Squib from CCI Stinger

lucky07

lucky07

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Location
Supreme Capital, Democratic People's Republic of C
Went to the range with the brother in law today. He was plugging away with his .22 and everything was going good until that one trigger pull where something was off. I was about 15 feet away and had ears on so I was none the wiser other than noticing that he had stopped shooting and I knew his mag wasn't empty. He gave me that "something wong" look so I pulled an earplug and gave him the "what's up" look. It's fun when everyone's on the same page lol (it was just us two on the line)

He figured he had a FTF but said it didn't feel quite right. Wait a few more seconds, he ejects the round and the ejector sent it out like is would a spent casing, not like a FTF that still has the weight of the powder and bullet attached. Hmm, something not right ... again. The only thing on the table is just a casing not a FTF cartridge so we strip the rifle to be able to look through the barrel and low and behold NO light at the end of the tunnel.

Didn't have a proper (soft metal) cleaning rod on hand so I took cleaning rod from Glorious Mosin and dropped it down the chamber. The bullet had only gone about an inch or so if that before it stopped. Pulling the rod out yielded a bunch of unburnt powder on the end of it. Pushed the bullet through gently and all was good.

These things don't happen often with factory ammunition, FTF is common enough with budget ammo, FTEs sure, they happen. But I've never had a squib from factory ammo.

In the end everything played out exactly as it should, no damage to the firearm, no injury to the shooter. But it's a good example of why the rules are there, why we follow them and why you should trust your gut. When something doesn't feel quite right STOP!!!! and figure out why.

Anyways, I know it's a little bit of a nothing-burger post but it's a good example of something that could have ended badly but didn't because proper procedure was followed.
 
lucky07 said:
Went to the range with the brother in law today. He was plugging away with his .22 and everything was going good until that one trigger pull where something was off. I was about 15 feet away and had ears on so I was none the wiser other than noticing that he had stopped shooting and I knew his mag wasn't empty. He gave me that "something wong" look so I pulled an earplug and gave him the "what's up" look. It's fun when everyone's on the same page lol (it was just us two on the line)

He figured he had a FTF but said it didn't feel quite right. Wait a few more seconds, he ejects the round and the ejector sent it out like is would a spent casing, not like a FTF that still has the weight of the powder and bullet attached. Hmm, something not right ... again. The only thing on the table is just a casing not a FTF cartridge so we strip the rifle to be able to look through the barrel and low and behold NO light at the end of the tunnel.

Didn't have a proper (soft metal) cleaning rod on hand so I took cleaning rod from Glorious Mosin and dropped it down the chamber. The bullet had only gone about an inch or so if that before it stopped. Pulling the rod out yielded a bunch of unburnt powder on the end of it. Pushed the bullet through gently and all was good.

These things don't happen often with factory ammunition, FTF is common enough with budget ammo, FTEs sure, they happen. But I've never had a squib from factory ammo.

In the end everything played out exactly as it should, no damage to the firearm, no injury to the shooter. But it's a good example of why the rules are there, why we follow them and why you should trust your gut. When something doesn't feel quite right STOP!!!! and figure out why.

Anyways, I know it's a little bit of a nothing-burger post but it's a good example of something that could have ended badly but didn't because proper procedure was followed.
Click to expand...

I am very happy you posted on this. It is always good to keep in mind the need to listen to how things sound and feel after pulling the trigger and the need to keep the gun pointed downrange and wait some time before ejecting/investigating further when things don't seem right. I have never had a squib load on factory rounds, but have had a couple of duds. I do shoot Stingers and they are older, will definitely keep this in mind.

Are you able to share how old the rounds were and from what gun it was shot? I know it may not matter, as a squib is going to be a squib regardless, but just out of curiosity.
 
Thanks for the post, that is a weird one. I've never had an issue with a squib from factory ammo either, hopefully this thread will encourage others to post their squib stories.

I'm also curious about what would happen with a round fired on top of a squib in a straight blowback action.
 
