Had my first squib…

[ed308]

When sorting through my 6.5 Creedmoor brass, I found a round with a 130 gr bullet still attached. Primer showed it was fired. I vaguely remember thinking this round was a dud and tossed it in my spent brass bag. I don’t recall hearing whether lthe round fired. Anyway, removed the bullet and discovered there was no powder in the case. The bottom of the bullet was blackened so the primer definitely ignited. Surprised and relieved that bullet did not end up stuck in the barrel of my rifle.

This is my one complaint about reloading on a Dillon 550C and manually dropping the powder. I also reload pistol and .223/5.56 rifle rounds on a 650 but recently the 750 press. It’s easy to get confused when running two different type presses. I like Dillon’s Powder Check system on my 750. And it’s kept me squib free in over 10 years of reloading. My dream press would be a Dillon 550 but with an extra station to add the Powder Check System. I’ve loaded a few squib rounds in the pass on my 550. But I always found them by checking the weight of completed rounds. If the weight was high, I’d pull the bullet and check.

I’ve added an endo scope and light to my 550 so I can manually confirm the powder in the cases from this point forward. But really wish I could add the Powder Check System to my 550.

 

[44 AMP]

Is your spellchecker changing "squib" (with a "b") to "squid" ?

Mine likes to change "spitzer" to "spritzer"...

I gave up on progressive presses, used one for a couple years, loaded more "bad" rounds with it than I had in the previous decade. Don't care for them, especially for rifle rounds. Too much going on at once, and without the "feel" you develop to tell you when something is wrong using a single stage press.

Just me, and my personal preferences.

 

[eflyguy]

Witnessed two squibs at USPSA matches - one indoors, one outdoors. The RO had to yell to get them to stop immediately as I'm pretty sure the shooters didn't realize.

Both were self loaders.

I've nothing against it. The majority of people we compete against load themselves. I did the math and it made no sense to me even years ago, but certainly not now.

 

[THEWELSHM]

If you reload, it’ll be a matter of time until it happens “squib” load. Chances are it’ll be on a progressive press. I have had a few in 8 years with thousands of rounds loaded. The good part is I knew it when I shot. No harm done, used a brass cleaning rod, cleared and good to go.

Thewelshm

 

[Unclenick]

I think the spell-checker may have identified the problem: too much squid ink in the powder.

There are two kinds of handloaders: those who load tuned loads for their rifles because those loads shoot better than commercial loads do in the same guns, and those who load for economy, mainly to be able to practice more. A lucky handloader hits both objectives at the same time.

In the economical practice category, if you have identified a commercial load that works as well or better than your handloads do, and prefer to use it on match days, the economic impact will likely be small. The more expensive handloading gets, the more sense that makes. For years now, my shotgun shell loaders have been little-used because, as fall approaches, there always seem to be bargain price field loads that, in case quantities, I can't beat by a large enough price margin to be worth my time. So I buy those by the case and only load shotgun shells for special purposes, like mild loads for juniors and the like.

As far as squibs off a progressive press go, invest in the lights sold by Inline Fabrication or Uniqetek so you can inspect powder charges directly or with a mirror as they are in process. Otherwise, get a press with enough stations for a powder check die.

 

[ed308]

Spell checker got me LOL.

I actually have Inline’s Dome Light for my 550 press. Plus use another one on my 750. But it doesn’t work with my 6.5 Creedmoor Whidden tool head. The locking rings are oversized so the Dome Light doesn’t fit all the way in the center hole. I bought a light with a magnetic base that attaches to the side of the Dillon mount and it works great. And with the endo scope, I can actually see into the case to check the powder level without having to standup. Before, I had to get out of my chair to check for powder in the case. I looked at mirrors but never found one I thought would work. But not needed now that I have the endo scope.

 

[Bart B.]

I once had to load 42 rounds of 7.62 NATO hand loads to shoot twenty-two 190 grain bullets in a 1000 yard match. None of the duds had powder but all bullets stayed in the case. All their primers fired.

 

[Unclenick]

Yikes! Almost 50% failure!

I think primers unseating bullets is a small case phenomenon. Handgun cartridges, mainly. The 22 Hornet is the only rifle case I am aware of where complaints of erratic velocity from this source are common.

 

[MarkCO]

A squib enters, but does not leave the barrel, so the spell checker was right.

I have now had 4 squibs, all with factory ammo. Last one was in December with a .223 factory round.

As I have loaded over 1M rounds of ammo and shot maybe 150K of factory ammo...you do the math.

 

[Bart B.]

Don't know if the ammo room at the USN small arms marksmanship unit in San Diego loaded them just for me as a ball-and-dummy joke but I won the match with a 98-17V in windy weather.

 

[gwpercle]

ed308 ,
You got real lucky , or the Good Lord likes you , most primer /no powder loads end up with the bullet stuck in the throat . I experienced one when I first started loading and realized it could have been a disaster if not paying attention to rifle report and recoil .
Kinda put the fear of God in me and I changed my reloading methods so I check the powder charge , with my eyeballs , 3 times before the bullet gets seated .

