[dcook22]

Hi, I'm Dan. I just completed my CCW class and really don't know much at all about guns. This forum seems very helpful, so I'm going to create a series of threads that, with your help, will educate me about my new life as a licensed gun-carrying American.


Hi all,

Well, in anticipation of buying my first gun, I, like many people, have been watching reviews on youtube. There's some good stuff there as well as a bunch of folks who have no place making a video about anything. Anyway, while there, I have been finding several videos where guns misfire and people experience squib rounds. It has occurred to me that a squib round is a pretty scary thing. I have noticed that most squib rounds experienced were from reloads (at least the ones on youtube). I also see what happens before the gun blows up. A shooter is fring away (almost always a semi-auto pistol or AR-15 type rifle) and then experiences a misfire. The shooter clears the chamber and sometimes even removes and resets the magazine. They rack the slide (or it's equivalent on the AR-15) and fire again. The gun blows up, they curse and drop the hardware and the video ends.

My question is: Why don't they just check the casing that they just ejected. If there is no bullet in it (i.e. a full cartridge has not been ejected) and nothing came out of the gun, it's obviously or at least probably still in the barrel. I would think they would go through the process of checking to make sure the barrel is clear. If the "casing" they ejected is in fact a full cartridge, then they know the round was a squib and they can feel comfortable continuing to fire.

Am I missing something? Obviously I have VERY little experience shooting and I don't want to judge folks who have been doing this a long time, but it would just seem to be common sense to me that when the gun doesn't go BANG, check it out thoroughly.

Thoughts? Enlightening anecdotes? Harsh reality and reprimand? All are welcome.

Thanks,

Dan

p.s. How might something like this happen in a revolver?

 

[Cthulhu]

It's hard to tell what's happening with the shooters in Youtube videos, as they're not exactly cinema quality in regards to video and sound.

At my last IDPA match, a guy had two squibs with his reloaded .45ACP ammo. Attentive shooters and safety officers on my squad recognized the potential squib immediately and stopped the guy from firing another shot.

When you're under the clock, or firing under stress, and/or you have your hearing hampered from your ear protection, you may not notice that you're gun went "poof" instead of "bang" and that the slide or bolt didn't cycle. You may just notice that the recoil you were expecting wasn't there, so you just do a malfunction clearance drill and try again.

The most common clearance drill taught or trained is the "tap-rack-bang" (or "tap-rack-assess", "tap-rack-move", what have you) for a Type 1 malfunction. Basically, the trigger is pressed and there is no bang. So, if you don't notice the squib round, and you've got the Type 1 clearance drill ingrained, you just may go ahead and chamber that other round and fire, likely blowing up your gun.

I've been fortunate enough never to have had a squib round, even the couple of times I reloaded .45ACP myself. Mainly because I was brand new at it and freakishly paranoid. Took me forever to make the rounds. Anyway...

When I did have a Type 1 malfunction, it was with crappy factory reloads I bought at a range. The gun went "click" instead of "bang". I waited a few seconds in case of a flashover, and also allowed myself to recall if I felt or heard any kind of sound that would indicate a squib. Then, I ejected the bum round and gave it a look.

It kind of comes down to situational awareness, even at the range. If you're not aware of the events surrounding the gun not going off like it shoot, and fail to realize you had a squib, then yes, you'll have a bad day.

-JT

 

[dcook22]

When I did have a Type 1 malfunction, it was with crappy factory reloads I bought at a range. The gun went "click" instead of "bang". I waited a few seconds in case of a flashover, and also allowed myself to recall if I felt or heard any kind of sound that would indicate a squib. Then, I ejected the bum round and gave it a look.

That's what I mean. The best thing to do is look at the round that came out, right?

Also, I dind't consider the hearing protection preventing the shooter from hearing the shot. That's interesting and I'll keep it in mind.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Cthulhu]

If you're in a fairly comfy, range shooting situation, yeah, I'd say look at the round to be on the safe side.

And hearing protection will vary greatly, too. I used to just use the little gel plugs that are connected with a cord. I later got some inexpensive muff-type protection for Christmas. The difference is night and day. The muff-type protection drowns out a lot of sound, to the point that if I'm scorekeeping for IDPA, I have to partially remove my hearing protection to hear the times and points down. I didn't need to do that with my old plugs.

With my current hearing protection, if I'm under the clock and focusing on targets downrange, I think I could very easily miss a "poof" and think it was just a "click".

-JT

 

[TalonDJ]

It is not too uncommon to get a failure to eject. In that case there is a casing in the gun and it has no bullet in it. If they were no paying attention and were really into it they may not notice that there WAS bit of a noise but not a real 'bang'. One might assume that they simply had a shell that did not eject for some reason. Or that it got stuck while ejecting.
This is the 'poof' versus 'click'. Click means the case failed to eject (or some other things) and 'poof' was a squib.

As others have indicated the standard 'clear a jam' technique is to first rack the slide again. From the rear, shooters perspective, of the gun you can't see if there is a shell caught part way in the chamber, or maybe the slide is not alway way in battery. I mean you can if you are observant and know what to look for, but it is not super obvious and the reflex to just 'clear it and go' is strong. So they just rack it and go. Certainly if you are shooting reloads and you are not 100% sure of them then you have to be more aware than the people you were seeing.

The closest I have ever been to getting a squib was some 9mm reloads I did not put enough powder in. They made a quiet(er) bang and the bullet went down range but they failed to operate the slide. After several shots like that I figured it out and stopped shooting those loads. That was the very first batch of reloads I ever made.

 

[J T]

... Enlightening anecdotes? ...

Sometimes factory ammo has the primer installed sideways.

(Remington UMC 9mm)