M-10 blows up using "older" reloads

[blut und eisen]

My .02 here. YEARS ago, at my first assignment, I knew an ole boy that was handy with a lathe. He reamed the chambers of a beautiful M10-5 to .357 Mag dimensions. About a week later, before my eyes, with my IFAC at the ready, standing back some distance, he proceeded to put a couple of boxes of factory (Federal 125g) .357 through it. Grinning like an idiot at every reload, offering me the opportunity to touch off a few rounds, I declined. He was immensely pleased with himself, but to this day I think he is/was crazy as hell. Not for lack of trying, I don't know if he ever blew the thing up or himself. Long story, short, if the M10 can stand up to that, even for a few rounds, then this must have been quite a re-load. Waste of a fine weapon. Shameful.

 

[Doug.38PR]

A few years ago (I think it may have been on this forum) there was a guy who told me that his police department rechambered their issue M-15s to take .357 Magnums....(he made clear that he didn't personally think it a good idea, but they didn't ask him)

EDIT: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1961-1980/65666-model-15-durability.html
Here is the thread! As I said on this forum. BUFF is the member who related the story. It wasn't the police department but a deputy who rechambered his M-15 to .357 Magnum as well as other deputies the armorer noted "messed" with their guns. Strange as it may seem BUFF said it was in pretty good shape from at the time he saw the gun.

 

[SLT223]

-1 older S&W because of some braindead idiot.......what a waste of a nice gun......another lesson of why people with IQ's less than their shoe size shouldn't play with reloading equipment.

Or guns for that matter.

 

[swampersand]

Anyone else notice how much the remaining bullets have been pulled from the cases? Unless seated this way it suggests intense recoil from first couple of rounds generating inertia to pull the bullets. Way overloaded reloads IMO. No way these are factory loads.

Hey SP, how would one fire the "first couple of rounds" without discharging the adjacent round? Would this idiot have manually indexed the cylinder to not fire two rounds in sequence???

 

[DCWilson]

Only one round was fired. It detonated, blowing away the top strap and part of the cylinder, leaving two dented live rounds trapped in the adjacent charge holes. I don't know how full the adjacent rounds are/were, but I suppose internal pressure from the collapsing cases could have pushed the bullets forward in the cases (though inertia could have played a part in that, too).

 

[Tango 106]

A few years ago (I think it may have been on this forum) there was a guy who told me that his police department rechambered their issue M-15s to take .357 Magnums....(he made clear that he didn't personally think it a good idea, but they didn't ask him)

O.K. Time out. S&Wchad I did not make an incorrect assumption and do not owe this person any apology. Now he is claiming "a guy" told him police departments rechambered model 15's for 357 Magnums. From the first post he has made statement and presented images making claims of one sort, then LATER changing his story. S&Wchad you removed the reference to remington 130 ammunition? Why? It is obvious why. Controversial people who publicize dangerous events and completely misrepresent the facts of a serious thing such as blowing apart a cylinder provide the poster image for excessive gun control. I am first to say that a lot of people who have guns should never be able to touch one. No apoligy, no doubt and put your hands behind your back.

 

[Dennis The B]

An anecdotal incident...

...seems appropriate here.

Just about 30 years ago, after I'd purchased a couple of handguns; a Colt Python, and a very nice Ruger Super Blackhawk Bicentennial Model (wish I still had that one), I started reloading for both of them. I previously had reloaded only for shotgun and rifle.

I had a copy of the Speer reloading manual, and judiciously loaded both revolvers strictly based on Speer's recommendations. My favorite powder became WW296. While dirtier than some others, it provided the best accuracy in both revolvers.

At the range one afternoon, I had accurately shot several targets at 100 yards, enjoying the performance of both revolvers. The fellow on the next lane was shooting a Model 19 S&W. The discussion turned to "pet" loads, and I cited my preference for Speers' data, and also discussed data from Winchester.

This fellow piped up, and told me that he never measured any powder loads. He preferred to "load 'em up until they sounded right" (his exact words). Claimed he could tell when the rounds had the same sound as W-W factory loads.

You guessed it. I saw him a month later, and he managed to "kaboom" his Model 19. He still had stitches in his forehead from the incident, which happened two weeks after our conversation.

Glad I didn't take up his offer to try his reloads.

 

[Doug.38PR]

O.K. Time out. S&Wchad I did not make an incorrect assumption and do not owe this person any apology. Now he is claiming "a guy" told him police departments rechambered model 15's for 357 Magnums. From the first post he has made statement and presented images making claims of one sort, then LATER changing his story. S&Wchad you removed the reference to remington 130 ammunition? Why? It is obvious why. Controversial people who publicize dangerous events and completely misrepresent the facts of a serious thing such as blowing apart a cylinder provide the poster image for excessive gun control. I am first to say that a lot of people who have guns should never be able to touch one. No apoligy, no doubt and put your hands behind your back.

