Had my first squib load today

[F. Guffey]

I have instituted a number of QC checks in my reloading process.

I read the famous last word statement all the time: "It must have been a double charge" or "I do not know what happened, the light through the barrel was shut off" etc.

A disciplined reloaders knows the weight of the case, bullet and powder charge and then there is the weight of the primer. And then there are those reloaders that do not have a clue, they do not know if they have the correct powder charge, they do not know the weight of the case and they do not know the weight spread on the bullets.

For me there is nothing entertaining about pulling the trigger without a hint of what is about to happen. I have enough cases to match the weight of the case so after I load a few hundred rounds it means nothing to me to weight the loaded rounds.

QC checks in my reloading process

Again, a shooter standing next to me at the range could not pull the trigger, he could not open the cylinder he could not pull the hammer back because his Model 66 was locked up with a bullet. I put my stuff up in an effort to help him, I drove the bullet back into the case and then emptied his cylinder. The first thing he did was start shoving rounds into his cylinder. I wanted him to convinced me his reloads were safe and the missing powder from one case did not get added to the next cases, and all he did was get mad. Long story.

F. Guffey

[TruthTellers]

Originally Posted by F. Guffey

A disciplined reloaders knows the weight of the case, bullet and powder charge and then there is the weight of the primer. And then there are those reloaders that do not have a clue, they do not know if they have the correct powder charge, they do not know the weight of the case and they do not know the weight spread on the bullets.

For me there is nothing entertaining about pulling the trigger without a hint of what is about to happen. I have enough cases to match the weight of the case so after I load a few hundred rounds it means nothing to me to weight the loaded rounds.

I knew that I had loaded some with 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 grains of Bullseye, but I didn't keep track of which they were. My guess is that the squib was a 1.0 load because as I shot the rest of these uncommon handloads and didn't have another squib with them.

Bottom line is for this load there is no "correct powder charge" because no currently printed manuals exist that offer data for using round balls as projectiles. It's called trial and error and I'm a trail blazer and I knew the load was so light the gun wasn't going to blow and that was good enough for me.

After shooting these loads and paying I forget what for the round balls, it's probably cheaper and better to buy 75 grain lead bullets and using them instead. There is established data out there for such a bullet.