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Almost blew my gun up!


djthemac

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So I had a near death (at least for the gun) experience at the range.

Gun specs: STI 5" eagle with bushing

Bullet: Bear Creek Bullet 180 gr FP, w231 over 4.8grain, CCI SPP, COAL 1.18," mixed brass

I was using Matt Burkett's traning program and was on drill 3 or 4, 10 shots strong hand, 10 shots weak hand, using a draw into the A zone from 10 yards on the clock.

I was about round 7 into the weak hand side drill when I felt a "mush" instead of a bang, I quickly racked the slide, and noticed a small cloud of powder over the slide of the gun. The next round was stripped from the magazine, but the slide would not go into battery. I racked the slide again, same thing happened, stripped a round, would not go into battery. At this point I decided to halt the drill and examine what had happened and I noted a bear creek pill stuck in the chamber of the gun, which had prevented the other rounds from going into battery. I shaked the gun and the pill fell out on its own with no assistance.

I did not hear or feel a pop, and I do not believe it was a squib load due to the powder puff, and lack of primer pop. Im thinking the bullet could be malformed, or the case cracked.

In addition, the gun malfunctioned permanently a few drills later, when the hammer would not stay in the "cocked" position after the slide reciprocated. The gun could still be fired as a "single action."

Thoughts?

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Certainly sounds like a "typical" squib where the bullet lodges and prevents other rounds from chambering.

Tear the gun all the way down and check for debris from the incident. Clean it and reassemble and do a function check. Might have damaged something but then again maybe the slide was not going all the way back on recoil. Something may be cracked or damaged.

Good luck

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Certainly sounds like a "typical" squib where the bullet lodges and prevents other rounds from chambering.

Tear the gun all the way down and check for debris from the incident. Clean it and reassemble and do a function check. Might have damaged something but then again maybe the slide was not going all the way back on recoil. Something may be cracked or damaged.

Good luck

good advice thanks!

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Sounds like a bad primer. Did you look at the ejected case?

no i failboated, lost both the case and the bullet. :-)

I guess I don't know what a "mush" sounds like LOL. I guess it's possible the bullet got yanked out of the casing by snagging on the riflings. Did the bullet have any marks on it?

lost it in the bushes. my understanding of the typical squib is an uncharged case with a live primer. i suppose i could have an extremely light charge that the primer fired but failed to ignite the powder? hmmmm

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Could the primer have been seated backward and flashed when hit? Maybe the bullet was dislodged from the case?

I second this idea as a possible solution since you said there appeared to be a decent amount of gunpowder, do you put all of your loaded rounds into an ammo case and check the primers or do they just go right into an ammo can?

Also like Sarge's idea about the bullet possibly getting stuck in the rifling. If you didn't complete a full stroke while reloading there's a chance you could've had a round with a COAL that was a hair too long or if a bullet was out of round (have seen a batch of Performance Delta's like this) This could happen especially if it's brass that's been a couple times fired. With the PD's being just a hair out of round they were jamming in the rifling at the same lengths you're loading at in an SV 5"

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Could the primer have been seated backward and flashed when hit? Maybe the bullet was dislodged from the case?

I second this idea as a possible solution since you said there appeared to be a decent amount of gunpowder, do you put all of your loaded rounds into an ammo case and check the primers or do they just go right into an ammo can?

Also like Sarge's idea about the bullet possibly getting stuck in the rifling. If you didn't complete a full stroke while reloading there's a chance you could've had a round with a COAL that was a hair too long or if a bullet was out of round (have seen a batch of Performance Delta's like this) This could happen especially if it's brass that's been a couple times fired. With the PD's being just a hair out of round they were jamming in the rifling at the same lengths you're loading at in an SV 5"

good points. for match ammo i always case check and put in upside down so i can visualize the primers, not for blaster ammo. i did find a bullet that appeared sheared off at the lube ring from an earlier batch, i wonder if i ad a bad bullet.

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