My 1st 10 squibs.

[Icefire]

Well went to the range with 200 rounds loaded last night, 100 minor 100 major load.

1st mag, after about 5 rounds, I got a click, I thought it was a simple dud so I rack the slide, went to press the trigger, no click, look at the slide, not in battery, tap, no luck, rack, next round is the same.

Well I had a squib just past the chamber. I was like ####, I was going to shoot my next round on it if the round was to chamber.

so I went to Home hardware, got a 3/8" wood dowel and a rubber mallet and got the squib out. And 2 mags later, click again!

In 200 rounds, I got exactly 10 squibs, 3 .22 loads (looked like it had 1gr of powder or something as you could hear the ding on the steel bullet drop).

from what I think, on my Lee pro 1000, the chain was loose somewhere in the loading. I readjusted it, so it might be why.


Now I know what it is, it's not even a "poff", it was just click, but how do you know it's a squib and not a failure to Extract/failure to fire in an IPSC match?

I guess if at my next match, if I shoot and I hear a click, rack the slide and see an empty case I'll just stop as all the 10 squib I got, the slide didn't rack, so the empty case was still in the chamber.

My gf and a schoolmate was supose to come shooting with me... Damn it wouldn't have been funny.
You can bet I tryed my brand new Mecanix glove I bought for shooting right after

 

[D_]

Dillon.

 

[hungrybeagle]

Now I know what it is, it's not even a "poff", it was just click, but how do you know it's a squib and not a failure to Extract/failure to fire in an IPSC match?

Usually a squib is a *pffft* as opposed to a *BANG*, and you're right, the slide tends not to come back far enough to eject the spent case. I know some people who, on a *CLICK*, rack the round and watch the spent case eject. If there's still a bullet in it, they keep going.

You may want to be a little more vigilant on checking your cases for powder when reloading. Quality ammunition more than makes up for quantity.

 

[SDC]

That's also when the electronic muffs come in really handy.

 

[Icefire]

I was shooting only with plugs (30db ones) and the only pffft I got was with the low powder charge that looked like .22 ammo.

All the squibs were click only.

+1 on the vigilance, I recently readjusted the press (had not enought crimp) and I guess it's what screwed up, I might have loosed the chain.

a small miror would be handy as it's hard to see well if there is powder in it.

 

[hungrybeagle]

Heh, I have an old X10 camera hooked up on my Dillon press. It looks straight down into the case, and I watch it on an old TV.

 

[acrashb]

+1 on the vigilance, I recently readjusted the press (had not enought crimp) and I guess it's what screwed up, I might have loosed the chain.

Could happen on any press.

Also, are you using a flake powder? Ball powders flow more reliably in progressives (yes, I know some people use flake powder and are OK, but it's a fact that ball powder flows better and switching powders was the singular cure to a run of squibs I had been having).

 

[Icefire]

Universal Clays which is flat spherical I thinks.

 

[motoman]

the exact same thing happened to me this week and i was using a lee pro 1000. between that and the primer feed problems i got feed up and bought a dillion.

 

[Icefire]

I don't really have primer problem, I do have one on 20 that is hard to seat ( need to wiggle the lever until it seat) and the worst I have with the lee pro is the case alignement with the resizing/decapping die.

I guess I need to adjust the Z bar, when I lower the ram, the case get caught on the edge of the die and I need to push on the case to enter in the die. Happens one each 5 case. The rest is flawless.

I do have a REALLY poor bench, an old computer desk made of cheap 1/2" MDF wood which flex under ram pressure

Powder disk are dead on (I weight once in a while, it's not moving)

I really thinks the problem was the chain getting loose and the powder disk wasn't returning home.

I shoot about 2-300 rounds/month maybe, not much so I don't mind loading 150 rounds in 2hours.

 

[Cocked&Locked]

I don't really have primer problem, I do have one on 20 that is hard to seat ( need to wiggle the lever until it seat) and the worst I have with the lee pro is the case alignement with the resizing/decapping die.

I guess I need to adjust the Z bar, when I lower the ram, the case get caught on the edge of the die and I need to push on the case to enter in the die. Happens one each 5 case. The rest is flawless.

I do have a REALLY poor bench, an old computer desk made of cheap 1/2" MDF wood which flex under ram pressure

Powder disk are dead on (I weight once in a while, it's not moving)

I really thinks the problem was the chain getting loose and the powder disk wasn't returning home.

I shoot about 2-300 rounds/month maybe, not much so I don't mind loading 150 rounds in 2hours.

Brace up that bench and it will help wonders. The lee is a decent machine but do it all the favors you can, and keep an eye on it. And to be fair, you should do this with any press. I like my Hornady LNL because it cycles the case infront of you to place the bullet after the powder drop and it's easy to check visually for powder. People have made squibs with dillons as well as lee's, it's an operator fault not a press one. Maintenace and adjustment as needed, a little more often on the lee and its good to go.

 

[Rod B]

Replace the chain with a spring.

Years ago I purchased the Lee Auto Disc update kit. It came with the pull chain.

I tried the chain & went back to the original spring.


Rod.

 

[Slavex]

Heh, I have an old X10 camera hooked up on my Dillon press. It looks straight down into the case, and I watch it on an old TV.

that's freaking cool. We needs pics dude!

it's possible your crimp isn't good enough too, coupled with long of rounds, you can actually rip the bullets out of the case mouth, leaving them stuck in the throat.

 

[misfire]

When I first started reloading .45 acp with my Lee 1000. My first 100 rounds shot off without a hitch. The next 100 rounds had about 8 squibs before I stopped shooting for the day. I brought 2 pistols to the range and the RO pounded out 6 squibs for me. After the next two, I packed up and went home to pound out my own squibs and pull apart the remaining ammo where I found another 4 rounds with no powder--12/100!. Like you, I was adjusting the dies. Currently, I use a little inspection mirror to check the cases for powder. Yeah, it slows up the reloading process a tad and I probably don't need to as I don't seem to any more issues relating to powder feeding but the extra effort to insure a powder charge is better than pounding out squibs--the worst squib caused my wooden dowels to split, lucky I found a piece of brass tubing in my tool box that did the job but I had to squirt WD-40 down the barrel as well.....