Have you ever blown up your gun?

[vis-à-vis]

Have you ever blown up your gun? If so, what happened, what injuries did you receive, etc, pics?

[Art Eatman]

I've never heard of a rifle blown up from a handload, except for an American Rifleman article about a sub-normal load of 3031 in a .243.

I've known of no-powder .45ACP in an IPSC match, and the next shot was on the edge of exciting. The primer forced the bullet partway down the barrel, and the confinement enabled cycling to load the next round.

Bulged barrel was the only permanent damage.

Double charges in pistols are quite possible. That can be ruinacious.

Art

[cracked butt]

Yes. A beretta 92, case head failure from bad brass or overcharge of powder, blew the triggerbar out of the frame and peeled the right grip back. A stinging hand was the only injury. I was shooting remanufactured ammunition.

One of theolder gentlemen I used to see at te range often blew up a nice ruger M77 from a double charge of pistol powder while shooting cast loads.

[floridaboy]

I saw a muzzle loading duckfoot blow once. I'm told it was an early sort of riot gun. 3 .36 caliber barrels that fire all at once. The guy loaded it, forgot, and loaded it again. When it went off, all that was left was the grip he was holding, the breech block, and the hammer which had re-cocked. He didn't lose his hand, and it made one hell of a hole the the junk car hood he shot it at. All 3 barrels went thru the hood. Sure cured me of wanting one!

[mc223]

TC Contender in 444 Marlin, factory ammo. Stress crack started at scope mount hole over the chamber. 56 stitches.

[Walkalong]

No. Not even close.

[ReloaderFred]

No accidents in 44 years of loading. When I was shooting PPC in the late 1970's, a shooter next to me on the line blew up his S&W Model 19 with Bomar Rib. It was either a double or triple charge of Bullseye that did it. The Bomar rib looked like a horseshoe when it finally landed. The top strap disappeared and the top three chambers of the cylinder were gone. It sounded like a hand grenade going off.

Fred

[hapi]

i witnessed a slam fire when i was younger. it shot the magazine down to the ground and split the barrel about 2". nothing happened to the operator.

[hagar]

Not as in blow up it because of an overload. But I did shoot a hole in a 12 gauge Mossberg barrel once with a 223 Thompson Contender! It had a weak firing pin spring, did not go off when I pulled the trigger. My shotgun was lying on the bench in front of me. Lowered the T/C and tried to cock it again without opening action. Hammer slipped, and of course this time it went off..

[Yes, Your Honor]

I didn't blow up the rifle but I reloaded with too little of a charge in the case and it made the loudest bang I have ever heard from it. I wonder just how close it was to hurting something (like me).

Be careful of undercharging too.

[taliv]

i've seen remains of numerous shotguns done in by all sorts of barrel obstructions. i've never had a kaboom though, and don't know anyone personally who has. (although i've some friends who double-charged and soiled their pants, but nothing permanent)

[SSN Vet]

I'll tell ya next week.

I just loaded up my first ever batch of max. loads.

hope to get out this weekend

[Turk]

Years ago I had a slam fire on my M-1 Carbine. When the round went off it blew the mag. out and apart, blew the operation rod off and into and put a kink in the receiver rail. When the round went off it was like getting hit in the face with a sledge hammer. Got some small pieces of something in my side of my face. That's why I always stress wear SAFETY GLASSES when shooting.

Turk

[shooting time]

I was shooting handloads in my colt 1911 and had one with a light charge just enough to cycle the gun without knowing it was stuck in the barrel fired again and the slide would not go foward all the way. I buldged the barrel near the muzzle and broke the bushing lucky it was a colt it held together.

[EBRDude]

Mossberg 500, factory slug loads. Never really found out why the barrel ruptured. I stored it under the bed, so it is possible something was obstructing the bore. Anyway, I came pretty close to not living. It took four surgeons several hours and some extensive rehab to come back. It took me another year and a half to shoot anything again. I don't really like to talk about it much. Only by the Grace of God am I here to tell you all this.

