Had a squib load at IPSC shoot

[dennishoddy]

Shot IPSC Sat morning with my .45acp. I've loaded and shot thousands of rounds, but while in the shoot, I pulled the trigger, and got a snap. I thought I was empty, and did a reload, but when I pulled the slide back an empty brass came out. The RO stopped the match, and I checked and found a squib load with the bullet trapped in the barrel.
If I had fired again, a disastrous malfunction would have occurred.
My thanks to the RO for being so observant.
My new christmas wish list will include a digital scale, where I'll weigh each round prior to shooting to make sure this never happens again. I know there are other factors that can cause a round to not go off at full power, but not having powder in the case will not happen to me again.

 

[DC]

Shot IPSC Sat morning with my .45acp. I've loaded and shot thousands of rounds, but while in the shoot, I pulled the trigger, and got a snap. I thought I was empty, and did a reload, but when I pulled the slide back an empty brass came out. The RO stopped the match, and I checked and found a squib load with the bullet trapped in the barrel.
If I had fired again, a disastrous malfunction would have occurred.
My thanks to the RO for being so observant.
My new christmas wish list will include a digital scale, where I'll weigh each round prior to shooting to make sure this never happens again. I know there are other factors that can cause a round to not go off at full power, but not having powder in the case will not happen to me again.

This might be a little tough to do as case weight and bullet weight can differ as much as your powder weight can be.......kinda hard to judge.

 

[dennishoddy]

This might be a little tough to do as case weight and bullet weight can differ as much as your powder weight can be.......kinda hard to judge.

I load 5 gr of Unique under 200 gr cast bullets, so I'm thinking if a round comes up a grain or two under the others, it needs to be looked at.

 

[1911user]

In my experience, an easier and better way is to the see the powder charge in every case before seating a bullet. This applies to single-stage or progressive pistol ammo reloading. DC is right, you'd be surprised at the variation in the weight of brass pistol cases.

 

[Lance Jensen]

+1 I made a habbit of looking inside each case for the powder.

 

[bratch]

If you have an extra station you could install a powder cop.

 

[458 SOCOM]

+1 on powder cop die no matter the brand of die or brand of progressive press.

 

[JCW355]

Glad you were stopped.

 

[dennishoddy]

If you have an extra station you could install a powder cop.

I have a powder cop die installed, and make a point of looking at it at each rotation, but for the life of me, it just slipped by.

 

[lockoutmonkey]

I know this sounds odd, but My dad used to use a "no go guage". He used an old pencil that was unsharpened and shortened. It was marked and graduated for each powder charge. Just lightly drop it into each shell after you load the powder. If it drops too far no powder, if it doesn't go all the way too much. To the mark, just right.