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Today my wife and I took a more advanced training course. About mid way through the day my firearm malfunctioned. I tried to clear it and it malfunctioned again. The instructor came over and saw I had an obstruction in the barrel. We disassembled the gun. He had to get a hammer to remove the bullet From the barrel.


What saved me from a much more serious event was the bullet got stuck soon enough that it didn't allow the weapon to return to battery when the next round tried to enter the chamber. Otherwise, I would have fired that round, and bad things could've happened.

I shot the weapon the rest of the day with no issues. I am grateful no one was hurt, and everyone in the class received some unplanned education.

Lucky.

What kind of ammo were you shooting?

It was reloads I has bought from Academy. The bags have an Eagle sticker on them but I don't remember the manufacturer name. I know they are reloads because they would sometimes stick in my single stack magazines I believe because of a slight bulge in the casing from being previously used and reloaded. I has not had that issue on my double stack magazines. I had an occasional misfire but for plinking it was acceptable compared to the price paid.

Because several people were shooting, I never heard the pop of the primer. Truely if I had I don't think I would've known what was happening. Looking back I made some mistakes. In retrospect I was very lucky.

No more reloads for me!

PaJ wrote:It was reloads I has bought from Academy. The bags have an Eagle sticker on them but I don't remember the manufacturer name. I know they are reloads because they would sometimes stick in my single stack magazines I believe because of a slight bulge in the casing from being previously used and reloaded. I has not had that issue on my double stack magazines. I had an occasional misfire but for plinking it was acceptable compared to the price paid.

Because several people were shooting, I never heard the pop of the primer. Truely if I had I don't think I would've known what was happening. Looking back I made some mistakes. In retrospect I was very lucky.

No more reloads for me!

Good idea. I didn't know these sporting goods stores sold reloaded ammo. That seems like a lawsuit waiting for an incident.

It can happen with factory loads too, though not as likely as reloads.

I read an article recently about this very thing and it being a reason to avoid automatically tap, rack, and load, because of squib possibilities.

I saw this happen - on the firingline - to the guy next to me in a tactical AR class. First time I had ever witnessed it! Thankfully the instructor / range master walking the line noticed the "pop" and immediately called a cease fire. The student was initially unaware of the problem and likely would have blown his bbl apart upon the next course of fire. The student was using some locally (N. Texas) remanufacured ammunition - sorry but I do not remember precisely who the vendor was and I do not know how it all turned out, but I do recall that the student planned to take the squibb back and show it to the vendor.

I do not trust other folks reloads. I shoot my own reloads or factory stuff. Won't stop the risk of a squib or other failure - so you still need to be aware of how the gun is reacting and sounding - just don't trust the reloaded by others stuff don't care how shiny they got the brass...

Was in a Practical Fundamentals class taught by Bruce Grey two weeks ago in San Antonio. During the class another student had two squib loads in one day shooting Freedom Munitions reloaded 115 gr 9mm. I was shooting on the line next to him and remember the very distinct sound.

AndyC wrote:I never bothered with a hammer, just tapped the rod firmly against the concrete or bench at the range and kept going until the bullet popped out.
:

We tried that. My instructor has seen and dealt with this before. It took several whacks with the hammer to get it to dislodge. They weren't hard whacks, but it took increasing force before he got it free. Said he'd never had to use a hammer before.

When I screw up, I do it good!!

SigM4 wrote:Was in a Practical Fundamentals class taught by Bruce Grey two weeks ago in San Antonio. During the class another student had two squib loads in one day shooting Freedom Munitions reloaded 115 gr 9mm. I was shooting on the line next to him and remember the very distinct sound.

Mine was Freedom Munitions 115 gr 9mm as well. I bought it when the shortage was so bad because it was all that was available on that day. Out of every 100 rounds, I might have 2 misfires. Never had a squib until this one.

I never heard the pop. We were doing an "up close" drill practicing rapid fire to the body then one to the head. Since we were all standing side by side, and I had guys on both sides of me, the sound of their weapons was loud and constant. I never heard mine pop. I thought it was a misfire so tried to clear the weapon then continue.

What I don't understand, is I thought I had the weapon cleared. During the cease fire after the drill was complete, I looked and the slide had returned to battery, so I thought I was ready to go on the next round of the drill. The weapon didn't fire again. All I can figure is a round didn't chamber when I tried to clear the malfunction. When I tried again (still thinking I had another misfire), the slide didn't return to battery again. Clearly a mistake on my part and not having a clue what was really happening. Looking back, I should have taken a good look at it during the ceasefire but didn't do that.

As I said, I was very fortunate as were those to each side of me. My wife was the 2nd person down the line from me so could have easily been hit by flying gun parts. God protected us - even the stupid one (me).

Abraham wrote:It can happen with factory loads too, though not as likely as reloads.

I read an article recently about this very thing and it being a reason to avoid automatically tap, rack, and load, because of squib possibilities.

Abraham wrote:It can happen with factory loads too, though not as likely as reloads.

I read an article recently about this very thing and it being a reason to avoid automatically tap, rack, and load, because of squib possibilities.

Had a 45 ACP squib with Winchester white box. It did have enough oomph to force the bullet out of the barrel though.

I hate these stories. I can well imagine, particularly if you're new and in CHL range class firing the multiple-rounds sequence that one might not notice a squib, especially depending on what sort of hearing protection one is using. Glad you're OK PaJ.

It would never occur to me to buy reloads but this cinches that particular deal for me. Maybe for revolvers or bolt/lever actions but not semi-autos.

Thankfully it seems not to happen very often.

TomsTXCHL wrote:I hate these stories. I can well imagine, particularly if you're new and in CHL range class firing the multiple-rounds sequence that one might not notice a squib, especially depending on what sort of hearing protection one is using. Glad you're OK PaJ.

It would never occur to me to buy reloads but this cinches that particular deal for me. Maybe for revolvers or bolt/lever actions but not semi-autos.

Thankfully it seems not to happen very often.

It would be truly scary if it was just the sound, but you should be able to feel the absence of normal recoil as well. As it so happened I was at a range with only my son present, so I did hear the difference, but what really connected for me was how the shot "felt" --my 45 felt like a 22, actually, more like a pellet gun.