Ever have trouble with squib loads?

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FM12

New member
Back in the late 1970s, I shot a LOT of .44 and .357 magnums using WW296 and H110. Always used heavy bullets, heavy crimp, magnum primers and never loaded below maximum. You'll notice that these powders are NOT recommended to have their charge weights lowered by a certain per centage.

I thought this might be a potent powder combination for .38 spl also, so I loaded about 15 or 20, full powder charge, mag primers with some heavy bullets and heavy crimp.

ALL I ever got with the .38 spls were squib loads, always popped the bullet into the barrel. Very upsetting.

Just wondering if any other reloaders had any similar experiences, with any powder/cal/bullet combination?
 
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ltdave

New member
when i went thru the police academy way back in the early 90s, a cadet next to me was shooting a nickle plated Colt Trooper or Lawman...

we were at 18yds i think firing 12 rounds in 20 seconds or something. i hear a pffft followed by a pa-POW. i immediately hit the deck...

the range officer was standing a couple shooters away and after he ducked, came over to make sure everyone was still on one piece...

we looked at his pistol and then continued the course of fire...

about 20 rounds later his hits on target were getting more and more spread out and he called the RO over to show his barrel was unscrewing...

the squib load followed by the full powered load had broken the barrel at the forcing cone where it screwed into the frame...

thats the only experience ive ever had with a squib...
 
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Whirlwind06

New member
I had my first squibs ever this week. Switching from a single stage to a Lee Pro 1000. 3 rounds must not have gotten charged. All 3 got stuck between the forcing cone and cylinder of the 2 revolvers I was shooting. (model 10 and 638)

I was able to tap them back into the case. I'm now going to weigh every loaded round. If they fall below the "no go" weight into the reject pile they go.
 
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ShootingNut

New member
Yes, especially loading 9mm and .38 spl. I have the Lee Classic Turret, with their Pro Powder dispensor. Some folks have stated that they have never had a problem with powder charges being too low, using the same equipment.
NOT ME, so my squib days are over now that I load in batches (single stage method), and visually check all with a light before seating any bullets.
Quite often I find a 1.3 charge rather than the 3.4 intended. Which is just enough to sometimes leave the lead in the barrel.:eek:
Regards,
SN
 
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ruger.john

New member
I'm with ShootingNut. I too have the Lee and a have decided to load single stage when using any powder that I cannot see in the case such as Win 231, clays, bullseye etc. loading the .357 or .38. Powders such as Trail Boss are easily seen so are safe IMHO to load using the indexing rod. 9mm are short cases so you can see the powder charge and are aware if a charge is too small. Since starting this method I have had 0 problems. (I would note that Unique will not meter worth a pinch of coon S**t. I just gave away a cannister of it.)
 
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ShootingNut

New member
john

I must have gotten a lemon, as I seem to the only Lee Classic Turret owner, that found the indexing to not be very good. Ordered a new rod from Lee, and that other plastic part (forget the name), didn't help.
I just gave up, never use the index rod. Have several turrets and dies for all my loads, so it is fine switching them and running each stage in batches.
My favorite to load is the .40SW, smoothest of the bunch.
Regards,
SN
 
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ruger.john

New member
You are right the indexing requires a lot of tweaking and adjusting. I am most of the time moving the turret by hand. It is still faster than single stage and more time efficient.
I am starting to lean towards Dillon but as I load 2 calibers it looks like changing is a hassle. Somebody convince me it's not:confused:
 
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ShootingNut

New member
John

Don't know about the Dillon, but as you know the Lee Turret takes maybe
5 seconds to swap out to another caliber. I have 5 turrets set up for my 5 different calibers, which makes it very easy to switch, no adjusting except for powder load of course.
Regards,
SN
 
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Tom-C

New member
Wirlwind,

You may want to weigh your cases first. With light loads in .38 special the case weight variation may be more that the weight of the powder
 
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Whirlwind06

New member
You may want to weigh your cases first. With light loads in .38 special the case weight variation may be more that the weight of the powder
Click to expand...

Yeah I have noticed quite a bit of variation between cases.
And the bullets too. Seems everything is working correctly now. I watch the powder charge fall so I'm visually checking. The 3 squibs I'll chalk up to working the bugs out of a new press. Hopefully they will be my last.
 
4

454PB

New member
In the 38 years I've been handloading, the only squibs I've had have been with slow burning ball powders in magnum revolvers. My first was in a Ruger SBH .44 magnum. The bullet stuck in the barrel and was followed by another shot. Amazingly, neither I nor the gun was damaged. More recently I had a squib in my Ruger SRH .454 Casull. This time I was shooting from the bench and stopped before another round was fired. Both of these were with ball powder (H-110 in the .44 and WC820 in the .454). These require a loading density and pressure level that can't be reduced. I can see where any acceptable pressure level for .38 special could produce squibs using H-110 or WW296, and I certainly wouldn't go there.
 
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