I talked with a few guys from my range about squibs a couple of months ago. Two of the guys have been shooting for 30+ years and never had a squib load from the factory. The other guy had one but he suspects that it was because he kept the rounds in his garage for years and without cooling/heating and with the temperature fluctuations, he attributes it to that. But not sure. I keep all my ammo indoors in a temperature and a humidity controlled room and I have those industrial reusable (reheated) silica packs in the cabinet...not sure if squibs are even affected by the environment...I would suspect not...

When I went to my orientation at my range, they talked about dealing with squibs and emphasized the need to both count rounds (not squib related) when shooting, as a best practice, and also more importantly listen to how the shots sound - I had mixed some ammo left over at the end of the time and shot them all (no problems), but it was obviously a different auditory report from using Remington CBees (710fps) and CCI SV (1000fps) and Stingers (1600fps). That got the trainer to remind everyone to be cognizant of how your rounds sound and if you notice a difference, stop shooting and check, after the obligatory 30-60 second wait.
 
I had a squib once with Remington Thunderbolts. The box it came from had all kinds of QC issues. There were two empty cases (no bullets or powder) and one that had a bullet but no powder. After the squib the rest of the box went in to the no fire box at the range.
 
crowellsr said:
I had a squib once with Remington Thunderbolts. The box it came from had all kinds of QC issues. There were two empty cases (no bullets or powder) and one that had a bullet but no powder. After the squib the rest of the box went in to the no fire box at the range.
Click to expand...

Oh man...I better check my Thunderbolt boxes...I used to buy these by the multiple bricks at every shopping trip back in the day - they were cheap as dirt...I guess we know why now.
 
thegazelle said:
Oh man...I better check my Thunderbolt boxes...I used to buy these by the multiple bricks at every shopping trip back in the day - they were cheap as dirt...I guess we know why now.
Click to expand...

I used to buy bricks of them every week for $14.60 and shot 1000s of them over every summer. Most didn't have an issue but I did have a few boxes with issues but overall can't complain for the amount that I'd go through vs ones with issues.
 
crowellsr said:
I used to buy bricks of them every week for $14.60 and shot 1000s of them over every summer. Most didn't have an issue but I did have a few boxes with issues but overall can't complain for the amount that I'd go through vs ones with issues.
Click to expand...

A brick for $14.60??? For 1000? Man, those were the days!!!

Man, with the recent (last Friday) jump in ammo prices from Federal, I wouldn't be surprised if we were looking at $14.60 for a box of 50 Thunderbolts at some point in the future...

Definitely for sure, for those prices you bought in that quanitity, I'd be happy to take a squib load or two as a tradeoff.
 
I think it was an excellent idea to post this, so thanks for doing so. I haven't had a rimfire/squib, though I've had rounds not fire at all. Gets a little less common once you stop shopping for the cheapest stuff, and CCI Stingers are not in that category for sure. Nothing CCI really is, even Blazer. I've shot thousands of Blazers, not a single squib.

When I hear about squibs though (rimfire) I never have a strong sense of whether there wasn't enough powder, or not enough ignition. (=primer) I WOULD have reservations about using the rest of the ammo from that lot, without counting the shots..making sure you're getting good ignition on every one. Not saying I would necessarily do that were I in the same situation, but it would sure be a consideration. If I only had the one box, I wouldn't use the rest of it. A brick=I probably would.
 
Have had some that were squib like when the rim was pierced but never stuck on in the bore.
Had a light report with a Eley Match round during a 50 yard ARA match.
The shooter next to me wondered what was that as did I.
Figuring the match was history, a search found the errant round two targets low and scoring 100 . . . took the dot out!
As a kid in Alberta, CIL Whiz Bangs were 75 cents per box, but you got a free box when buying the brick . . . $6.75 for 500 and no taxes.
A good year with crow and magpie legs would just about buy a brick.
 
thegazelle said:
A brick for $14.60??? For 1000? Man, those were the days!!!

Man, with the recent (last Friday) jump in ammo prices from Federal, I wouldn't be surprised if we were looking at $14.60 for a box of 50 Thunderbolts at some point in the future...

