DESTROYED MY K38 TODAY/ update #139/ range report post #148

[fiasconva]

That is a shame. Did it damage your hand or just the gun? Even if it's damaged beyond repair you can still sell some of the parts to members needing them. I hate to see something like that happen.

 

[SS336]

I agree with Drm50, it seems to be a timing issue.
The top strap looks ok and if the cylinder isn’t bulged can’t see it being a hot load. Looks like a misalignment issue. Shooting fast double action?
If a squib load on the previous round wouldn’t the barrel be bulged? I can’t see one. It might be very subtle.
FMJ ammunition is required in some indoor ranges, due to lead contamination concerns, that’s why it is being manufactured, not to much different than Jacketed SP’s, just no lead exposed at the tip.
That’s really too bad, nice revolver. I am sorry it happened and glad your OK. Let us know what happened when you find out.

 

[deno56]

The K on the butt indicates K38.

There is a lot I don’t know, the OP did not mention if he had hard extraction on the fired cases. All we know is his comment that it was a “hot round”. Hot rounds do crack forcing cones. I would be curious to know if the cylinder is ringed in anyway. The fact the OP says the cylinder turns half way and sticks could be due to the “destroyed yoke” or an expanded cylinder.

You would think that FMJ would not create over pressures in a 38 Special by itself. If the round was over pressure, the most probable cause was too much powder in the case.

A 1952 S&W was made of softer steels (probably a plain carbon steel), and the steels of the period had more residuals and crud in them than good steels made today. Old steels are weaker and more prone to failure. Not knowing the pressures of the kaboom round, we don’t know if a modern S&W would have survived this in any better condition.

It is most unfortunate that the OP’s K38 kaboomed. Not much he can do other than spend big bucks on a new yoke, barrel, and possibly cylinder, if he wants it to be functional. If the costs of that work exceed the cost of a new S&W 38 Special, I would not recommend doing it.

Someone will want the grips, the rear sight, the sideplate and internal parts. Maybe the cylinder if the cylinder is not bulged.

The fired cases extracted good. Only the normal burn rings on the cylinder.

 

[DWalt]

If it was a Norma factory round, I would presume this was not in any way the ammunition’s fault. A highly overloaded round would be expected to split the cylinder and possibly rupture the topstrap. But I see no evidence of that. I don’t know about cylinder-barrel axial misalignment as a cause, but it could not be very far misaligned, as the firing pin would not strike the center (or close to the center) of the primer, and failing to set it off. I don’t have any other theories.

 

[SuperMan]

...glad you were not injured...

Is that a 4" Pre-Model 15? If so I just saw a parts kit for sale on GunBroker or ebay when I was looking for some parts...

A friend of mine cracked the barrel shank on his Model 15 back in the 1970s running hot 110 grain Sierra JHC rounds... Never did like the amount of exposed barrel shank that S&W leaves on many of its models especially the Model 27....

Bob

 

[Yendor357]

If you had a Garmin Xero, this may have been avoided.

“Seemed hotter” is not a standard unit of measure. A Garmin would have told you exactly what was going on.
If the previous bullet was lodged in the barrel, the Garmin would not have registered a shot, and maybe you would have stopped to investigate.
If the previous round was too hot, the Garmin would have told you and maybe you would have stopped. Maybe all the rounds were hot. No way of knowing.

If you don’t have a chronograph, you don’t have a clue what’s going on. I’ve seen reloading resources state velocities as much as 200 fps lower than what they chronoed.

Garmin are cheap. There’s no reason in the world for not everyone to have one.

 

[serger]

You're lucky your angel was on your shoulder today.

 

[mikerjf]

Glad you are ok. Maybe this one becomes the Trainwreck Boom-Boom?

 

[steelslaver]

Bummer

I am thinking the barrel shank was in bad shape to start with for some reason, either that or a bullet, partial or bullet jacket from a bullet failure stuck in the forcing cone just far enough for the cylinder to turn so the next round could fire. if that was the case there would be no bulge down the barrel as the "bulge" was at the forcing cone.

