I had my first factory ammo squib load of my life yesterday, and got lucky. I was using cci maxi-mag 22 mags, a rimfire, my favorite and a brand/type I've shot thousands of. When shooting at a busy range, I use ear plugs and ear muffs, so I couldn't hear the squib. Lack of feeling in the hands and I couldn't feel it. thankfully the bullet lodged in the barrel only far enough to prevent the next round from being chambered. A quarter inch further up the bbl & I would have fired another round into a blocked bbl & had a blow up. When shooting steel challenge or bowling pins, being the only one shooting, I only use the ear plugs and can hear if a round doesn't "sound right" So my reason for the post is BE CAREFULL, PAY ATTENTION as able & if ANYTHING doesn't look/feel/sound right, STOP & examine & DO NOT continue to fire unless you are 100% sure everything is good to go. An expensive pair of ear muffs that allow you to hear low noise levels & still protect you from the loud ones likely would have enabled me to detect the squib, & may be on my wish list now. This is NOT my first squib, I did have 1 re-load I missed putting powder in, but being a larger caliber & more recoil I was able to feel/hear the difference. I have experienced several primers, (both rimfire & centerfire) that never ignited the powder, but they don't result in a blocked bbl. just a heads up & a main reason I don't care to shoot faster than I can react to a squib & be able to stop myself from firing that NEXT ROUND that blows up the gun. It can be a very fine line when shooting for speed in a timed event. Just an FYI/HEADS UP if you will. CCI will be notified with the brand/type/lot # and the bullet, I couldn't find the exact case, as it was mixed in with the other 100 or so that worked fine. STAY SAFE.
Was it a new box of ammo or an older box you had around?
The ammo age is hard to say. I got #400 of them, along with other stuff, as part of a deal for a S&W M&P 15-22. They are the same blue & white labeled ones sold today. I'd GUESS no more than 5 years old and stored in a/c. I shot 2 other boxes of them without trouble.
