Squibs and Kablams

[MisterCee]

What are Squibs and Kablams? I hear them referring to poor ammo but what is the danger if one of them finds its way into your chamber.

[CPES]

A squib is when the primer ignites the powder charge in a round, but the charge isn't sufficient to propel the bullet out of the barrel - the bullet becomes stuck in the barrel and needs to be forced out mechanically. This is most common to people who reload, and short-load one of thier rounds (ie, not putting enough powder in it). This is a very, very rare occurance with factory ammo.

As far as kabooms/kablams/ka-kas/fiddle-faddles/zing-zop-zawhees ( ) go, I'm not quite as familiar but I think they are just the opposite...overloading the powder charge in the shell, and having it blow up in the chamber? Thereby destroying the barrel, chamber, slide, ect.

I'm not sure on that one, but I think thats close to being accurate.

[40SWXDSHOOTER]

A squib most of the time comes from a round that dosen't have any powder, or a bad primmer.

There are other causes, but the end is the same in all types, you have a bullet stuck in your barrel. Most of the time it is stuck in the rifling at the chamber so you can't even chamber another round.

But some times the bullet can get part way up the barrel, this is from some powder, but not enough to get the bullet to clear the barrel, and with this one you can chamber another round, and if you fire it "Kablamb"

[Tomcat088]

A kaboom is what someone mentioned earlier, although it doesn't always occur with overloaded ammo. As far as most people are concerned, they're not exactly sure what is always the cause of them. There are several that have been documented with factory loaded ammunition. You usually see them in higher pressure rounds like the .40 S&W, but it has occured with other lower pressure rounds including the 9mm. Many times the webbing on the casing is blown out. The results are usually a totally destroyed gun, split barrels, broken grips, exploded chambers, demolished magazines. From what I have seen, most of the time the shooters are only mildly injured, small cuts on the hands and powder burns. I think that just shows how quality the firearms that people are making, that even when they "self destruct" they protect the shooters quite well. They are seen with just about every popular brand, although I have seen some documentation on certain websites that can lead some people to think they happen more with glocks. One must also consider that glocks are used by more police forces than alot of other pistols, so the results could be slightly biased. Anyway, some suspect it happens more in glocks due to the fact that their stock barrels/chambers are less supported at the 6 o'clock position. This isn't the case with the aftermarket barrels for the glocks, and also only suspected, not proven. Hope that helps with the KB!/Kaboom question.

Edit: I figured someone is gonna post it, so I"ll save you the trouble. This is one site some people view as antiglock, so take it for what it's worth. Also note that one the page they show an HK that did it, and if you look around on the site, you'll see some sigs, hk's, even rifles like AR's and M1's that have done it. http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

[sobrbiker883]

Most modern gun engineers try to think in advance what will happen when a case head seperates (#1 cause of KB with reloads, I dunno why factory 40's seem to do it....) and the magwell seems to route the majority of the gases in autoloaders.
Ever notice the holes in the side of bolt action rifle's receivers?........

[Tomcat088]

howdy XD springer, nice post with alot of information. I know for a fact that the "you can't shoot lead in glocks" myth still persists. I believe now they're saying, you can shoot lead, but you better watch your barrel carefully, which you should anyway. I know that the gunzone has some cases that are with factory loaded ammunition, and not just on glocks. There are even 2 cases I believe that happened with 9mm factory loads. Kind of crazy, but I'm sure it does happen. Anyway, figured I'd verify that yes the myth still persists, lol. Take it easy and thanks for the info.

[40SWXDSHOOTER]

I shot lead only in my Glock 22 for about 3 year of IPSC shooting without a problem (6000-8000rds).
The problem is the unsupported chamber in the Glocks. It was a problem for years with 1911s, when they where worked on by people that didn't know what they where doing.
Then when pepole started to load with 200gr. bullets, it got worst, because you had to seat the bullets deeper to get them to fit in the mags, and the presures went through the roof, and things started to blow up.
The reason for the Glock "No Reloads" is because alot of people don't want to spend the money on a scale, let alone a cronograph, and have know idea what they are doing.
If you are shooting a Glock, or anything eles with lead, and have lead in your barrel try this, use a 50-50 mix of Hydrogen Peroxide and White Vinegar, and fill your barrel for about 15 mins, then use a plastic brush to push the gunk out, then wash the barrel out with hot water, and then oil so it dosen't rust, and it will be as clean as the day you bought it.

[D_Fence]

Originally Posted by MisterCee

What are Squibs and Kablams? I hear them referring to poor ammo but what is the danger if one of them finds its way into your chamber.

As far as squibs go, one nice thing about a gun like the XD is that - in the rare occurance that you actually have a squib - it probably won't create enough recoil to cock the striker and/or chamber another round. For example, if you shot a squib during rapid fire, and kept pulling the trigger, the most that would happen would be a "click" and even that may not happen. In contrast, doing this with a revolver would be bad news.

Any time you pull the trigger on a loaded gun and you don't get the BANG you expect, keep it pointed in a safe direction for a few seconds. You want to make sure you don't have a hangfire, which is where there is a delay between the primer being struck and then activated. Then, as with any malfunction, keep the gun pointed downrange as you drop the magazine, lock the action back (if possible), and then inspect.

It is also a good idea to practice malfunction reaction in your gun in case it happens in an actual self-defense situation. Load up a few magazines and randomly insert a dummy round in one of them. Shoot through the magazines, and when you hit the dummy round, do a Tap (the magazine to make sure it is seated), rack (the slide), bang.

[GrovenSpringer]

WTH is a primmer?

[JD McDorce]

Originally Posted by D_Fence

As far as squibs go, one nice thing about a gun like the XD is that - in the rare occurance that you actually have a squib - it probably won't create enough recoil to cock the striker and/or chamber another round. For example, if you shot a squib during rapid fire, and kept pulling the trigger, the most that would happen would be a "click" and even that may not happen.

During the three occasions that I have experienced squibs (twice with a XD9, once with a SiG P220), there was enough energy generated to cycle the action. Where luck intervined was that in all three cases, the bullet had not travelled deep enough into the barrel for the next round to fully seat in the chamber - while the next bullet from the mag was fed into the chamber, the action did not achieve full lock because the nose of the fresh bullet came into contact with the base of the bullet lodged in the chamber. The two scary what if's become: what if the squib had lodged deeper in the barrel and what if the bullet in the live round had set back when it contacted the bullet in the barrel.

I suspect if there was enough travel of the slide to feed the top round in the mag, there was enough travel to cock the striker in the XD. I know that there was enough travel to cock the hammer on the SiG.