Exploding Shotgun

[NotSoFast]

Here is what really happened.

From my post on Calguns.net, one persno knew him. It was a double charge.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=301225

I actually know the person that this happened to.

What happened is he had purchased a Remington O/U (Not sure of the model) and wanted a single barrel for it as the double was too heavy for trap. He had a single barrel made for the gun and was working up a load for Olympic Bunker and double charged it. When it went off it blew through the top of the chamber and cut the top of his forearm and another piece of metal went through his wrist and out of his elbow

 

[RandKL]

It was a double charge.

How do you go about "double charging" a shotgun shell? Others have asked the same thing....no one that seems to know seems to know. The post that suggested that on that other forum was less than authoritative on that fact.

That's the thinnest chamber wall I have ever seen on a shotgun....and it appears from those pics to have been sleeved. I'd be looking at the barrel maker before I'd be looking for a "double charge". That barrel looks like something made in someone's basement workshop....anyone that saw that barrel could have told the guy it was an accident waiting to happen. You can see exactly where and how it split.

rich

 

[oneounceload]

How do you go about "double charging" a shotgun shell? Others have asked the same thing....no one that seems to know seems to know

By not paying attention - there was a comment about "what bushing?" - loading only a few more grains of powder will drive pressures up very dramatically - add a stuck wad or similar in the barrel, and the result is a major kaboom

 

[chas08]

That barrel looks like something made in someone's basement workshop....anyone that saw that barrel could have told the guy it was an accident waiting to happen. You can see exactly where and how it split.

Wasn't there a guy on this forum a while back inquiring on buying tubing to build shotgun barrels? Could it be???....Nahhh

 

[RandKL]

there was a comment about "what bushing?"

Not the same guy....and shotshells simply won't crimp if there's twice as much powder as supposed to be in the hull. There's a finite space and every bit of that space is taken up in the recipe. As to "add a stuck wad", how about we don't? The chances of a multiple step/cause failure are astronomical.

That barrel appears to have had the barrel chamber area turned down *very* thin and then outside sleeved by the breech collar system. The chamber very much appears to have split right at the front edge of that collar where the barrel appears to be about 1/16" thick if even that. In a factory barrel, that would *NEVER* be turned down and damned certainly not to that thickness. That's putting steel that's as thin as the muzzle right at the leading edge of the forcing cone where the pressure is the greatest. There's a reason why the breech is the thickest and strongest part of a normal barrel....and that one sure isn't it.

rich

 

[WardenWolf]

Yet another case of someone playing gunsmith, it looks like, combined with a bad reload. I have a saying:

Thou shalt never play at any profession whose name ends with the word "Smith".

Playing gunsmith, airsmith, blacksmith, or any other profession involving high pressures or loads is a good way to get someone killed.