Had a great time at Farmland Conservation Club shooting with a buddy yesterday, except for a problem with the carry ammo in my G20.
I had a magazine of 15 rounds that had been in the gun for probably just over a year. Factory Winchester 175 gr Silvertips. I was slow firing and had counted through the first 14 rounds. Pulled the trigger the 15th time and just got a click..... I thought. The slide wasn't locked back on the empty magazine, so I racked the slide and an empty case ejected. Huh, that was weird. I loaded another five rounds in the mag, slapped it home, and racked the slide, but it wouldn't go into battery, luckily. I dropped the mag and ejected the loose round that wouldn't chamber. Put the round back in the mag, slapped it home, racked the slide, and again it wouldn't go into battery.
At that point I knew something more serious was going on, so I dropped the mag and racked the slide several times to make sure it was clear. I broke the gun down, looked down the barrel, and low and behold there was a bullet lodged in the throat, just back far enough to prevent another round chambering by about 1/8".
I don't recall hearing any report when I pulled the trigger on that last round, or feeling any recoil. There also wasn't any unburned powder in the barrel/chamber/gun when I broke it down. That leads me to believe that there was no powder in the round at all, and it was just the primer that propelled the bullet into the rifling.
I have 480 rounds of this ammo left, but have no confidence in it now for a self defense situation. I was wanting to try and find something that uses a more modern bullet design, so now I guess I have an even better reason to do so.
First squib, and just glad it didn't blow up my hand or pistol.
I had a magazine of 15 rounds that had been in the gun for probably just over a year. Factory Winchester 175 gr Silvertips. I was slow firing and had counted through the first 14 rounds. Pulled the trigger the 15th time and just got a click..... I thought. The slide wasn't locked back on the empty magazine, so I racked the slide and an empty case ejected. Huh, that was weird. I loaded another five rounds in the mag, slapped it home, and racked the slide, but it wouldn't go into battery, luckily. I dropped the mag and ejected the loose round that wouldn't chamber. Put the round back in the mag, slapped it home, racked the slide, and again it wouldn't go into battery.
At that point I knew something more serious was going on, so I dropped the mag and racked the slide several times to make sure it was clear. I broke the gun down, looked down the barrel, and low and behold there was a bullet lodged in the throat, just back far enough to prevent another round chambering by about 1/8".
I don't recall hearing any report when I pulled the trigger on that last round, or feeling any recoil. There also wasn't any unburned powder in the barrel/chamber/gun when I broke it down. That leads me to believe that there was no powder in the round at all, and it was just the primer that propelled the bullet into the rifling.
I have 480 rounds of this ammo left, but have no confidence in it now for a self defense situation. I was wanting to try and find something that uses a more modern bullet design, so now I guess I have an even better reason to do so.
First squib, and just glad it didn't blow up my hand or pistol.