doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stuck wad question

So I was shooting quail in South Georgia this weekend and, after taking a shot at a bird, the guide said it sounded like the gun doubled. I knew it hadn't and wasn't too concerned until I looked down the right barrel and found a piece of the wad firmly wedged in there (pic below). We had to basically ram it out from the muzzle end. The plastic was so hard and it was so tight it seemed like it would have been impossible for that to go through even a lightly choked gun.

I was super paranoid about it for the rest of the hunt and checked to see if the barrels were clear after every shot.

What causes that? Is that a defect in the shell? I feel like I narrowly averted a blown barrel by chance and that makes me extremely uncomfortable.

Old shells? You have me thinking on this one. What kind of shell? ...Geo

Geo, Polywad Vintager purchased within the last month or two.

Melted from a low pressure squib load? I think, even if it felt hard, plastic would've cleared the choke, but I don't know if I'd want to send a second load into it. Good for the guide!

Uh OH! Drive down to Macon and ask Jay Menefee about it. If it'd blown up you could serve papers on him while there...Geo

I would wonder how a squib load would sound like the gun doubled, I've had squib loads and they sound like a cork gun.

On the same token tho, I am with Craigd on the plastic, can't imagine how it couldn't clear the barrel, clearly it didn't, can you mike the wad? Wonder if it's the wrong gauge, and somehow got forced into the hull.

TM

Yeah, can't believe the guide picked up on it. One of the myriad ways he earned his tip that day.

May have just blown out without consequence, but the speculative cause of burst barrels is frequently a stuck wad. I have never knowingly experienced one until now and, of course, it had to be in a damascus-barreled gun...not the kind of internet infamy I am looking for.

TM, According to my micrometer, right around .710.

Glad you dodged the bullet on that one. We all should learn to quickly check the bores before loading every time, but most of us don't. I don't always. But, like you I bet, I check them closely after an unusual sounding load ........... for awhile.

SRH

OK, squib load, goes off bang, but does not burn all the powder, then when the powers exits the end of the barrel, more oxygen and then that residual powder goes off bang, sounds like a slow double.

Wonder if the wad twisted when it was loaded?

Mike

p.s. another thought, maybe this is a base wad that did not get punched for the flash hole.