Ruger Sp101 kaboom.

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I saw a Ruger Super Blackhawk that was severely overloaded and ended up looking like your gun.
The owner was loading the old Keith 240 gr LSWC over 22.0 gr of 2400 load, except that he used Bullseye instead of 2400. The first round blew off the top of the chamber and the 2 adjacent chambers and sent the top strap into orbit.

I'd say Federal owes you a new gun.
 
The back part of the top strap was what got blown out, so it's nothing that happened near the forcing cone.

Since you shot the gun plenty before without issues, it didn't just develop any overnight. Most likely the ammo did this.
 
I've only seen a handful of pictures with the top strap blown, but I thought that it usually happened at the front near the forcing cone. Any experts out there know what would cause the top strap to fail in the rear versus the front?

I can't imagine after 1,000+ rounds the gun would just fall apart in that spectacular of manner unless the ammo was way over pressure. I would place my money on the ammo.

If one of the rounds was double charged does that mean another one is missing a charge?
 
Holy crap.......

That sure looks like a double or triple charged round to me. I think Federal owes you a new gun, and about 5000 free rounds of new ammo for your troubles and potential serious injury.

Glad you're ok man.
 
Wow! And some of my friends think that reloading produces ammo that is somehow inferior to factory....
 
Thanks for the concern Everyone. I seem to be alright other than weirded out a bit.

I Put the feelers out to Federal through their custumer service line. (Email)
I'll see what they say. I have weighed each complete cartridge left over from the box and they all seem to be the same weight so who knows.

I only have the 10 spent casings that were cleared from the previous cyls. I couldnt find any of the 5 that were in the gun when it grenaded. I looked for a good bit and then let the range go hot again.

The 10 spent cases I have look fine. This gun barely had a line in it above the forcing cone. :( It was still real tight.:(

It was my EDC until I got enough Money for a G27.
 
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When a factory gun shooting factory ammo blows up like that, both the gunmaker and the ammo company NEED to know about it right away.

Maybe it's a freak accident, but maybe it's evidence of a problem that needs to be addressed by one or both. Don't delay. Notify both of them immediately.

My guess is ammo. The damage to the gun indicates severe overpressure. I don't really see how a failure of a part in the gun could cause that kind of damage. Even if there was a flaw in the cylinder that caused it to fail, I wouldn't expect a normal pressure round to deform the topstrap like that. I guess a squib followed by a normal pressure round could cause that, but that would also be an ammo problem.
 
I'm confused:
The original pic shows something lodged in the back of the barrel, the forcing cone. Later pics show nothing there. What happened?
And where's the cylinder? How was that removed with the crane and pivot assembly still in the frame?
 
There isnt anything in the barrel. Its a scortch mark or something on the ID of the forcing cone. You can see the same mark in the pic showing the forcing cone.

And the Cylinder is in 3 pieces clear as day in the first pic? It was fragmented and removed with explosive force from the crane.
 
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We looked. It just shows my back side from a weirdo angle and nothing forward of my shoulders.
 
Yes, but put it on an anvil and straighten out the top strap with a hammer before buffiing.

My take is round failure after as many rounds through the gun as the OP stated.
 
I'm glad no one was hurt. Those are typical high pressure blowouts; the top strap lets go because the cylinder does.

It does bust the myth that "it is impossible to blow up a Ruger". They are good strong guns, but not magic and they can and do blow up under enough pressure.

Jim
 
Keep us posted. I have some of that ammo, hopefully not the same lot. It's never given trouble in other guns, although I haven't shot it yet in my SP-101.

I guess the ammo was factory fresh, not reloads?
 
Keep us posted. I have some of that ammo, hopefully not the same lot. It's never given trouble in other guns, although I haven't shot it yet in my SP-101.

I guess the ammo was factory fresh, not reloads?

BTW, a Federal PR man told me some years ago that that's a swell load for deer if you hunt them with a .357. It's been very accurate in my guns.
 
Keep the cartridge box with the ammo lot number.

Then contact Ruger, and Federal.

Old gun, old ammo, or a combination of both will not blow a cylinder and top strap of Any modern revolver.
PERIOD!!

The ammo was double-charged or it could not have done that much damage.

As for your lack of injury??

It's all part of the design, dating back to S&W and Colt revolver design from the 1800's.

They are designed to blow up away from the shooter, just as yours did.

Now, get the Lot Number off the box, and light up the phone Monday !!

rc
 
Wow, that brings back memories. The same thing happened to my Ruger SP101, .357, spurless hammer about 11 years ago, except the top strap just bowed but didn't blow apart. When I brought the frame with the cylinder split in two pieces and remaining four rounds of ammo to my gunsmith, he determined it was a double charge. Luckily it wasn't factory ammo, just my knucklehead step-father's inaccurate re-load. Thankfully, he gave up that hobby soon after.
 
Yes it was fresh box Purchased at Wal-mart maybe in the early summer. This gun has never seen any reloads or any hot 125gr loads if that matters.

This Sp101 doesn't have near the round count that my old Pinned Taurus has had through it.

My SP101 was still almost as tight as the day I bought it and I Wouldn't think that 1000-1500 rounds would put it at it's end of service life.
 
Again, age or number of rounds through it has nothing to do with it.

A fatigued defective cylinder would have just cracked a chamber wall, and no further damage.
(That would be Extremely very rare.)

A defective top strap would have just cracked.
(That would be very rare too..)

But to blow up a gun that bad would take at least a Double powder charge to release enough high-pressure gas to do that much damage.

(Your gas pressure would have had to have been in the 100,000+ PSI range to do that much damage.

Round count has nothing to do with it at all!!

rc
 
Old gun, old ammo, or a combination of both will not blow a cylinder and top strap of Any modern revolver.
Click to expand...
I agree. There was some kind of an overpressure event. Either an overcharged cartridge or perhaps a squib from the previous round lodged just inside the forcing cone.

If guns blew up when they got too old, the manufacturer would provide a maximum recommended round count with the gun so buyers would know when to quit shooting to avoid an explosion. Guns do wear out from lots and lots of use, but when they fail, it's not by blowing up.
 
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