Exploding cartridge

Status
Not open for further replies.
The primers of the un-blown rounds show cratering where the primer extruded into the firing pin hole, the bright brass ring shows how the extruded cup material was sheared off as the barrel dropped to unlock.

That is NOT right.

Mr Browning went to considerable trouble to avoid "out of battery" discharge, I have seldom if ever seen a genuine case.
Since the primer of the blown case is gone, we cannot be sure, but I have seen many cases of alleged "out of battery" discharge with the primer hit right in the middle. A Browning tilt lock action, even in a Glock, just won't do that.
 
It's funny that the primers show no pressure or setback/flattening against the face of the slide, except for the severe cratering in the firing pin cavity. I shoot some .38 super and it would be interesting to know exactly what caused that.
 
judgedelta said:
It's funny that the primers show no pressure or setback/flattening against the face of the slide, except for the severe cratering in the firing pin cavity. I shoot some .38 super and it would be interesting to know exactly what caused that.
Click to expand...
I have put the gun back together and can not find a fault ? but will have a gunsmith look at it tomorrow before firing it again. I am leaning to the under pressure not enough powder.
 
Jim Watson said:
The primers of the un-blown rounds show cratering where the primer extruded into the firing pin hole, the bright brass ring shows how the extruded cup material was sheared off as the barrel dropped to unlock.

That is NOT right.

Mr Browning went to considerable trouble to avoid "out of battery" discharge, I have seldom if ever seen a genuine case.
Since the primer of the blown case is gone, we cannot be sure, but I have seen many cases of alleged "out of battery" discharge with the primer hit right in the middle. A Browning tilt lock action, even in a Glock, just won't do that.
Click to expand...
I will be putting a heavy duty spring in. Have a gunsmith look at it pass it safe test and sell. One scare is enough.
 
Brass weight and volume

Compare the NNY brass weight and internal volume with other brands. If the NNY is heavier , with less volume, pressure would be higher. The 4.2 gr starting load should not produce dangerous high pressure. What brand of primer? The primer flow may be less with a magnum or rifle primer? But no ldea if it would work and be safe?
 
It was back in the 1980's, or so, that the term "Super Face" became common in IPSC shooting circles. Lots of shooters were using the 38 Super and creating high pressure rounds for the round to make major.

Lots of case heads blew and I think this is another incident of "Super Face".

If you notice, shooters don't exactly accept the idea that case wall support is important and that if too much case wall sticks out of the chamber, the side wall can rupture. Glock's had a reputation for blowing 40 S&W case heads till Glock redesigned the barrel and provided more case head support.
 
You might try it with some factory ammunition. that's the first thing I do when having trouble with a reload...
 
Just a shooter said:
I think they are under loaded and pressure build up ?? Pulled 10 more and all have 4.2 Bullseye loaded with a Dillon square deal press.
Click to expand...

That looks like an out of battery detonation or over pressure from an unsupported chamber. 4.2gr Bullseye with that bullet is not too light to start. Start is somewhere between 4.0 and 4.2gr.

Edit to add: if you've checked the chamber support and no chance there was a lot more than 4.2gr of bullseye then i would lean towards out of battery discharge.

What parts were changed and altered in the new trigger job?
 
Last edited:
Just a shooter said:
Sear disconector and hammer
Click to expand...
Oh man, that can do it if its off any. You can test it yourself with an empty gun by easing back on the slide a tad so its not in full battery and see if you can pull the trigger. If it fires out of battery i would say that likely caused it.

Probably had a round not go all the way into chamber and when the hammer dropped ....boom!

Let us know...
 
I wish Mythbusters were still in production.
I would like to see somebody try to induce an out of battery discharge under controlled conditions with slow motion video.
 
I have been told by the internet that an out-of-battery discharge was not possible with the 1911 design. Specifically, by some very well-respected people here on THR.

Might be an interesting thing to test with primed cases. Keep inching the slide back a bit and pulling the trigger to see when the primer pops.
 
Gun smith update

OK this is the gun smiths view of what happen . I took the gun and the fired and not fired cases to the gun smith along with pictures of the case in the slide as shown. Load was max but not overloaded. Case was not fully supported but was enough for factory ammo . Case was shorter than my other ones.(so head space problem ) Case failure was the main problem. Did not fire out of battery . Test fired 6 rounds of Factory ammo with no problem. May have picked up someone else empty cartridge on the range and reloaded it without properly doing case checks. Pistol is as good as new . So it was a bit of everything coming to a head at once and lucky for me I got out lightly . SAFETY slaps me in the face and CHECK CHECK and double check when reloading even though I have been doing it for years. Thanks to everybody's help and input . Scary way to learn and do not ant to have it happen again.
 
Yup. Unsupported for sure.

Well if that's the first one and all is well your doing good after 35 years. Hope i have as good a record by then!
 
Combine an unsupported chamber, a max load, some range brass that might have seen multiple prior loadings by a USPSA/IPSC open gunner working past max, a little variance in component dimensions (and a small upward variance in powder drop).... yeah, you could get a blown case.
 
There is nothing entertaining to me about going to the range, loading a pistol and then pulling the trigger without knowing what is about to happen.

No one seems to know the weight of the case, bullet and primer; without knowing the weight of the components there is no way to determine the amount of powder in each case after loading and before pulling the trigger. And there is the “must have been”. I separate brass, I understand there is a cool factor to simply loading cases in batches of mixed brass; I do not do it.

When mixing cases there is a possibility the case head thickness is not the same for all cases. I want thick case heads when measured from the top of the cup above the web to the case head. I have 30/06 cases with case head thickness of .260”, I also have 30/06 cases with case head thickness of .200”. My opinion; the 30/06 case with the .260” thick case head is safer than the case with the thin case head.

A friend called to explain he put a bullet hole in the roof of his shop. His Perry winning 45 ACP fired when he closed the slide. He called for help; help arrived and put another hole through the roof. I suggested they should load 7 rounds into the magazine and then allow the slide to slam shut.

Then there is the bad habit of seating primers with the slide.

F. Guffey
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

H
  • Locked
"Bullet Explodes" in Purse
2
Replies
32
Views
4K
BCRider
BCRider
G
  • Locked
Factory .45 ACP - Should I be concerned?
Replies
1
Views
391
arizona_cards_11
A
B
  • Locked
Loaded up 25 test 9mm rounds last night and got this problem at the range...
2
Replies
42
Views
3K
Mad Chemist
M
K
  • Locked
Bang
Replies
16
Views
3K
kingmt
K
S
  • Locked
Exploding shell
Replies
10
Views
756
cassandrasdaddy
C
Back
Top