UPDATED-Bad day at the range...

Geez, that must have been scary as heck!
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Glad you are mostly ok. Thanks for sharing this, ugly as it is.
 
scars

Thanks for sharing and the warning. A lesson to us all. Remember, scars are tattoos with stories.
 
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And it doesn't have to be a double charge of a fast powder. This was 27 gr of AA7 instead of 17. Scale 1 notch off. Estimated pressure (calculated for me by the powder company), 170,000 psi.

Notice that frame of the 69 deformed but did not catastrophically fail. Parts and pieces of the cylinder and yoke went sideways so nothing hit me.

Edit - Send the gun back to Smith for evaluation - they'll determine it was your fault so no warranty (LOL)- but offer to sell you a replacement at a very nice discount. That's how I got my 66 snubby.
 

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True, if you load slow powders to magnum levels you won't have a problem, but what if you want a mid-range load? Trail Boss is a solution but outside of that even medium burning powders suitable for lower-power loads are going to leave room for a double charge.

What do you do? Load .44 Russian brass? Give up on the caliber? What about the .45 Colt? Is Trail Boss the only real solution outside of "process improvement"? I just don't think that "load something that fills the case" is always a practical solution.
 
When using the same bullets, same cases, same powder. It's easy to weigh the bullets to catch a double when in doubt.
So, its 9g of titegroup at a 200 gr bullet. On a digital scale, it's easy to find a 9g discrepancy.
I've sat at my livingroom table and just weighed the completed bullets. If I've doubted a stroke.
On a progressive, you can double it. And easy if your mind is preoccupied.
I've done the opposite. And made about 5 squibs(?). Enough for me to carry a squib rod and a small hammer in my range bag.

I was just at the range yesterday and finished off my last box of loaded 44 mags with titegroup. Having been a reloader for many years, one knows the dangers.

OP. Sorry for your loss. I'm glad your ok. The gun can be replaced with the same one. You cannot be so easily replaced.
 
Weigh the remaining cartridges just for the exercise but you are plumb crazy if you don’t disassemble each and every cartridge. Whatever failed once could very well have failed more than once.

You're right, of course. I'll pull them all and switch powder. Can you believe that a tiny hole in the face did this? It wouldn't stop bleeding for nearly a half hour, and it was coming fast too.

 
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Yes, there is such thing as a bad day at the range. My beautiful 629-4 was blown up by a hand load today. I figure I must have got a double charge somehow. I use a Hornady progressive press and can't understand how I could get a double charge.

I caught a piece of shell casing in my left cheek and it bled A LOT! Docs are just going to leave it in there. A souvenir I guess.


Yep. Bad day. I can't make it any better. Once upon a time I had a double charge on a .45 ACP. Empty casing ejected right back into my forehead. Learned. Haven't had it happen again. Lucky. Gun was not damaged. Do so very much wish it had been different with you and your revolver. Surprised the bit of shrapnel was left in your face. I got spattered back about 2000 when a Yugoslavian 8mm round did an "M split" in my K-98. Gun was not hurt. Several bits of brass had to be picked out of my eyebrow/forehead. Sincerely. bruce.
 
Shouldn't this be in the Top Break section?

Seriously. glad you are basically alright. Lot of metal flew off that in a big hurry. Really would be great to figure out just what went wrong.

I wouldn't trust the weight the assembled rounds theory very much. Cases and bullets can have some variation. Unless you clean all your cases and sort by manufacture and lot they can vary several grains. Same with bullets, especially cast sized and lubed bullets. Most handgun ammo isn't loaded like match ammo. It wouldn't surprise me to find variations of 5 grs or more depending on a lot of variables.
 
Glad you’re okay. I did the same thing to a 29-4 whitetail hunter. My mistake was not stopping to talk to my grandson and put a double charge of tite group in one case out of a couple hundred I made that day . The range was full and thank God no one was hurt just my pride and my most favorite 44 .
 
This is a great post to WARN people that reload their own ammo to use Extreme caution in the pursuit of their hobby!
A friend of mine blew up a Model 19 I had sold him. When I asked if I could buy it back, he told me there was no gun left to sell. It looked a lot like yours shocker. No one hurt but the cylinder blew and bent the back strap.
Glad you didn’t suffer more sever injuries!

Be SAFE and Shoot Often!
 
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True, if you load slow powders to magnum levels you won't have a problem, but what if you want a mid-range load? Trail Boss is a solution but outside of that even medium burning powders suitable for lower-power loads are going to leave room for a double charge.

What do you do? Load .44 Russian brass? Give up on the caliber? What about the .45 Colt? Is Trail Boss the only real solution outside of "process improvement"? I just don't think that "load something that fills the case" is always a practical solution.

I have done it, yes. But not on a progressive press. All cases with powder on the tray are inspected before seating the bullets. Better slow and safe than sorry.
 
I’ll double down on precisely this comment. If it were Alliant 2400, AA#9 or H-110, no possible way to double charge. As a matter of fact, you could go way over book and make an unsafe load with the right powder but there isn’t enough space in the case to do this damage when using any of the three I listed.

or Unique or Universal plus it'll load lots more different calibers. Yes, you'll have to clean your gun more often.....
 
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