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Squib load damage question
charliechato
Member Posts: 1 ✭
My Ruger SP101 .357 magnum was damaged (see photo) when I pulled the trigger again after a squib load. I didn't know I had a bullet stuck in my barrel - it didn't sound any different - I pulled the trigger again and the side of my barrel split. In my 25+ years of shooting, I've never had this happen and am thankful I was not injured. My question is, can the barrel be replaced? I haven't contacted Ruger yet and I realize they will not do the work as a warranty because the ammo I used (factory Armscor purchased online) was the cause. Thank you in advance for your reply.
Comments
1st off I am not a gunsmith but I would have to see the gun in person to pass judgement. It looks like the barrel split all the way into the frame and that could be a big problem.
I would think Armcorp ammo should be contacted be sure to save the box so they will know the production numbers.
Good luck and I am glad no one was injured.
Good that nobody was hurt. Gotta ask though, is that the base of the projectile sticking out of the muzzle or what? Looks awful flat to me.
The ammo maker owes you a gun in my NSHO! Factory ammo should not blow up a gun. Since you have the ammo, the gun and the evidence contact them and suggest they replace your gun, reminding them there was no injury to any person.
With hearing protection it is hard to determine sound. If frame isn't damaged another barrel can be installed. Send it back to Ruger or get an authorized Ruger Gunsmith to look at it.
It looks to me to be at least two bullets in there. If another round was fired after a squib load left a bullet in the barrel then maybe the ammo can be blamed, but maybe not totally. In any case I would call Ruger customer service and explain what happened, and you wanting to know if the ammo is to blame. See what they say. Good luck.
Ruger has no dog in this fight at all.
This is strictly a failure by Armscor ammunition. You simply ignored the possibility of a squib by not stopping, emptying the cylinder and then using a rod or dowel, checking where the first bullet stopped.
Keep everything as it is right now but take high quality pictures (like the one you posted) of the detail of the barrel, the ammunition box and ammunition including the lot # of the ammunition. Attach these photographs to the email or letter which you need to send to Customer Service at Armscor. Do NOT send any physical evidence.
If Armscor digs in and refuses to acknowledge any culpability, contact the NRA (if you're a member) for help or hire a lawyer to add some strength to your complaint.
Best.
I'd be after Armscor for a new pair of underwear, too! Dayum! Glad you're OK!
As above I would document everything and put the ball in Armscors court. Just from the one picture I would be surprised if it is repairable. The size of the split next to the frame indicates a possibility that the frame itself has been expanded where the barrel is attached. Good luck and thanks for reminding us that if something doesn't feel right, in this case lack of normal recoil, we should stop immediately and find the problem. Bob
Good thing you were shooting a Ruger and not a Taurus.
Looks to me like the frame may have been bowed. Like others have said, contact Armscor. Ruger is not culpable in any way.
25 years of shooting experience, and you can't notice the difference in recoil of a squib versus a full power .357 round?
At the Beretta's armorer's course in '92 they showed the class a fractured top end from a 92fs. The customer admitted that he fired lead bullets until the bore became so congested that the top end ruptured. Beretta repaired the pistol with the condition that they could keep the top end as a teaching aid.
You are lucky to not have been injured...........good luck with getting a repair.
"The size of the split next to the frame indicates a possibility that the frame itself has been expanded where the barrel is attached. "
My thoughts also.
What I se is the bullet sticking out of the barrel impacted the squib load (the reason the nose of the bullet is flat)...Hard to tell from the photo...but it looks like there are at least two more bullets in the barrel...More than one squib??? IMO...
Combat Vet VN
D.A.V Life Member
That's what I am thinking too. Looks to me like there are about three slugs left in the barrel, including the one sticking out.
I thought it looked like the one sticking out had been put in the brass backwards. The multiple squib theory makes more sense.
Nononsense -
Asking for my own edification...
I assume you mean that when you felt or heard something unusual or didn’t see what you were expecting down range then -
“...You simply ignored the possibility of a squib by not stopping, emptying the cylinder and then using a rod or dowel, checking where the first bullet stopped.”
Not poking, just trying to make sure I understand your thought here.
The bullet halfway out of the muzzle appears to be backwards. How the heck did that happen? And it looks like several bullets piled in there.
In Hatcher's Notebook is a picture of a barrel plumb full of 32/20 slugs. The barrel is sawed lengthwise and I think there were 9 (NINE) bullets in it! That barrel was distorted but it did not split.
And that's what I was getting at when I said the ammo might be blamed but maybe not completely. A squib usually feels very different from a good cartridge, especially a .357 mag. If the squib was fired and then the shooter quit and removed the stuck bullet, probably no damage would have been done. If the shooter continued to fire then maybe the fault needs to be shared. If that was my gun it would probably go back to Ruger to be checked out at some point. That point being after I was done with the ammo company. But if I fired a couple more rounds after the squib then I would blame me at least as much as the ammo. I have seen a Ruger .44 with five or six rounds stuck in the barrel. I have seen people on our range have a squib with a semi auto, jack another round in and fire again. You need to be smarter than the machine you are running.