Trying a load of 4.2 Red Dot; WSP primer; Starline Case; 125 Rainier plated H.P. @ 1.465" o'all in my 6" K-38 (.38 Spec.) - the very first shot was a squib!! I didn't use a super-tight crimp, per Rainier's recommendations. Curious what your opinions may be?

Rather than take a chance, I didn't shoot the remaining 9 rounds. I'm going to break down all the rest of 'em tonite to double-check the loads in each, but, this is a first for me. I use 2 scales, one as a check on the other, and weigh every 5th one, so this is a real head-scratcher..

I used the same load with 125 grain cast "Blue Boy" brand bullets, crimped a bit more firmly, during the same session, and they performed very well.

You did not have any powder at all in that case, or it has oil in it.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
You did not have any powder at all in that case, or it has oil in it.

Lite charge, no charge even two grs would give one plenty enough vel to drive the bullet out the barrel.

That's my guess also, one shouldn't need a real tight crimp with red dot.

Having loaded many kegs of it in pistol loads. 10s and 10s of thousands 38spl.

But what is the OPs definition of a squib load.

Best way to detect a flinch! But that was alot of trouble to find out. Just kidding!

Let us know what you find.

God Bless, Louis

There was very light recoil and not much sound, the bullet traveled about 4" down the barrel, so I'm figuring either no load or severely underloaded.
I always do a visual check of all the cases for charge level before seating the bullets, and the ones I broke down contained between 3.9 and 4.3 grains, so I either missed that one, or I need new glasses.
And, my own signature says to triple-check everything..
I wonder what the odds are of it being the very first round out of 20, that I attempted to fire???

quote:

Originally posted by R-WEST:

I wonder what the odds are of it being the very first round out of 20, that I attempted to fire???

5%

no powder - i saw this happen once where the shooter didn't notice the squib and fired another load right away. blew the chit of a beautiful K14

Yup. No powder. The primer will drive a bullet that far into the barrel.

Just a reminder to everyone-if it goes click and there is no bang-there is one thing you must do and that is to remove the bolt and look down the bore for an obstruction.

There should have been loose powder in the
barrel.