1KPerDay
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Here's one I personally witnessed and filmed the aftermath of
KB stories posted here for posterity please!!!
- Thread starter Palladan44
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robert4301
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I had a minor ka-boom in an STI Trojan 45. First two rounds fired normally, the third, WHAM! The slide was about 1/3 open, the magazine still in the pistol. I was not injured. I managed to get the magazine free and it was charred some. The top two rounds were blackened and the coated lead RN bullets were driven well into their casings. I got the casing out and it was blown out just above the rim almost half way around. My reloads were very light at 3.2 grains of N310 (very fast pistol powder) under 230 Bayou RN. I figure it had to have been a double charge. The magazine was ok and that tough old STI was undamaged. Still shooting it three years later.
A few years back I learned of a guy who was selling off his guns and reloading gear. He and his wife had retired and sold the house to buy an RV , planning to ride off into the sunset. I bought a large quantity of reloaded .38 sp. wadcutters from him (mistake #1)with his assurance that his loads had served him well in years of cowboy action competition. Nice guy , great price.
Off I went to private land with a Highway Patrolman and a bunch of wadcutters. The first few cylinder loads were as expected , mild report and practically no recoil with the big N frame. The came a round that seemed hotter than the rest ; not extreme , but noticeably louder and more recoil. I figured it was an isolated anomaly and , convinced that there was nothing to worry about since I was shooting a beefy 357 , decided to continue shooting. (mistake #2) There were a few more moderately hot rounds , no worse than the first , until I unleashed a blistering hot one that stung my hand and left my protected ears wringing. Enough already! I rolled the cylinder out , pushed the ejector rod with the heel of my hand and - it would not move. After several futile attempts to eject I emptied 5 charge holes individually and headed home to my work bench with a bad feeling in my gut. With the cylinder freed from the frame I managed to clear the expanded case with a dowel and a plastic hammer. Close inspection showed no visible damage. Reassembled , loaded snap caps , click-click-click ... all seemed ok. Selected some mild factory loads and headed out for a function check. 6 shots , all seemed normal - until I tried to eject. Time and time again the spent case stuck in the same charge hole.
How overcharged does a .38 special round have to be to stretch the a 357 magnum N frame cylinder ? My unscientific answer is : hot enough that it probable would have turned a K frame cylinder into a grenade.
I learned this:
Never ever discharge reloaded ammunition from a source that is not completely verified.
This : Unloading 700 some-odd rounds one at a time with an impact hammer isn't a lot of fun.
And this:
I have seen the enemy , and he is me.
(Apologies to Pogo ...)
Off I went to private land with a Highway Patrolman and a bunch of wadcutters. The first few cylinder loads were as expected , mild report and practically no recoil with the big N frame. The came a round that seemed hotter than the rest ; not extreme , but noticeably louder and more recoil. I figured it was an isolated anomaly and , convinced that there was nothing to worry about since I was shooting a beefy 357 , decided to continue shooting. (mistake #2) There were a few more moderately hot rounds , no worse than the first , until I unleashed a blistering hot one that stung my hand and left my protected ears wringing. Enough already! I rolled the cylinder out , pushed the ejector rod with the heel of my hand and - it would not move. After several futile attempts to eject I emptied 5 charge holes individually and headed home to my work bench with a bad feeling in my gut. With the cylinder freed from the frame I managed to clear the expanded case with a dowel and a plastic hammer. Close inspection showed no visible damage. Reassembled , loaded snap caps , click-click-click ... all seemed ok. Selected some mild factory loads and headed out for a function check. 6 shots , all seemed normal - until I tried to eject. Time and time again the spent case stuck in the same charge hole.
How overcharged does a .38 special round have to be to stretch the a 357 magnum N frame cylinder ? My unscientific answer is : hot enough that it probable would have turned a K frame cylinder into a grenade.
I learned this:
Never ever discharge reloaded ammunition from a source that is not completely verified.
This : Unloading 700 some-odd rounds one at a time with an impact hammer isn't a lot of fun.
And this:
I have seen the enemy , and he is me.
(Apologies to Pogo ...)
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Palladan44
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Thats a LOT LOT LOT of match shooting!
Super impressive.
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Palladan44
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The fast buring target powders typically used for wadcutters in 38s: WIN 231, RED dot Unique, or whatever...... if double charged or more WILL do what you described. 38 special has a huge case capacity because the powders of 120 years ago filled the case to get the 12,000psi and 780fps that much more efficient powders can do today.
