Was at our county range this morning and the Range Officers showed me the results of shooting reloads that you know nothing about. This was a brand new Taurus .44 Magnum Raging Bull. First round ever fired through the revolver. Luckily the shooter was not hurt. He could not remember where he had gotten the rounds. In the process of discussing the incident, the owner said something about blowing up a Marlin 1894 a year ago. Upon further questioning the Range Officers found out it was the same box of ammo. Great candidate for a Darwin Award!!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Who was it that said, "you can't fix stupid"?

I’d like to pull down one of the unfired rounds . Probably filled to the top with Titegroup or BE.

This guy.....lol

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SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

Say it at work every day.”You can’t fix stupid” But sometimes you can give it a court date.

He is probably in the market for a new .44 mag. After all, he still has 48 rounds of ammo left.......

Larry

A little Bondo, a little paint... No problem!

Nothing to see here-just a small ammunition variance.

...but did he keep the box?

You can't fix stupid...not even with duct tape...but it will muffle the sound!

The brittle fracture of the cylinder steel is amazing. Cr-Mo steel has at least 15% plastic elongation before fracture, if it has time. The pressure wave fractured the charge hole webs like they were glass, leaving that characteristic nubby plane, evidence of how fast the pressure spiked. The top strap had a little bit of give. Glad the shrapnel didn't ventilate anybody.

while this is true, this type of thing is NOT limited to reloads. We had a incident at the range a couple years ago and the hole is still in the roof of the covered firing line.. A RWS FACTORY round blew up a Colt Trooper. another reason to wear glasses etc. No one was hurt, but there could of been. All concerned, shooter & bystanders were quite lucky. Just saying.

Indian River County range?

A couple of those rounds look good enough to try again!

At least he only blew up a Taurus this time.

I'm guessing Strickland Rifle Range near Daytona??

Yes, the Indian River County Range.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Yes that should have cost maybe half what a Marlin 1984 would go for.

You are guessing wrong. IRC Range. About 100 miles south of Daytona.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

When I was a kid in the 50’s a gunsmith showed my dad and I a S&W J frame 38 that the guy had triple charged his reloads using bullseye. The same thing happened but the guy shooting it lost part of his hand and one eye.

Yep, time to try a round in a 44 mag Derringer,.........

Be on the lookout for a partial box of 44 magnum for sale! Be afraid,......... bre very afraid!

I have stopped asking how stupid people can be. Too many seem to take that as a challenge.

Sadly, when I was just a little less ammunition savvy than I am now, in 1997 I blew up a gorgeous 4" Model 19 that I bought new in 1980 or 81. Last 6 rounds I had for the day. 5 were fine. Number 6 blew the gun apart - cylinder on the half shell, rear sight 20 feet behind me, top strap and top half of the cylinder not able to be located at the outdoor range I was at. Three spent cases in the half shell cylinder were mostly powdered.

Nobody hurt.

I thought to myself, "Self, where did I get those rounds?". It came to me. A reloader at a gun show.

I don't do that anymore. You can fix ignorant!

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Come and take it!!

Glad no one was hurt; easy to imagine that happening.

Hope the ROs 'advised' the owner of the remaining 48 rounds of ammo to dispose of them, and not by firing. I can just imagine the pressure it would take to blow up a Marlin 1894.

And this (again) reminds me of the Will Rogers quote, X 2.

"There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Is this now a exploded vieuw of a Taurus?

Good thing it was a Tauris and not a real gun.

A real genius!

Well, only 48 more guns need to be destroyed and that will be the end of that pesky box of ammo!

This also happened at the range yesterday: Another Darwin Award..........Part II

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

That gun is a good candidate for a buy back.
Jim

Lets see, Ill use reloads I know nothing of or the 1st batch i threw tougher in a ****.**$ rifle/Pistol and risk blowing by face off or ending up with a $300,000.00 Medical Bill. In my 50 Years of shooting ive seen all forms of nit wits with firearms. From the Sweep the range guy or the quick draw blow my foot off person, to the new 08 MG Owner who had a squib and racked the weapon again and went Ka-Boom. I shoot with 1 Trusted Army Bud and thats it...the rest are just hunks of talking meat to me.

Alrighty then. I can top your story there. My son and I went there and a guy put a .22 round right through his palm. Oddly, the ROs were hesitant to assist him, didn't even call a cease fire, so we took care of his wound and his hysterical wife/GF/whatever until the medicos arrived.

Nice range though.

Does not sound like any of the range officers that I know there. Did they know what had happened? PM me.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Some people are just really slow.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

That would be Ron White... a great comedian who tells it like it is!

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S&W factory revolver armorer

I thought "Don't shoot gunshow reloads" was a rule?

