Handling Misfires

[Guest nysos]

So what would happen if one doesn't notice and fire off another round right behind that? Could the gun blow up in your hand?

Yep, few different things could happen. 1 of those thigns could be kaboom. Don't try and shoot a round after a squib is all you need to know.

[DWARREN123]

I will keep the weapon pointed down range for 60 seconds then if nothing happens I eject the round and check the primer for firing pin hit. I will usually rechamber the round and attempt to fire the round a second time. If it does not fire on the second attempt I then take it home and disassemble the round, keeping the brass and bullet for reloading.

The reason they say to dump into a wet container is to disable the primer and powder.

After many thousand of rounds I have only had 2 that would not fire on rechambering.

[Guest vca2004]

So why would I want to hold it in my hand for 30-60 seconds. I assume my hand will be OK even if my gun explodes??? I mean will it just mangle the firearm to uselessness or could I be mangled as well?

[JeffL]

So why would I want to hold it in my hand for 30-60 seconds. I assume my hand will be OK even if my gun explodes??? I mean will it just mangle the firearm to uselessness or could I be mangled as well?

Your gun isn't going to explode from a misfire. We're talking about firing a round after a squib. A squib is a round that contains no powder, the primer will get the bullet out of the casing and lodged in the barrel. Following that up with a round that goes of as intended creates an overpressure and resulting kaboom.

[Guest vca2004]

Yes, I understand that a squib by itself wouldn't "kaboom", but it I am shooting in rapid sucession and don't notice the squib/react fast enought before I would fire another round that goes off as planned after it - how much of a "kaboom" from that are we talking about? Sorry if that wasn't clear from my last post. Is a regular fired round after a squib gonna blow up only my firearm or possibly my hand?

[blewbayou]

My father had that happen a few months ago in his 44. As another poster said earlier, he noticed the bang but no hole on the target. Ended up having to take to a gunsmith to get the bullet dislodged.

Sent from HTC Incredible

[JeffL]

Yes, I understand that a squib by itself wouldn't "kaboom", but it I am shooting in rapid sucession and don't notice the squib/react fast enought before I would fire another round that goes off as planned after it - how much of a "kaboom" from that are we talking about? Sorry if that wasn't clear from my last post. Is a regular fired round after a squib gonna blow up only my firearm or possibly my hand?

I don't have any personal experience, but with a polymer pistol it will likely destroy the frame and leave you with some minor shrapnel wounds to your hand. I'd bet it also stings like a mother####er.

[TMF]

Yes, I understand that a squib by itself wouldn't "kaboom", but it I am shooting in rapid sucession and don't notice the squib/react fast enought before I would fire another round that goes off as planned after it - how much of a "kaboom" from that are we talking about? Sorry if that wasn't clear from my last post. Is a regular fired round after a squib gonna blow up only my firearm or possibly my hand?

I've seen lots of them with AKs in Iraq. The Iraqi Popo and Army guys would buy ammo off the market because they were generally not issued more than a couple of mags of ammo in the first few years of the war. You could immediately tell by the sound of the discharge; it would almost sound like a blank round or a firecracker, but there would be no recoil at all. I've never seen one actually cycle the weapon, and most of them would lodge just beyond the chamber so that you couldn't even chamber another round behind it. The round would dislodge easily from the barrel by dropping an AK cleaning rod down the muzzle and smacking it with a full AK mag. Doing this with an M-16 cleaning rod will just break the rod.

I don't know if any of them were able to fire a round behind a squib, but due to the number of times I've seen squibs on the range (a couple of dozen) I would have to believe they've done it before when I wasn't close enough to hear or when I wasn't around. Never heard of one blowing up, but then again, I wouldn't want to find out.

[Guest vca2004]

Thank you all! I wouldn't want to try to shoot another round after a squib on pupose either to find out ;o).

[peejman]

What they said. A normal round goes BANG! A squib round goes pop. It's obvious when it happens. A semi-auto won't cycle.

[Guest nysos]

I tried finding a good video of a kaboom caused by a squib, but didn't really see any. I did find a video of a guy shooting a steel match that had a squib that did cycle the gun. Luckily the bullet was lodged far enough back to where any consecutive round would not allow the slide to go fully back into battery.

On a forum I used to be a member of, I saw some pictures as the result of a squib on a glock. It bulged the barrel, and most of the force blasted backwards. Blew the mag out and messed up some internals. If I recall it was determined to be a bad batch of factory ammo and I believe the ammo maker footed the bill for fixing the guys gun. All he had were a few burns and small cut, luckily.

This brings up another point, when shooting a semi-auto never hold it "cup & saucer style" with your offhand underneath the magwell supporting the weight. If a round gets stuck and it doesn't blow up the barrel, the force has to go somewhere and that is backwards and down usually.

[TMF]

I tried finding a good video of a kaboom caused by a squib, but didn't really see any. I did find a video of a guy shooting a steel match that had a squib that did cycle the gun. Luckily the bullet was lodged far enough back to where any consecutive round would not allow the slide to go fully back into battery.

On a forum I used to be a member of, I saw some pictures as the result of a squib on a glock. It bulged the barrel, and most of the force blasted backwards. Blew the mag out and messed up some internals. If I recall it was determined to be a bad batch of factory ammo and I believe the ammo maker footed the bill for fixing the guys gun. All he had were a few burns and small cut, luckily.

This brings up another point, when shooting a semi-auto never hold it "cup & saucer style" with your offhand underneath the magwell supporting the weight. If a round gets stuck and it doesn't blow up the barrel, the force has to go somewhere and that is backwards and down usually.

I was on a range with a buddy 5-6 years ago shooting factory winchester 9mm ammo out of one of those Walther plastic guns. A hot load blew it up causing the lower receiver to explode out the one side. Luckily he was wearing leather assaulter gloves at the time but it still stung. Never seen anything like it before.

[Jonnin]

most of the (internet) pics I have seen from a squib + followup shot resulted in a ruined (but not exploded) gun: the barrel is expanded often, a few times the slide or something was cracked or stressed beyond hope. A few guns explode, and rifles are more prone to devestation as they have much, much more power to contain. A bulged barrel in a semi auto pistol can lead to a megajam because the slide pulls back over the too big barrel and gets stuck... Anyway, different stuff but the BEST you can hope for is a ruined gun. People have been injured badly as well.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Jonnin

[Guest db99wj]

Saw a 2nd round fired after a squib (hand load) destroy a S&W J-frame. Bent the frame above the cylinder, broke the cylinder, barrel wasn't straight anymore. Hurt his hand a little, but nothing serious, mostly soreness. I was working at the range and he was also an employee.