Think ya used a bit too much powder, Butch?

Saw it happen

Worse range shooting incident I've ever seen produced a revolver explosion just like this one. We were shooting Big Bore Pistol Metallic Silhouette, so everyone had max loads in order to knock down the 52# Ram at 200M. One of this thread's respondents hit the nail on the head. This guy was loading 296 for his Blackhawk 44 mag & set his powder measure accordingly. Unfortunately, he had Unique in the hopper, so a case full went Kablooie! It also detonated the adjacent cartridge. He was lying down on his back, shooting the "Creedmore" position. My friend was two positions over on his right shooting off-hand. A chunk of cylinder went upward & to the right gouging a trough thru my friend's cheek & took out the top bridge of his nose. On-the-spot first aid kept him from choking on his own blood until evacuated. Over the next couple of years, excellent plastic surgery all but removed any trace of the physical injury.

Mental injury? Several years later my friend wanted me to take him back to the range to find out whether he could tolerate gun shots. He flinched at each shot he heard. Also fired one .22LR thru my TC Contender & had enough. He never returned to the range & I can't say as I blame him. I'm so very glad he wasn't standing another 2" forward or no doubt I would have attended his funeral.

H-F Hank
USAF Vet
NRA Bene.
 
I witnessed a kaboom similar to that a couple of years ago. A couple of dedicated benchrest shooters who frequently shoot at the range showed up one saturday. Usually its only the two of them and all their gear, portable loading bench, chronograph, wind flags,etc.. This particular saturday they had good friend Bubba with them, I could tell the guy was an idiot from the moment he stepped out of their vehicle. All three got set up on the 100 yd. range and commenced shooting, the benchresters would shoot for a while check the chrony and tweak their loads. Bubba didn't let this fact go un-noticed, so when the benchresters were done at the loading bench he decides its his turn. I don't think he knew beans about their Harrell powder measure, the benchresters were tweaking their loads from a known point I don't think they were using a powder scale. Bubba thinks if that's good enough for them then its fine for him too. I don't have a clue what his TC Encore was chambered for nor what kind of load he assembled, the damage was horrendous. I just happened to be watching the proceedings when the Encore came apart though. The scope flies off and cold cocks Bubba who proceeds to fall to the ground, scope winds up about 10 ft. behind the firing line. Next thing you know Bubba is back up on his feet screaming and cursing holding the remains of the stock and receiver of what used to be his Encore. The barrel wound up about 10 ft. down range, Bubba had a rather large shrapnel wound in his left bicep. The last that was seen of Bubba, his buddies were loading him up in the back of their suburban for the ride to the E.R..
From the severity of Bubba's kaboom, it looked like he was lucky to be alive. If the shrapnel that penetrated his bicep had hit him in the chest I'm sure it would have been fatal.
 
Around these parts we refer to guns like that as "Owner modified"
 
Joni_Lynn said:
How about this: 4 sail, genuwine 1 of a kind S&W custom revolver. Serious offers being accepted in care of intensive care unit at local hospital.
This buutiful shiny specimen has only been fired 1 shot and has the most purtty rubber grips on it, they even provide a good grip when covered with blood 'n stuff. Also included is a unique visible loaded chamber indicator, frame has been custom modified for scope mount installation.
This fine gun would be purrrfect for that sooper dooper engraving project.
Don't miss this once in a lifetime opperrrtune-ity to own this most drool worthy wall hanger.
Click to expand...

That's FUNNY!!!!!!
 
I helped a friend of mine start hand loading for his .45acp. He had loaded .38 spl while living in South America many years ago but was basically starting from zero.
He wanted to use Bullseye, but having seen the results of double or possibly triple charges of the same in 1911s, I insisted on Red Dot. He is happily chugging along now, and I know that he can't double charge.
 
I keep my powder in another room from my loading bench.
i bring only one powder canister to the reloading bench.
after i pour the powder into the hopper, i write a label and tape it to the hopper (ex. 231 or bullseye) where i see it at all times.
same on primers. same on bullets. same on brass. I only have on my bench the one item that i am reloading. no such thing as TOO safe.
 
I've heard a lot of the older pistol shooters say that more handgun have been blown apart with Bullseye than all other powders. I don't know how accurate that is, but I'd guess Bullseye has killed more of them than most others.
 
Ok, I followed that link to the other forum and read ALL the posts.
In one post it appears that the owner of the gun says it's factory Federal American Eagle 44 ammo.
I have a small problem with this since in the photo I don't seem to see the exposed lead at the front of the jacket that all the Federal AE 44 I have displays. These bullets look more like a Hornady 240 XTP or similar. Right now I'm thinking someone isn't telling it like it is.
I've fired off a couple cases of the Fed AE 44 in just a couple of my guns and it has always performed quite well and never given me a problem.
I'm smelling bad fish here.
 
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I think I tracked this to its source

The earliest set of these photos I can find on the Internet was posted on August 31, 2009 on the Snipers Hide forum by a forum member named JTrue whose location is Soldotna, AK. With a little research I found that there is an Alaska Trooper stationed in Soldotna named Jim Truesdale. If you go fishing on the photobucket account that is the source for the JTrue images, you will find additional photos of this ruined 629 that were never circulated in any of the subsequent postings. Looks like this has to be the source. Nobody picked up on it until about two or three weeks ago, and then it went viral on the shooting web sites. The email that carries the limited set of images seems to be taken verbatim from the JTrue post.

I think I am not supposed to print links to other forums here, but if you want to see the post I am referring to, you can Google for "tweety birds 629" and click on the link that goes to a snipershide(dot)com address.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

EDITED TO ADD: Well, I see other links to threads on other forums, so maybe this will be OK after all. Here's the original post on this exploding 629:

Why you should be careful when reloading.......... - Sniper's Hide Forums
 
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Well at least the lock flag is not up. : }
 
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