"Squib load"? Is that when there's not enough gunpowder?

Yup.

As to the public service announcement.... "I'm thinking it over!"

Trivia: squibs (undersized gunpowder charges) were the main visual SFX during the principal filming of Star Wars IV-VI. Not only were they used for blaster strikes all over the sets and in numerous costumes, they were also used as blanks in the blasters-- which were all gussied up RL WW2 rifles/pistols-- to cue the laser bolt animation for ILM. In "Empire", watch closely as Lando's covering Leia as they try escape in the Falcon. Not only does his fire produce kickback, but for one shot you can see the shell ejected away.

Squibs have been used in action movies of all types for many years. A line of squibs under some cosmetic paint that matches the color of the wall or whatever surface it's on for gunfire strafing across a room. Squibs underneath fake blood packets under an actors cloths for their shooting death scene, etc. Not a Lucas innovation by any means.

"Not a Lucas innovation by any means."
I never said it was.

As to the public service announcement.... "I'm thinking it over!"

So sayeth the great Jack Benney.

....THANK YOU!!!

( Jack Benny!)

Exactly. *Grins.*

THANK YOU! (Jack is my Idol)

Your comix brings up the main reason why cops for years kept their "service revolvers" while the bad guys had Uzis and all kinds of slug-spraying automatic shit: REVOLVERS DON'T JAM!
A six-shooter, a few speed-loaders and a trained marksman will out-gun a gang id ifiots with 100-round-per-second anythings, every time.

Speaking of revolvers, wasn't there a RIFLE that was a revolver?

Colt made something along those lines.

I think it was an old West era rifle. Bit of an experiment of sorts

I think I've seen a documentary that contained the same weapon you're referring to, though I thought it was Winchester. It was, apparently, not widely used and considered untrustworthy because the rifle cartridges of the day were prone to accidentally misfire out of turn, so you know, you'd be holding the rifle, aiming with your off hand, and suddenly shoot yourself in the wrist or across/through your knuckles or whatever because you couldn't trust the ammo not to get excited and go off on it's own while you're shooting. Still I don't see why it'd be a bad idea today. I wonder how such a gun would be received by shooters who prefer bolt action rifles over semi-auto ones. Certainly there must be some anime or scifi .50 rifle with a revolving magazine on a pin-hinge frame somewhere... it's too absurd to have not been made.

There was a Colt revolving carbine, and they were cap and ball, meaning no cartridge cases, one must load each chamber with a measure of powder and ram a ball (bullet) into each cylinder and on top of the powder, and then apply percussion caps to the nipples at the rear of the cylinder, one for each loaded chamber. This system predated cartridges, which became common during the U.S. Civil War.
One of the failings of the day were "chain fire" where the detonation of one chamber caused one or more of the others to detonate, leaving one with a trashed revolver at least, and wounded or dead at the worst. The Colt Walker revolver was prone to this failing.

Look up the Dardick or Dardik (I don't recall) for some very odd loadings. Search TROUND and see the magazine fed revolver!

It was pretty unplesant to fire, since the gap between the cylinder and barrel on revolvers lets gas escape, which is even worse on longer barrels, and you'd have to put your forearm a few inches from the cylinder gap in order to shoulder it.

not to mention its possibility in its blackpowder form to sometimes blow all six chambers at once. Not good for your forward hand.

... No...

When I think about guns that can fire 6,000 rounds per minute, the only thing that comes to mind IS a revolver!

Ah, yes. Killing bystanders with a shotgun. It doesn't really fit the "home defense" bill if you hit someone that isn't actually doing anything to you.

See, that's why I carry a revolver! No worries about jams with one of those babies! Never tried reloads, but I tend to use Winchester .45 on the range and Hornady .45 as the usual ammo I carry daily. Sorry to hear about the jams, but thankfully, the next shot didn't fire, or we wouldn't be hearing from you right now!

I have to agree with the PSA at the end wholeheartedly.

Bullets are dirt cheap for basic rounds. They may get expensive for Teflon-coated Black Talons(1) but then again, you don't use such rounds for target practice of home defense, those are special shells for a specific purpose.

