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S&W Revolvers: 1961 to 1980 3-Screw PINNED Barrel SWING-OUT Cylinder Hand Ejectors WITH Model Numbers


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  #1  
Old 10-02-2008, 07:36 PM
Doug.38PR Doug.38PR is offline
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Has anyone ever witnessed or experienced a handgun blowing up at the range for whatever reason (too hot handloads, turnign a 38 spl into a magnum etc.)
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Old 10-02-2008, 07:36 PM
Doug.38PR Doug.38PR is offline
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Has anyone ever witnessed or experienced a handgun blowing up at the range for whatever reason (too hot handloads, turnign a 38 spl into a magnum etc.)
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Old 10-02-2008, 07:44 PM
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Doug........Yes, I saw a nice Colt 1917 Army blow up. The chamber in the cylinder blew out and the top strap almost split but not quite. No one hurt because no one luckily was on the side where the piece of cylinder flew. The shooter had a bloddy hand, but nothing serious.
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Old 10-02-2008, 07:45 PM
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YEP. I HAVE WITNESSED AN H&K USP, 9MM AR CARBINE, COLT 1911. JP
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Old 10-02-2008, 07:51 PM
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None in 23 years of shooting.
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Old 10-02-2008, 07:59 PM
gbrady gbrady is offline
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I saw a 1917 enfield come apart, bolt and top of receiver were never found, shooter had wood splinters in his hand and arm,cracked shooting glasses and ear protection 30 yards away. He was a reloader and didn't change his powder from pistol to rifle. 58 gr. of bullseye takes a gun apart. He still loads and shoots, no one else hurt. but never saw a handgun blow up
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Old 10-02-2008, 08:05 PM
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Saw an M1 Garand Tanker detonate on/about the third shot. I think a welded receiver let go. Also saw one or two well-worn Ruger Mini-14s let go.

When it happens, it happens in an instant and it is over. It pays to protect eyes and ears.
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Old 10-02-2008, 08:11 PM
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Yep. Hot loads in 1911 blew the mag out the bottom, and saw a PPC style S&W Model 10 blow out the top strap and two cylinder chambers from a double load of Bullseye.
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Old 10-02-2008, 08:59 PM
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A Navy Arms copy of a Schofield. It happened during a Cowboy Action match. Pieces of the cylinder was found as far a 30 yards away.
I was standing to one side, slightly behind the shooter. I had the timer. Funny how quiet it can be after an incident like that.
Butch
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Old 10-02-2008, 08:59 PM
E Z MUNNY E Z MUNNY is offline
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Yup. A friend of mine was shooting a Uberti single action .45 Colt in a cowboy match a couple of years ago. Big BOOM and the top 1/3 of the cylinder just disappeared, the top strap of the frame was bent upwards and he had the strangest look on his face. No injuries, no diagnosis and the company gave him a new revolver.
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Old 10-02-2008, 09:07 PM
Sara Noh Sara Noh is offline
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Y-E-S-S!!!!!!!!! last fall at the range a shooter had a VERY DRAMATIC kaboom shooting a T/C contender. He was on the 100 yd. range and very fortunately for me, I was on the 50 yd. range. The entire breech area let go from a possible double charge, I don't know what caliber he was shooting. The scope was blown completely off the gun hitting the shooter in the head and knocking him out. The scope came to rest approximately 10 yds. behind the firing line. The barrel assembly was blown downrange and a large piece of shrapnel was embeded in the shooters bicep. Once he came to and got back on his feet ther was a lot of cussing at his misfortune. His buddies loaded him in their truck for a trip to the local emergency room. I never did hear what happened to him nor what he did to destroy his T/C. His buddies were benchrest shooters and were reloading at the range, the unfortunate goof was fooling around with their reloading gear loading some of his own ammo. I don't think he knew what he was doing with their powder measure and he assembled a really HOT load which thoroughly destroyed his gun. Lucky for him his injuries were no more severe than being knocked unconscious for a while and the shrapnel wound in his bicep. If the shrapnel from the very powerful explosion had hit him in the head or chest it may well have killed the dumb ****!
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Old 10-02-2008, 09:18 PM
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A Uberti SAA that I was holding...scared the you know what out of me. Top half of the cylinder gone, top strap almost gone, frame cracked right through the hammer screw. I had no injuries (thank goodness!!) FACTORY load. Contacted company I bought from..they said unless I could prove it was a factory load, oh well, you are SOL.
Second was a Browning BT-99 trapgun. Person was a friend of mine, standing two stations down during a tournament. No injuries except minor cuts on arm and face of the shooter.
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Old 10-02-2008, 09:22 PM
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Why yes, I blew one up myself. A Mod 10 PPC custom hvy BBl. I loaded a round with a compressed load of WW 452 followed by 3.2 of Bullseye. I know how I did it but its long long and complicated to describe here. Took the top 3 chambers off and bent the top strap so bad that it wrecked the Aimpoint I had on top. I was shooting falling plates at the time and did hit the plate ( but not the rest. Did not get hurt but my hands stung. It was loud too.

