Split caseing

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BBBS

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Has anyone ever seen this before? This is what happens when a 41 mag. is shot out of a 44 Spl. Don't ask. All I will say is be carefull when shooting more than 1 gun at a time at the range.
 

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Looks similar to other caliber mix ups I've seen at the range. Split case and bullet rattles down the barrel. I've seen 38super fired in 45acp and 9mm in 40S&W also happened somehow.
 
I hope you're ok? Sorry that happened. Even the most careful people can slip up sometimes.
 
one has to remember that a 44 magnum or 44 special shoots a bullet that is only .429 inches in diameter while the 41 magnum shoots a .41 inch diameter bullet. That is a difference of only 0.019 inches in diameter or just slightly more than 1/64 th of an inch.

This could happen very easily and not be noticed in low light conditions.

Boo586
 
I've had .454 cases split like that, and they're shot in 45 caliber guns. Found one the other day when I was sorting some brass.
 
look! a hair! that's DNA EVIDENCE! we can link you to that casing! ;)

the real question is, how did it shoot?

(the round, not the hair, you clowns)
 
Somewhere around here I've got 48 .41 magnum cases that were deliberately fired in a .44 magnum chamber.

Accuracy stinks. and the report is noticably different, but it would be very easy to accidentally chamber several rounds without noticing anything amiss until they were fired.

This is the reason I colour code my speedloaders.

None of the 48 I tested split. All were factory 210 JSP loadings. 12 of them were then resized back to .41 magnum and reloaded and fired twice more. I was skeptical to try for a third time since there was noticable case stretching so I suspect there were some thin spots developing in the walls.

The case diameter of a .41 Magnum is .432" while a .44 Special is .454" for a difference of only .024".*
The rim diameter of a .41 Magnum is .486" while a .44 Special is .508" for a differnce of only .022".*
So you can see it could easily go unnoticed.



However I am wondering why the longer .41 magnum cases do not show a tapered area since the mouth of the longer case would have been in the cylinder mouth area of the shorter .44 special chamber? There should be a noticable area.




*as measured, as I wrote this, by my own calipers using my own stock of Winchester factory ammunition.
 
AirForceShooter said:
how do you chamber a .41 in a .44 and NOT NOTICE?????
I don't wanna know.
I really don't.
Calling Mr. Darwin.

AFS
Click to expand...
Hey A-HOLE SHOOTER, Bite me
 
BBBS said:
Has anyone ever seen this before? This is what happens when a 41 mag. is shot out of a 44 Spl. Don't ask. All I will say is be carefull when shooting more than 1 gun at a time at the range.
Click to expand...

You're very lucky. .41 RM runs much higher pressure than .44 SPL. and that could easily have been a K-B.

And while some folks are discussing the small differences in diameter, I would say the most obvious clue should have been length. The .41 RM case is more than 1/10" longer than .44 SPL. This difference is visually accentuated by it's smaller diameter, which means an overall more slender appearance.

I have .44 mags and .45 Colts which are dimensionally much closer (Same rim diameter, case length and COAL) and I have never mixed them up.

This kind of screw-up in an autoloader can be catastrophic (think firing a bullet into the back of another cartidge that is still in the barrel), So I tend to agree with AFS. The 12/20 burst has certainly manifested Darwin's theories.
 
I shoot at an indoor range where the lighting is not as good as it could be. Shooting there has taught me two things:

If you reload, use a different colored box for each caliber.

Have only one caliber on the bench at a time.

Don't ask.

Jeff
 
You're very lucky. .41 RM runs much higher pressure than .44 SPL. and that could easily have been a K-B.
Click to expand...
But thankfully, the pressure is vented faster than normal due to the fact that the bullet doesn't seal the gases behind it.
Luckily the brass case will expand enough to seal the chamber end.

Firing factory .41 magnum in a 6" S&W 629 gives terrible accuracy because the gas rushes past the bullet causing it to keyhole.
Were talking about a 15 inch "group" at 25 feet!
As I stated previously, the report of such a shot is much different than normal.
It sounds more like a very loud cough instead of the normal bark.

The bright side is that recoil is almost non existent. :D
 
"...This is what happens when a 41 mag. is shot out of a 44 Spl..." Imagine that. A .410" cartridge fired out of a .429" cartrdige. You're lucky the .44 didn't blow up.
 
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