It's good to hear that Mitch Beiro is alive and well, that guy is able to stay so far 'off the grid,' he only has a faint, shadowy second hand presence on the 'net. I haven't had contact with him since '01, when he made the namebadge for me.

Next time you run into him, ask if he remembers a fellow Winnie Woodpecker fan by the name of Eric Adler, and if he remembers the giant namebage which had Winnie wielding a rapier and buckler.



Notes:
(1) I know that Black Talons are antipersonnel, 'mushrooming' rounds, and Teflon coating is something that would be done to armor piercing rounds, so Teflon-coated Black talons are trying to do two contradictory things at once, but it serves as an example as an expensive type of ammunition.

Actually, the Teflon coating was to protect the barrel and had nothing to do with "armor piercing." The reason why Black Talons became the "evil" ammunition is that they were designed to not fragment, and to cause the most tissue damage they could. If I remember correctly, they still wouldn't penetrate soft body armor. Funny thing is that Winchester just changed the name and dropped the Teflon coating and call them XTP rounds.

And to be honest, I may target practice and plink with ball ammo, but when I'm seriously practicing, I use my carry loads. Shooting .38Spl in a snubby .357Mag is fine, but can create serious issues if you've never shot magnum rounds out of it, and you find yourself in a pinch.

Just my 2 cents.

wasn't even teflon, but a proprietary coating named 'lubalox'. It was more designed for smooth feeding in autoloaders than anything else.

BT's were killed by a very 'creative' "news story" about how they could kill you way deader than other bullets by becoming mini-buzzsaws that moved about in random zig-zag patterns inside the body, that Winchester for some reason didn't challenge with a lawsuit.

I remember when they came out. I had just picked up a brand new 1991A1 and the gun shop owner said "Hey, I just got these new Black Talons...wanna go outside and see how they do?" We filled up a 55 gallon drum full of water, and I got hoisted up on a forklift and emptied 20 rounds into the water. Each one of those rounds that we pulled from the drum showed how nasty they were! ( I got 2 boxes free! 8) )

When you start getting into bigger stuff like .30-06, even "cheap" ammo is freaking expensive.

But isn't the .30-06 ammo also in the power level of 'shoot clean through your house and possibly kill your neighbor'?

If you live with neighbors close by, something as simple as the civilian equivalent to the .38 service revolver should be enough for home defense: If you don't kill or disable the intruder on the first shot, your neighbors should be coming over with their shooting irons to see what the disturbance is about.

If you live more than a rifle shot away from your neighbors, the .38 should still work for close-up action, and if you spot the intruder a ways off, even something as 'meek' as a .22 round from a sport rifle should make them thing twice about coming closer if it puts its little 'baby hole' through something they're attached to, like a lung (hard shot with the weapon, due to the ribs) or anywhere in the gut (no bones blocking the shot there).

Yeah, .30-06 is good for punching holes in body armor or shooting someone a thousand yards away.

For home defense, I have an antique break-action double-barrel 12 gauge (with dual-triggers for twice the fun!). It's about the most simple and reliable firearm you can imagine. I've also got a Taurus Judge, chambered for .45 Colt and .410 shotshell. Unfortunately, I can't find .45 Colt anywhere so I'm stuck with lousy Cowboy Action loads.

Even with 'lousy Cowboy Action loads,' looking down the business end of a Colt .45 forces one to seriously consider their mortality. While they're doing that (and soiling themselves) you've got the extra moment to make sure the round you put into them will do the job right.

Actually, this is why I have a revolver as a backup. Despite the powder explosions between the cylinder and barrel it is low-maintenance and freaking durable to the point of illogical ability.

Lessons learned: Never put your hand near the cylinder when firing. Powder burns ... burn. Expensive, good ammo is ALWAYS the better choice, with the other stuff only used when nothing else is available, or for those times when you want to just throw lots of money away at the range.

I had a casing jam once in the cylinder due to some strange ballooning event and a bit of shell fragment or spalling around the casing. The other five cylinders were available for shooting regardless, and it only took a few moments to get the bad casing out and clean it up for use.