BR
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Old 10-02-2008, 09:33 PM
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I watched a guy blow up a SIG in .357 SIG. He had called me over to look at some pierced primers and ripped rims he was getting. He couldn't understand why they were blowing since he had "followed the book and was only at maximum and everyone knew that was lawyer low". After talking to him I picked up my stuff and moved well down the line. Sure enough, he blew the gun up the next time we went hot. Seems he was using .357 rather than .355 (9mm) bullets. I also watched a guy shooting identical Ruger 77s in stainless except one was .308 the other 30-06. He didn't blow it, but it took him a while to figure out why his ejected brass from what he thought was the 06 was straight walled. I moved away from him too.
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Old 10-02-2008, 09:42 PM
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I've seen a few, the first was a home made contraption cobbled together by a friend back in '77, he built a .41 mag out of a .410 shotgun barrel and a home made reciever operated on the zip gun principle, it disintegrated. We found what was left of the barrel, but only pieces of the reciever, which blew out his girl friends car window and very much alarmed the neighbors.
Next was a black powder sixgun that 'roman candled', impressive to say the least. It went up with a tremedous flash/bang series. I've never liked black powder guns and this just reinforeced my aversion to them. Left the shooter bleeding, burnt and dazed.
Next back around '89 or so were 2 M1 carbines that some friends and i had rebarreled into a .17 cal wildcat round based on a .30 carbine, while working up a load the first let go and locked up the action, scared everybody but no blood. We backed down the charge and started up again on the second (of 3 we had rebarreled)things went well untill the action blew and propelled the extrator into the forehead of the shooter. Much blood and consternation resulted. The third rifle still sits in a safe, unfired. No one wanted to be the next biggest fool. This was my one and only venture into wildcatting.
I've also seen the aftermath of a .41 mag with almost a triple charge in a case, did not see it happen but examined the revolver. Top 3 chambers sheared off, top strap bent up and out almost to the point of near failure to hold together and the forcing cone/frame area cracked so badly the only thing holding the barrel in was the pin, the shooter did not get hurt at all and actually did not even realize what had happened untill he tried cocking the hammer back for the second shot. When it wouldn't budge is when he realized what had happend. If memory serves he was trying to load 7g of powder and had set his scale to 17g, we pulled the bullets from the 3 remaining rounds and that was the weight. He later blew up a 1911, reason unknown and took a splintered pair of stocks imbedded in his hands to the ER for removal. He sold all his reloading equipment shortly thereafter.
Lessons learned from the above.
RD
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Old 10-02-2008, 09:51 PM
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yes i blew a 29 6,5 new it was the 100 bullets than i fired trough
the top strap and half of the cylinder go away
and don't hurt me .
i try new loads ans some powder rest in the cone of the rcbs uniflow the charge was twice
than regular.
it was a29 in case wood presentation buy in 80
bad day
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Old 10-02-2008, 10:13 PM
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So far I've seen two Glock 40s blow up. One was a 23 the other a 22. Both were shooting reloads. I saw 2 45s blow, one Para and one Kimber. The Kimber was with factory 45acp ammo, It cracked the slide, and put the shooter, who is a big man, on the ground. I saw a Colt 38 Super blow at an IPSC match. I saw a case of Super face in person.
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Old 10-02-2008, 11:28 PM
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Saw a Glock ka-boom at an IDPA match last year. Mr. Black-Tactical-Everything-Including-Socks loaded his handloads macho hot and blew the mag out the bottom plus minor injuries to his hand. Idiot.
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Old 10-03-2008, 01:28 AM
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In 1987 I had a Springfield Armory M1A super match come apart on me.