I reload now, and am as safe as safe can be. I know people always think that nothing will happen to them, but always be absolutely safe when you are shooting/reloading.

I have pictures of my injuries to remind me, as well as some really cool "Man scars".
I am not going to post pictures of my injuries, but I do have the shotgun pics if anyone wants to host it.

[Kimber1911_06238]

EBR....mossbergs have overbored barrels. This makes it possible for slugs to turn sideways in the barrel and cause problems. The only mossberg that it is safe to shoot slugs out of is their rifled slug barrels.

Never had any problems so far. Unlike a lot of people I take my time when reloading instead of trying to go as fast as possible. I think mistakes are more common when you are simply trying to crank out a ton of rounds.

[EBRDude]

Good to know that. Would have been better to know it a few years ago.
I am not a litigious kind of person, so I just live and learn. Perhaps they should note in the owners manual that slug usage is not safe.....

[jmorris]

CCI blazer in a Marlin camp 9, too steep of a feed ramp combined with ammo that lacks sufficient neck tension to keep the bullet from moving around. No injuries, but it did split the stock.

[Stepbyrd]

Blew up a Model 36 Chief with a double charge of Bullseye. Happened when I had just started handloading 18 years ago. Tried to save a little money by using Bullseye but it ended up costing me a gun.

Only injuries were minor cuts from the shrapnel on the back of my right hand and my pride.

[moredes]

Hmm.. I chose "yes", but I haven't--but it's not for lack of trying.

I had a double-charged round that I fired in a 1911 years ago. Blew the magazine out of the gun and swelled the metal grips. Reduced the brass casing to shrapnel-sharp mangled metal. No other damage to the gun; it shot like a champ for years after that.

Parts of the ruptured casing cut me across the face under my glasses very slightly; bleeding stopped in ~30 seconds, unaided. Yeah, I got lucky... and it was the last time I ever reloaded listening to the TV. I know exactly what happened--I was using the TV as a radio, listening to the 76ers in the playoffs. Dick Enberg's voice gets all excited describing Dr. J (Julius Eaarrrrving to the youngsters) on a move to the hoop. I turned to see the replay, and forgot where I was in the Dillon 450's cycle; I double charged a round.

Now it's just the stereo. No TV. I'm just so happy to be here....

[griz]

At least one memeber here has blown up guns intentionally. No injuries, he does it in a safe manner to find the weakest link in the gun. Useful info even if not for every shooter.

[U.S.SFC_RET]

No and never. I used to reload back in '85 and had a few primers flatten out on a bolt gun bt that was due to my lack of knowledge.

[Glockfan.45]

Got a 20 gauge shell mixed into my 12 gauge bag on a duck hunt once. Ordered a new barrel from Remington the next day . I was lucky that the barrel bulged out towards the end so I had enough left to cut it down to 18" and put it on my truck gun.

[Geno]

I bought a Kimber Ultra Eclipse and two boxes of Winchester .45 ACP, factory-loaded, 230 grain HP Pers. Defense loads.

That same day, I loaded it, and began firing it. The primer holes were too small, thus not permitting sufficient power. A round (believed to have) lodged in the barrel, followed by a full-power round. The pistol's barrel sparked, smoked and hissed. No kaboom sounds.

It took a good 30 minutes to get the pistol open. The event deformed the rifling and lands in the barrel. Kimber "repaired" the Ultra Eclipse for free...twice…never truly fixing it correctly. It forever had a massive gap between the barrel's hood and the slide when in battery. The pistol that I had 5 minutes previously paid $999.00 was sold for $375.00!!!!! Seems Kimber should have replaced the pistol. Kimber has forever lost my business!

Winchester sent me a free case (500 rounds) of the Pers. Def. ammunition, and began a nation-wide recall based on my experience. No injuries.

[SDC]

I blew up a Glock 17 a couple of years ago with what I believe was a double charge of Titegroup; it blew the barrel hood off, cracked the slide, tore one set of rails out of the frame, blew the mag out of the well, and shattered the trigger, with no injuries to me other than a small nick on my trigger-finger.