Smith 500 blown up

Huh?

This is kind of a yes or no question with no explanation as to why you ask, is there a reason you are asking? Did yours blow up on you?

yes.

Anyone hear of a Smith 500 blown up?

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nope

Gunshop commando hearsay?

Probably trying to get someone to buy an FA, Ruger, or BFR.

No.

I can almost guarantee it was a seriously overpressure handload.

I saw a pic on a forum (don't recall which) of a .460 that had a hole about 3/4 of the way down the barrel. Guy was asking what could have caused it.

There was a recent post on the S&W forum by a low number poster with a S&W X frame with two large oval-shaped holes blown through both sides of the barrel.

Exactly how this happened wasn't made clear and there seem to be some questions about the posters information, due to the low post count and the posters "bad mouthing" S&W.

I haven't personally seen one yet but with dies and components available it is only a matter of time,,,,,,,,,,

Read one post where the guy blew up his 50 S&W using a double charge of Tight Group. Why he was using such a high density fast powder for the big magnum is beyond me but a double charge in such a large case is easy to go unnoticed.

Read one post where the guy blew up his 50 S&W using a double charge of Tight Group. Why he was using such a high density fast powder for the big magnum is beyond me but a double charge in such a large case is easy to go unnoticed.

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I wouldn't bother doing it either, but Hodgdon lists TiteGroup loads for almost every bullet weight so it shouldn't be too surprising that someone tried it.

The guy that blew up his 500 Mag is on the S&W site. He double charged his load with tight group as Steve C stated.

No gun malfunction that caused a kaboom though.

I have over 3000 rounds through my 500 Mag and it looks a good as it did the day I bought it.

I've heard of some bad ammo not discharging in it but never the whole pistol blowing up.

I THOUGHT THEY BLEW UP EVERY TIME YOU PULLED THE TRIGGER!

Any gun can "KB".
But let's remember it's the cartridge and not the gun that detonates.

George Hill, you got that right. Some times people are quick to blame the gun and not the cartridge.

I have not seen one personally but I have seen the forum that the others mention here, it was very strange to say the least. I can say that I have the 8 3/8 non performance center. I have a friend that has the 8 3/8 hi viz interchangeable muzzle break, and another friend who has the 4inch version. As a cruel joke we all planned to show up at the range with them at the same time. The range officer laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes, or maybe he was actually crying. To have 3 of these things go off right next to each other at the same time just shakes your insides. He put us on the indoor rifle range by ourselves, but we still had others actually leaving the pistol range to walk all the way down to the rifle range to see what was going on.

Now that's funny.

Are thinking about buying one? Do you own one that had problems? I hate questions like this unless they are placed in context.

I saw and photographed a blown up 4" .500 yesterday. Cylinder was split in half and the top strap sheared at the front and bent up at about a 30 degree angle. I'll post photos on my website in a few days.

Handload of (supposedly) 17 grains Titegroup, bullet I did not learn.

Barrel completely undamaged.

Interestingly, the case from the KB (two pieces, of course) shows powder blackening inside only for the 3/8" or so nearest the primer. The front of the case looks as if no powder ever burned inside it.

Detonation or double charge? We'll never know.

Half of the cylinder hit the shooter in the side of the head, a glancing blow that caused no injury.

I've shot thousands of 400 grain (long nose) bullets at over 2000 FPS in the .500, but I'll never use a powder faster than 296 in this cartridge.

JR, the 500 Specialist

www.john-ross.net

Some times people are quick to blame the gun and not the cartridge.

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True, but it can be the opposite sometimes. A gun can blow up due to faulty ammo or a weak area in the gun itself. Yeah, usually it's the ammo but there's plenty of guns out there that have blown apart with factory loads.

John Ross, you make a very good point and I agree 100%. I will never shoot anything but W296 or Lil Gun in my 500 Mag. They can keep that titegroup. I like a powder that fills the case and no chance of a double load, and I don't care if someone tells me how careful they are, crap happens.

I have 2 of the 500 Mag's with over 5000 rounds between the two of them and never had a problem, from 370 to 700 gr. bullets.