomph to do what you described.

As someone else noted, Bullseye, particularly with cast bullets, is hard to think of as a "smokeless" powder.

Your idea of looking into each case with a flashlight or other strong light before seating the bullets is an excellent one. I always charge a bunch of cases ("a bunch" is rarely more than 50) and then look into them with a good flashlight before I seat bullets. Empties and double charges will be obvious. Different people have different approaches to this, but that is mine.

HTH.

 

[j8064]

Bullseye (and Unique) are very good (although sooty) powders for many small pistol rounds like .38spl. Squibs are NOT fun. They are a result of a lack of reloading discipline as well as inexperience IMHO. We all make mistakes.

In a .38spl round (and many others) the primer alone will send the projectile into the barrel. One doesn't need elaborate equipment to prevent squibs. Instead one needs focus without distractions (which results in experience) when reloading.

With a case the size of a .38spl it's just as easy to double charge a round. One squib is bad enough - that's fixable and gives you a reminder experience. A double charge may not be as forgiving!

I'm not throwing darts here. I'm simply trying to remind any reloader (especially the novices) that you (and all around you) depend on your diligence and the safety of your loads.

 

[Numidian]

I had a buddy start reloading .308... He was shooting it out of his FAL. Had a round that was a dud, he racked the charging handle and had another dud... Racked a 3rd time and another dud(or maybe it wouldn't chamber, this was all a few years ago, so I can't remember exactly how it happened)... Come to figure it out, he had a squib, then had two bullets that somehow were "fired", but the bullet actually fell back into the casings of both of them...

I have no idea how the hell that gun didn't turn into a pipe bomb and hurt him...

 

[Machodoc]

I usually add powder off the press, and into cases in a loading block. When I'm through with a batch (usually 50) in the block, I can hold the block up to a light and look down into the cases all at once ... and then individually. Even a small discrepancy in the amount of powder in a case is pretty obvious this way. The only drawback is that it's a slower process, but pulling a squib out is a slow process, too.

 

[DocAitch]

Squibs

GLF,
IIRC you are using a Lee turret and I assume you use it in the semi progressive mode.(Start to finish using the auto index without removing the case from the shell holder). This the most efficient way to use that press, because it eliminates multiple movements to remove and place the case in the shell holder
Your light is one solution to the no powder squib problem(or double charge) and if you rig a small mirror at the right angle you won't have to change position to see the powder inside the case.
I (like Machodoc above) personally like to size,decap and prime,flare and charge, remove the case to a block and compare 25-50 for powder column uniformity, then return them to the press for seating and crimping .
I do that because 1) I prefer the side by side comparison method and
2) I use H110 for .357Mag, 327Fed Mag, and 44Mag, all of
which I load on the Lee turret. The H110 requires that I
use my antique Lyman 55 measure so it doesn't leak all
over the place
I think that your method will work just fine.
DocAitch

 

[Flipz]

Another first today.

I've reloaded several hundred .38 Special and .45 ACP rounds so far with no problems. Yesterday I got a pound of new powder, Alliant Bullseye, and a box of 500 .38 cal. 148 grain double-ended wadcutters.

So anyway, I loaded 50 rounds last night and took them to FreeState today to see how they did with 2.6 grains Bullseye. Round #11 felt and sounded weak, and the cylinder locked up. No light through the cylinder/barrel gap.

Yup, a squib. Pounded the slug back into the case with a rod, emptied the cylinder, then popped the slug out with my bullet remover. Case is completely sooty black inside - could primer only do that?

No way to tell exactly what happened, but I'm going to rig up an LED light to shine down on the cases so I can see the level of powder at a glance. This will save me having to pull the case out to get light down inside it.

Happy with the performance of rounds #1 through 10, by the way. Mild recoil, good accuracy.

What press are you loading on? If its a progressive, and has an empty station, I highly suggest an RCBS LockOut Die. It locks up the press if it senses no powder, too little powder, or too much powder. It's always worked for me. Than again its never locked up on me, but I've also never had a squib load. So its just there to do its job just incase. I still eyeball every case for powder but the LockOut die is nice to have as insurance.

