Public Service Announcement - Jan., 2012
When you go shooting, if the gun clicks (or the round sounds underpowered at all), make sure to:
A) unload the gun, and
B) check the barrel for obstruction.
(And do it in that order - never look down the barrel of a loaded gun!!!)
A squib bullet, lodged in the barrel, will cause a serious malfunction. Known in common parlance as a "kaboom!" This often destroys the firearm, and will likely cause serious injury. Following are some links to videos of kabooms. To my knowledge, the people in these videos were either OK, or recovered.
As you can expect, there will likely be some language on these - it's not pleasant to have a gun blow up on you:
Clip 1 - M1 Garand kaboom
Clip 2 - AR 15 kaboom
Clip 3 - AK 47 kaboom
Clip 4 - M2 machine gun blows up (in a laboratory setting)
Clip 5 - Shotgun kaboom
Clip 6 - Bolt action rifle kaboom
Also, please note that none of these failures are due to the gun itself. This is an ammo issue.
A) unload the gun, and
B) check the barrel for obstruction.
(And do it in that order - never look down the barrel of a loaded gun!!!)
A squib bullet, lodged in the barrel, will cause a serious malfunction. Known in common parlance as a "kaboom!" This often destroys the firearm, and will likely cause serious injury. Following are some links to videos of kabooms. To my knowledge, the people in these videos were either OK, or recovered.
As you can expect, there will likely be some language on these - it's not pleasant to have a gun blow up on you:
Clip 1 - M1 Garand kaboom
Clip 2 - AR 15 kaboom
Clip 3 - AK 47 kaboom
Clip 4 - M2 machine gun blows up (in a laboratory setting)
Clip 5 - Shotgun kaboom
Clip 6 - Bolt action rifle kaboom
Also, please note that none of these failures are due to the gun itself. This is an ammo issue.
Hey--Scott here. Are some brands of ammo more likely to have this problem than others? Thanks. Was referred to this blog by a friend.
ReplyDeleteHi, Scott...
ReplyDeleteNo one brand is singularly known to produce more squibs than another. To be fair, a squib is pretty rare. Lower quality ammo is (probably) more likely than higher quality ammo to be defective.
I have heard of or read of squibs from most major manufacturers - Wolf, Remington, Winchester, etc.
I have yet to hear or read of a squib from Hornady or CCI, or another higher quality manufacturer, but understand that the chance is there.
The most important thing is to be on the lookout for the underpowered "pop" instead of the normal "boom." If that happens, and the shell is empty, *unload the firearm* and either run a rod through the bore, or visually inspect after disassembly to make sure the barrel is free from obstruction.