What save my A## was I had a heavy Duty scope mount and scope mounted and it absorbed the blast. Broken stock, Op rod handle 4 ft to the right & 6 ft to the rear, split mag, parts of the bolt everywhere.

Sent it back to Springfield Armory and they replaced the rifle.

This was when Springfirld Armory tried making their own bolts instead of using the TRW bolts,

It was determined that the rifle had fired out of battery (bolt not locked into place when fired)

I had a flinch for almost a year afterwards when firing the replacement rifle

I was using LC 118 rounds
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Old 10-03-2008, 02:46 AM
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Most accidents are due to owner screw-ups. Double load reloads, too hot a reload or factory load in an older gun, putting lead bullets through a Glock without proper cleaning, etc., etc. Very rarely is a blow-up due to a factory double load or inferior metal fatigue on a newer pistol or revolver.
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Old 10-03-2008, 04:54 AM
David Sinko David Sinko is offline
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Years ago I was firing a Ruger 10/22 with factory loaded Remington Thunderbolt. Somehow a round went off when it was halfway chambered, blowing out the extractor and magazine. I swear, I do NOT reload .22 rimfire!

My brother demolished a Kel-Tec 9mm Carbine with an identical situation. Again, the round somehow went off when halfway chambered. The case was very neatly and cleanly cut in half. The gun did not frag but the whole thing was bent up very badly. Kel-Tec replaced it, no questions asked.

A few years ago a shooter at a local range was killed when a very old bolt action came apart. The bolt came straight back into his face. He was an experienced handloader and nobody figured out what went wrong.

Regarding my own personal stupidity, I suspect I once shot a Berry 185 gr. HBRN out the barrel of my 625 after it was launched there by a squib load. I was shooting a match, didn't hear the primer go and fired the next shot before anybody could stop me. There was no damage to the gun and that next "bullet" hit exactly where it needed to go. I also suspect (though can not prove) that my .45 Colt Redhawk once fired a severe overload of 231 with a 255 gr. cast bullet. There was a tremendous "boom" and greatly increased recoil. I examined the gun and it was fine.

Gotta be careful out there!

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Old 10-03-2008, 05:10 AM
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I knew better. It was, apparently, all my fault.

I had been shooting .44 russians - and a few Specials - through my 629MG - over 200 total. I had been the public range RO all day - it was late. One box of ammo left - and I wanted to ping the steel plate at 110yd one more time. They were 300gr LSWC over 6.2 gr Titegroup - chrono-ed at 880 fps from that 4" tube. Loud pinger, for sure.

I knew better, those chambers were nasty with crud from the short cased plinkers... difficult to load, too. I hit the plate with the third and fourth shots - the fifth made a lessor 'boommmff' noise, followed by tinkle-tinkle as the parts landed. A fellow a few lanes down told me I missed the plate. Duh... why does my gun look funny? I had two blood spots, possibly powder or the primer, on my forearm. The left lens of my 1.00 diopter safety glasses were dinged. I found the parts - easily - it really wasn't impressive at all... except for my 'luck'. I was blessed to be unhurt. Still, the tears - I destroyed my MG!

S&W wanted to test the remnants - and sent a pre-paid label for the body bag. Their results were indicative of over pressure - and offered to replace it with a standard 4" 629 for a price less than a used Taurus, since I was a good and honest customer. Their first question was had I ever shot homebrew ammo in it - I said that's all it ever got. I had to wait a few days for one to come down the assembly line - test it one day - ship it - and in my hands two days later. The dealer who transfered it didn't charge me - I had bought the MG new from him (... and lots more!). I was, indeed, fortunate.



I dissected hundreds of rounds of my 'new' hot load, to find all between 6.1-6.2gr Titegroup. I tried to double charge - only 10.4-10.8gr would make it into the case and still leave enough room to seat the long 300gr LSWC to the crimping groove. Excess ram pressure was noted to seat a bullet at that charge level, much less at 12.4gr, what a 'double' would have been. Also, leaving the cases set and not advancing them a quarter turn, ie, double charging a case, meant the ram had little force needed - definitely easily noticed. Of course, trying to seat that bullet was impossible in the next step (For safety, I didnn't replace the spent primer!). Hodgdon's agreed with S&W - it was likely a momentarily stuck round causing a pressure spike. Cleaning before long cased ammo is important. I knew that... it was all my fault.