Definitely for sure, for those prices you bought in that quanitity, I'd be happy to take a squib load or two as a tradeoff.
Click to expand...

It would have been $14.60 for 500
 
I have only been buying my own ammunition a couple decades and I can recall brick of .22 on sale for less than $10/500. One thing I can't recall is a .22 producing a squib though. I have had tons of duds and underpowered rounds but never a squib.
 
I can't remember ever having a 22 RF myself , but have seen about 3 guns that it happened to, one was a pistol, ring 1/2 way down, a win. 69A, same thing about 12-14 inch down,, and a couple more, same thing, all , one round was fired on top, jammed in barrel, hence the ring. But all shoot fine afterwards, ring not deep enough to weaken the barrel ( in a 22 LR). In my option.
I have seen 2 or 3 38 sp revolvers with lead bullets stacked up in a barrel ( 100 % light reloads, or missed power drop) It buggered up a nice Colt Python, but that was from a "person" opening it with a 14 oz hammer, and than thought there should be replacement warranty on it.
I remember that ammo, and the old original win wild cats that was dumped into Canada , because it could not be sold in the US. But it was cheap.
 
marshall said:
I remember that ammo, and the old original win wild cats that was dumped into Canada , because it could not be sold in the US. But it was cheap.
Click to expand...

Years ago I bought a brick of the Winchester wild cat ammo at LeBaron. I fired about 20 rounds of it & gave up, it was giving about 8" groups at 50 meters.

I ended up giving to a friend who used it for his kids to plink with.
 
nitroxace said:
An excellent reminder on what to do properly. Glad it all worked out for you. Any additional issues from that package.
Click to expand...

Nope, was just the one round.

alpining said:
Thanks for the post, that is a weird one. I've never had an issue with a squib from factory ammo either, hopefully this thread will encourage others to post their squib stories.

I'm also curious about what would happen with a round fired on top of a squib in a straight blowback action.
Click to expand...

Same here, don't really feel like finding out though, I imagine a very fast cycling of the action and lots of junk and gases coming out of the ejection port.

.22LRGUY said:
I think it was an excellent idea to post this, so thanks for doing so. I haven't had a rimfire/squib, though I've had rounds not fire at all. Gets a little less common once you stop shopping for the cheapest stuff, and CCI Stingers are not in that category for sure. Nothing CCI really is, even Blazer. I've shot thousands of Blazers, not a single squib.

When I hear about squibs though (rimfire) I never have a strong sense of whether there wasn't enough powder, or not enough ignition. (=primer) I WOULD have reservations about using the rest of the ammo from that lot, without counting the shots..making sure you're getting good ignition on every one. Not saying I would necessarily do that were I in the same situation, but it would sure be a consideration. If I only had the one box, I wouldn't use the rest of it. A brick=I probably would.
Click to expand...

I figure if there was enough ignition to unseat the bullet and push it an inch down the barrel there should have been enough gusto to get the powder to burn. When I initially put the Mosins cleaning rod down there (threads first) and pulled it out there was a bunch of powder clumped on the end. It was stuck on there enough that had to wipe it off with a paper towel. Now I know there was a little film of oil on the rod but what came out almost seemed saturated.

Hindsight being 20/20 I only had the thought that I should have collected the powder and put a lighter to it just to see what the burn was like, if it even would have burnt, after the fact.
 
Not sure on the history of these rifles but I have had 4-22 rifles with bulged/ringed barrels that were bought as parts guns years ago. 3 semi auto 1 bolt. One was a 151 Mossberg with a small bulge/ring was around the 16" mark. Was curious as to how it would shoot. I shot it at 25 yards and it still shot under an inch with cheap ammo. Never tried it past that thou.
The other rifles had bulges between 10-12". Just used for parts.
 
Last edited:
Hi. Just had a squib(first ever) with from Cabelas. Around 1250 FPS. Luckily only went about 3/4 “ and precluded loading another. I would have blown it otherwise
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom