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Old July 11, 2013, 11:18 AM   #9
Jim Watson
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Join Date: October 25, 2001
Location: Alabama
Posts: 18,547
Quote:
Lastly, is it possible to have a squib that results in a bullet being lodged in a barrel, yet there being enough pressure to eject the case and cycle the action?
This has happened. It is extremely rare, to the point I do not worry about it in semi-autos, but in a full auto, it would be very destructive. Low probability, high consequence.


There is a risk attendant to reduced loads in full autos, especially open bolt designs.
It is quite possible to have a load which will cycle the bolt far enough to pick up and fire the next round out of the magazine, but not far enough to sear up. So it won't quit shooting when you let off the trigger and you have a runaway gun until it empties the magazine or jams.

Some guns are more tolerant than others. A friend had a Thompson that would function properly on midrange target loads, SWCs feeding, no runaway.
It had just enough recoil to hold the muzzle level, no climb. You could hold it with one hand and it would fire at a low cyclic rate, chug, chug, chug, holding itself level and on target. But that was a lucky combination of gun and ammo. I would not count on it.
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