Stainz

PS S&W returned the only serviceable part of the MG - the barrel! Nice pencil holder.
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Old 10-03-2008, 06:09 AM
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I saw an aluminum framed 1911 come apart one day. My best guess is that the shooter had a squib load and fired the next round off without clearing the barrel. The frame broke right at the hinge pin.
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Old 10-03-2008, 06:36 AM
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Only one was an M16A2 on an assault course. Pop-no-kick, then a functioning cartridge. At that time one of my jobs was weapons/ammo malfunction investigations. Got to see some pretty weird stuff happen will military weapons and ammo!!!!!
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Old 10-03-2008, 07:48 AM
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I still hear ringing in my ears. I was shooting from a port in my shed, with a chronograph set up outside. I was testing a subcaliber insert barrel, made up in .300 whisper, to be used in a 12ga over/under rifle shotgun combo (EAA). The gunsmith who made the barrel insert did not turn the "rim" of the barrel insert to the dimmension of regular 12 ga. rim, and the barrel insert took a "set" when fired, allowing the insert barrel to move forward in the shotgun barrel. This created a massive headspace problem, allowing the cartridge to blow at the rear. The .300 whisper with a 220 grain bullet at 1000fps is about equivalent to a .44 magnum in pressure, and this went off in my shed, which had a low hanging ceiling over my head. The gun blew partially open (the Russian made O/U rifle combo is very strongly locked), and the gases went mostly straight up, along with the brass fragments. Nothing hit me, but pieces bounced around the small room, and it stunned me pretty well, like a flash-bang grenade, as it was inches in front of my face. The resulting permanent tinnitis is just something one lives with...kind of an excellerated hearing loss as from shooting without ear protection. Shooters will eventually get tinnitis if they don't wear muffs enough. The load was fine, the gunsmithing was "off" just a little bit.....
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Old 10-03-2008, 08:57 AM
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Saw a Weatherby Vanguard rechambered to 30'06 Ackley Improved blown up. Guy who did it was in a hurry reloading and read the powder number for the recipe wrong. Can't remember what powder he was supposed to be using, but he ended up putting in a compressed charge of a much faster powder. The rifle was in pieces: broken stock, bent action, magazine blown out the bottom. However, I was impressed by that Howa action. It didn't let go, and diverted the blown out gases down and not back at the shooter. Still, I think he was real lucky he was wearing shooting glasses.
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Old 10-03-2008, 09:51 AM
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Yep, saw an early Smith & Wesson Model 29 blow up. The top half of the cylinder and the top strap were gone. We believe it was a double charge, because after dissecting his handloads, we found one cartridge with no powder. We think he put two charges in one cartridge case and nothing in the other. Real fine revolver that was converted to scrap metal. Luckily, no one was hurt.

I have seen a Ruger Redhawk in .44 Magnum with a cracked barrel due to excessive handloads. No damage to the cylinder. The owner brought it to a local gun store to have another barrel installed.

I saw a early Colt New Army & Navy revolver that was designed for black powder .38 Long Colt cartridges that some idiot tried to shoot with .38 Super +P cartridges. I am still amazed that the cylinder didn't bulge, but the barrel split.

I may be criticized for saying this, but...there are some people who are too stupid to be allowed to own guns.
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Old 10-03-2008, 10:15 AM
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A friend friend loaded a Remington cap and ball revolver replica with Titegroup instead Triple 7 when we were at the range. The bottles look similar and he had brought the wrong powder. He loaded it and shot a full cylinder full. I also shot a cylinder full after he loaded it again. The loads did seem pretty hot. He loaded it again. He fired the first shot and it sounded strange. I looked over and saw the top strap was bent up radically. A chamber of the cylinder was blown open. I noticed this as he attempted to cock the revolver again and found he couldn't. The revolver was ruined but no one was hurt. The revolver had a brass frame. Maybe that was good since the frame was softer than steel and gave some and bent before it could break...
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Old 10-03-2008, 10:26 AM
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Yes, twice. Both relatively cheap revolvers with relatively hot handloads.
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Old 10-03-2008, 11:23 AM
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Not really a blow-up, I guess, but I did have an M-1 come apart on me during a High Power match. I don't remember what I was using for ammo, but the last two shots of the first slow fire string doubled on me.

This had happened before and one or two of the old timers had told me it was my fault for caressing the trigger too lightly; that I should squeeze it more quickly. Whatever....

