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.
