How did I ruin my barrel?

[Endyo]

Hey Y'all,

124gr Montana Gold FMJ

3.8grs Vihta Vhouri 320

Mixed Headstamp on brass (mostly range pickup all inspected during hand priming)

Reloaded on a RCBS Single Stage,

Loads metered and weighed with an RCBS Chargemaster 1500

Some loads double checked on an RCBS 5-0-5.

My barrel is wrecked and I don't know what happened. I was practicing double taps at the range and my Glock 34 locked up with a live round in the chamber.

The slide sat back about 1/4'' and would not cycle forward or backwards. I eventually was able to work the slide back far enough to remove the backplate, firing pin, etc and got the slide off the rim of the 9mm case that was lodged in the barrel. I carefully removed the cartridge from the chamber using a butterknife on the rim.

Loads Chronographed at 960 avg. Varied A LOT from 901-1020fps with most in the 930 to 980 range.

When I examined the inside of the barrel a "pressure ring" on the around the rifling is noticeable. Looks like the rifling got compressed.

Anyone experienced this or have an idea what the heck happened? I've been anal rententive while reloading (about 2-3 years experience. I can't afford to have this mistake happen again, but I'm not sure what I did. My loads are a little under powered. I'm fairly certain the standard deviation is from the mixed brass. Some of the flash holes have really bad burrs from the factory. But none of that explains what happened. I'm sure I'm missing something.

[Cy Soto]

It looks like you had a squib and shot another round behind it.

[Sarge]

Squib

[67camaro]

Most likely a squib.

[TH3180]

Yep squib

[latech15]

Maybe a squib....

[Alaskapopo]

Yep a squib I saw the same thing when I was using cheap russion 22 long rifle in a AR with a .22 conversion kit. Did not even notice until I went to clean the barrel and felt the rod lose contact for an inch or so towards the end of the barrel. Just curious but does it still shoot. They tested USP from HK like this back in the 90's as part of their advertising and they still shot accurately.

Pat

[McCringleberry]

I hate to sound like a broken record but yeah, looks like a squib...

[ZackJones]

Loads metered and weighed with an RCBS Chargemaster 1500

Everyone is saying squib and I'm thinking the same thing but what I've quoted concerns me. If you measured the using the Chargemaster I think it would be difficult to fail to load a case unless you some how skipped one. What's your exact loading process for adding powder and then seating the bullet? What about the possibly of a double charge? Could something like that have happened?

[TH3180]

Loads metered and weighed with an RCBS Chargemaster 1500

Everyone is saying squib and I'm thinking the same thing but what I've quoted concerns me. If you measured the using the Chargemaster I think it would be difficult to fail to load a case unless you some how skipped one. What's your exact loading process for adding powder and then seating the bullet? What about the possibly of a double charge? Could something like that have happened?

My guess would be a charge didn't make back to the case during.........

Some loads double checked on an RCBS 5-0-5.

[Youngeyes]

Loads metered and weighed with an RCBS Chargemaster 1500

Everyone is saying squib and I'm thinking the same thing but what I've quoted concerns me. If you measured the using the Chargemaster I think it would be difficult to fail to load a case unless you some how skipped one. What's your exact loading process for adding powder and then seating the bullet? What about the possibly of a double charge? Could something like that have happened?

My guess would be a charge didn't make back to the case during.........

Some loads double checked on an RCBS 5-0-5.

This is a good point. When I double check a round or two during a reloading session, I put them aside.

[Endyo]

I've been on another reloading forum.

General consensus was a squib. Likely enough energy for the first round to have almost exited the barrel and the second round following through pushing both bullets through and causing the "pressure ring" in the picture. One shooter experienced the exact phenomenon 18 years ago in his Glock. While other shooters may have a catastrophic split of the barrel, which I've seen before.

It was unlikely the powder measure as I weigh each powder drop once on the chargemaster and some get weighed twice on both a manual and electronic scale.

A no powder drop scenario is also unlikely as I check the empty cartridge once as the powder is metering to make sure there is a primer and stage the brass separate the other brass on the loading block.

I then double check that the case is empty "through the funnel" before I drop the charge.

I sometimes check a third time before seating the bullet.