So anyway during the second string, the rifle tripled: BangBangBang! And it locked up solid.

The bolt was loose in the receiver. It had run back in recoil so hard that it split the back of the receiver. Needless to say, I retired from the line! There were no injuries, and no parts flew off. These were tough weapons!

With the same old, old timers gathered around for the postmortem, we discovered that the op-rod spring was some inches shorter than mil-spec.

This was a DCM rifle that I'd sent off to Springfield Armory (tm) for a re-build and, foolishly, a conversion to 7.62 NATO, because I'd always heard that the .308 is measurably more accurate than the .30-'06... as if it would make a difference to my own scoring.

Apparently, as part of the conversion package, SA had shortened the op-rod spring. How this would result in doubles and triples, I still don't understand. But that was the good ol' boys' diagnosis.

I still have the receiver. I had the rifle rebuilt by a local 'smith who knew how, and shot it for years more without further trouble.
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Old 10-03-2008, 01:43 PM
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Yes, two actually.

1. I was shooting with my pistol team members (U.S. Army, Ft. Lewis, WA) when I saw a bunch of “stuff” (smoke and small particles I suppose) fly by in front of me from the left. I heard the soldier next to my left give out an “Ow” (or something similar, but not as polite). I looked toward him, while keeping my 1911A1 pointing down range.

He still had his 1911A1 in his left hand, pointing down range, but was bent over to the right and was holding his right hand over his left eye. I quickly called for a cease fire, cleared my pistol and set it down on the bench; then reached across to secure his pistol from him (I grabbed it across the top of the slide), and yelled “Give it to me” and “What happened?”. He said he got hit by something in his eye. I called for the Range Safety to get a Medic, and had two other soldiers take the injured soldier away.

As they walked away, I tried to clear his pistol. The magazine came out ok, but the slide wouldn’t pull back. A closer look showed that the rear 1.5 inches or so of the slide had jumped the rails, but the rest of it was still mostly in the rail groove – very strange.

Even with the slide popped up like it was I was still able to remove the main spring housing (with difficulty), the thumb and grip safeties, the hammer, plus the other small parts in there, to make the pistol as safe as I could, and placed it, pointing down range, on the shooting bench.

Eventually the armoror and I were able to pound the slide off.

We found that a round had detonated in the chamber (don’t know why), splitting and separating the chamber directly above the link. The remaining barrel (obviously under great pressure) pushed up on the slide causing the rear portion of the slide to jump the rails.

The soldier, luckily, only received some light burn to his eye, and soon recovered.

2. I was preparing to shoot at the Ft. Eustis, Va., Rod and Gun Club range when the sound of the shot coming from a shooter, several shooting points down from me, suddenly sounded much louder and sharper. The shots had been loud before (like .357 Magnums), but this one was noticeably different.

I looked and there this guy was pointing a revolver frame, with no cylinder, down range. At that, I heard a “Cease Fire, Clear All Weapons”, and did so.

The guy, new to shooting, had bought a new Chief’s Special, and the clerk had also sold him a box of SuperVel .38 Specials! This was way before J frames were rated for +P ammo; in fact they didn't even call it +P back then.

When the cylinder gave way to the pressure, it split into two halves (each were lying on the bench), and the top strap of the frame separated from the rest of the frame and was stuck into a wooden beam above where he stood!

Other than a look of shock on his face, the guy didn’t even have a scatch!

Peace,
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Old 10-03-2008, 01:55 PM
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I had a brand new NEF single barrel let go two days after I bought it. I was using from off the shelf 7 1/2's in standard 2 3/4 shells (12 gauge gun), and then I decided to try a slug. (Also 2 3/4) The breech blew open, the back of the shell came off (went past my head) and I had one heck of a burn on my face. Who know what my eyesight would have been if I wasn't wearing glasses. I took it back that afternoon.
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Old 10-03-2008, 03:17 PM
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Spend enough time as a match director and Range Officer and yyou see most everything.

