Doug.38PR
Member
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.)
Have you ever seen a gun blow up?
- Thread starter Doug.38PR
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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.
YEP. I HAVE WITNESSED AN H&K USP, 9MM AR CARBINE, COLT 1911. JP
powerkicker
Member
None in 23 years of shooting.
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
S/W - Lifer
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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.
When it happens, it happens in an instant and it is over. It pays to protect eyes and ears.
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.
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
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
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.
Sara Noh
Member
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 ****!
Photog
Member
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.
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.
Farmboy
Member
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
BR
VAdoublegunner
Member
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.
Smithhound
US Veteran
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
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
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
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
andronicus
Member
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.
Beans
Member
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
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
riptrack44
Member
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.
