Having an issue with Squibs

[PSSOH22]

Hey guys. Im not a newbie to reloading! And short of my first attempts, i havent had any issues like this. Im loading on a 650. 125 gr lcn over 4.1 gr's of Solo 1k.

Atleast 1 every 50 rounds though is squibbing. I made 20k of these and have shot probably 15k of it with no issues until now. I am trying to narrow the problems down and figure out how i can trouble shoot it. My OAL is good, crimp looks a little light but acceptable. I dont think it is an issue with rounds not getting powder because on the few i have had, there has been burnt powder all over the casing. My next thought is i have noticed that some of my primers are flattened.

My initial thought was to weigh 100-200 rounds individually and pull out anything that could possibly be on the light side and see what happens then fire the lighter weight ones individually.

Does anyone else have any input on how i could possibly trouble shoot this better without turning the entirity into range ammo?

[jlamphere]

Sorry to hear you are having problems. I had a malfunction on a SDB and made a bunch do squibs. The rounds you have probably do not have powder. The primer alone will make a filthy case, so you cannot say they have powder based on the case being dirty. Load up one and check it out yourself. I do not think you will be able to weigh the rounds and sort out the light ones. There is too much variance in brass weight to be able to find rounds that are light and expect them to be the bad guys. I now have a couple of 650s and both have the alarm on them that will go off if the case is empty or over filled I had to just shoot mine up and keep a squib rod in my pocket. Or you can pull them and reuse everything.

[Youngeyes]

Not sure what you mean by your squibs are getting powder. By definition a squib is an under powered load. What is the sound of the "squib" when you fire it? Having unburnt powder can be a sign of under charge and incomplete burn. I hate to say it, but with 1 in 50 squibs, it's break down time. Safety first. I've never trusted the weighing method for checking a loaded round. You can reload using the already primed cases. Recheck your press and make sure your equipment is running correctly. Good luck.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Youngeyes

[njl]

Assuming you have a modern style powder measure, if you remove the failsafe rod and forget to put it back, you will create rounds with no powder. Short of that, running the powder measure out of powder, or really screwing around with the cases on the press, I'm not sure how you'd make powderless cartridges on a 650.

[jlamphere]

If you double clutch the handle, you can send a case past the powder die empty.

[The Donald]

I had a batch with a few squibs, quite a few real light charges like bunny f#$t rounds. The problem was the lubing the cases and the lube contaminating the powder. Was using Iosso case lube since I didn't need to clean the rounds after loading. I just tried loading without any lube and the problem went away. I was loading 9mm on a SQB.

[CocoBolo]

You got a lose nut on the loader! Yeah, seriously, every time you put primers in make sure that the fail safe nut has not backed off, or do like I did double nut it so it don't back off.

If you can get one that powder check is a good investment, I quit using it since I load mostly 9 major and it makes a mess, but I had one for a year laying around one day I decided to try it, amazingly I was loading faster, since I did not have to look into the cases, and it caught a variance of +- .3gr. Compared to blowing up a gun the powder check is dirt cheap.

Edited October 10, 2013 by CocoBolo

[mlmiller1]

Are they true stuck bullets or are they just light rounds? I used to use One Shot case lube & I had a bad batch of ammo. Lots of LIGHT rounds but the bullet always cleared, some just barely. I quit the one shot & the trouble went away. By the way, no one else has ever had that problem with One Shot but evidently I did something wrong. Either way, if you are using one shot, try the Dillon lube instead.

There is no way to measure loaded rounds & tell if they have powder unless you loaded all your ammo from the same brand/batch of brass. Too much variation. I always load in batches of 3-400. I keep each batch separate from the other so if I were to have a problem, I can go to a different batch & get back to the bad one when there is time. Pulling a couple hundred is not as bad as a couple thou!

[Flexmoney]

Over the years here, I have read reports of some foreign object (brass/bullet/bug/etc.) getting into the powder hopper. People miss that the object is in there when they dump powder because it gets hung up on the bridge when you turn the powder measure upside down to pour out powder. If you have a foreign object that has hidden in in there, it could cause light to no powder to be delivered to the case.

[Flexmoney]

I dont think it is an issue with rounds not getting powder because on the few i have had, there has been burnt powder all over the casing.

A light load, or load with no powder, will darken the case (as mentioned). The deal there is that the there isn't a good amount of pressure, which is needed to expand and seal the brass to the chamber wall. And, you will have back pressure (because the bullet is stuck in the barrel), so the gas that is there will want to vent back through the chamber.

My next thought is i have noticed that some of my primers are flattened.

I don't know anything about your particular load...like how close it is to being high pressure in the first place. But, if you are getting flattened primers, that is a sign of over-pressure. Lots of things can cause that. You should explore those causes. (might not be related to the squib stuff)

Does anyone else have any input on how i could possibly trouble shoot this better without turning the entirity into range ammo?

If you are having a squib every 50 rounds or so...I don't know how you can trust that ammo for use...match or practice. That is 20 possible squibs for every 1K rounds...and you have about 5k left?

[charliez]

Yeah, that's really dangerous there if the squibs don't reliably come out of the barrel with just a primer loaded, if the primer alone doesn't push the round out, one of the 5000K rounds might just cause an overpressure damage.

As far as powder check, on a 650 I had 1 station where I installed an RCBS powdercheck die. It is adjustable and will stopped my press if there isn't enough powder volume.

Edited October 10, 2013 by charliez

[mgrs]

Over the years here, I have read reports of some foreign object (brass/bullet/bug/etc.) getting into the powder hopper. People miss that the object is in there when they dump powder because it gets hung up on the bridge when you turn the powder measure upside down to pour out powder. If you have a foreign object that has hidden in in there, it could cause light to no powder to be delivered to the case.

I'll admit I did exactly this once. Somehow I dropped a 9mm bullet in the powder hopper and after a while got some odd drops out of the power measure. It starting throwing extremely light, so I turned it up, and was getting some very heavy and very light charges. Between visual checks and a lockout die, I caught all of the bad charges and none got through. After about 10 rounds trying to get the measure to work, I dumped the powder and found the bullet. Stupid mistake but a good learning experience and QC test...