......what are you griping about now? I was just relating something I remembered somebody on this or another forum said a while back off the top of my head. I was stunned and even this person admitted he thought it a stupid idea. It was just something that seemed to relate to what we are discussing and in particular to what blut und eisen had just said. Lighten up, Sir.
I honestly don't care whether you apologize or not. You're comments are not offensive, they are just silly and petty.

 

[Doug.38PR]

...seems appropriate here.

Just about 30 years ago, after I'd purchased a couple of handguns; a Colt Python, and a very nice Ruger Super Blackhawk Bicentennial Model (wish I still had that one), I started reloading for both of them. I previously had reloaded only for shotgun and rifle.

I had a copy of the Speer reloading manual, and judiciously loaded both revolvers strictly based on Speer's recommendations. My favorite powder became WW296. While dirtier than some others, it provided the best accuracy in both revolvers.

At the range one afternoon, I had accurately shot several targets at 100 yards, enjoying the performance of both revolvers. The fellow on the next lane was shooting a Model 19 S&W. The discussion turned to "pet" loads, and I cited my preference for Speers' data, and also discussed data from Winchester.

This fellow piped up, and told me that he never measured any powder loads. He preferred to "load 'em up until they sounded right" (his exact words). Claimed he could tell when the rounds had the same sound as W-W factory loads.

You guessed it. I saw him a month later, and he managed to "kaboom" his Model 19. He still had stitches in his forehead from the incident, which happened two weeks after our conversation.

Glad I didn't take up his offer to try his reloads.

"load'em up until they sounded right"?.....I guess it sounds wrong when you have a loud explosion of the cylinder and topstrap blowing up.......
What a lunatic.

I'm honestly getting into reloading chiefly save money and be able to shoot more. While I only have a single stage at this point, it can, when I am ready, be converted to progressive. I like the idea of working to be able to shoot rather than spending a fortune on store bought ammo. That's something I can't afford. I like to shoot and shoot a lot. As prices go up in store bought ammo, the more conservative I am about shooting. Each BANG from my muzzel causes less satisfaction and more guilt at having $0.## cents zipping down range.
But it has, as the Speer manuel has explained, caught my attention that you can produce more accurate loads by doing it yourself. It has, as one friend has told me, become a hobby in and of itself.

Not interested in trying to make my .38 or .44 magnum into a Howitzer.....or worse a handgrenade such as the careless guy in the video has done.

BTW, how long was the barrel on that Super Blackhawk? Those are hand cannons. I have a 10 inch New Model Super Blackhawk .44 Mag.
That extra barrel lenght makes a big difference. I bought a steel target that is supposed to be able to withstand anything up to 44 Magnum. I put a lead semi jacketed wadcutter into mine. It actually made a good dent in the plate. That longer barrel gave it that extra energy to exceed the steel plate's stated durability.
I feel like Charles Bronson shooting the purse snatcher in Deathwish III everytime I shoot that cannon. It's like hitting a ball out of the ballpark 8)

 

[Doug.38PR]

btw,
I know this has been brought up in this forum before. Didn't S&W used to test and even rate (for a short time in the 1940s) their M&P (now M-10) revolvers to take the old .38-44 hi-speed loads?
Something that Remington only recommended in the N frame .34-44 Heavy Duty or Outdoorsman.
That should also say something about these "reloads" that this...gentleman... had loaded in his "blowed" up gun

 

[bmcgilvray]

"Now he is claiming "a guy" told him police departments rechambered model 15's for 357 Magnums. From the first post he has made statement and presented images making claims of one sort, then LATER changing his story."

Tango;

Doug has not changed his story. Stop and think. Reread his posts you persist in attacking. You are rushing to assumptions that in no way are implied. Why have you seized on the notion of condemning a member for his innocuous comments on a thread he began? Do you have a fixation with this thread or with him?

It is certain that a lot of people who have guns should never be able to touch one. The same thing could be said about those who have computer keyboards and no reading comprehension skills.

This could have been a fun and informative thread except for certain people who believe in "correctness" and crusade against imaginary wrongs.

 

[ss440gp]

Tango is still under the assumption that the OP is the idiot in the video. Tango go back and reread all the posts, if you had done that you would know the OP is not the shooter.

 

[Dennis The B]

This one had a 7.5" barrel. The previous owner had done a superb trigger job on it, and the action was as smooth as silk. Like I wrote, I wish I still had that one.

 

[handejector]

My personal opinion is something like this thread should never even have been posted here. The OP posted it like it was a true and accurate info he was passing along. As such, it is very unfair to the companies that were being portrayed as having inferior products.

Ding-Ding-Ding
We have a winnah for best post yet!

We will always have IDIOTS around that blow up guns. The idiot who made the video never deserved his 15 minutes of fame, much less the length of this thread.
We can only hope the rest of that box of ammo does its work well in his new Colt.
Let's move along to something productive.