KB stories posted here for posterity please!!!

[Hal]

During my early days of reloading (1970s), I cooked up a small batch of .44 magnum - reduced loads - using Speer 240 grain half jacket bullets.
At the time, I was firing my handloads into stacks of magazines and comparing how far they penetrated & comparing that - along with how the bullet itself had expanded - to factory loads, in an attempt to see how my handloads were doing.
I found it odd that the recovered bullet had no jacket & odder still that I couldn't find any traces of the jacket in the pile of magazines.
I found the jacket stuck in the barrel.

Thankfully - no KB - only close call & lesson learned.

 

[Palladan44]

Just yesterday a gentleman not far from me had a hot load go off in his 357 magnum or 38 special. The case was split, and primer with a hole blown in it. He had the first 3 shots dead accurate in the center, this 4th shot nearly missed the paper altogether from what i had gathered.
I could hear the difference in the report. The only other observation i made is him and his partner were futzing around with the revolver for a few minutes before packing it up and leaving. Something was wrong with it, like couldnt get the crane closed or the revolver was out of time.
I should have asked questions but i didnt want to butt in on their business.

 

[Jim Watson]

I found the jacket stuck in the barrel.

A guy here did that, except he saw a hole where the core hit the target and fired again. Our earmuffs were good enough that we did not notice a different report. He did not notice anything until he cleaned the gun and felt the patch "jump" over the bulge in the barrel.

We went back later, dug in the berm, and found all the pieces; the core, the jacket packed with cardboard where it hit the target, and the bullet that pushed it there identified by the matching shapes of the nose of the bullet and the depression in the base of the jacket.

 

[swg1]

I didn't kaboom, but it was close. Some loads right out of Speer #10 back in the late eighties in my beautiful Hi-Power.

Recoil seemed, spirited for what was a starting load. It was very accurate too! But when I stooped to pick up the brass it was as pot-bellied as I am now!

I stopped shooting the load and pulled them apart at home and they were per the recipe and had good neck tension (bullets not getting pushed back into the case) and OAL was per the book as well. But they were HOT! My beautiful Hi-Power was never the same afterwards and didn't shoot as well any more so I hammered some dimensional change into that gun.

My takeaway after that was to fire one round and carefully examine the spent casing instead of dumping a full magazine like a grinning idiot and then checking.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

Had multiple case head separations in my Marlin 60. Have never had that happen in any other rifle. I’m thinking the throat tolerance might be too tight?

 

[Palladan44]

Someone had another one at the range today, a Bond Arms .45 colt/.410 not sure what happened, but the gun was damaged, empty round stuck in the chamber. Some blood coming from the shooters hand.....I didn't pry.
All I know is the gun was new right out of the box, it wasn't his first shot, but maybe 10-12 in.
Not reloads, only factory ammo.....that's all I've been able to determine. Neither him nor the RO figured out how or what happened. I'm puzzled.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

This may have been a KB.
Found this at the range yesterday @ the 100 yard bench before mowing for the last time this year.. A 7mm WBY mag. (well, it was.......)
Didn't think to look for blood or other evidence until I was home.
It has since rained.

 

[Palladan44]

This may have been a KB.
Found this at the range yesterday @ the 100 yard bench before mowing for the last time this year.. A 7mm WBY mag. (well, it was.......)
Didn't think to look for blood or other evidence until I was home.
It has since rained.

View attachment 1030292

Did the firing pin fire this round before it was in full battery? I cant imagine someone accidentally put it in the wrong gun, one of similar case size but much larger caliber dismeter.

 

[P5 Guy]

Hand loaders' K-booming?
Florida Men Cause Reloading Disaster Burning 10,000 Rounds Of AmmoThe Firearm Blog
Man was reloading ammunition prior to Seffner house explosion, fire rescue says - LivePlayTampabay

What in blazes is going on here?

 

[Jim Watson]

This may have been a KB.
Found this at the range yesterday @ the 100 yard bench before mowing for the last time this year.. A 7mm WBY mag. (well, it was.......)
Didn't think to look for blood or other evidence until I was home.

