Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I was shooting a steel match today and had a squib round during the last stage. This is the first squib round I've personally had while shooting a match. I was shooting factory ammo - American Eagle 9mm 147 grain FMJ that was purchased about two years ago. Apparently, this round never received a powder charge during its manufacture. The primer detonated and pushed the bullet about a third of the way down a 5-inch barrel. It took a fair amount of force to knock the bullet out with a fat brass rod (nearly 9mm in diameter). I bought this rod for just this purpose some years ago - glad I did.

I was not shooting well at all today, and the squib round did not help. You don't get an alibi in action pistol pistol shooing for malfunctions, including ammo malfunctions. You eat the time to clear the malfunction or if you can't clear it (as is the case with a squib) you eat the targets left you did not hit.

It's important that both the shooter and the range/safety officer immediately recognize a squib. When shooting for speed, there is a tendency to immediately clear a malfunction and quickly reengage targets. With a squib or possible squib, you need to recognize this situation and stop immediately and not attempt to apply any malfunction clearance procedure and continue firing. If shooting a revolver, do not attempt to fire another shot. The RO was on his toes and immediately gave the stop command. As the shooter, I yelled squib at the same time and immediately quit shooting and just kept the pistol pointed at the targets/berm. We waited about 15 seconds to make sure there was no delayed discharge before I removed the magazine, opened the action and ejected the case. I then went to a safe area to see if there was a bullet stuck in the barrel - there was. I decided to take care of this when I got home.

To top it off, the traffic on I95 was horrible both coming and going. Still, even this day at the range beats the hell out of most others!

Dang, hoss, glad y'all were on your toes.

That could have gone horribly wrong. Glad to you you weren't hurt. A follow-up shot hinting the back of a stuck round... can't end well.

Here is a video I found that shows what a squib looks like when firing. The shooter here performs a tap-rack and is about to shoot again when the safety officer stops him. The squib occurs at about 1:40 into the video.

Thank you very much for sharing! Great info. Glad you were not hurt!

Listening for a squib can be difficult in loud situations like a busy range, so folks tend to recommend paying attention to recoil, too.

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Sounds like a good idea. I don't know if it is typical, but in that video there was a noticeable amount of flash from the breach. Is that a consistent tell?

MarcSpaz wrote:Sounds like a good idea. I don't know if it is typical, but in that video there was a noticeable amount of flash from the breach. Is that a consistent tell?

If the bullet stops in the barrel, the smoke and gas from the primer has to go somewhere and it will exit in the breech area of a semi-auto. With a revolver, the cylinder gap will provide the escape route.