3.8 grains of Winchester 231 is such little powder in a 38 case, you cant see it unless you look hard. Up to 13 grains of 231 can fit in a 38 case, which i know for a fact would turn the gun into a grenade. It sounds like your loads were double or triple thrown of the intended amount of such fast burning powder.
Riomouse911
Member
Never had a kaboom, but I did happen to be videoing when my 13 year old son had a case head puncture shooting my Henry with a CCI Maxi-Mag .22 WMR.
He had his face peppered by the escaping powder from the action. He was wearing glasses so there was no damage.
If you look closely at the screen shot I pulled you can actually see the burning powder flecks hitting the bench top and the other gun, they look like they’re exploding like tiny mortar bombs. Imagine one of those hitting your eyeball
.
Stay safe.
He had his face peppered by the escaping powder from the action. He was wearing glasses so there was no damage.
If you look closely at the screen shot I pulled you can actually see the burning powder flecks hitting the bench top and the other gun, they look like they’re exploding like tiny mortar bombs. Imagine one of those hitting your eyeball
. Stay safe.
montanaoffroader
Member
Some years ago a friend purchased a Lorcin 22 pistol. We went for a drive out in the hills and he brought it along to try it out.
He loaded it up and fired a magazine, reloaded it and handed it to his wife. She shot it and handed it to me, I loaded it up and fired it with no problems, reloaded it and handed to his youger brother. Second round in, the shot sounded different and his brother had a surpised look on his face.
Don't know why, but the gun literally blew itself to pieces. The mag blew out and dumped the remaining rounds on the ground, the left grip blew off and the guts of the slide were missing, never did find them. Fortunately the brother was uninjured aside from a stinging hand.
We gathered up the pieces, went back to town and returned the pistol and he bought a Smith & Wesson 422 instead.
Never did figure out why that little gun blew up, maybe out of battery? Anyway, left me with no appetite for cheap zinc guns.
He loaded it up and fired a magazine, reloaded it and handed it to his wife. She shot it and handed it to me, I loaded it up and fired it with no problems, reloaded it and handed to his youger brother. Second round in, the shot sounded different and his brother had a surpised look on his face.
Don't know why, but the gun literally blew itself to pieces. The mag blew out and dumped the remaining rounds on the ground, the left grip blew off and the guts of the slide were missing, never did find them. Fortunately the brother was uninjured aside from a stinging hand.
We gathered up the pieces, went back to town and returned the pistol and he bought a Smith & Wesson 422 instead.
Never did figure out why that little gun blew up, maybe out of battery? Anyway, left me with no appetite for cheap zinc guns.
I do not reload ; your theory makes sense. Certainly was an unpleasant experience - and expensive too! Cylinder plus 'smithing went around $300 as I recall. Entirely avoidable ; I paid for my poor decisions.
As I said , fortunate that I was not shooting a lesser frame - at at least I came away uninjured.
I have had three, none blew up, but all were out of batter discharges, all the same pistol, a Ruger MKlll. All three were caused by the LCI acting on the rim when the bolt closed. Now its important to note that this was over ten thousand rounds, and a 22 O.O.B. is not nearly as destructive. The second time around I just left the hole in the side, and didn't replace the blown out parts. Eventually I got one that was "in spec" to fill the hole.
For those who don't know the MKlll It has a loaded chamber indicator, which can be dangerous on a rimfire.
For those who don't know the MKlll It has a loaded chamber indicator, which can be dangerous on a rimfire.
enough threads like this made me decide never to shoot unknown reloads... but that doesn't mean I won't pull them for components. I recently did a bunch of .308's, case length ranged from 2.08 to 2.30.... enough to jam the brass into the rifling, and do some damage hade it gone unnoticed. Loaded with pistol primers too. Another reloader sells to a pawnshop around here that for some reason buys them, and they are scary. Lots of squibs, and a few with powder acid burns. Why anyone would shoot those I don't know. My first time shooting with a guy I pointed the acid issue out, and he stopped buying that trash. But someone else is still buying it.
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Palladan44
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I agree. Even more "reputable" remanufactured stuff can be out of specification... Cough......cough......LAXammo...cough...cough
No pics, I didn't bother to record any of them because there was no damage (other than the LCI) and no injuries and no mystery what happened.
Basically blowout 1: Round did not fully cycle on ejection, live round knocked out of magazine, pulled the bolt back, released, rim of loose live round hit the LCI's metal tab and fired.
Blowout 2: pretty much the same, but this time I was clearing the jam with a pick because the mag was stuck with a live round half in and partially chambered. When the spent case was pulled out, the live one jumped through the gap in the middle of the mag feed lips, and the bolt crushed it into the LCI. I was looking down at it at the time.
