model 649
Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2005
- Messages
- 544
Last Wednesday night at our regular pin match, a LEO's G23 chamber let go. I did not see it happen (got there a bit later). I did see the gun though. Good Lord!! It wasn't the usual reported failure due to case head support. The whole chamber disintegrated! The slide was bent upward and outward, the guide rod blew out the front, the frame bent downward, the mag was blown out in such a way that the remaining rounds are trapped inside, and the lady was burned across her hand and was taken to the hospital by her partner post haste. We did find the top of the chamber (the hood section) as a piece. The rest of the chamber was in very small pieces. No one else on the line was injured, thankfully. She was shooting Wolf .40 S&W ammo (I don't know the lot #, though). I've read about this stuff, but never seen it in person. Very scary. Am I alone thinking that a 9mm sized gun is on the edge of being able to contain this high-pressure round? I realize 9mm is also high-pressure, but there is more "meat" around it in my G17 chamber. Dunno as I'm not a gun designer, just conjecture on my part. Could be that, with so many .40's out there, proportionately more failures are "normal" (statistically speaking). Mostly I've heard that factory-ammo kabooms were associated with Federal ammo. This is the first I've heard of one happening with Wolf. Quite possible the ammo had little to do with it as it may have been a marginal chamber to begin with (too brittle?). I'll post back if I hear any more info.
Be careful out there,
Josh
Be careful out there,
Josh