Blackpowder barrels split, blackpowder revolvers chain fire, case failures in Glocks, 1911s, squibs in barrels, shotguns split, magazines blown out, and an IPSC open gun spit the back half of a slide into the shooters face.
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Old 10-03-2008, 03:38 PM
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Back in the early 80's I had a brand new Dan Wesson .357 mag. on the 33'rd round it blew the cylinder in half the frame blew up on a 45 degree angle and the rear sight hit the roof of the range. I called the factory and they described the gun to me before I described it to them. I was told they had a bad batch of heat treating. They tooled up a new gun with the same serial no. and sent it to me but I traded it in on a Colt Python.I have a picture of it somewhere if I can find it and scan it in to my computer I'll post it.
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Old 10-03-2008, 04:50 PM
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This is a terrific learning post,
and I hope many more folks read it.

This is not a thread drift...stay with me.

My wife and I went to the range
today... first time she has shot
in too many years (shame on me).

After review the ABC's of safety
on the fire line, and showing her
how to check the revolver cylinder,
to make sure it is empty, she places
the gun down, cylinder empty and open,
turns to me and asks "should I also
check the barrel from this safe end
to make sure it is empty and unobstructed". Gotta love that!

I replied, yes and I'm sorry I did
not instruct you to do that...
and from now on...


By the way, .22lr Blackhawk, Mod 36,
and Colt Officer's Match 6" .38 spls,
at 21 feet - all center mass in
four inch groups. Dang she was
good, and I kept telling her
"shot placement is everything"!

Thanks Erich!
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Old 10-03-2008, 05:04 PM
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My old M60 BUG that popped from a +P 125 gr Federal (IIRC) it was a long time ago.

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Old 10-03-2008, 08:12 PM
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Yes
Springfield sporterized rifle split the metal at the breech. Split the stock full length. Put the shooter in the hospital.

S&W 44 mag blew the cylinder and top strap right off.

Hammerli 208s blew from bad PMC ammo. Minor damage and no injury. Ball of smoke was 3-4feet diameter around shooters head

38 Spcl 1911 target gun blew from a likely double charge. Some damage and former Olympian hand very sore. I was firing next to him and the concussion sound rocked even me.
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Old 10-03-2008, 08:54 PM
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A picture from a class I took a couple of years ago. The guy was shooting his reloads, and at some point just couldn't find the rear sight anymore. He did mention having some issues with the powder scale.

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Old 02-19-2009, 04:51 PM
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I have a model 19 that came apart on me about 9 years ago. I was shooting some .357s from a gun show that I had had for who knows how long. It blew the top strap and the top of the cylinder off. It opened up the top three chambers. I had fired 21 rounds so there wasn't any obstruction. The round that blew it up sounded a little differant but didn't feel differant and I didn't know that had blown until I looked at it. That was one of the few things in my life that made me sit down and recoup for a while. By the way, I suffered no injuries. I guess everthing went straight up.
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Old 02-19-2009, 05:13 PM
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Fortunately, revolver failures usually go up and away and don't often injure the shooter. Wear eye protection anyway.
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Old 02-19-2009, 05:39 PM
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Just DAMN! This is really some amazing stuff.
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Old 02-19-2009, 06:44 PM
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At a Steel match guy wanted to shoot my gun in the match. We switched rigs, second stage his Glock .40 cal went KB in my hand. Blew mag and extractor out of gun, made my hand sting for a few min.
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Old 02-19-2009, 07:18 PM
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I was 16 it was -13 degrees outside and for the first time in my life I decided to fire a Stevens 12 gauge double barrel shotgun from the hip while I was rabbit hunting. The next thing that I felt was my left glove filling up with something warm, my blood. I was stunned and deaf. When I looked down at the gun the barrel was missing over the left chamber and the stock was cracked. If I had fired it from the shoulder I probably would be deceased right now. My glove had filled up from the leak on my left forearm. A piece of the barrel went through my inner wrist and exited through the middle of my forearm. Another piece hit the band of my watch and knocked the crystal out on the other side of my wrist. OUCH, it still hurts thinking about it.

The gloves were new, the watch was given to me from my Grandfather and the shotgun was borrowed.
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Old 02-20-2009, 10:33 AM
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I have seen some blown guns after the fact.

I personally had a M-16 "cook-off" on me due to being overheated during "fam-fire"
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Old 02-20-2009, 11:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by Doug.38PR:
Has anyone ever witnessed or experienced a handgun blowing up at the range for whatever reason (too hot handloads, turnign a 38 spl into a magnum etc.)
I have been lucky only on Youtube and on some training films.
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Old 02-20-2009, 07:30 PM
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Only one, which is ok with me. A friend was shooting a M36 in the booth next to me when I heard an odd, somewhat louder report. I looked over at him and he was still holding it downrange--but his eyes were big as saucers. The topstrap and most of the top of the cylinder were gone. Apparently the ammo was something he "picked up" along the line; probably a double charge. We never did find the missing pieces even thought it was a fairly small indoor range with low suspended ceiling.

