POP-ffffffffffffSSSSSSSSTT!!!

[Zorba]

Wife and I went to da range today - she was shooting both her Charter Arms .38s, although her main mission today was to get used to her newest one, the very lightweight "Santa Fe Sky". First, she shot full house .38 loads in it, then switched to Hornady Critical Defense lite.

BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
POP-ffffffffffSSSSSSSSSTT!! {Smoke curls from the cylinder}

I will say that range had a great RSO - he yelled "STOP!!" and was "right there" immediately. To my wife's credit, she knew better than to pull the trigger again, and kept the muzzle pointed downrange. The bullet had to be beat out of the throat of the bbl by the RSO with a hammer and rod.

Interestingly, he's a retired cop of 40 years on the force, and has been doing RSO duties for a couple or three. He said although he teaches about squibs in his classes, this was the VERY first time he'd actually seen one. To make it more interesting, the guy behind the counter said that he'd never seen one either in about 35 years experience until just last week when he had one himself - also in a revolver as coincidence would have it.

I'll be calling Hornady tomorrow to see if they want it back. The RSO said that he doesn't like Hornady ammo: "Lots of people love it, but I've never had good luck with it."

Other than that, the new gun shot just fine - wife doesn't really care if her carry ammo is reduced velocity or not, we have a box of Federal "Personal Defense" that she bought with the gun.

DSC02058.JPG (267.38 KiB) Viewed 3263 times

DSC02058.JPG (267.38 KiB) Viewed 3263 times

[Japhy]

Good that there was an alert and knowledgeable range officer that immediately took action.

[Zorba]

It was good. Wife knew to NOT pull the trigger and keep it pointed downrange, but having a good RSO was fantastic. He took charge, waited a bit to make sure there wasn't some kind of hang fire going on, then went and got tools and cleared wife's weapon for her.

[Gene L]

Sounds like an educational situation and the RSO was there to help. A lower-than-normal powder load is fortunately very rare. No one hurt, and that's a very good thing. Your wife seems to know what to do which is a very good thing..

[Zorba]

Oh yea - the RSO and I both explained that this could happen with ANY ammo at ANY time. Still, the Hornady is now Persona-non-grata as far as my wife is concerned!

[CPJ 2.0]

Good that there was an alert and knowledgeable range officer that immediately took action.

False.
Good thing his wife had a clue so that if/when it happens again, SHE knows what to do.
Never rely on others for your safety.

[Bigslug]

Been there. . .

SP-101 Stuck WC.jpg (27.17 KiB) Viewed 3235 times

. . .done that.

As I recall, that one was when we were fire-lapping some factory frame crush out of the forcing cone end of the barrel with grit-impregnated bullets on top of super light charges. Usually, if they squib in the gun, they stop farther back without such an amusing photo op.

[Diver43]

Good that there was an alert and knowledgeable range officer that immediately took action.

False.
Good thing his wife had a clue so that if/when it happens again, SHE knows what to do.
Never rely on others for your safety.

Hard to argue with that

[Justsomedude]

Had a guy a few weeks ago bring in an Airweight with a Critical Defense bullet stuck in the barrel. He said this was the second time it's done it, same type of ammo, different lots and years apart.
Got to it a few days later when a buddy was visiting. Knocked out the squib and before taking off the side plate said to my buddy,
"How much you wanna bet this thing is full of oil?"
Of course it looked like he dunked it in 3 in 1 oil. I asked him later on and he said he sprays the ish out of it with rem oil, while loaded. I schooled him on why that's bad and how to properly oil a revolver.

[Zorba]

He said this was the second time it's done it, same type of ammo, different lots and years apart. ..

Ain't that just pregnant....

[shotgunshooter3]

For all the love Hornady gets in the press, I've never had good luck. I've never had a squib like you did, but their rifle ammo never shoots well in any of my guns.

[Gila]

I've never, ever fired Hornady ammo. I've always thought of them as a component manufacturer, but then, I've never used any of their components for reloading...

[Zorba]

Just got off the horn with Hornady. They're sending me a return label, and will replace the ammo. Wife refuses to shoot it, so I guess I'll blow it off in my dad's Security Six.

[bullsi1911]

Just got off the horn with Hornady. They're sending me a return label, and will replace the ammo. Wife refuses to shoot it, so I guess I'll blow it off in my dad's Security Six.

Glad they are making it “right” for you.

I had some of that ammo that I fired into Gel from a 4” barrel. It did not expand, and acted like an FMJ.

[Diver43]

For all the love Hornady gets in the press, I've never had good luck. I've never had a squib like you did, but their rifle ammo never shoots well in any of my guns.

I just came home from the range fine tuning My .308. It shoots ELD-M sub MOA, ELD-X shoots a 4 inch pattern.
I shot up the X just for brass. Looking at the target, it is close enough for a deer at 100 but not for most of us.
I have never had one like zorba's wife did. Handgun or rifle

[NuttyNed]

Good to see that no one was hurt.

I once had a squib, sorta, with a shotgun when I was about 18. The pellets came out about as though they were thrown by hand. It was the paper over powder wad that squibed at the end of the barrel.

[Gene L]

One squib in a total output of hundreds of thousands of rounds fired in the last few months. I would be cautious but wouldn't cancel the ammo.

[GrapeApe]

One squib in a total output of hundreds of thousands of rounds fired in the last few months. I would be cautious but wouldn't cancel the ammo.

There is absolutely no way in hell that you can know that was the ""one squib in a total output of hundreds of thousands of rounds fired"
Unless you were present when all of them were fired

[Gene L]

A ridiculous statement. An impossible standard, of course. I won't respond further on this grapeape.

[T'owd Mon]

I once had an odd one when in the old days we in Britain were allowed to participate in such 'dangerous and ungodly' things like pistol shooting. There was just a pop from the primer and the revolver jammed up the rotation of the cylinder. The ammunition was .38 Special made by C.I.L. In getting it apart I found that the brass case had no flash hole which allowed the primer to go off but with nowhere to send its flash it backed up jamming the works. I must say that I have fired off thousands of rounds of Winchester .38Sp. and .9mm. stuff when training at work with never a misfire.

[Zorba]

Replacement ammo showed up today - 2 boxes (50 rds total). No explanation as to what they found, if anything. Wife doesn't want that ammo - I'll shoot it off in Dad's Security Six.