KABOOM!!!

[Fredo Batali]

A close friend had a KABOOM on Friday. Blew up his 3" 629-1. He wasn't hurt and found a piece of the rear site stuck in the ceiling of the outdoor range roof, other parts here and there. Photos pretty much say it all. We're still trying to figure it out. Load was 240 grain Berry's plated bullet over 22.0 gr W-296. He has pulled several bullets and found no variations. Not possible to double charge the case with that load. Here are the photos.

De Oppresso Liber

 

[Zjnovak]

Wow! Hope everybody's ok.

 

[625smith]

Glad everyone's ok. Might have been the wrong power choice for plated bullets. From Berry's web site:

Jacketed Bullets: Generally are most expensive but can be shot at magnum velocities and require less cleaning than Cast bullets.
Plated Bullets: Not as expensive as Jacketed and cleaner than lead but you'll want to stay away from magnum velocities when loading plated bullets.
Cast Bullets: Usually cost the least, but are very "dirty" and often cannot be used in indoor ranges.

Velocities depend on the caliber, but as a rule of thumb, we recommend you don't shoot our plated bullets over 1250 feet-per-second. Our 44's actually shoot best around 1150 fps. 45's are generally good at 850-900 fps. Our bullets are not recommended for magnum velocities over 1250fps unless the bullet description denotes a thick plated bullet with a higher listed maximum for velocity.

 

[2152hq]

Important thing is that no one was injured.

Are the 'plated' bullets treated the same as jacketed bullets,,or as cast bullets?
I didn't think 296 was used for cast 240gr loads but again I don't know about the use of the plated lead bullets or if that could cause a problem.

Was any work or alteration done to the gun. I notice that the front and rear side plate screws appear switched. The flat head screw is in the front position.
Could anyone have done something in the past to have altered the lockup, timeing, chamber dimentions, ect.

Many of these incidents are never conclusively figured out as to how or why they occurred.

 

[Fredo Batali]

Answers:
1. Side plate screws are loose and misplaced because he removed the side plate as well as what's left of the cylinder. Not too gently as he says.
2. Don't know. I have the cartridge in the other charge hole in my possession and it shows no powder burns either, just an anomaly near the case head. I'll get a photo of it tomorrow.
3. Bullet exited the barrel and struck the target.
4. Bullet was a 240 gr plated Berry's flat point.
5. No work or alteration was done that he is aware of. He received the gun in a trade at a reputable LGS.
6. This was the first round fired from the gun and from the ammo box. I'm thinking an obstruction as well. Perhaps the bullet was too soft and deformed entering the forcing cone causing a momentary obstruction and the pressure spike caused the detonation forcing the bullet down range???? I should have been a physicist instead of a sheep dog, I'd know the answer, maybe.

De Oppresso Liber

 

[rwsmith]

Oh my

Oh my, that is scary.

 

[Culina]

ouch, that is pretty scary especially when the exact cause cannot be pinned down. I am glad to hear that no one got hurt.

On a positive note, I would be interested in buying what is left of the frame for use in fitting custom grips.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Wow, the first bullet you fired blew up the gun? I don't think a soft bullet deforming would cause a S&W N frame revolver in good firing condition to blow up. Millions of lead bullets have been fired at extremely high velocities and that does not happen. If lead bullets won't cause that plated bullets won't either.

I have seen blown up revolvers before and that one is an extreme case. Very high pressures are required to destroy a gun that badly, extremely high pressures! A barrel obstruction would have damaged the barrel and that barrel looks unaffected. That sure looks like a double charge to me especially where the majority of damage is centered. The back-strap was ripped away so violently the material was stripped off the top of the barrel threads.

 

[k53]

first bullet fired?? Man my first thought was he mixed up the powders.

 

[Cdog]

It looks like he may have grabbed 231 instead of 296?

Unless those bullets are too soft or an under charge caused detonation, it sure looks like the wrong powder.

I know a very experienced loader that I met one day with his head all stitched up. He had pictures of what was left of his Savage .308 Win.

After pulling a couple of bullets, he saw the charge weight was perfect.

He reached for his powder and instead of W748, he had picked up W296.

 

[scwv67]

Wondering if it was the wrong powder also. What, if any, other types does you friend have on his bench?

 

[S&WIowegan]

Plated bullets at high velocities are known to shed the plating in the barrel. If this gun went kaboom on the very first handloaded plated round fired, then the cause is most likely a very fast powder. Bullseye would definitely cause that mess.

 

[rsrocket1]

Easiest thing to do is to pull one of the remaining bullets and check the powder.

 

[dmar]

A Ruger would have handled that load...

OK, relax, just joking. I am really glad your "friend" was not hurt!

That is such an extreme kaboom, I would think wrong powder, as well. That's an expensive day at the range, but all is good if everyone walks away unhurt.

 

[Titegroups]

Maybe he had 2 cans of powder out at the same time previously and managed to dump the wrong powder in the 296 can. Considering it was the first round shot. I dont think theres any way it was a barrel onstruction, omly in cartoons.

 

[scooter123]

I think we can rule out a barrel obstruction. Myth Busters tried to blow up a 686 after filling the barrel with squibs and all that happened when they ran a full powered 357 Magnum into 6 squibs is they "shot" 3 of the squibs out of the barrel.

I'll also agree that it's NOT possible to double charge a 44 Magnum case with W-296, you would have powder all over the press. However, it is VERY possible to double charge a 44 Magnum with something like Titegroup. IMO what we have is a case here of using the wrong powder. Basically, he thought he was using W-296 when he was in fact using another similar looking powder with a much higher energy density.

I know some reloaders keep several powder measures pre loaded with powder and just use whatever measure has the powder they want to use when they set up thire press for a new caliber. In that type of setting I could see someone grabbing a measure loaded with something Titegroup when they intended to take the one loaded with W-296. Then if they were to proceed loading without taking the time to actually weigh the charges they were throwing they could conceivably load up a whole batch thinking they were using W-296 with they were actually using Titegroup or some other.

I would suggest that one of these suspect loads actually have the powder charge weighed, not simply looked at. Looking at my Lee manual a double charge of W-231 would have a similar charge volume as a single charge of W-296 but instead of weighing 22 grains the W-231 would weigh around 16 grains. If so, this illustrates the importance of using Weight as a confirming check if you are charging by Volume and using Volume as a confirming check if you are charging by Weight.

 

[bigshep85]

I have been looking for a 629 just like that for years
:......(
Guess my chances of finding one just dropped
That sucks. I hate to see that

 

[Fredo Batali]

Boy, lot of speculation... I'll phone my friend today and have him give us a run down on his procedure etc. He pulled several rounds and found all charges were within a tenth of a grain or two. I'll pull the round down I have today and do a visual comparison of the powder in the round and some W-26 I have on hand, but like I said I'm a sheep dog, not a scientist. Both powders should look different, yes? I'll take photos of the comparison.

De Oppresso Liber

 

[gregintenn]

P.O. Ackley was adament that a reduced charge of a magnum powder would occasionally cause a much higher pressuer situation than too large a charge of the same powder. I'm not sure whether he was ever able to replicate the situation in a lab, but he shows several photos of blown up guns in his book, and he claims this to be the cause.

 

[TAROMAN]

Glad you all made it through that!
I am in agreement of the "full charge, wrong powder" theory.
Powder companies are making their container labels more and more similar. Hodgdon is no exception.
Either he grabbed a similar looking canister or, possibly, in the past, dumped a fast powder into the wrong can when emptying the powder measure.