I do like semi-automatics, though, for when a large amount of rapid fire is needed in some 90-degree area as quick as possible. Just point it over thataway and start squeezing off rounds until they are bouncing off the ceiling or the slide locks open. They aren't really good for much else, besides jamming at the most spectacularly worst moment.

One exception: My old Chinese-made SKS with a Fiberforce stock and scope/shell-deflector. I never had one single jam in that thing. It amazed me. It was also surprisingly accurate.

.38 police special, snub nose revolver. God bless 'em.

But yes, learned that lesson the hard way, on cheap ammo. Never again. When one can manage to get a walther p22 to jam, you KNOW the ammo is shit. >.<

The revolver is always the best choice, isn't it? I just can't imagine why anyone would want to use anything else. As far as handguns go, that is.

Yep...revolver. Although I'd LOVE to have a pair of automatics (I hate reloading), that five-shot Taurus .38 snub-nose is all I need for snuggling up to my enemy and ventilating various internal organs.

haha, the jamming. I can totally see you as the kind of guy who's stumbled around his house and stubbed his toe on a gun under some dirty laundry that he didn't remember leaving there. You know, you've got your Ruger Luger knock-off sitting in the sink with a bunch of dirty dishes in it, guacamole dripping into the ejection port.

Even a revolver can jamb.
I got a bunch of .38 Special reloads and was on the police range qualifying when mine did. Seems the bullets had not been properly crimped and some walked out of the brass a bit on each shot. Eventually getting far enough so the cylinder jammed against the side of the barrel and could not move the cartridge into position.

Squibs suck. I had one once in a Beretta 92fs with some wolf 9mm. A brass rod and a few taps from behind will knock it free.

Congratulations though. You've hit a milestone. You have to shoot a lot to find a squib. Most people don't shoot enough to ever get one in their lifetime. Good thing you had it in an auto too, a revolver would have let you cycle another round behind it. Another trigger squeeze and KABOOM!

Don't feel bad though. Those things happen with factory loads and reloads alike. Part of the issue with buying mass produced anything i guess.

I like revolvers too but I won't knock a good auto loader.

My carry piece of choice is a Springfield Armory XD 9 Sub compact.

That little gun has been through hell with me and has NEVER missed a beat.

My backup though, a Taurus M 85 .38 special. K.I.S.S

I think my favorite's a good .357 revolver.

You can slip .38 specials in when you want to have fun and not waste lots of money, and the big boys for when you need self-defense.

Lots of kick, but it's manageable, unlike the .44. I can't imagine what a .500 feels like.

Revolvers=aaaawesome

Lucky nothing chambered _after_ the squib. I detonated a Glock that way with hot .40s...Somebody must've stepped away from the turret press and put one down on top of primer-only, no powder charge...And of course the next one was full charge. Really quite spectacular. Buried the roof of the chamber and the last inch of the upper half of the barrel in the ceiling and the magazine welted me green and purple from the inside of my knee to my ankle through heavy jeans AND long fleece underwear (winter, hooray). The frame was bowed almost a half inch in the center of the slide rails (which ripped out except at the very ends).

My hand? My hand was in pretty decent shape. Thank goodness for polymer frames. If it'd been alloy it probably would've grenaded.

Don't blame the action type, blame the Ammo.

I have had extra trouble with the Remington Thunderbolt .22 LR rounds and other cheap Remington .22 LR Loads.

Spend a little more and use CCI or Winchester Super X in .22 LR.

For pistols it is hard to beat the Winchester White Box 100 round packs.

But Semi Autos are just plain more demanding about ammo than revolvers.

Personal Favorite is Colt 1911s and S&W 41 Magnum Revolvers.

The only thing I know about squib loads is from the Mythbusters testing out what happens when you fire against one. c.c Going off of that experience, I'm glad you didn't end up getting hurt!

Also, you can't touch things because you're Icelandic. :D That panel is amazing.

