Friday night we were running a Corrections Class through night fire quaification. Corrections is required to shoot .38 Special revolvers and the academy uses S&W Model 67's. These guns are new, with no more than 800 rounds through any one gun.

A student, who has consistently been a good shooter, was all over the target. Inspection of his revolver revealed that the barrel was missing....yes, missing. It was recovered on the ground where he was shooting from. The barrel separated at the threads halfway down the forcing cone.

At that same time, a second cadet was complaining that he could barely pull the trigger on his. Inspection revealed that the same thing had happened but the barrel had not yet fallen off. It was separated and was creating pressure between the forcing cone and cylinder.

The ammo being used is Mag-Tech 158 grain round nose standard pressure. The barrels of the revolvers are marked .38 Special +P.

All guns were pulled from the line and are being inspected this week along with a phone call to S&W.

Has anyone seen anything similar?