kB! o'the Week…

[Dean Speir]

Seems like kB!s are almost a daily occurrence somewhere a firearms will experience a catastrophic failure, often in a spectacular manner. This week's featured kB! (http://communities.prodigy.net/sportsrec/gz-stop.html) happened with a Sturm Ruger PC4, their relatively new carbine chambered in ".40 Auto" (or, as those of us who were there for the introduction of the cartridge know it, .40 S&W).

The offending round came from Sellier & Bellot and was almost certainly a squib load. While not as impressive an event as the 7 January one which completely destroyed Chris Comer's M1A (http://communities.prodigy.net/sportsrec/gz-762d.html), the photographs are pretty dramatic.

And there's a lesson to be learned for shooters here as well… don't get so carried away with yanking the trigger than you fail to heed the warning signs of incipient disaster!

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• Dean, jus' visitin' from The Gun Zone (http://www.thegunzone.com)…

[blacklab]

WOW! That MIA kB is the first kB that really gave me the willy's! Glad he's OK.Good advice about not just pulling the trigger if something does'nt sound right.

[ProGun1]

That barrel was strong though to withstand that many impacts before giving it up. I hope that never happens to me but how many of us are guilty of a quick burst or two without much thought? I know I don't check my target for new holes each and every shot. What warns you of a squib load impact otherwise?

Well I guess that was a dumb statement. I assume not as much recoil is felt but sometimes I shoot small caliber and may not realize any difference. I hope it never happens to me. I'd probably piss my pants.

[This message has been edited by ProGun1 (edited February 21, 2001).]

[gunnut1]

Any time you are shooting a semi outo anything and it either feels different, sounds different or if you suspect that anything if wrong, STOP. Look in the barrel. I have had duds on the skeet field many times. What happen there is I forget to load powder or it doesn't drop for some rason and when I fire that shell it will lodge the wad in the barrel. I almost screwed up one day. I had been having trouble with duds all during the informal shoot and I had one that didn't feel right and I didn't take time to to look in the barrel. I chambered another shell and just as I was getting ready to call for the pull, my team mates yelled at me. I checked the barrel and sure enough, there was a wad stuck in the barrel. Thanks Guys! I could of blow my gun smooth up!

So always, always, always stop and check. I have never had a squib load on a matellic cartrage but I suspect that it may not cycle the action.

[Arby]

I think that in most cases an autoloader would not cycle on a squib round, but who knows.

I have had a few in revolvers, which are potentially more dangerous in that they are manually cycled everytime, and the shooter is not going to be forwarned that something is amiss by the fact that his action didn't auto-cycle.

Most of the bad rounds were from a suspect batch that had been through a flood. Two rounds were ones that had been reloaded by some moron (me) that had neglected to throw any powder into the case. Both of these rounds left a wadcutter halfway down the barrel.

Most of my shooting is done with reloads. Whenever I have friends join me & use my ammo, I always caution them about squib loads, how to recognize them, and what to do next.

I've fired thousands and thousands of my reloads in recent years with no more squibs.

But you never know............

[This message has been edited by Arby (edited February 22, 2001).]

[Kent2]

Did they ever determinw for sure what happened with the M1-A?

[fubar]

I had a squib load in an Enfield SMLE I used to have. I was shooting some old, old surplus (KCR house stuff) when I noticed one round sounded strange. Glad I checked the bore instead of chambering another round, 'cause the bullet was stuck about halfway down the barrel. Managed to use a wooden dowel down the bore and a mallet to get it out. I'd hate to think what would've happened if I'd chambered another round and let go. Squib load are NO fun.

[gunnut1]

Let me add something to my post. If you are shooting anything that goes bang and it acts funny, sounds funny or feels funny, STOP and CHECK the bore!