As I got to the gate at the range yesterday, I heard a loud report from a handgun. I thought, " somebody is shooting big stuff at the rimfire line." As I got to the skeet range, I heard another loud report. As I passed the skeet house and got to the bathroom, I could see three folks at the 7 yd bench and heard what sounded like a grenade exploding. All three folks jumped up and back and were moving toward the shooter. As I got out of the Jeep, the shooter, an old friend looked at me smiling and asked if he was bleeding...he wasn't. He pointed up and there were two holes in the tin roof some seven feet over the bench. One was a perfect rectangle ( think top strap) and the other a gaping hole. KW was holding the remains of this Mod 19-3. The top three chambers of the cylinder were missing. There were three round in the bottom three. The top strap was missing along with the rear sights. Terrible ending for a fine old revolver. The shooter was lucky in that he was not injured. Maybe will have a bruise on his right middle finger this morning. No one standing around was hit by shrapenal. The roof can be repaired. Only a section of the rib could be found along with the brass pictured. The shooter was sighting in the revolver for the owner who had reloaded the rounds. The shooter broke his and my first rule.."never shoot other folks' reloads". The relaoder swore he used 9.85 gr of AA5 with a Rem 125 gr JHP. The label on the box had 06-11-01 on it with the same load info as stated. He bragged that he uses a powder cop die and that ut is impossible to doulble charge one...yeah right. He also said " I weigh every 20th round( charge)" This must have been 19 or 21. Be careful out there folks. Sorry about the picture size..they were sent from my phone and I don't know how to make them bigger.

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	Kaboom1.jpg (6.7 KB, 529 views)
	Kboom2.jpg (6.7 KB, 372 views)
	kaboom III.jpg (5.7 KB, 276 views)
	Kaboom 4.jpg (5.0 KB, 231 views)

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War Eagle!!!

Glad no one was hurt. Shame that happened to a fine old revolver.

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Isaiah 41:10

While odds are it was the reloads its not a for sure deal. Especialy with light bullets with hot loads the model 19 has a reputation for the barrel getting cracks in the rear. Thats why the L frame came about.

People sure make mistakes while handloading. Here is an example of someone putting 13 grains of Unique into a .45 ACP case. The SAAMI +P pressure is 23,000 psi. According to "Quickload," this load produced a peak pressure of 111587 psi :

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No good deed goes unpunished.

If the rounds were actually loaded 13 years ago, there could be another problem. I have heard of powders that are storage (specifically temperature) sensitive. I have no idea if the powder in question is, but if so ... I can see a spectacular outcome resulting even if correctly loaded at the time.

From reading here and in other places, there are lots of ways to be wrong, and one who does not pay appropriate attention might have more excitement than desired. That .45ACP demo is a case in point.

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NHI, 10-8.

I don't understand why he fired three rounds if the reports were as unusually loud as they apparently were . . . . . . ?

Someone should break down one of the remaining rounds and identify and weigh the charge.

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Georgia On My Mind

Break down "ALL" the rest of the rounds so someone doesn't find out the wrong way!

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Once again the design of the S&W revolver saved a shooter from serious injury.

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Virtue,Liberty & Independence

^^^ This X 10,000.

Guy a few stalls down the range was having issues with a Garand. He saw I was shooting an 03A3 that day and asked about my ammo, which was M2 in the original box. His ammo was clearly delinked 30-06, but AFAIK ALL US milsurp ammo is good to go in a Garand, ... or at least it was with its original loading. See where I'm going with this? If the heavy 173gr M1 round is unsuitable, then I stand corrected.

Anyway, we swapped five rounds and his Garand worked perfectly with my ammo. I fired two of his and stopped. Several old hands present said they had never heard an 03A3 or any other 30-06 bolt gun sound that loud. The recoil was brutal too, MUCH heavier than with the M2 rounds. We're talking nastier than an Enfield Carbine. I returned the other three rounds and told the guy he needed a full and frank disclosure from whoever sold him that ammo as to what was in it.

Been shooting 03, 03-A3 and M-1 Garands for about 30 years. USGI M-2 is always safe for any .30-06 rifle. This is not always the case w/ some of what goes as M-2 from foreign producers. It is possible the gentleman had some M-2 produced in Austria or perhaps France. M-2 from those two nations should be looked upon with extreme suspicion. The Austrian M-2 is most certainly not suitable for a M-1 rifle. I used some Mexican M-2 back in the 80's that was 'brisk." It gave sticky extraction in my 03-A3.

The 173 M-1 round is what the M-1 Garand was originally designed to use. The heavier bullet gave better performance for long-range machine gun use. The 150 gr. M-2 was adopted since the longer ranged M-1 load exceeded the ranges in use at the time. Given the realities of combat, going to the 150 gr. load was probably good for the infantryman. This would have been especially so for those who were using bolt-action rifles.