The more I think about it the more I think it was a forcing cone failure. Maybe a small bullet portion stick in forcing cone. If there was a complete bullet stuck in the forcing cone and a second round was fired into it the chances that the thin area under the barrel for the yoke cut out wouldn't have cracked are very small. That and the thickness of the barrel at forcing cone is the K frames weakness. Maybe an over sized bullet, but the chamber and cylinder throat wouldn't allow too much of an over size. Interesting failure.

deno56, if you decide not to fix it I would be interested. I have several K frame projects in mind. I would mill the cracked shank off right at the frame and try to turn the rest out. If it didn't turn easy I would cut the front of barrel off and then get it mounted with center of bore lined up and drill out the portion left in the frame first with a drill bit then a reamer just slightly smaller than the minor diam. eter of the barrels .540 threads, then use a dental pick to clean out the rest of the barrel thread material and then chase the frame's threads with a .540-36 tap

 

[sceva]

Are the Normas plated or std jackets? Could an earlier round shed it's jacket in the forcing cone than the following het it? Lots of ifs. That just doesn't look like a high pressure failure.

 

[dben002]

As in all things we encounter you have to look at the positive side of this encounter and that being now you can get a new one

 

[steelslaver]

A thought
Full metal jacket bullet that got a short piece of lead swedged in it, filling the nose portion but leaving a skirt at the base. When fired the nose went down the barrel but the thin skirt tore off and remained in forging cone. Next rounds nose enters the skirt, swells and cracks it before the whole mess continued down the bore

I fact maybe that bullet was round 3 and that is what cause round 4 to have increased recoil and started the cracks and then round 5 just put the finishing touches on the whole deal

 

[TJm15.38]

During the Pandemic I bought a couple of boxes of Norma .357 Magnum 158 grain FMJ. I intended to shoot it sparingly in a nice S&W Model 28-2 that I own. Reading this horror story has me paranoid about whether the stuff is safe. These rounds are made by Ruag in Hungary. Does anyone have any experience with this brand?

 

[Rick Sanborn]

What did the fired case look like? Any overpressure signs?

 

[-BTM-]

If you had a Garmin Xero, this may have been avoided.

“Seemed hotter” is not a standard unit of measure. A Garmin would have told you exactly what was going on.
If the previous bullet was lodged in the barrel, the Garmin would not have registered a shot, and maybe you would have stopped to investigate.
If the previous round was too hot, the Garmin would have told you and maybe you would have stopped. Maybe all the rounds were hot. No way of knowing.

If you don’t have a chronograph, you don’t have a clue what’s going on. I’ve seen reloading resources state velocities as much as 200 fps lower than what they chronoed.

Garmin are cheap. There’s no reason in the world for not everyone to have one.

There’s also no reason in the world to chrono every single round fired.

 

[-BTM-]

What happened to the yoke? Does the cylinder bid when open or closed?

 

[Muddyboot]

I did the same thing to a .41 Colt Army Special about 10 years ago. The Army Special forcing cones are very thin, my hot load (5 Grains of Unique) did this.

 

[murphydog]

The fired cases extracted good. Only the normal burn rings on the cylinder.

I agree with the comment that a fragment of one round probably lodged near the forcing cone, followed by another round that overstressed and cracked it.

A competent gunsmith can probably mill off the cone, unscrew the barrel and see if the cylinder and frame are within specs, and install a new barrel if possible.

 

[murphydog]

The K on the butt indicates K38.

The K prefix indicates a Target sight K frame. This one is a .38 Combat Masterpiece.

 

[MelvinWalker]

I think this could be fixed with a replacement S&W barrel, (as long as the frame itself didn't warp)....

If you just want to fix it on the cheap, I have multiple K frame barrels. If you didn't care the exact model, I'd donate one to you if you want to go that route. I have several 4 inch K barrels.