Something to try at home?

[greener]

The Firearms Blog has a piece on cutaways and kabooms from the British Ministry of Defense National Firearms Centre.

I think I'll stick to the one, very rare, pfft instead of bang.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014 ... Newsletter

[charlesb]

It would just take a momentary distraction, or the noise of another gun going off nearby for one to miss something like that, with unhappy results when a following round was fired.

[ruger22]

I would have thought that less likely with revolvers, since shooters usually have more patience than "let's see how fast I can empty this magazine" semiauto Rambo types. I'm guilty of that a few times myself.

Interesting link below it about the mystery Springfield stamped steel 1911:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013 ... teel-1911/

[Hakaman]

I had a squib round go off in my 686 while still a new shooter. It sounded very
weak and I had thoughts of shooting again on top of it, but better judgement prevailed.
It was a 38 sp at the time, and it ended up about 1" from the muzzle end of the
revolver. Scarey situation.

[Bullseye]

I remember seeing one of these back at the SFPD pistol range in their display case many years back. Looked like an old Model 10 barrel cut-away with six rounds packed into it just like those on the web link.

R,
Bullseye

[greener]

I've had a bit of a run of squibs from light Trail Boss loads. I guess I'm paying enough attention to the feel and sound of the revolver not to fire again before checking the barrel. Also had pfft instead of bang in two 1911's from the same batch of reloads on a day I didn't have the range rod that is always in my range bag. Guess I should have fired the next round instead of taking the pistols home for some barrel "cleaning."

[blue68f100]

Not paying attention will get you in trouble almost every time. I carry a squib rod in my range bag at all times. The last time I used it on my reloads was when I switched over to a AP, learning curve. I had one that was missing powder from me clearing a jam. I have since shot over 50k without any. I end up using it on others that are having problems. Then I try to educate them on what they are doing wrong. The last time I used was on some reloads that a guy bought that had all sorts of problem. I went through the box of 50 and rejected 27 that the primers where high, preventing the gun from going into battery. I told him I almost never shoot anyone elses reloads. For you don't know what your getting. The ones I do shoot are the ones I know very well and we at times test each other loads.

On another trip my shooting partner was having some problem with his Trail Boss loads for his 45 colt. Ended up with some that were either light on load or no powder. Static in the hopper was to blame and he did not catch it.

[bearandoldman]

The real problem with light loads of TrailBoss is primarily due to it's shape, a bunch of tiny Cheerios or donuts. When loaded in a small cavity in a ponder measure, depending how it lies, it can have void that will reduce your powder by 50% or more, even to damn near none. My friend and I have been shooting some 10 brinell HBWC .38 bullets in our Marlin lever guns with 2.3 grains a they are great shooters and really accurate at 25 yards, at 50 we have not been able to hit the target board. I will always load these as a single shot in both rifle and revolver, so I am not tempted to rapid fire and have a problem. Carry a 5/16 steel rod wrapped with electrical tape in the car along with a small ball peen hammer to drive out the ones that only go half way to the muzzle.

[Bullseye]

Good to see you're still reading the board BAOM. How did you fare with all the rain the other day?

What do you think is going on with those .38 cal bullet loads? Too light of a load maybe?

R,
Bullseye

[bearandoldman]

Good to see you're still reading the board BAOM. How did you fare with all the rain the other day?

What do you think is going on with those .38 cal bullet loads? Too light of a load maybe?

R,
Bullseye

The powder jams because of its shape and in the small cavity of the powder measure some time you get very little. No longer use that load in the progressive loader as each one must be weighed.
We got 2.5 inches but other areas, especially Deeeeetroit got a lot more. Saw something on the news that one area got 3 inches in a half hour, that is a downpour just too big for the sewer system to handle. Here in Saginaw, if you look down into the catch basin you see plate with like 1/2 holes in it, lots of them, but they do retard the flow. Better to have a flooded street than a basement? used those loads to shoot that little man like pattern below, 6 shots and a shooter error or two.

[Bullseye]

I always keep the powder measure over half full to prevent issues like that with powder drops, but I don't use Trail Boss so I cannot attest that technique would work with it. I found when the progressive loader's powder hopper starts to drop below half full the drops can get pretty inconsistent with flake powders.

R,
Bullseye

[bearandoldman]

I always keep the powder measure over half full to prevent issues like that with powder drops, but I don't use Trail Boss so I cannot attest that technique would work with it. I found when the progressive loader's powder hopper starts to drop below half full the drops can get pretty inconsistent with flake powders.

R,
Bullseye

TrailBoss, due to it's shape will jam up no matter how full the powder measure. My .38 loads now use Accurate #5, a nice ball powder, meters very well, almost and good a s 2230 that I use in the .223, use Green Dot in my .45 ACP load, it is a nice flake powder left over from my shotgiunning days.

[greener]

I always keep the powder measure over half full to prevent issues like that with powder drops, but I don't use Trail Boss so I cannot attest that technique would work with it. I found when the progressive loader's powder hopper starts to drop below half full the drops can get pretty inconsistent with flake powders.

R,
Bullseye

TrailBoss, due to it's shape will jam up no matter how full the powder measure. My .38 loads now use Accurate #5, a nice ball powder, meters very well, almost and good a s 2230 that I use in the .223, use Green Dot in my .45 ACP load, it is a nice flake powder left over from my shotgiunning days.

I think it is the shape that causes it to jam in the Lee powder measure, especially with lighter loads. I like the way it shoots, but it does make for some interesting reloading.

[bearandoldman]

I always keep the powder measure over half full to prevent issues like that with powder drops, but I don't use Trail Boss so I cannot attest that technique would work with it. I found when the progressive loader's powder hopper starts to drop below half full the drops can get pretty inconsistent with flake powders.

R,
Bullseye

TrailBoss, due to it's shape will jam up no matter how full the powder measure. My .38 loads now use Accurate #5, a nice ball powder, meters very well, almost and good a s 2230 that I use in the .223, use Green Dot in my .45 ACP load, it is a nice flake powder left over from my shotgiunning days.

Have tried it with the discs and the adjustable bar, the bar is the worst,
I think it is the shape that causes it to jam in the Lee powder measure, especially with lighter loads. I like the way it shoots, but it does make for some interesting reloading.

My thoughts exactly big Greener, light to no loads, but it works great.

[blue68f100]

I think it's more prone to static electricity too, do to it's fluffiness. It bridges similarly to a large flake powder too. My shoot partner seams to have trouble when the loads drop below 4-5 gr. Above that no problem.