I never had believed in shooting anyone else's reloads prior to that, and that only reinforced the idea. I still won't.My usual practice is to charge cases in a block and eyeball the whole batch with a good light. I also like powders (I use Unique)that are sufficiently bulky that overcharges would be instantly apparent.

I am sufficiently careful (paranoid?) to where I will NOT use a progressive reloader. Murphy is always lurking somewhere IMHO.

I propose to leave with the same number of eyes and fingers I came in with.
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Old 02-20-2009, 07:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by David Sinko:
Years ago I was firing a Ruger 10/22 with factory loaded Remington Thunderbolt. Somehow a round went off when it was halfway chambered, blowing out the extractor and magazine. I swear, I do NOT reload .22 rimfire!
I've had that happen with stingers and Thunderbolts.
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Old 02-21-2009, 10:25 PM
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The stories shared in this post are both interesting and frightening. Unquestionably 95+% of failures are a result in reloading errors and/or carelessness during the reloading process. When I began reloading some 35 years ago I got into a few habits that quite possibly may have saved me from destroying a firearm or myself. Early on I worked with load development for various Ackley Improved rifle cartridges when there was little data available except from Ackley's book on the subject. With the change in powder characteristics over the years it was not possible to rely on the Ackley data and I always errored on the side of caution and kept starting loads at a minimum working up from there. A very cautious old timer gave me some useful basic rules when I began reloading. He said to never attempt to reload more than one caliber at a time, refuse to converse with observers, don't try to watch TV and don't take phone calls until the last bullet is seated. Lastly, he suggested that every step be checked twice from the time you reach for the powder bottle until the last seating measurement is taken. If you shoot long enough most of us will experience a case failure. Although it is unpleasant and can damage a chamber a firearm explosion and resulting injury isn't likely. One area that has the potential of causing catastrophic results is cleaning. That's right cleaning! Quite a few years back at a bench rest match in Michigan City Indiana a shooter cleaned his rifle and being in a hurry to prepare for the next target didn't notice that the brush had unscrewed from the cleaning rod. Consequently when the next round was fired into the obstructed barrel the bolt locking lugs let go under the pressure allowing the bolt to exit the rear of the rifle and into the shooters right eye - he died!
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Old 02-22-2009, 03:16 AM
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A friend was shooting a 2nd generation .45 Colt SAA about 1967 vintage that he bought used in like new condition. After about 13 rounds he didn't see the bullet strike the target. I did...about 6 feet in front of him in the dirt. It didn't sound like a normal shot. I was spotting for him and he asked me where it hit. I turned towards him to answer and saw the top strap sticking skyward from the barrel joint; top three chambers went no man knows where! I said look at your gun! He didn't know anything went wrong. No one hurt. We sent the gun back to Colt along with the remainder of a new box of Remington ammo and the already fired cases still in the intact chambers. Colt said they would contact Remington.
While we waited for Colt's report he told me the following: After buying it but before shooting it, he noticed one chamber of the cylinder had a rub mark on it where it contacted the bottom of the frame window. He took it back to the gunshop where he bought it used. They filed the frame window a little until that chamber no longer rubbed!!! Three weeks later a brand new gun came in the mail from Colt.

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Old 02-25-2009, 12:09 PM
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While I was stationed in the RVN I managed to run into some "Very Bad" 7.62X39mm ammo and after hearing about several "issues" from Grunts in the field who were using AK-47s having guns blow up I did some checking. The Division had been into Cambodia recently and we had brought back some fairly large numbers of this ammo. I pulled some of it apart and found what looked like C-4 instead of the powder. I used some of this stuff to blow up a number of AKs and SKSs as Demos for the Brass. I finally got a Federal Stock number that allowed me to order 7.62x39mm ammo for issue to the LRRPs and others who had a need. The stuff came in Winchester style wooden crates but looked for all the world like Russian built stuff. A few months ago the American Rifleman ran an article about this ammo being something the CIA had come up with a couple of years earlier. All these Years I had thought it had been something the "Bad Guys" had thought up - but the more I think about it maybe I was 'Right' all along!!!
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