KP95PR buldged barrel

[dubstewart]

OK folks I have a question for you. I purchased a new KP95 and loaded some light rounds for my wife. Hornady told me to that 4-5 grains of Unique would work behind their 124 XTP with a OAL of 1.060. Soooo wanting a light load for the wife I loaded 4.3 grains and we went to the range. The gun would not cycle in her hands, but did OK in mine. I decided to increase the powder to 4.7 grains. At the range she fired 7 rounds. All rounds cycled, on the 7th the slide stuck half open. I discovered the barrel was buldged about 1 inch from the chamber. Hornady tested the round in their pressure lab and said it did not exceed pressures. Ruger said that there must have been an obstruction in the barrel when the 7th round was fired. How can this be? 50 rounds fired the week before with lower powder charge - no obstructions then, also the charge was powerfull enough to cycle the action on round 6 so it couldn't have been a squib. Also the gun was never laid down between shots, just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bank, JAM. Rember the pressure was not high according to Hornady and 50 rounds got out of the barrel the week before with lighter loads and the previous round did cycle the action.

Thanks for any ideas. I'm still waiting for Ruger's results on what they think happened.

 

[ab4ka]

I'm no reloading expert, but I'd bet $20 it was a squib.

 

[dubstewart]

OK, thanks for the reply, I thought that a squib was a round that didn't have enough power to push the round out of the barrel or down the range. My load was more powerful then the 50 fired the week before it even cycled the action.

Just trying to understand

 

[ab4ka]

a squib would be an underpowered round. It's hard to say what happened, but I've seen underpowered rounds come from the factory and from reloads, and they might even cycle the slide but the bullet could jam in the barrel. There's no telling what the cause was. Hopefully a new barrel will have you good as new.

 

[railroader]

Sounds like a squib. I've had them before but I caught them before I fired another round. My squibs had just the primer and no powder so the gun didn't cycle. If you need a barrel I have a good deal on an xlnt barrel, slide and parts in the classifieds. Mark

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtop ... highlight=

 

[wixedmords]

I agree it has squib written all over it dub.

You are well in the range listed at the Alliant powder page, being 4 gr. - 5.8 gr.

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/ ... ulletid=26

Getting an eye inside of each case to verify volume is an important point in this situation. I only trust a round I have loaded when I get an eye in there.

Good luck with the P95. If you were loading hotter, you may have a much worse story to tell.

BTW, railroader has a slide and barrel for sale in the forum classifieds.

 

[jasmine]

Regardless of the cause, it sounds like a defective barrel. Ask Ruger customer service for a return box so they can investigate / correct the problem with the barrel.

 

[railroader]

Regardless of the cause, it sounds like a defective barrel. Ask Ruger customer service for a return box so they can investigate / correct the problem with the barrel.

Firing a round into a bullet stuck(squib) in a barrel making it bulge is no different then taking a hammer or a hacksaw to it. Yeah the barrel is now defective but the fault isn't with Ruger. Now if it was factory ammo that would be different. It would be time to contact the ammo manufacturer. Mark