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Release the Kraken

ok i'm new to a lot of this and i'm not going to pretend i know anything about ammo so with that being said why did the gun blow up? i read the responses and all i could come up with is the guy had hot reloads? if that's the case what makes a hot reload? go easy on me guys i spent my entire life being a guitar guy not a gun guy

Usually it is an overcharge of powder, such as a double charge. In some cases it is the wrong type of powder being used. Lack of quality control or just plain stupidity on someone's part.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Hate to say it, but I have several boxes of reloads given to me by people, friends, range acquaintances, etc, wanting me to try their reloads and let them know what I think. I tried to not take them, but they insisted. Need to figure out a way to get rid of it. I wont give it to anyone, because I dont want to be the reason they mess up a gun.

Break them down and either reload or resell the primered brass and bullets. If you have enough of them they have some real value right now, with all the shortages.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

Yep, it is whack-a-mole time...

At my previous place of employment it was:
"You cant fix stupid, but you can promote it to management"

I concur.
When running a load development ladder, I may decide not to continue above a certain loading.
The unfired, potentially high pressure, rounds get disassembled and the components reused.
The pulled bullets I set aside for velocity testing and do not use for group testing as they usually have dings of some sort.
If you have a lot of cartridges to take apart, think about getting a collet puller.
Either the Hornady or the RCBS (which I use) work fine.
I think they are quicker and safer for big unloading jobs, especially with heavy crimps.
Its also way less messy and easy to put the bullets in one box and the powder in another container.

If you are going to use a hammer puller, try using a press shell holder instead of the one that comes with the hammer.
The holder won't fall apart the way some of those wimpy 3 piece ones do.
Another tip is to put a foam earplug in the bottom of the hammer to catch the bullet and keep it in good shape.

Did I be a range officer during that incident, I think I would suggest the "victim" surrender that ammo for the sake of everyone's future safety.
If he would not, a range ban might be in order.
Unfortunately, this kind of thing has some ranges banning reloads altogether.
Gander Mountain did that here (then went out of business).
Luckily the indoor pistol range I use most often does allow reloads as they also reload and sell ammo themselves.
It is run by current and retired LEO's and has high LE traffic.
I am happy to be associated with and trusted by them.

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

"If you are going to use a hammer puller, try using a press shell holder instead of the one that comes with the hammer". That's a great suggestion. I was breaking down some 44 Special loads that were not very accurate yesterday. Spent about half my time reconstructing the little three part holder. Thanks

Good question. The photos show the typical damage pattern of a highly overpressure load in a revolver; the cylinder ruptures, possibly setting off adjacent rounds and taking the topstrap off in the process.

As noted, perhaps a double charge of a "safe" powder, the presumed correct charge of an incorrect powder selection, or who knows what.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Yep, there's nuthin like a compressed load of Bullseye to get a gun apart. Yeesh!

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The triple smoker

You are entirely welcome.
Having someone use my advice makes it all worthwhile.
These days I feel a little like a bear trapped in the cave by a rock fall after the snow melts.
I tend to get a tad pedantic and spew words.

It's possible I got that one from Mic McPherson's "Metallic Cartridge Handloading: Pursuit Of The Perfect Cartridge".
This is a book every serious handloader should have.
It is not like any other reloading book.
It has no recipes but is all about technique.
Much of it learned by trial and error over a lifetime of being one of the world's premier gunsmiths.
He also wrote "Accurizing The Factory Rifle".
Another example:
Say you are trying to fit a lot of slow burning stick powder in a magnum rifle cartridge.
Instead of just dumping it straight down the funnel, swirl it helically down the side of the funnel.
The sticks arrange themselves more efficiently due to obscure physics.
This actually works.
Learning that is art and not science.

I was raised in a family dedicated to science.
Reading the history of the Manhatten project made me realize that trial and error is used quite often
when there is no mathematical solution to a complex problem.
Oddly enough more is known about what happens inside a nuclear explosion than our revolver cartridges.
There is no "equation of state" for the latter and modeling is all done by approximation.
This is why technique must be precise and records kept.

We end up drinking around the campfire, I'll tell you the story of taking a friend's reloading equipment away from him (with his grudging permission).

Dammit I got pedantic again.

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

I knew about the ear plug cushion, but this is the first that I have heard of using a shell holder. I have the Frankford Arsenal puller, and cuss those stupid holders each time that I need to use it. i am guessing that this idea will work as well with mine as it does with the RCBS one in your picture. Thanks much.

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Only a cold warrior

I ran into a deal and bought two sets of shell holders at a yard sale. I use one set for my presses, and the other set is for my pullers.

Will try the ear plug in the puller.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I have been using the regular 3-piece aluminum holder that came with my Franklin Arsenal impact puller, and it is starting to get a bit beat up by the rims/extractor grooves slamming into the edges that hold the cartridge. I think I'm going to have no choice but to use shell holders pretty soon. Either that or replace the holder that came with the puller.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

Throw that aluminum holder in the trash and use the shell holder for a press in it's place. You will find a world of difference in it. Makes the job of pulling bullets manually a breeze.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.