S&W Sheriffs 357 Special Exploded Today.

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Spend enough time around steel barstock and you will see all kinds of defects. All it takes to cause a failure such as this is a defect in "just the wrong spot". What happens is simple. The flaw causes what is described in Engineering as a Stress Riser. Depending on the magnitude it can create a "weak spot" that has anyhing between 1 and 99 % of the strength of an adjacent area. The only way to prevent these flaws from reaching the end user is to X Ray every single inch of the basic stock. Something that NASA can do when sending someone to the moon but it's a process that is just too expensive for normal production products. BTW, there is also the matter of the person "reading" the X ray and getting it wrong, something that is disturbingly common.

Good news is that these types of failures happen often enough that S&W will simply tell the customer to chose a new model that is in stock and similar to the damaged revolver. Bad news is that if the revolver was made before 1989 it was made under different ownership and S&W will not warranty product produced by the previous owners of the company.
 
Dvan34 said:
Back in the 1950's I was on patrol in the desert and practicing with .38 wadcutters and a Colt .38 Spl. Border Patrol revolver. I fired one of the wadcutter reloads and apparently there wasn't any powder. The cap just propelled the lead about halfway down the barrel. So I was walking back to the jeep to get the oil dipstick and push the lead out of the barrel. And lo! Strange thing happened! A rabbit jumped up and I drew and fired! The shot nearly knocked me down and stung my hand. Both wadcutters cleared the barrel. But no damage other than to my pride for doing something so stupid. Fortunately I was alone. Those old Colts stood up to a lot of abuse.
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Did you get the rabbit?
 
Was it a hotter round? A squid load?

You can feel a squid load, it's that different. Stop do not fire the next round. One must be very alert when shooting.

I had a squid load about 42 years ago. Never reload with distractions. I caught it in my ruger SBH 7 1/2" barrel. I pushed the bullet out. No powder. Never made that mistake again. I do not talk to anyone when reloading. I check, each round after charging in the bullet tray. I check it again just before the bullet is seated.
 
Davinman said:
im not too sure about that Black Knight, i have a colt police positive spl. made in 1914 that will only accept 38 special ammo. i tried to drop 357 mags in the cyl. a minute ago and they dont fit. im not trying to sound like a know it all, just saying i dont see that as an issue. ill bet your friends gun was modified.
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Dainman: It may have been certain models as I know his particular one had been bored straight through. I also talked to a local gunshop owner at the time who confirmed that Colt did that with some revolvers. It was cheaper than boring and leaving the throat area in the cylinder. Also it is possible that someone may have had the cylinder bored to except 357 Magnum ammo. He bought the gun used so he had no idea what its true history was.
 
The original Colt .38 and .41 D.A. revolvers (ca. 1889) used a heel-type bullet, like a .22 rimfire. Since the bullets were full case diameter there was no need for chamber throats, so as a result any round of similar diameter not longer than the cylinder (including .357 Magnum) can fully seat. At some point the .38 Long Colt converted to a standard bullet and Colt machined the charge holes accordingly.
 
I'm thinking it's either BS or the gun in question was a J frame 357, this the "sheriff special"

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 
Arik said:
I'm thinking it's either BS or the gun in question was a J frame 357, this the "sheriff special"

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
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It's just hard to believe a barrel breaking off and going flying while leaving the section with threads still in the frame.

Not impossible I suppose, but very unlikely.
 
iPac said:
It's just hard to believe a barrel breaking off and going flying while leaving the section with threads still in the frame.

Not impossible I suppose, but very unlikely.
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There was an identical failure reported, with pictures, by a forum member several years ago(I'm poor at estimating things like this, but I gather it was before you or Arik joined -I'm thinking maybe 2010 or so.). I don't trust my memory as much these days, but as I recall it was returned to Smith, who determined that the barrel was torqued too tightly and thereby weakened at the point at which it later sheared off when fired. Maybe others who remember this more clearly will stop in and correct me on the details or at least describe the incident more completely.

Regards,
Andy
 
iPac said:
It's just hard to believe a barrel breaking off and going flying while leaving the section with threads still in the frame.

Not impossible I suppose, but very unlikely.
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While I have my doubts about the OP's post and run story, where the barrel broke off is possible as evidenced by this Ruger Redhawk.

Jim
 
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laytonj1 said:
While I have my doubts about the OP's post and run story, where the barrel broke off is possible as evidenced by this Ruger Redhawk.
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Yes, that was a known problem with the Redhawk for a while. Had something to do with the threadlocker adhesive they were using on the barrel shank, I believe.

The NC Dept. of Corrections ordered new S&W Model 10s a few years back, and barrels started flying off at the range. S&W basically told them they MUST be doing something to cause it -- until the S&W rep came, went to the range with DOC officials, and shot the barrel off of one himself with the first shot!
 
There was an identical failure reported, with pictures, by a forum member several years ago
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I remember it quite well. A prison system in one state (I forget which one) bought a large batch of stainless K-frame revolvers for their guards. During initial training, several failed just as the OP described. Barrel sheared off at the frame. S&W investigated and found that the barrels had been over torqued causing cracks at the base of the threads. The entire shipment had to be returned.
There have also been reports from time to time of identical failures in a few other guns.

I had a link to that thread saved in my favorites, but now it just goes to the main board index. :( I tried to search for it but came up empty. :mad: It must be in the archives somewhere or its been deleted. So this has been known to happen.
 
Glad to see the pictures of the Ruger, as I was a witness to another Ruger Redhawk 44 mag barrel blowing off in exactly the same spot. The story we were given eventually was it was traced to an employee that was torquing the barrels and he didn't like where the front sight was lining up so he gave the barrel just another good yank (after reaching the correct torque). I heard there were about 300 that suffered the barrel separation.

When my friend sent in the gun, they replaced it with an upgraded one with the integral scope mounts and the scope rings included. I understand these are highly collectable today.
 
minnesota_river_lake_catfish-704x400.jpg
 
Grayfox said:
.... Barrel sheared off at the frame. S&W investigated and found that the barrels had been over torqued causing cracks at the base of the threads. The entire shipment had to be returned.
There have also been reports from time to time of identical failures in a few other guns.

....
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Threads and shoulders are natural stress risers. The ginormous thread relief S&W has used since dropping the barrel pin (possibly before?) seems to allow more plastic deformation before complete failure, likely due to the larger radius at the shoulder, but it does lead to more ringed bores and joggled rifling. Much smaller deformation than the usual bullet strike ring.

Whether it has anything to do with this case (if it's not "fake news") remains to be seen!
 
OP, a little more info, please? WTH is a S&W Sheriffs 357 Special?
Steve
 
S.B. said:
OP, a little more info, please? WTH is a S&W Sheriffs 357 Special?
Steve
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Good luck on that - he hasn't been back since posting. ;)

Let's recap:
No such model S&W: Sheriff
No such caliber: .357 Special
Hit and run post
No other info via Google
No pictures or video

Note to OP: Should you return with additional info, PM me and I'll reopen this thread.
 
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