 

[GNLaFrance]

lx1x, I couldn't have fired the next round in any case, as the slug had stopped just as it began to engage the rifling and was stuck halfway across the cylinder-barrel gap. The revolver was solidly locked up until I got it home and knocked the slug back into the case. The case had a good crimp on it, too, and the DEWC slug was all the way down; this has given me a new respect for the power of a small pistol primer.

Doc, yes, Lee turret and semi-progressive.

I reloaded another 61 rounds tonight, and I think I know what happened to cause the squib, because I almost did it again tonight, but caught myself.

I am priming on the downstroke and flaring/charging on the upstroke. For some reason, after seating the primer, I began to short-stroke the ram to advance it without flaring/charging. I've apparently semi-developed this as a habit -- more precisely, I think, I have cross-wired something in the procedure, and as I sort-of-kind-of let the autopilot start to take over, it tried to short-stroke the lever.

This is not good, for obvious reasons. I think I've introduced too much wasted motion into the cycle. I need to spend more time going over each step as it relates to the next, and train this semi-habit out of my muscle memory.

 

[GNLaFrance]

What press are you loading on? If its a progressive, and has an empty station, I highly suggest an RCBS LockOut Die. It locks up the press if it senses no powder, too little powder, or too much powder. It's always worked for me. Than again its never locked up on me, but I've also never had a squib load. So its just there to do its job just incase. I still eyeball every case for powder but the LockOut die is nice to have as insurance.

Lee Classic Cast Turret, Safety Primer Feed, Pro Auto-Disk Powder Measure. I appreciate the advice and know you're looking out for me, but I don't want to add any more bells, whistles, and alarms to this thing. I think I've got a handle on what happened (see previous post), and I'm going to start over again, unlearn any bad habits I've developed, and really think about and watch what I'm doing for a good long time, at least until I've gone through the next 500 rounds.

 

[GNLaFrance]

Know what I really miss about smoking? The way it helped me focus -- I remember how a cigarette would bring me back to Earth, help me think and concentrate and solve problems. Sometimes, after 50 or 100 rounds, I think I'd love to step out on the back porch and light up a fag.

Then I think about that little tattoo spot below my sternum that they used as an aiming point for the radiation to kill the squamous cell carcinoma in my esophagus, and I remember why I'm not going to start smoking again.

But if they stand me up against a wall and offer me one before they ventilate me, then of course I wouldn't refuse

 

[SOMDSHOOT]

What press are you loading on? If its a progressive, and has an empty station, I highly suggest an RCBS LockOut Die. It locks up the press if it senses no powder, too little powder, or too much powder. It's always worked for me. Than again its never locked up on me, but I've also never had a squib load. So its just there to do its job just incase. I still eyeball every case for powder but the LockOut die is nice to have as insurance.

I don't reload large quantities of bullets at a time, so, when I got back in to reloading a few years ago, I stuck with the old school Hand-Powder dipping method. I want to know what goes in the case, when "I" put it in there, one at a time.

 

[Flipz]

I don't reload large quantities of bullets at a time, so, when I got back in to reloading a few years ago, I stuck with the old school Hand-Powder dipping method. I want to know what goes in the case, when "I" put it in there, one at a time.

I'm not sure why you qouted my post. Feel like elaborating?

 

[noylj]

Always look into the case before placing a bullet on it.
Sooty implies that there was powder in the case, but less than 1.0gn. If this had been a S&W M52, it probably would have exited the barrel. A revolver, with the forcing cone and cylinder gap, loses pressure enough that such light loads will stick a bullet.
The caution would be if the bullet had gone further down the barrel and stuck and you didn't notice and fired the next round...

 

[lseries]

lx1x, I couldn't have fired the next round in any case, as the slug had stopped just as it began to engage the rifling and was stuck halfway across the cylinder-barrel gap.

Primers can vary some. If it happened again, the slug might have made it all the way out of the cylinder and into the barrel. Firing a second round then would be disastrous.

I'm glad you figured out what caused this to happen and are taking steps to eliminate it. It takes a while to develop your reloading routine. So don't go flogging yourself too much about this (unless you're into that, of course).