One possible theory was a squib caused by the burrs around the flash hole OR the flash hole being obstructed by tumbling media. I noticed really bad burrs on some of the brass, but ignored it thinking it would only effect accuracy. None of the burrs actually covered the flash-hole, and plenty of people shoot brass without deburring. This is also how the brass comes from the factory. Also I don't use walnut or corn cob media. I use SS media that is larger than the flash hole so it won't get stuck.

[Endyo]

What happened:

(A partially CRUSHED primer can also cause that, if the wafer is shattered by a hard insertion, it can cause a hangfire or partial misfire, which will barely ignite the powder; powder burning far slower than normal can cause the gun to unlock and eject the brass, leaving the bullet in place) -The Reloading Room FB Group

Remember, barrel and slide move backward together as soon as the bullet starts to move down the barrel; if it doesn't make it out before the breech unlocks then the shellcasing goes flying and the bullet remains, stops dead in it's tracks as the gas vents out the breech.

On a normal ignition the bullet is gone before the breech unlocks, venting pressure out the muzzle before unlocking. This happened "ass backwards" due to low pressure.

ME: There's a possibility there was an issue seating the primer. I'm hand priming with an RCBS. The tool has issues feeding the primers due to the design. I caught one round being "double fed" with one primer cup being stuck on the bottom of a another. Of course I threw this round out. The primers will also "flip" in the tray with the lid on if I move the tray around. I love RCBS but their handpriming tool is junk for small primers. Works perfectly fine for my Large Rifle Primers (Yes I swap out to the small primer parts, ram, etc.) I shouldn't have primed on the hand tool knowing it was acting up with the small primers. This makes more sense, b/c even though there are noticeable burrs I wouldn't think it would cause that much of an issue, otherwise the factory ammo would potentially have a catastrophic failure.

Use a rubber band to bind the top half of the tray to the bottom. I ended up shaving a bit off the middle junction so the top seats just a hair lower. Either should solved the primer flipping problem. I've primed a *lot* of small rifle and small pistol with my RCBS hand tool and don't have much issue with it anymore.

[Endyo]

I cleared the firearm yesterday and it sits disassembled. I wanted to get on the forums and see what was up before messing with it anymore. I don't know if I'm brave enough to try shooting it again. But your post is very interesting that the actually did this with a USP.

Anyone think it's safe to fire?

Yep a squib I saw the same thing when I was using cheap russion 22 long rifle in a AR with a .22 conversion kit. Did not even notice until I went to clean the barrel and felt the rod lose contact for an inch or so towards the end of the barrel. Just curious but does it still shoot. They tested USP from HK like this back in the 90's as part of their advertising and they still shot accurately.

Pat

[Sarge]

Of course it's safe to fire. Accuracy may suffer though. Why would you go anywhere else on the internet with all of the expertise right here in these forums. If you do a search of these forums you will find pictures just like yours and stories just like yours. Been discussed many times.

I don't buy the "bullet almost made it to the end of the barrel". That ring looks like it's very near the chamber which is where they end up when you have a no charge squib. I know you are bouncing around all kinds of theories but it looks like a classic no powder squib to me. MAYBE you put powder in it and it didn't ignite for some reason but that is rare. Burrs? Baloney. Either your powder got contaminated, wet, etc or you simply did not put any in there in the first place. It happens. No matter how careful you are.

[GrumpyOne]

Of course it's safe to fire. Accuracy may suffer though. Why would you go anywhere else on the internet with all of the expertise right here in these forums. If you do a search of these forums you will find pictures just like yours and stories just like yours. Been discussed many times.

I don't buy the "bullet almost made it to the end of the barrel". That ring looks like it's very near the chamber which is where they end up when you have a no charge squib. I know you are bouncing around all kinds of theories but it looks like a classic no powder squib to me. MAYBE you put powder in it and it didn't ignite for some reason but that is rare. Burrs? Baloney. Either your powder got contaminated, wet, etc or you simply did not put any in there in the first place. It happens. No matter how careful you are.

Sarge is spot on. If yer worried about shooting it, get a new barrel...cheap enough, drop in for Glock....

[Guy Neill]

Perhaps of greater concern at this point is if you have any ammunition from that loading session remaining. It could be that the round missing powder had the powder put into another case already having powder, giving a double charge. While the barrel will still be usable, a double charge will damage much more - meaning you don't want to experience one.

