Excitement Excitement - uspsa

Close
Call!
USPSA and Steel
Challenge folks
consume more
centerfire ammunition
than most other
types of pistol competitors.
As a result, they see
more strange and/or unusual
events with
firearms than other
shooters might.
Photos by Mike Thomas.
This rare squib had enough blowback energy
to cycle the slide. A few pounds of pressure
on the trigger would have transformed this
expensive pistol into a hunk of junk.
The attached photos were taken of a squib round fired at
the North Tennessee Practical Shooters club match the
weekend of Nov. 20-21, 2010. Typically a “squib” is a defective
cartridge that was loaded without any gunpowder.
When fired, a “squib” leaves the bullet firmly lodged in the
barrel, but generally will not cycle the action and load another
round. They’re extremely dangerous, because if the
shooter does not recognize the squib’s distinctive hollow
“pop” sound, he may load another round in behind the
lodged bullet and fire — destroying the gun and potentially
injuring the shooter and/or bystanders.
In this case, Aaron Howald fired a round that
had just enough gunpowder in it to cycle the
slide, but not enough to push the bullet out of
the barrel. Why that’s possible would take more
space than we have here, but suffice it to say it’s
very rare.
“Several people on the squad have urged me to
send (these pictures) to you,” says Howald. “I
have not been shooting USPSA for long, but I
have certainly never seen anything like this.”
The bullet from the squib stopped halfway out
of the muzzle. Fortunately Howald and his
range officer both recognized the sound of the
squib in time to stop.
“Clearly this could
have been very dangerous,
and it serves
as a reminder of how important
it is to be careful at the reloading
bench and at the range,” says
Howald. “As it turned out nobody
was hurt and we ended up
with some pretty good photos of
an incredibly unlikely result. I
probably should have bought a
lottery ticket on the way
home.”
Aaron Howald.
32
FRONT SIGHT • Annual For 2011