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Well, I got me my first squib on friday.. I was shooting my .380, and instead of a bang, I got a pfft..
Dropped the mag, locked the slide back, and ran my cleaning rod down the barrel. Sure enough, there was a bullet stuck.
Looks like it made it about a quarter inch past the casing..

Had to go out and get me a brass rod after that. Managed to get it pounded out. I'm gonna have to go back one of these days and finish off that batch of ammo to make sure none of the rest are like that.
(I'll bring the brass rod with, just in case..)

that sucks man....but look at it this way....at least you realized it after that shot and you did not try to pop another round off like some folks have done....easy to get a single out....a real pain and can be expensive to get out two....

~Aftrshck

True.. Kinda hard to miss that one tho..

BlackEagl wrote: I'm gonna have to go back one of these days and finish off that batch of ammo to make sure none of the rest are like that.

Personally I wouldn't risk that, instead just pull that batch apart and reload the components.

cobb wrote:

BlackEagl wrote: I'm gonna have to go back one of these days and finish off that batch of ammo to make sure none of the rest are like that.

Personally I wouldn't risk that, instead just pull that batch apart and reload the components.

Or get a digital scale and tare wt a primed case / bullet / and a powder charge.

Then weigh all of your loads and see where you are with that.

and THEN pull them apart or shoot the ones that come within 1 std dev? The scale and comparison would give you an idea if something was off and how many it was off with. Especially if compared to a similar box of shells.

I tried that in the past with some 45 loads and it did not work. it was a mixed lot of brass and the difference between the cases was larger than the powder load. (The connecter for the powder measure on my progressive was jumping out of the track every once and a while) I did pull all the bullets (20 rounds out of 1000 were empty). The bullet puller that goes on a single stage press from RCBS worked a whole lot faster than the hammer style, not to mention neater and quieter. Did you figure out why there was no powder? Good luck! Tom

the difference in case weight in a 380 would be nominal

anything on the low end - pull and check - this is a trick that I have used in the past and it works....

A collet style puller is the best bet with something like this - kinetic pullers are SLOW and LOUD.

If its question of no powder in the case, Place the cartridge bullet first in a powder funnel and shake the funnel acts like a megaphone and you can hear the powder rattle or not depending if theres powder in the case.

You need to review your handloading practices and find out how that one squib (or more) got past your QC checks, and then change the way you reload. The maximum allowable number of squibs for a handloader is ONE for your entire life. Any number significantly higher than that may become a self-fufilling life ending event.

I have never gone the progressive route, and after I load a block of 50 or 100 cases, I take the block over underneath the ceiling light in my shop and check that the powder level in all the cases looks the same.

I can only assume this is reloads we are talking about, and they were done on a progressive machine. Is this correct?

A squib load is why I bought a power check for my Dillon press. I have not had one since. The $35 was well worth it. I load 5,000 to 10,000 annually.

I am not perfect. My wife will confirm that.

westhope wrote:A squib load is why I bought a power check for my Dillon press. I have not had one since. The $35 was well worth it. I load 5,000 to 10,000 annually.

A $35 insurance policy is pretty cheap.

MNBud wrote:I can only assume this is reloads we are talking about, and they were done on a progressive machine. Is this correct?

Correct.

westhope wrote:A squib load is why I bought a power check for my Dillon press.

I've got one, but I've only got it on the .45 toolhead now. I'm planning on going to gunstop one of these days and getting what I need to put it on the .380 and .40 heads too.

Well, I stopped out at gunstop this morning.. Picked up the dies for the powder check for the .380 and the .40, and a bullet puller.. Also decided to get some primers (because I was out of both sizes), some powder, and 1000 SWC bullets for the .45..

Shouldn't have any more squibs now!