With mixed brass, the powder charge weight may not be sufficient to detect if you weigh any remaining ammo. Still, you may want to weigh any remaining and see if any stand out as heavier than the others.

Better may be to disassemble any remaining to salvage the components and load anew.

A replacement barrel is recommended, but people have shot bulged barrels in the past, commonly because they did not know they had a bulged barrel.

Good luck.

Guy

[Endyo]

I've had a squib before from a light powder charge. When the bullet on bullet contact happened it was painful. The energy was enough to knock the slide off the lower frame completely and it split the barrel completely in half.

That's why I check my visually check the inside of the cartridge up to three times (once when staging the brass, once before dropping the charge, once before seating the bullet) and weigh every charge at least once after metering.

This squib presented completely differently (i.e. No split barrel, a compression ring, the firearm stayed in one piece, the firearm cycled, the firearm locked up immediately after cycling.) which led me to believe that the compression in the rifling happened from a different mechanism.

Of course it's possible I loaded a round without a powder charge, but I believe it unlikely. I learned that lesson the hard way already. I would have had to overlooked a no-drop it in three separate powder checks or skipped the three checks I normally do altogether. I load very slowly on a single stage after having experienced the first squib and I only load about 100 rounds at a time.

My hand priming tool was kicking my butt. The primers weren't feeding consistently so I would shake the tray to help them feed I noticed some primers would flip even with the lid on, and at one point I found one round double primed at another point I found one round primed upside-down. I threw these rounds out immediately.

I have to agree with Sarge that the Burrs theory isn't very sound. It's something someone suggested that I quickly threw out.

Of course I have to defer to those more experienced about what happened and continue learning.

If I can't isolate what the problem was I can't move forward. If I can't move forward I can't reload safely and that'll be that.

[Endyo]

Now that I know what to search for I'll research "Bulged Barrel" and "Types of squibs", etc.

I'll also pull all those rounds from that session in case I loaded a double charge.

Lastly I'll have to deprime each round and find a new method for priming.

Thanks Everyone!

[LikesToShoot]

I missed why you feel the need to deprime your brass. Just pull the bullets, toss the powder and re-size without the deprimer pin installed. Use this brass w/primer for draw and fire practice.

I "ringed" a barrel shooting steel challenge once with a Ruger 22/45. I didn't realize it until I was cleaning the barrel before the next match when I could feel the brush "skip" past the ring. Lucky me! And this time it's lucky you! Often times a squib can prevent the next round from chambering and stop you in your tracks, that's a Good thing!

Your first bullet made it far enough to get stuck and then hit by the next round and only ring the barrel.

You might want to buy a lottery ticket.

[Sarge]

Squibs don't always blow a barrel and gun apart. I think they more typically do just what happened here.

[Para super]

I want to propose another theory. If you have a bullet stuck in the barrel, when the next bullet hits it, the bulge in the barrel is the same size as the barrel.

I have seen some other parts get stuck in the barrel. I had a case come apart at the mouth of the case and require special tools to get it out.

If you had a piece of the case or bullet come apart in the barrel, you would see a smaller ring in the barrel.

I think you should look at the fired cases and see if they are in one piece.

[ZackJones]

My hand priming tool was kicking my butt. The primers weren't feeding consistently so I would shake the tray to help them feed I noticed some primers would flip even with the lid on, and at one point I found one round double primed at another point I found one round primed upside-down. I threw these rounds out immediately.

Ditch the hand primer and do it on the press. The Lee Ram Prime system is one I use and it works like a champ.

[Pasley]

I do all my loading on a single stage press. When I'm ready to charge with powder and seat bullets I have the brass in a a little tub and as I throw the powder in each case I set them in a 50 round loading block. I then visually examine the powder level in every case in the block. It's easy to just look at the "big picture" but I make my eye go row to row and look in every case. Then I seat bullets in that 50 cases.

After I have my powder measure set up I very rarely weigh a charge. Usually just the first one or two when I get started. A peculiarity I have is that if I weigh a charge it always goes back into the powder hopper, never into a case.

I know that some people like to drop the powder charge and then immediately seat a bullet but I think that is not the best practice.

[parisite]

I load on a Hornady LNL, automatic indexing, never going back to single stage.