If the gentleman will look at the headstamp on the cartridges he will likely be able to find out where the ammunition was produced. If he has the boxes/cartons in which the ammunition came, he will almost certainly be able to find out what he has as well as if it is suitable for use in shoulder fired rifles.

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<><

I've shot surplus ammo from WWII, and reloads from as far back as the 70s (as in fired 50 rounds of 44mag just the other day, it was loading in 77. Never had an issue.

Sent from my PantechP8000 using Tapatalk 2

I wondered about that too.

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Oh well, what the hell.

how in the heck do you get 13 grains of Unique in a 45 acp and NOT notice it? I think that it would be doubtful that you could even set the bullet properly. that doesn't sound right

It was done on purpose...that's how. The guy was trying to make a .460 Rowland or some such from a regular Glock 21. He heard Glocks were over-built and could take the pressure. I saw his explanation and just shook my head.

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No good deed goes unpunished.

That's what I thought and then I saw this...

Be careful out there. They walk among us.

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Freedom isn't free.

I am glad to see the shooter is ok, but I weep for that fine old gun. I never, ever shoot anyone's reloads. I recall about 6-7 years ago I was given a box of .41 Magnums, I knew the guy and he was an experienced reloader, and I was going to shoot them, but my gut told me not to. When I broke them down, I found one case was a compressed load of Unique powder. I didn't weigh it but I am still curious exactly how many grains that was there and what would have happened to my Blackhawk if I had shot them.

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Vaya con Dios

Huh? HUH???? or to go urban SAY WHAT??????

I'm a novice reloader, but I think I want to stay stupid and a novice if that's what experience gets you.

Jeez.....

Oh, he was a novice as well...first time reloading. Thought he knew better than reloading manuals and what not.

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No good deed goes unpunished.

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And if you had the powder properly stored before loading it, and the ammo properly stored after loading it, that is exactly how it should be. Some powders are less stable, and as we see from this string (and countless others about stupid reloading tricks), some folks have not got the sense of a bag of hammers. You're working from the presumption that all others have the good sense you do. I'm working from the presumption that there are some who do not.

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NHI, 10-8.

Several years ago, my brother bought some .45 reloads from a man's wife that made the reloads. At that time the man was in a home suffering from Alzheimer. Charlie fired one of the rounds and the recoil was a lot. He gave me the remaining rounds and I pulled the bullets out of all of them. Most of the rounds were either double charged or had no powder in them. Also, I did not recognize the powder. I reloaded the bullets in the cases with 5.6gr Unique, which works well for me when target shooting, and gave them back to him. I got rid of the powder that was in them when I pulled the bullets.

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Corripe Cervisiam

A nephew by marriage had to pull down about 20k of various calibers assembled by his late stepfather who also passed from some kind of dementia. The guy was into all kinds of wildcat rifle cartridges, so it was a nightmare.

There's a big difference between a small crack at the forcing cone and the cylinder and top strap coming apart.

I guess if a person decides to load 13 grains of Unique in a 45 acp on purpose I guess I don't feel sorry for him. sometimes things have to hurt a little bit before they learn something hopefully

My first Model 19 was purchased new in 1973. My second Model 19 came in 1976. I have had several other K-frame .357's (Model 13, 65, 66) over the years, carried and used them quite a bit.

My first experience firing .357 magnum was in a 4" Model 19. The recoil and muzzle blast had me pretty well convinced that this would not be good for defensive use. When I had to use a mallet and rod to extract the cases I was completely convinced.

I have been reloading handgun and rifle ammunition, modern and antique, for over 40 years. I always stay on the conservative side of the charts, seldom less than 5% below recommended max charges. I figure if I really need more power it's time to bring out a bigger gun.

Never had a kaboom. Never had a forcing cone split. Never had a frame cracked. But I have seen several others experience these things, and it was always with handloaded ammunition.

OK, I'm an overcautious pansy. But I am also a grandfather with all my body parts intact.

I disagree. You are a responsible handloader who has made a decision about being applying appropriate caution and performance standards to your efforts. Your outcome show that.

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NHI, 10-8.

Prolly read it on the innernet

Yeah I never shoot somebody else reloads and I don't reload for someone else to shoot. I wouldn't a possible mistake on my part to blow up in someone else face.

I've shot other people's handloads, and a lot of people have shot lots of mine. Never had any trouble. A friend has taken 22 deer with my 30-06 loads. One of the reasons I dont have double charges is that when I've charged all the cases in the cartridge block with powder, then I take a look in them, and if there's one that has noticably more or less powder than the others, it gets dumped and recharged.

I have no issue shooting reloads from someone I know. Even so, situations like this are why I don't buy ammo from garage sales.

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Freedom isn't free.