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Thread: Concerns about my Makarov barrel

  1. #1
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    Concerns about my Makarov barrel

    I figured I would reach out to this community to see what you think. I was out shooting my Makarov yesterday when I ran into an issue. I was shooting some old CCI ammo (won't ever make that mistake again) when I had a delayed ignition of the powder. There was a muffled pop and the slide cycled but I did not have a warm fuzzy that everything was good to go. Sure as shit, when I stripped the slide off, there was a bullet stuck about halfway down the barrel. I have had this happen once before when firing my buddies AR a while back. He thinks that was a bad hand load. I remember it took him a while to get the bullet dislodged. Maybe that was just due to the longer barrel. My concern is that when I went to get the bullet unstuck from my Makarov, it came out relatively easy. Like, just a few taps with a dowel rod and it popped right out. Now I am concerned that the barrel might be a little out of whack. I have had the pistol about five years and put about 2,000 rounds through it. I don't know how many rounds the previous owner put through it but I am willing to bet it was under 50. The lands and grooves look good, there was rifling marks on the bullet, so I may just be overthinking this. Any insight or advice you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated.

    Joe

  2. #2
    Guns Network Lifetime Member #2

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    I don't think a bad load(except over powered) would have any effect on the barrel, that is until you fire again with that bullet in the barrel. I've never encountered a squib yet. It's just an under powered load until the next bullet is fired which could be a catastrophe. You caught in in time, good job. there may have been no or little powder in the shell, the primer was enough to push it away from the shell.

  3. #3
    Senior Member NAPOTS's Avatar

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    I'm glad you didn't pull the trigger again! Especially since the slide cycled. I haven't personally experienced a squib but I have seen a couple. I think the amount of force it takes to dislodge the bullet varies. What calliber is it? It is possible that being a comblock firearm that it was designed around a slightly different bullet diameter (i.e. a couple thousandths) than what CCI would load being american. This could be enough to cause it to feel loose dislodging a squib, it also might depend on where in the length of the barrel it got stuck.

    If the rifling looks sharp and it shoots straight and nothing looks funny with the spent brass I wouldn't worry about it.

  4. #4
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    Thanks for the feed back. It shoots 9x18 Makarov, so what NAPOTS said about the slight variation in dimensions between American and Comblock does make some sense. That was my first squib in a handgun so definitely a new experience. I have never had any issues with this firearm and from looking it over, I don't think I will have any more problems in the future, as long as I stay away from CCI ammo. Again, thank you for the feedback.

  5. #5
    Senior Member NAPOTS's Avatar

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    I don't know if I'd even go as far as making a point to avoid CCI if you are happy with how it shoots. Squibs are pretty rare and you should be proud you trusted your gut and stopped shooting until you checked it out.

  6. #6
    Team Guns Network Silver 04/2013 alismith's Avatar

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    It might not be a bad idea to load just one cartridge in the mag and shoot it like that a couple of times to make sure everything is working as it should. If everything looks okay, then back to business as usual.
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