Blowout three, exactly the same as blowout 1.
I put on a Volquartzen exact edge extractor, and the failure to eject problem disappeared.
I only informed Ruger about the first blowout, they didn't send replacement parts, so I reinstalled the old ones and called it good. Again, thousands of rounds between incidents. After the last one I left a hole where the LCI was for a few years, and eventually decided to fix it while I was overhauling my GP's springs. The new parts from Ruger were smaller, and didn't seem likely to cause that problem. MANY thousands of rounds later, no problems with it.
I do not intent to badmouth Ruger about this. This MKlll is and EXCELLANT pistol. The only badwill I have to Ruger is that they discontinued it. I am pissed off about that, I would have bought 5 when they were $260. It seems I got a bad part, and anyone can make a bad part. I did not press ruger for a replacement, I'm sure if I did I would have gotten it, but I'm also sure I would have had to send it in to them. Given I was shooting 300 rounds a week through it at the time, I would rather have a hole in the side.
As for the LCI danger, I attached a pic, and you can see the large metal tag that contacts the rim. If the live cartridge is pinched in the rim between that and the bolt, it will fire. The only seems to happen when clearing a malfunction where the live round is half in the mag, and can slip out of the two part feed lips, into the path of the LCI.
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Aannddrreeww
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I had sort of a "kaboom" on a Mini 14 years ago when I was a kid. Shooting Wolf ammo, one of the rounds blew the front of the bolt face off and the extractor blew off of the bolt. I'm not sure what caused that malfunction but I attributed it to the crappy Wolf ammo. No injuries, but a face full of hot gas and debris.
From that day on, I decided never to buy Wolf .223 ammo again, and to start to always wear shooting glasses.
From that day on, I decided never to buy Wolf .223 ammo again, and to start to always wear shooting glasses.
Steve Milbocker
Member
When I was a kid I had a single shot Remington 514 I think. Anyway I had been shooting shorts in it and when I tried to chamber a Longrifle of course it wouldn’t go so a little too much pressure on the bolt caused it to fire out of battery resulting in a ruptured case, slight shrapnel wound to my forehead and ringing ears. I didn’t have glasses on so it could have been way worse. That night my dad explained about the carbon building up in the chamber from the shorts causing my issue with the LRs. I don’t think I’ve fired a 22 short since
tark
Member
A couple of years back my Astra 400s slide decided it would re-produce by binary fission, and it split into two pieces. One piece decided to stay with the gun and the other decided it wanted my left eye. Safety glasses are the reason I still have binocular vision. I was shooting CCI Blaser Largo factory loads. The gun had new Wolff springs installed a month earlier. This is rather uncommon, I am told but obviously it can occur. It starts with a crack in the ejection port and if that goes unnoticed....... other than a magnificent shiner, which I'm not gonna post, I was unharmed.
Of course, I immediately drove down to Simpson's in Galesburg and bought another 400....
Of course, I immediately drove down to Simpson's in Galesburg and bought another 400....
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![IMG_3707[1].JPG](/data/attachments/898/898176-1a46629e01932a263b7cd2fe074fd9dc.jpg)
![IMG_3708[1].JPG](/data/attachments/898/898180-20743741d923eebc75f6cde8bf23fd58.jpg)
NIGHTLORD40K
Member
Ouch!
NIGHTLORD40K
Member
Probably the worst one was the Polish PPS43 submachine gun conversion I had disassemble itself while firing. The receiver latch sprung open, the bolt flew over my shoulder, the magazine fell out and springs and loose rounds went everywhere. Turns out they had to bend the latch striker a bit to make the semi-auto fire control unit fit in the lower receiver, thus decreasing the strength of the latching mechanism.
If the bolt had hit me in the face, It would have been a very bad day. As it was, I just gathered up the parts and took it back to the fella I bought it from who was kind enough to give me my money back.
I would not recommend one of those guns to anyone. The surplus military parts are high-quality, but the semi-auto conversion pieces are mostly poorly machined castings that dont fit right, and the whole project was just a bad idea.
If the bolt had hit me in the face, It would have been a very bad day. As it was, I just gathered up the parts and took it back to the fella I bought it from who was kind enough to give me my money back.
I would not recommend one of those guns to anyone. The surplus military parts are high-quality, but the semi-auto conversion pieces are mostly poorly machined castings that dont fit right, and the whole project was just a bad idea.
Elkins45
Member
I had the same with a Glock 20. No brass in my face but the frame was ruined and my hand hurt quite a bit. I posted about it here and took quite a bit of heat from the “perfection” crowd about how it must have been my fault.