That reminds me of the argument of one of the main characters in 'Ghost in the Shell'. The show involves a special government task force and one of the main characters, a former police detective named Togusa, uses a revolver. The other members often goad him for using the 'relic' or 'piece of junk'. He states partialy that it has to do with it being something he got used to and that its kind of like a piece of art or history, but one thing he always mentioned when pestered about it was that revolvers dont really jam or missfire like automatics tend to do, so he trusted it to work exactly when he needed it too.

really his mateba was near like an auto anyway in its firing speed, since it was a semi-auto revolver (its complicated, but basically it recocks itself) more useful that he could quickly load and fire a tracking bug out of it. Seriously, being non-augmented, he probably figured he was outmatched against a cyborg in a fight anyway and if he didn't get it in the first few shots, he was screwed anyway.

<3 Togusa. Bravest member of the team.

The only one of those I'm aware of in RL is a .455 Webley, a British design. It's an early 20th century design and caliber, so not that powerful. it's comparable to a factory .45acp load. It's not too complicated mechanically, but it also jams if it's not kept quite clean.

its true... all your butt went into making you tall. You have no butt. I have nowhere to pinch. *is dissapointed*

My Ruger mark 1 is ammo sensitive, and won't work with Federal .22s, Russian .22 ammo, or any of the steel cased stuff I've had, other than CCI. On the other hand, with CCI green tag, sub-inch groups are possible. I just got a Hi Standard HD military model of 1946, and I'm still learning what it likes to shoot.

I'll stick with my sigs. As long as i avoid fiochi ammo, i've not had one malfunction in 7 years with either of them.

Heh, oddly enough, the only problem I've ever had with Fiocchi ammo is that the hulls on their shotgun shells are often too soft, and can stick if they're in a shotgun that feeds at an angle. Fiocchi .45s have always been good to me. Blazer's the one I seem to have bad luck with, though.

On second thought, scratch that. All the good Fiocchi I have is old, all the soft hulls I have are new. Maybe their standards have just gone down.

Fiocchi is supposedly fine ammo, i'm not saying it's not. It's just apparently not a brand that some sigs seem to like. one day my store was out of the cheap speer and winchester i buy so i got some of that and i couldn't get through hardly 10 rounds without a malfunction in both my sp2340 and my p228 which was insanely odd. I go home and look online and apparently many have reported the very same problem.

There is one instance when you should use the El-Cheapo brand ammo that is extremely jam-prone: when you want more experience clearing jams/duds!

.22's.. they're funny things. some guns will eat ANYTHING. Others like one specific type of ammo and will choke to death on anything else.

My experience with .22's can be summed up fairly simply. When you get the gun, go buy one box of every brand and variation you can find. One of them will shoot tighter groups than the rest. Buy as many bricks of that specific brand and variation, from the same lot (# is on the box), as you can afford. Last time I did that, I wound up shooting WW hollow points. Sub-one-inch groups at 50 yards all day long in the rifle I was testing. The next best round was just over 1 1/4". The WW solids gave me 3 1/2" groups. Go figure. I've never found a high-speed round that would shoot worth a damn in any of my guns.

I've never had feeding problems with any decent brand. Try a new magazine. If the feed lips on a magazine get bent, they can jam and mis-feed so easily it isn't funny. I have never been able to successfully straighten them, either. The best magazines I've ever had for a Ruger .22 auto (I own 3) are a few Ram-Lines I picked up back in the late 70's or early 80's, made from a polymer. Don't know if the company still exists, or if they're making the magazines any more. I don't think so, I haven't seen any in a gun shop in a long time.

Might I inquire as to what ammo type you were using in your semi-auto 22.?

I had a similar problem in my Ruger, despite multiple clip replacements. Only recently I discovered that, upon closer inspection of the action while it cycled, the hollow point rounds I was using were catching on the barrel and deforming due to their flat tip, thus jamming the gun every 5 or so rounds.

I switched to round nose 22. long bullets and it has worked without jamming ever since.

what I said was, You can't touch it because yer not an AMERICAN! I would not insult your heritage, I would insult you because I am an American, and it's fun! the rest is true.

And I have told you before, when you had a squib load in Shep's MP-40, not to ever use gunshow reloads again. Nice that after a decade you FINALLY listen!

federal hydra-shok they are near and dear to my heart ;3

I remember shooting a bucket of cheap Chinese 9mm ammo. Seemed about every fourth round was a misfire. Not worth the hassle even at 1/4 the price.

This is why I carry a revolver. Either my smith model 36 (.38) or a Ruger 357