It's perfectly Okay to get both Anal and OCD about getting a power charge in the case .
No powder charge or two powder charges ... it just wont do !
Load Safe
Gary

 

[Unclenick]

@MarkCO,

On another board we had a fellow who had tested ammunition for government agencies. He said that by the time you get over 40,000 rounds, you've seen every kind of error any handloader ever makes, plus some that handloaders wouldn't make. Examples included loaded bullet jackets with no core, and cases without flash holes; that kind of thing.

 

[Shadow9mm]

A squib enters, but does not leave the barrel, so the spell checker was right.

I have now had 4 squibs, all with factory ammo. Last one was in December with a .223 factory round.

As I have loaded over 1M rounds of ammo and shot maybe 150K of factory ammo...you do the math.

that a LOT of ammo....

 

[MarkCO]

@MarkCO,

On another board we had a fellow who had tested ammunition for government agencies. He said that by the time you get over 40,000 rounds, you've seen every kind of error any handloader ever makes, plus some that handloaders wouldn't make. Examples included loaded bullet jackets with no core, and cases without flash holes; that kind of thing.

Seems reasonable. Still, about half of my professional cases where ammo is implicated are reloads. That is a big slant towards the whole of factory ammo being better than the whole of reloaded ammo.

 

[ed308]

ed308 ,
You got real lucky, or the Good Lord likes you, most primer/no powder loads end up with the bullet stuck in the throat . I experienced one when I first started loading and realized it could have been a disaster if not paying attention to rifle report and recoil.
Kinda put the fear of God in me and I changed my reloading methods so I check the powder charge, with my eyeballs, 3 times before the bullet gets seated.

It's perfectly Okay to get both Anal and OCD about getting a power charge in the case.
No powder charge or two powder charges ... it just wont do !
Load Safe
Gary

You got that right. I've been really anal trying to not have a Squib load. Which is why my first press was a Dillon 650 with the extra station for the powder check system. I loaded thousand and thousand of rounds on that 650 and never experienced a problems. Started out slow until I got the process down, then started to use the press as a progressive press.

But when I got the 550C for loading my precision rifle rounds a couple of years ago, the problems started. I've had a few case loaded without powder since I'm manually dropping the powder manually after dropping the powder with a Autotrickler and Throw system. But I'd also catch those rounds by checking the weight of each round completed. If any load was too high or low, I'd pull it. Somehow that one got by me.

The problem is the how different the 650 and 550 are in the loading process. With the 650 or the 750, everything is automatic when dropping the powder and checking the powder level with the powder check system. But with the 550, the press really depends on the operator to pay attention when manually dropping the powder.

Hopefully by adding the endo scope and the light, this will be my last my last squib. I be able to see the status of the case with the endo scope. But if Dillon every decides to make a manually indexed press with that fifth station, I'll be the first to run out and buy one.

 

[Prof Young]

Powder checking . . .

When I first started using a rotary press I realized that, when loading necked rifle cases, I'd have to remove the brass from the collet if I wanted to visually affirm that there was powder in the case . . . and I do. Have never moved up to a progressive press, in part, for that reason. How does one confirm the powder drop on a progressive press?

Life is good.
Prof Young

 

[Jim Watson]

I confirm the presence of powder in 9mm and .45 by looking inside as I place the bullet. My Dillon presses are well lighted.

I get a little nervous loading .38 Special and .44-40, they are too tall to see a light load of smokeless. But I have not yet had a low or zero load of W231/HP38 powder since changing from troublesome 700X about 40 years ago.

I don't load rifle on a progressive, so I can put charged cases in a block and go down each row under a good light to verify powder.

I have had two stuck bullets. One was a water damaged factory load, the other was a poorly designed reload; the powder was there, it just didn't ignite.

 

[MarkCO]

How does one confirm the powder drop on a progressive press?

It is called a powder check die. I will NOT (and never have) loaded a single round on my Dillon 650 without one. The 650 is about 960K of my total, so that is a decent track record.

 

[ed308]

I’m a big fan of Dillon’s Powder Check system. It’s located on the third station on a 650 or 750 press and a $65 option. Worth every penny IMO. It has a rod that is inserted into the case when the press handle is extended up. If the load is over or under, a buzzer sounds off to alert you. When I load on my 750, my eyes are glued to the powder check system rod to confirm it’s movement. Hasn’t failed me so far. You’d need an extra station for it to be available on the 550 press.

 

[RC20]

While I do check the cases for pistol loads (those do go into the barrel) , I don't for rifle.

I never had a rifle bullet go into the barrel and if I miss a case fill , Usually that is a row of 5 and probably 30 of those over the last 10 years.

I actually found I could turn a bug (or bad practice) into a feature as I find out if I am pulling or flinching when I have one!

I had an odd ball the other day. I have a Savage target action with the Target Trigger. It sounded like I had side loaded the safety blade and it twinged, but then fired. Went right into the group!

Still not sure if it was a Hang Fire, or the safety twinged after the firing pin was moving.

Will do some checking with dry fire with and without ear muffs.