I’ve also had a factory load rupture in a 9mm blowback gun and it did result in some metal to the face. There’s a thread here: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/as-i-removed-my-blood-soaked-hand-from-my-face.865068/
I also had a case failure in a 270 rifle that was pretty scary. I couldn’t figure out how it happened until I pulled apart the rest of the rounds and discovered the powder had deteriorated and was both eating thru the case walls and had corroded the bullet and case neck together. I created a thread on that one too, but all the photos are gone down the Photobucket hole. The powder was IMR 4831 purchased in the late 80’s or early 90’s and stored under good conditions. I think toward the end of the DuPont days they let a few lots out the door with had QC because I had a can of 4320 from the same era eat thru the can sitting on my powder shelf.
Jim Watson
Member
Not a kaBoom, but a surprising loud noise. I was trying to diagnose spotty extraction in my M41. It would shoot OK but would not always pull a live round to unload. So inserted a long rifle in the chamber and dropped the slide on it. Loud noise, hole in bench. I thought its hammer had followed but when I found the empty, there was not a mark on the rim. It had fired just by close headspace in that target pistol.
I was not present, but the members of the Trap club described the guy who did not bother to look at the load data and see that them there modern "power pistons" called for substantially less powder than the card and felt stack he learnt on. He demolished one gun and prematurely loosened up another with overloads.
I was not present, but the members of the Trap club described the guy who did not bother to look at the load data and see that them there modern "power pistons" called for substantially less powder than the card and felt stack he learnt on. He demolished one gun and prematurely loosened up another with overloads.
Elkins45
Member
I would guess it’s because the LCI rides on the rim to detect the presence of a case. If it gets stuck in position the slide slamming forward would drive it into the rim and it would act like a firing pin and detonate the priming compound.
Jim Watson
Member
No doubt. I think that is why Walther did not put a loaded chamber indicator in a .22 PPK like they did the centerfires.
AK103K
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I had a M1 Garand go grenade on me in a match back in the 80's. It was a new to me, DCM gun and the first time out with it.
Started to get doubles, and I just assumed it was a new gun and I must have been milking the trigger.
Got to the slow fire stage and was single loading the gun and started thinking about the doubling thing, and here I am letting the bolt go right next to my face as it loads. Aboiut three rounds later, the bolt goes home and BOOM!
Turns out those "doubles" were actually slamfires. The last one was catastrophic and totaled the gun, drove the bolt into the rear of the receiver, blowing the back of it off and taking a big chunk of the stock out and splintering it, the op rod handle tore a nice "L" shaped gash in my palm, and you could pretty much read the headstamp of the case in reverse that was burned into my palm as well, and to this day, I still have a loud ring in my right ear.
Lots of lessons learned that day.
Not so much a KB, but if I wasn't paying attention, it likely could have been. Was shooting some Spanish SMG 9mm out of my SWD M11/9mm. The gun ran really hard while shooting it and the stock was pretty hard on my cheek. It was noticeably hotter than the standard 9mm I had been shooting.
The charging handle shearing off in a burst was the first indication something was really up, and on closer inspection a little later, saw this.....
Only took 2000 rounds for that to happen too. The replacement upper lasted another 25+ years and about a bazillion rounds more, with no indication of trouble, other than to have to replace the buffer regularly.
Started to get doubles, and I just assumed it was a new gun and I must have been milking the trigger.
Got to the slow fire stage and was single loading the gun and started thinking about the doubling thing, and here I am letting the bolt go right next to my face as it loads. Aboiut three rounds later, the bolt goes home and BOOM!
Turns out those "doubles" were actually slamfires. The last one was catastrophic and totaled the gun, drove the bolt into the rear of the receiver, blowing the back of it off and taking a big chunk of the stock out and splintering it, the op rod handle tore a nice "L" shaped gash in my palm, and you could pretty much read the headstamp of the case in reverse that was burned into my palm as well, and to this day, I still have a loud ring in my right ear.
Lots of lessons learned that day.
Not so much a KB, but if I wasn't paying attention, it likely could have been. Was shooting some Spanish SMG 9mm out of my SWD M11/9mm. The gun ran really hard while shooting it and the stock was pretty hard on my cheek. It was noticeably hotter than the standard 9mm I had been shooting.
The charging handle shearing off in a burst was the first indication something was really up, and on closer inspection a little later, saw this.....
Only took 2000 rounds for that to happen too. The replacement upper lasted another 25+ years and about a bazillion rounds more, with no indication of trouble, other than to have to replace the buffer regularly.
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