I cant imagine someone accidentally put it in the wrong gun, one of similar case size but much larger caliber dismeter.

I can. It looks like it was fired in a longer, larger caliber belted magnum chamber. Headspacing was on the belt. Maybe a .300 or .340 Weatherby. All the damage to the case is up in the neck and shoulder area where it was blown out into too large a space for the brass to fireform. There is no visible deformation down in the case body to indicate a kaBoom or gas leakage. The shooter probably did not know what was going on until he pulled the mangled case unless he noticed a lack of recoil or no hit on target.

It only gets hairy when the chamber is markedly larger diameter, like when Remington tried to liven up the .280 by calling it the 7mm Express. Bubba thought, "Express, Magnum, what's the difference? Gimme those bullets."

 

[357 Terms]

I had a Speed Six barrel blow off on me. No injury
Reloads, but not ammo related.
Metallurgy? Improper assembly?
I'll never know. Ruger replaced it.

 

[Palladan44]

Headspacing was on the belt. Maybe a .300 or .340 Weatherby

This is probably the only logical explanation. The neck is clearly fire-formed. Must have been another Weatherby rifle or similar due to the belt.

 

[Palladan44]

Reloads, but not ammo related..

View attachment 1030362

Didn't happen using 125gr. Bullets under a "full case" of H-110/ WW296 or Lil Gun?

 

[357 Terms]

Didn't happen using 125gr. Bullets under a "full case" of H-110/ WW296 or Lil Gun?

Nope, med/light loads 6.4grns Universal and 158grn Xtreme.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/the-end-of-a-speed-six-and-ruger-cs.894774/

 

[Palladan44]

I agree. Even more "reputable" remanufactured stuff can be out of specification... Cough......cough......LAXammo...cough...cough

Yes, had some LAX reman stuff causing issues with over crimped 9mm. Headspace was compromised.
Back toward the beginning of the LAX days before I bothered to load 9mm.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

Did the firing pin fire this round before it was in full battery?

Only the man behind the rifle knows as I did not witness the "mishap".

Speculation.............

It only gets hairy when the chamber is markedly larger diameter, like when Remington tried to liven up the .280 by calling it the 7mm Express. Bubba thought, "Express, Magnum, what's the difference? Gimme those bullets."

I like this "speculation" .

 

[DarkswordDX]

Had a squib load get doubled in a Springfield XD-40 in our rental range one time. It was one of ours. The frame cracked in a couple spots and it blew the magazine out the bottom. You couldn't rack the slide, the whole action was seized hard. We shelved and replaced it for about a year until one day the old master smith and I got curious about it and beat it apart with a small sledge. Inside the slide the barrel had bulged into just the most perfect little sphere you ever saw. It had wedged right behind the muzzle and the slide was hitting this balloon which is why it couldn't be opened. I really can't describe how perfect the bulge was, it was like in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon when he's sneaking through a pipe or hose. Just a perfect little sphere in the middle of an otherwise perfectly straight barrel.

That incident gave me a lot of respect for the XD's construction. Tough little SOB to eat a .40S&W round with a blocked barrel and didn't even crack the metal or injure anyone.

 

[Jim Watson]

A friend stuck a bullet in a Gold Cup and blew it out. It jammed up when the bulge hit the bushing. It took a mallet and some manipulation to get it apart but there was no damage other than the bulged barrel and sprung collet bushing. A new barrel and bushing put him back in operation.


The only gun I know to have been demolished on our old range was a .357 Magnum that almost certainly got a double dose of Bullseye, Magnum not midrange level.

 

[borrowedtime69]

Not bad but I was helping to shoot off muzzle loaders (blanks) to signal the rotation of cubscouts at a scout function. One time I discharged one and my face was blasted by hot powder & tiny pieces of the cap. Burns like hell & I still have tiny scars on my face.

Turns out it was for the best as a female scout leader was supposed to discharge one, glad it wasn't her!